Sort of related... if you're flying with your bike do you usually just deflate tires, leaving stans in there, pump 'n go upon arrival? Or does anyone start fresh at the destination, adding stans and re-inflate? I'm planning to do the former, just want to make sure I'm not missing something here.

Asheville, NC - Pisgah National Forest has everything you need and the city has more breweries per capita than any other city. You can mountain bike year round but it's also way cooler than the rest of the south or much of the west in the summer. And you have the Blue Ridge Parkway for the occasional road tour as well. It truly is a "western" city with none of the price.

Considering we're racing in Scotland, I'd count walking in the rain and sipping whiskey "training" 

Just realized it was less than 3 months to the race! Super stokes. Hope everyone else's training is going well.

Kikoraa: I think it's a really well-rounded race in terms of terrain. Personally I think it's tailor made for a hardtail 29er but there's definitely enough singletrack and doubletrack to justify a FS. The first half of the race is mostly a 50/50 combination of gravel roads (30%), doubletrack (30%), paved roads (20%) and singletrack (10%). You'll be happy you have the FS on Stanley Gap and Hickory Nut. You'll hate life on Hogpen Gap and the climb up Tray Mountain. The second half of the race you're on the Pinhoti Trail. Except for one 30-mile road section and the final wee bit, you're almost exclusively on singletrack or narrow doubletrack, and for at least 8 particular miles you'll be super happy with the FS ;-)

Scott, you have to be talking about P4... P3 is pretty bad ass but that huge damn tree is still on P4! Someone should probably go clean that thing up...

Trying to figure out a) whether to bring my bike or rent; and b) if I bring, how I'm getting from and to the Glasgow airport. Any US riders (or other flyers) coming in on May 23? I know it's a bit early but since I wasn't sure of the logistics I didn't want to rush. Also... is it possible to ride out of the airport...? Anyone up for a "prologue?" 

dinglespeed - HA! Love it. I'm glad to hear you've had some good success with it. I'm a 1x9 kind of guy I've found but I have an SS when the time calls for it - which is when the multigeared bike needs too much attention to get ready for the ride.

I was just talking about an interesting idea for SS situations like TD and other long-distance bikepacking races/routes. What about running a multi-speed hub with spacers set up so you can have two cogs, like a 16T and a 20T. Then when you have those long sections of flat/downhill you can simply switch over to the smaller cog. You'd have to have two speed links in your chain so you could change the length easily (which would add an admitted weak spot in the chain) but just from a conceptual standpoint I'm intrigued by the idea. Very minimal weight for gaining another gear but keeping the simplicity of SS.

I'd also always thought a cool set up would be to use an old derailleur or tensioner and run a 2x1. A 32 and a 42 up front with just the front derailleur is pretty damn simple. Anyway, just some interesting thoughts. Not sure either of them are really practical.

DGJESSE - while I don't have bike storage myself I can arrange for storage in my parents' garage which is about 3 miles from Edinburgh Airport if that's any help? Just need to get the bike down there.

Thanks for the offer! I dont know if that will work but I did want to get over to Edinburgh so maybe. I will let you know as I figure out my logistics and plans after the race.

May 25th (Highland Trail Race) cannot come soon enough! This is drool worthy!

Just booked my ticket from Atlanta and getting in on May 23rd. If that jives with anyone's plans let me know. I also extended the trip so I can hang out with my wife afterwards so gotta figure out where to stash the bike after the race for a week or so.

LOI sent last night 

If you're thinking the TD or GDR, that's a different animal than things like TNGA. If you're fast enough you could get away riding TNGA with basically what you'd take for a long day of wilderness mountain biking. Just add about 10 lbs of food to that :-) I think you could definitely do carbon on that. A minor fix on the internal routing would be to just run full housing and zip tie it outside.

I built a full-susp. Niner Jet9 for the Colorado Trail and I'm really glad I did. On rocky stuff it just goes bananas and on the climbs the Fox shock really tightens up. If I were doing something like the TD I would definitely go steel hardtail (nicer steels like the Niners, Ritchey P-29er, and others) with a carbon seatpost or a good flexy Thomson are the way I'd go. Running tubeless with 15-20 psi on those frames will feel like you have a bit of suspension. Plus I've heard that if you don't get the right Ti frame, it can be quite "noodly." So can steel but the metal is easier to master than titanium. The simpler you can go, the better. If there's a point of failure on your set up that you don't know how to fix on the trail, that's a problem. Especially with the massive distances of the TD. Titanium is pretty bad ass.... the only reason I couldn't make myself buy it was a) I already had a high-end bike I loved and b) at $1100-1300 for a frame alone on sale day, I couldn't pull the trigger. For half the price of most ti frames you can have a full steel steed ready to go.

**FYI - it's heavy, but I think the Novara Intrepid 29er is one of the best fully-spec'd "TD Bikes" on the market. Steel. Hardtail. Good sturdy component set. Plenty of brazeons. And the 80mm fork for those washboarded roads. **disclaimer - I work at REI

Don't overthink it man. But here are your answers....

Georgia creek water is just fine, especially in the mountains. Regardless of where you are you still need to know where you're water's coming from - if it's coming from the bottom of a lake where lots of people recreate you're gonna need a more elaborate purifier to remove viruses and chemicals. If you're just getting water from a stream along the Pinhoti Trail, a simple filter (doesn't kill viruses) or tablets (don't remove chemicals) will be plenty.

As for choosing and prepping your campsite, ideally it would be an established campsite - meaning you can tell it's been used before - but not completely beat to hell. There's animal crap everywhere so besides the unpleasantness of laying in a pile of bear poo, don't worry about that too much. Bears and other critters are gonna be around at night and you probably won't even know it. Just make sure to put your food and scented items in a bear bag and hang it. That's as much for keeping it away from mice and possums as bears. Also look up in the trees - you don't want to set up your camp underneath a "widow-maker" which is a large dead limb or tree that could fall on you. Yes, just clear the sticks and sharp things out but don't completely landscape your campsite. Like I said, it should be an established site if possible to avoid trampling vegetation and creating more unofficial campsites.

And an e-blanket is one of those silvery mylar space blankets you see runners have after races and such. They only weigh about 2oz and are super versatile. I carry one with me pretty much any time I'm out backpacking or bikepacking. http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php?catname=Shelter&prodname=SOL%20Emergency%20Blanket&product=145

Southern Spain or Morocco.

I live in Georgia too. Honestly if you just want rest and it seems like you're going the super light route, I'd take an e-blanket as a ground cloth, your 20-degree bag, and a tarp as long as you're talking 10oz or less. I have a 5'x8' Integral Designs tarp that is perfect but even a tent footprint ($35-50) will work alright and weigh less than 10oz. I personally also really love the Z-Seat from Thermarest as it cushions my hips, provides a tiny bit of warmth, and is well worth the 2oz just for something to sit on making dinner.

This looks bad ass! What sort of percentage of singletrack, dirt road, and pavement are we looking at?

Alicia,

Specifically referring to places like Central and South America and the Atlas mountains, do you have any leads on actual mapped routes for those? Or are those just conceptual, "that'd be epic and worthy of a high ranking" sort of stuff? I'd love if you could share any long-distance trail information you have!

Well I think you're going to have an easier time getting there than me.