Hi guys, this is my first post here - and a long one!
It is good to see there is still discussion about this case well after the (even local) news has moved on. I am an experienced cyclist, semi-local to the area, and have driven the A82 countless times and walked the WHW at a similar time of year. I might be stating the obvious but I have a couple of points that might be of interest
There's been some discussion from cyclists about just how bad an idea this journey was, but I don't think the number and magnitude of the red flags have been fully spelled out to non-cyclists. It will be obvious to any cyclist that Tony is ill-prepared. Couple points here:
Firstly, Tony appears to have ridden what cyclists might call a 'bike shaped object' i.e. a poor quality generic brand bike from halfords or a supermarket. These are notoriously poor for any 'proper' cycling, which a 100 mile epic certainly qualifies as. This raises a range of points. Most importantly, was Tony equipped to deal with any issues that might have arisen? He might have carried spare tubes and a pump in his bag, but stereotypically (and judgmentally) one would not expect a cyclist on this kind of bike to be able to, for instance, replace/repair spokes if his wheel buckled hitting a pothole or fix a snapped chain with a spare pin or quick link. Either of these relatively common issues would render his bike unusable, and leave him stranded at night in the rain.
Second, to my mind he almost certainly overcooked it on the initial leg of his trip from Ft William to Glencoe. For an inexperienced cyclist, on a mountain bike, an average of 11 mph is very impressive. To me it is very unlikely that he could have sustained this pace for 100 miles.
Third, I have not read whether or not he had lights. Regardless, in cycling terminology there are lights to see and lights to be seen. For reliable lights
to see that are suitable for 6/7+ hours in pitch black you're talking at least £70/80+. This would be almost the cost of his bike.
Fourth, the A82 is not exactly a cycle-friendly road. It is a trunk road that is very busy with lumber and other goods lorries, buses, tourists etc. The thought of cycling it for 50 miles at night is quite frankly scary. The A85 from Crianlarich is much wider in places and less busy, but not ideal.
Fifth, while mobile network providers' maps claim there is good coverage in the general area, from personal experience there are areas without signal, even in Crianlarich. Coincidentally a significant stretch of the road between BoO and Tyndrum is not served by O2.
In terms of speculation:
Unfortunately it is not unheard of for similar cases to be found to be suicide. The problem with this idea in this case is that his train will have stopped at Tyndrum upper or lower on the way up - so why catch it to Ft William and cycle down? This makes it seem unlikely to me.
There have been suggestions that he might have passed through Tyndrum unnoticed. This seems unlikely - the forecourt camera at the green welly stop clearly catches the entire road, and this is the only road into Tyndrum from the north. However, if he had made his way onto the WHW prior to reaching tyndrum then he would not have been seen by the camera. Notably the route is very close to the road at this point and is a good easily-cycleable track, so would not be that unreasonable.
It is hard to believe he could accidentally take the wrong road before Tyndrum. The B8074 is a single track road. He would need to double back on himself to go to Inveroran. However by BoO he was likely very tired, wet, and potentially disorientated. Perhaps he took a side road thinking it was a short cut? But even then the B8074 leads west when he is going east. Alternatively there is a road to Loch Lyon but I would imagine that has been scoured already.
I really have no idea. If he called it quits for the night or his bike broke and he sought shelter, I would imagine that a reasonably healthy person could survive a night in september if there were no other issues. So why did he not make himself known to traffic on the road the following day?
The WHW is difficult to walk nevermind cycle, but he had clearly gone off-road at some point unless the Police and SAR missed him close to the roadside.
Off-roading alone in a strange area in the dark? That would be verging on clinical madness. From what I understand the WHW is extremely difficult to cycle for an experienced rider even in daylight.
From memory this part of the WHW is relatively easy to cycle, even for a novice. For example see
this image shows the general surface between Black Mount and Glen Coe. I think the entire Glen Coe to Inveroran stretch would be doable by a novice, it is similar surface. Inveroran to BoO is what cyclists would call single track, not really appropriate for a tired novice - though there is an alternative road route. BoO to Tyndrum is also a wide easily cycled track.
