Nothing required, nothing prohibited.

So I thought I'd pick apart the rules and begin to check my understanding of them.. I have a good few anecdotes for most of them through searching peoples experiences online and of course Gary's tales.

Both the CGL and the HT550 share these rules apart from a single reference to National Park etiquette in the Cairngorms list which should apply to the majority of your trip anyway.

I think when I'm out there I'll unnecessarily worry about whether I'm unconsciously breaking any of them. Not the ones about the environment, or support etc. Just technicalities like finishing on time (over 8 days is an DNF) not breaking the route by leaving it and returning in the same place, navigational mistakes and that kind of stuff. The rules aren't rocket science, but they are rules none the less.

So here they are, in bold with some of my own commentary following.

• Complete the entire route, under your own power - no drafting. Because sitting behind a tractor for 550 miles is definitely an unfair advantage. I guess this primarily refers to "teamwork" of any sort as its technically an individual time trial. This could innocently happen of course just by riding with others, but setting off with a plan to work together seems like what's being discouraged here. Personally I cant see for the life of me even the long term benefits of this would be on a primarily off-road ride of such length.
  

• Adhere to the law and codes of conduct for mountain biking and wild camping in the Park:
  No Buckie or Frosty Jack bottles left behind for anyone else to find! Seriously though, there is a lot to be said for leaving a minimal footprint. Tho whole reason there is a debate about the recent new laws passed in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park is (in a nutshell) the very reason above. You can find some resource on the recent wild camping ban here and make up your own mind. Stick to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. And specifically the guidelines for cycling.
  

• Be completely self-supported throughout the ride - absolutely no support crews, absolutely no gear sharing.
  From what I here, even having your family meet you on the way round to give you a hug 250 miles in is viewed with nothing but contempt. If you take a sip of Coke from them that's counted as support, so best to just not take the chance at all. The idea is to be self sufficient at the end of the day.

• Only use commercial services that are available to all challengers - no private resupply, no private lodging: Shops, massage parlours, the local Chippy. All good to go as far as resource is concerned. You can't stay at your mates house or even pitch your tent in their garden. Again, a level laying ground is the idea. Wait, if your mate says everyone can camp in his garden, then I guess you're ok?

• If you have to leave the route, you must re-join it at the exactly same spot:
  So there's actually a fairly major river crossing just south of Ullapool. Depending on the prevailing winds and recent weather it can apparently be a bit crazy too. On competitor last year took 20 hours to make the decision to cross, eventually she crossed slightly further up and rode back the couple of hundred metres to join the route proper and everything was awesome.
  
  The point to this anecdote is that the alternative to crossing this river at all was almost a days road ride to a point roughly 120m in front of the rider. Perhaps some reading on river crossing techniques like this one for the Cape Wrath Ultra, Another competitor was disqualified for doing a similar thing, but there was a fundamental difference in his actions. This paid him no real physical advantage, but was a BIG rule break. I'll elude to it in a later rule.

"Shenavall" The river crossing in question. You really don't want to go around this!

• No third-party sag-wagon offering an easy bail-out option:
  If you bonk, you have to find your way out by yourself. So no Top Gear Challenge style VW beetle or Star Spangled forfeit bike within rescue range.

• No caches of any kind, including postal drops.
  On a challenge of this is size, comfort it sure to be at a minimum, so driving ahead and dropping a few food parcels an certain points would be something perhaps considered by those who are slightly less discerning. Posting yourself stuff is genius too, but when weighed up against the individual nature of the challenge its an obvious non-starter and can turn you a serious advantage.

• No pre-arranged support, which means before you begin your ride - e.g. booking a B&B: I though this was harsh to be honest but then realised that its worded very cleverly. Before the race you cannot book ahead. As soon as the start gun goes, you can get on your mobile and book anything you like, as long as its commercial and available for anyone else to speculatively book. One or two nights in a hotel during a ride like tis would actually do you the power of good I imagine.
  

• No travel by any motorized means. By all means do so if necessary, but understand if you do your attempt is over:
  This is the disqualification I alluded to earlier. Very briefly: This guys bike breaks down and needs a part. He phones an LBS (local bike shop) leaves the route, catches a bus to (Fort William I think?) gets the bike fixed, catches the bus to the exact spot he left the route and proceeds on his way. He is disqualified as a result. Again, no real advantage in the speed of his completion time, but if someone had the same problem in the middle of nowhere, where there is no bus, the playing field is not equal. the idea is that everyone has an equal shot at every aspect of the ride regardless of how lucky or unlucky the potential location of any breakdown.

• No ditching or stashing of any gear to pick up later. I guess you can bin your litter or any gas canisters or spent inner tubes, but shoving your sleeping bag and rucksack in a hedge on the last day and coming back for it tomorrow is right out the window. Star with all your equipment, end with all your equipment.

• Gear: Nothing required, nothing prohibited: Not strictly true, but I'll get to that in my next entry.

Coming up in other Blogs. I've ordered my luggage, I have my Spot Tracker and I'll take you round my bike, the weapon of choice for my next year or so!

Getting ready to play Rocket Man...

Welcome humans....

I don't want to be deliberately cryptic about the title of this blog entry, as I'm aware that a deliberate attempt at being cruelly vague whilst appealing to some, may just hack off anyone else that might be reading. I won't explain it fully only to point you in the direction of Colonel Chris Hadfield's book "An Astronaut's guide to life on Earth" wherein you can search for this line "Getting ready to play Rocket Man" and its context. You can dismiss it, or align it with anecdotes of things already achieved or things that may yet happen in your own life, whether you know about them yet or not?

First up, some housekeeping; I've spent many years blogging in my industry (bicycle retail) so I know that your attention can be hard to keep, so please don't be discouraged by the length of my first few entries as I have a scene to set. I promise these blogs will get shorter, more informative and more specific as they go on. So here I go in earnest...

Part one: Allan Doyle. For more years that I can remember I have loved cycling, Mountain biking specifically. I have always done it on my own terms, never joining a club in any real way, never overtly following any real trends in bikes or fashion, though in my role as a cycle industry professional I have always been acutely aware of everything happening in the world of bikes.

When I was young I would snaffle my Dad's Raleigh Olympic out of the shed and ride it for miles when he was at work and return it with him being (I still assume) none the wiser. When I was really young I used to bomb around on the then standard collection of Raleigh Budgies, Strikas, Grifters and Choppers that used to litter the small street of council houses in the tiny Scottish village where I grew up.

Over the years I've tried road riding, BMX, trials, hill climbing, Cross Country MTB, Downhill and all kinds of other disciplines of cycling on my journey to discovering that I wasn't especially outstanding at any of them, instead discovering in the last 4 or 5 years that I am happier riding my bike on my own terms with no real mind to the achievements or goals that I would set for myself when I was younger. Truthfully, I don't really think I cared about them back then if I'm honest. They were all a bit superficial.

Outside of all this idealism I have had a varied life that has contained some sublime experiences right through to personal tragedy and a million other bite size moments that have shaped who I am today. No different I suspect to the vast majority of people who populate the planet, its all relative I guess.

However, whenever I pulled through though, whenever I found my feet and found "normality" there was always bikes. Always!

Doune Byre (bothy) in winter last year. Places like these are where I feel I belong.

Part two: Waiting for a sign...

"You may not believe it, but I don't believe in miracles anymore. And when I think about it
I don't believe I ever did for sure"

I had a crisis of confidence at some point in my late 30's in that I realised I was not 25 anymore, had put on a few stones and just generally resigned myself to being a bit of a lightweight when it came to appearing equal in ability to the people I found myself riding with. But I didn't really care enough to do anything about it as I felt I had nothing to prove having been such a prolific rider in my earlier years. My wife Donna is famous for being understanding about my cycling and has never prevented me from stepping out the front door to do anything let alone riding bikes, but still the motivation to make a change to the status quo was lacking. Bad weather, feeling crappy, no-one to ride with... all common excuses. And work, oh yeah we all have work to do right?

Like the folks we all know all patiently waiting to win the lottery, I was having the "water cooler discussion" with myself about what I was going to do with the money, when in fact I hadn't even bought a ticket to win it. I was hoping for something to come along, a moment of clarity, a kick in the ass, a bolt from the blue with no effort or input from myself. A cosmic convergence where the universe would suddenly intervene and force me to act, to again become the 10 stone trail skilled endurance machine that is 20 years my junior. I waited and waited resigning myself to its improbability.

On the couch one night, (probably with my hand deep inside a bag of those sweet chilli Walkers Sensations) an old family friend (Melissa) sends me a text "Wanna do Tough Mudder?" without really thinking about it, I said yes. Several months later after hitting the gym together, encouraging each other with another friend John Clarke, we crossed the line at Dalkeith, in 2013 with me 2 stones lighter and a new outlook on what I could actually still do if I put my mind to it. Although not particularly "tough" Tough Mudder gave me something to shoot for, which made the difference. Not for any huge achievement or goal, but just as a waypoint to move forward to and ultimately to move on from, perhaps to another "thing".

After Tough Mudder I stayed fit, entered a few MTB events, qualified as a Mountain Bike Leader, outdoor first aider, made some career changes and generally took up a better outlook on my health and wellbeing. I also got myself a few new industry retail qualifications and am currently cramming for my level 3 Mountain Bike Leader award.

Melissa and John. after Tough Mudder. Me in the middle.

At this time I also got to know another positive influence on my life, Gary Tompsett. A veteran of every outdoor pursuit imaginable and a freelance adventure consultant responsible in part for more events than you'd imagine, many of which are now household names.

 It really can't be underestimated what having positive like-minded people around you can do for your confidence and outlook on life and whilst Gary can be relied on to further expand on every point ad-infinitum, I always look forward to hearing about his latest or indeed his legacy of personal capers in the great outdoors. Always encouraging, honest, constructive in his criticism and open to all of my opinions and questions, Gary is a constant source of knowledge and inspiration. So you should take me at my word when I tell you what follows next is entirely his fault...

Part 3: Bored yet? Here's the point...

The HT550 (Highland Trail 550) is probably the biggest adventure you can have in Scotland without actually crossing onto the islands. In 2014 Gary took part in this and as I watched his progress online via his Spot Tracker GPS unit thinking that I had missed my opportunity to do such a thing, that I wasn't fit enough, my mind-set wasn't right or any amount of reasons not to seriously consider my own attempt. Soon after that I began to compare this to my Tough Mudder experience with Melissa in that if you commit to something, pay for it, tell enough people you're doing it and start to buy equipment to do it, then you pretty much have to do it!



The Highland Trail 550 route (anti-clockwise)

So whilst I am committed outside of this area in cyberspace to attempting a completion of this monster ride, this first blog post is a marker for me to look back and remind myself that I told the world that I was going to set off on this ride in a late summer window in 2017.

Wait, 2017, why not this year?

2016 will be the year of the Cairngorm Loop, (CGL) a 189 mile independent time trial around the Cairngorm national park. Whilst I have bikepacked, camped, bivi'd and bothied before all on bikes, I have never done it against "the clock". Also 550 miles unsupported on the bike is a HUGE  undertaking that requires proof from the organisers of at least the distance of the CGL has been done with reasonable success. The CGL is a shorter, but very challenging and sometimes remote ride taking in some epic scenery and some of the best trails the country has to offer. I'll be taking on some parts in bite size chunks as a recce over the coming months before making my attempt in the late summer. An ideal place to test myself and my equipment.


The Cairngorm Loop route.

So there's a bit of background for you, a bit of reasoning and not much else to be frank. Over the time this blog is live I'll be writing about everything from training, my kit, the weather, my mental approach, other peoples experiences and generally anything I feel is relevant to my preparation and ultimately the experiences I'll have on both of these amazing rides. Oh yeah, and the Ravens, I'll get to them down the line...

You can check out the websites below for more information, the routes, the rules and what it might take to actually go through with these rides.

http://www.highlandtrail.net/
http://www.cairngormsloop.net/

Cheers for reading and please add me to your follow list and come back.

Allan