Detours: Bikepacking, Ultra-Cycling and Adventures by Bike

For the first time ever, the Highland Trail 550 has a 50-50 gender split on the startline. For the 14th edition in 2026, 32 women will be racing. Since 2022, Alan has worked hard to build a 50-50 start list, encouraging women that they belong on the startline.

This year’s event is longer than previous editions, with 913km around the Scottish highlands. Created by Alan Goldsmith, it was inspired by events in the US like the Tour Divide and the Colorado Trail Race. As Alan describes it on the HT550 website: initially put together as a training ride, it became apparent that the great trails, beautiful scenery, remote wilderness, and fickle Scottish weather offered a world-class route for a self-supported challenge right here in the UK. The route follows stunning trails, includes some boggy and technical sections, and hike-a-bike to boot.

Watch our dots HERE as we make our way around the highlands.

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Nutrition is one of the most underestimated parts of bikepacking and ultra-distance racing. We can dial our kit, obsess over our gear, train for months — but if we're not fuelling well, none of it matters. This week, Dietician Uri Carlson is back on Detours, and this time we had a very specific agenda: Highland Trail 550 is on the horizon, and this year I'll be lining up for my first time, and I wanted to make sure I left no stone unturned. 

We get into carb loading — when to start and how to think about it for a multi-day race that lasts a week — resupply strategy, hydration ranges, gut health and the microbiome, what to do when you're too nauseous to eat but still have a long way to go, and why under-fuelling is a bigger threat to your gut than any high-carb gel. A lot of the specifics are Highland Trail flavoured, but the fuelling principles apply to any ultra-endurance adventure you've got on the horizon.

You can also find the blog post version of this episode on Substack

Follow Uri on Instagram @uri_carlson_nutrition

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb
Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling
Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling
Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion
If you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast

What do you do when things don't go your way? When you're caught in the eye of a storm and unsure whether to continue. When the race you trained all winter for falls apart on day one.

Justyna Jarczok has been cycling for only two years, and in that short time she's found some answers. She's resilient, positive, and ambitious – and she just won the women's race at Dale's Divide.

We talk about decision making in extreme weather, reframing races that don't go to plan, the community that rallied when her bike was stolen, and why ultra feels like the place she belongs.

Follow Justyna's adventure on Instagram @justine_bike

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb
Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling
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Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion
If you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast

A lil life update on our recent trip to Spain, bikepacking around Girona, one month living overseas and the final few weeks of prep before Highland Trail 550. 

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb
Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling
Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling
Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion
If you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast

Gala Giannini is an ER doctor, ultra racer, and now event organizer based in northern Italy. She's raced Italy Divide, Gran Guanche, Silk Road, Atlas, and Badlands.

At her first ultra, there were maybe four women on the start line. At Atlas this year, the change was undeniable.

In this episode of Detours, we talk about the growing movement of more women on start lines, how winning a gravel bike by drawing a 180-kilometer reindeer on Strava led to her first ultra two months later, the parallels between night shifts in the ER and racing through the night, and the event she's building in the Italian Alps – named after a mythological goat with uneven legs.

Learn more about the Dahu Trail

Follow Gala's adventures: @gala.giannini

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb
Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling
Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling
Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion
If you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast