Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Josh Reid finished his Highland Trail 550 ride in 5 days, 19 hours, and 42 minutes, an impressive feat in itself, but he also documented the entire experience. His latest video provides an inside look at this year’s event and the challenges riders faced on the 566-mile route. Watch the 57-minute video and find a short written reflection from Josh here…
Words, photos, and video by Josh Reid
Much of my job is to film bikepacking races, which sometimes take almost as long to edit as to film—an ultra after the ultra. My latest video is of the Highland Trail, a 550-mile bikepacking route in the Scottish Highlands. It can be ridden at any time of year, but the race is held every May. Previous years have been close, but this year was the first one with a 50/50 split between men and women.
“[The Highland Trail is] one of the best ultra bikepacking events in the whole of the off-road bikepacking event calendar,” says Kerry MacPhee in the film. When Kerry says best I think she means hardest. She was the first woman and third overall to finish. It’s a difficult one to ride, never mind film. I was hoping the weather gods would be kind, not just because it makes for less soggy riding, but also because it’s harder to film with a full-frame mirrorless camera, like my Canon EOS R6 Mark II, when it’s pissing down half the time. This wouldn’t be unusual in Scotland.
I use two lenses: the 70-200mm F2.8L and the more affordable 16mm F2.8 ultra-wide. I’m a big fan of this combination, and it’s the same setup that I used to film the Tour Divide last year. It gives a good lens to ride with on the bike, with the ability to record pieces to camera, and then switch to a pro zoom lens to get beautiful landscape and wildlife shots.
Five hundred fifty miles? I did a bit more. For some shots, I need to ride back to retrieve the camera after abandoning it on the ground whilst filming myself riding. I am not complaining; I enjoy the process, and it’s a joy to piece the puzzle together back at home when my feet aren’t as perpetually wet as they were on this challenging and dramatic ride.
Pro tip: for the fully immersive experience, watch the film with wet socks and a wee dram of whisky.
Check out the 2026 HT550 Tracker page to find our Rigs of the HT550 roundup, and more coverage from the event. Find it here.
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