Highland Trail 550

And some carbon rims ;-)

Seriousy though, nice one dude!

Congrats @skinny, super impressive. Sounds like the bike has taken a bit of a beating?

You bike will get fucked here, rivers bogs, solid rain, mud. Its part of the course. Hence why just finishing is enough. It's that tough of an event, anyone is just please to be done.

Ha I smashed my carbons the week before this one.
The ex511 were great, and running the tyre insert saved me a lot of hassle. I actually snapped 2 of my 32 spokes on the back but it was straight enough and held up. But still I had rear tyre issues as I'm a ham-fisted shit mountain bike.

The right choice then! Lemme know if you're passing through the endz and we can go on a ham-fisted hardtail shred/bimble

straight enough and held up

Was wondering if you had to fix that.. What happened to the rear mech/hanger?

Cheers man, tbh I'm getting back to the sun asap. But come out when you can!

@giofox the world's finest twig. Also I brought spare sealant, needed it and used it. So I'd change my advice on that.

Ahahah, noted! Although my riding won't be as gnarly, definitely not race-ham-fisted! Will definitely hit you up for some course report, once you've caught up on sleep/nutrition.

The weather seems really glorious up there on hte weekend, more uncertain next week.

What tyre inserts did you use?

Well done on finishing it.

Panzer xc in rear. And thanks

bringing back 2008 fixie trends with one coloured rim

Apparently back wheel was borrowed

Great work , skinny...! Looked fucking epic/miserable in equal doses!

this was his 2016 winning bike..

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Looks a pretty lean setup but then if he's wearing a bunch of stuff and including a backpack/hydropack I guess less needed on the bike.

https://bikesordeath.com/ep-75-liam-glen-winner-of-the-ht550-on-a-rigid-ss/

Just reading 22,000mi now which details Rich and his son Tom's rides including a few goes at HT550: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littlepeak/22000-miles

Makes me feel like I should get an airbnb up north and work remotely from there instead of sitting in London not riding anywhere.

Yes, do it! You need different roads, you've got Chilterns poisoning!

Haha yeah I reckon. I need to find some dirt routes out of Ealing to get some time on the Kona before we attempt the King Alf Way. But really I should be concentrating on the Shiv time right now given the 12hr is my next race. Going up to live in Scotland for a while would be awesome though.

So this years HT550 starts Saturday at 08:30, startlist here
Some strong riders again: Angus Young, James Hayden, Philips Batye, Chris Pitblado, Gail Brown. Looks as though there’s no Liam Glen or Josh Ibbet though.
Should be a good race anyway

Always a good one to follow.
Good luck @skinny - don't forget the spare brake pads!

I bet @skinny is looking forwards to getting some decent nights sleep for a change.

Sadly no holiday for me, as I was stupid enough to fracture my elbow.

Oh shit. Today?

☹️