Highland Fling 2011

[find_bruce]

Anyone else do the Highland Fling on Sunday ?

My first mountain bike event & by far my longest mountain bike ride. I only did the half fling & flagged badly at the 10 km to go mark. Managed to make it home in a fairly inglorious time, but I made it and had fun.

My brother is now trying to convince me to do the full fling next year. 115 km seems farly serious though

[zero]

Anyone else do the Highland Fling on Sunday ?

My first mountain bike event & by far my longest mountain bike ride. I only did the half fling & flagged badly at the 10 km to go mark. Managed to make it home in a fairly inglorious time, but I made it and had fun.

My brother is now trying to convince me to do the full fling next year. 115 km seems farly serious though

Yeah I did most of it, pulled out at 80kms after various mechanical issues (middle ring, RD cable etc). Great fun for the first 65kms and I was actually feeling reasonable until I tried to do the last half a dozen hills with too tall a gear for me. If it had broke near the transition, I'd have got the cable fixed and soldiered on.

Well worth doing the full fling, but yes you'll want some training as it may not be as cool temp wise as it was this year (fantastic riding conditions really).

[timbo]

Cycling Central on SBS, Sundays 5pm, are scheduled to show highlights of the Highland Fling this coming Sunday (20th Nov.).

[HillBilly]

Yeah - I did it. Actually my 6th Full Fling having only missed the inaugural back in '05. This year was fast. Great conditions and I suspect a hill or two less than last year (not confirmed). Last year was the toughest due to a change in route that meant the final stage was longer and harder than expected which caught a lot of people out and also last year was considerably hotter. I was really happy with my time despite not having the depth of fitness I would have liked and consequently suffering from cramps and fatigue in the final stage. I cracked 5 hrs which in prior years would have placed me in the top 20 but the higher overall speed and quality field meant my 4:56 barely got me into the top 50 and only 8th in my Master's cat. Oh well - there's always next year....

The Fling runs like a well oiled machine. A great event and well supported by the local community. Huw Kingston runs a tight ship.

[zero]

awesome result Hillbilly!

I agree on the organisation standard, fantastically run event.

[find_bruce]

Wow HillBilly, that's a fantastic result. You would have been one of the people rocketing past me in the GU stage.

I third the comments in relation to the high organisational standards - I have competed in lots of different mass events & I have never seen any event that was so well run

[trailgumby]

Quite a few of my mates did it, all raved about how well organsied it was and really enjoyed themselves. One nutter even did it on a cyclocross bike! Think he'll go with a 29er next year though

ANy time at any 100km event under 5 hours is motoring.

[Mugglechops]

I think I may finally get around to giving this a go next year. I might aim for the 160km version though.