# Velo Viewer



## derrick (29 Dec 2016)

Who else checks there's'


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## steverob (29 Dec 2016)

Got to say I'm a big fan of VeloViewer as well - far better value than going Premium on Strava. Not going to post my yearly stats infographic yet as I've hopefully got at least one more ride in 2016 in me.

I've got to admit though I've been a little addicted about increasing my Explorer Max Square score over the past 12 months. Yesterday's ride got me up to 13x13 and I'm just one empty square away from getting to 18x18. Trouble is, that square has no roads or footpaths at all in it, so it'll have to be a cross country style run if I'm to get it, so I don't see that happening for a good few months yet.


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## Tom B (30 Dec 2016)

steverob said:


> Not going to post my yearly stats infographic yet as I've hopefully got at least one more ride in 2016 in me.



Ditto



> I've got to admit though I've been a little addicted about increasing my Explorer Max Square score over the past 12 months. Yesterday's ride got me up to 13x13 and I'm just one empty square away from getting to 18x18. Trouble is, that square has no roads or footpaths at all in it, so it'll have to be a cross country style run if I'm to get it, so I don't see that happening for a good few months yet.



Why did you have to tell me about that! sounds like my kinda thing!

I can see the explorer score on my summery page







But how to get to view more in depth such as missing tiles etc? I have a Pro subscription.


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## steverob (30 Dec 2016)

Go into the Activities page and switch on the Map button at top right. Underneath the map will be a tickbox to turn on the Explorer viewer; this will show you all the squares you've already crossed, plus highlighted in blue will be your current max square(s) so you can easily see what you need to cross to improve your score. 

Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!


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## Deanie81084 (30 Dec 2016)

Thanks for this! The infographic is cool.


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## Biff600 (30 Dec 2016)

Only been cycling since July, so next years info should be a vast improvement on this one.

I don't know where it got the running data from, I couldn't run a bath !!


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## Tom B (30 Dec 2016)

Biff600 said:


> I don't know where it got the running data from, I couldn't run a bath !!



One of your activities will be incorrectly classified. Just check for runs, edit and reclassify.

On my vv they show on the top right on the summery page.


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## Tom B (30 Dec 2016)

steverob said:


> Go into the Activities page..................
> 
> Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!



Cheers I'll give it a go on the proper computer.

Apparently according to the vv guy it is to encourage us to try other modes such a kayak...


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## Ian193 (30 Dec 2016)

Is it worth paying £10 a year for veloviewer


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## Tom B (31 Dec 2016)

steverob said:


> Go into the Activities page and switch on the Map button at top right. Underneath the map will be a tickbox to turn on the Explorer viewer; this will show you all the squares you've already crossed, plus highlighted in blue will be your current max square(s) so you can easily see what you need to cross to improve your score.
> 
> Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!








Genius.. This needs a VV tab of its own and probably a CC thread!

Am I correct in thinking that if I manage to do a ride into Square marked 1 in green ill get my 9x9?

Then if I do Squares 2 - 7 ill get my 10x10 - looks like the MTB is going to be getting dusted off!?


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## Deanie81084 (31 Dec 2016)

Here's mine for the year!


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## Tom B (31 Dec 2016)

Ian193 said:


> Is it worth paying £10 a year for veloviewer



I suppose it depends on you, how geeky you are and how attached to your tenner you are.

I'm pretty parsimonious, but I'm also pretty geeky so I love it and think it is great value - though it does take some getting used to and I am not sure I understand all the features!

Have you tried the free version first?


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## Mo1959 (31 Dec 2016)

Here's mine for the year. Not my best year but not my worst either. Happy enough


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## steverob (31 Dec 2016)

Well I didn't get out on the bike today like I'd planned, so my infographic still looks like this:


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## steverob (31 Dec 2016)

Tom B said:


> Genius.. This needs a VV tab of its own and probably a CC thread!
> 
> Am I correct in thinking that if I manage to do a ride into Square marked 1 in green ill get my 9x9?
> 
> Then if I do Squares 2 - 7 ill get my 10x10 - looks like the MTB is going to be getting dusted off!?



That's exactly right. Take a look at my map if you want to see the lengths that I've gone to in order to get to 13x13 - if you look carefully, you can see below all the roads I've been on that seem to be dead ends where I've just turned back as soon as I've got across the border to the next square. Most of these were single track farm "roads" that were really just giant potholes joined up by small amounts of bumpy tarmac or rough concrete. Not really suitable for a road bike, but couldn't find anyone who'd loan me an MTB!






And the cell highlighted in yellow is my nemesis - considering it's only two squares away from where I live, it's almost impossible to find a route to cross it as most of the land is a private solar farm guarded by tall fences. There's supposed to be a footpath across it, but when I looked once, I couldn't see how to access it when at ground level. The cell to its right and the one above that were also very difficult but I just literally crept far enough over the line to get them (though had to walk my bike both times!)


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## tallliman (31 Dec 2016)

As a result of this thread, I've been investigating some of the no through roads near me to up my square count!


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Dec 2016)




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## Deanie81084 (31 Dec 2016)

Supersuperleeds said:


> View attachment 155832


Some people just have to show off! Well done, very impressed :-)


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## MichaelO (1 Jan 2017)

tallliman said:


> As a result of this thread, I've been investigating some of the no through roads near me to up my square count!


I hadn't looked into the Explorer thing before - I can see this becoming my 2017 project!!


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## Tom B (1 Jan 2017)

MichaelO said:


> I hadn't looked into the Explorer thing before - I can see this becoming my 2017 project!!




Likewise! I'm even considering going ordering a Boardman Team FS MTB tomorrow to tackle some of the off road sections to rough for my hybrid. Also thinking up routes to cycle around the edge of my current squares.
How quickly does a BC discount card arrive?

MODS- I think i have rather hijacked the OPs original post with explorer talk, could you please split the thread?


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## Tom B (3 Jan 2017)

steverob said:


> And the cell highlighted in yellow is my nemesis - considering it's only two squares away from where I live, it's almost impossible to find a route to cross it as most of the land is a private solar farm guarded by tall fences. There's supposed to be a footpath across it, but when I looked once, I couldn't see how to access it when at ground level. The cell to its right and the one above that were also very difficult but I just literally crept far enough over the line to get them (though had to walk my bike both times!)



A few years ago some wannabe play farmers bought a field a the rear of my mums house and promptly fenced off a well used footpath. A few folk took issue with this and eventually got them to re-open the path. A coupe of tips, if you visit the local council website they will likely have a mapping system installed (try maps.councilname.gov.uk) you can then often set filters to find the definitive map of footpaths. If it is shown but you still cannot find access to it, contact the PROW officer at the council and ask for assistance - they are generally quite helpful and interested in something out of the usual complaints about dog poo. Failing that contact the ramblers assoc, if you find a blocked off footpath and let them know I can guarantee that within a week two dozen ramblers will turn up and want access, they can be rather militant, know exactly how to get access and are seemingly well resourced. If you look on the planning applications on the council site for a planning app near or affecting a footpath the generally write to a local walkers association who will give their views. This in my LA is then recorded on the planning app. You can also contact these guys an ask for assistance.

That square would properly annoy me!

PS
I went and collected my Sq 1, for my 9x9


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## Sbudge (3 Jan 2017)

steverob said:


> Go into the Activities page and switch on the Map button at top right. Underneath the map will be a tickbox to turn on the Explorer viewer; this will show you all the squares you've already crossed, plus highlighted in blue will be your current max square(s) so you can easily see what you need to cross to improve your score.
> 
> Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!



Dammit Steve, I've just had a look. There's a square like that between the villages of Marsh and Ford! Otherwise I could go from an 8x8 to 13x13 in a couple of rides max. Grrr. As it is I reckon I can get to 11x11 this weekend easy enough.


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## steverob (3 Jan 2017)

Sbudge said:


> Dammit Steve, I've just had a look. There's a square like that between the villages of Marsh and Ford! Otherwise I could go from an 8x8 to 13x13 in a couple of rides max. Grrr. As it is I reckon I can get to 11x11 this weekend easy enough.


Yeah, that cell is missing on my map as well, although it wouldn't come into play for me until after I got to 17x17, as my max square is all to the north and east of Aylesbury at the moment. There is a roadway of sorts that crosses that cell (coming from the direction of Ford - starts off as Water Lane, then turns into a concrete farm track) and I did start to ride down it one time, but about 1/3rd of the way along, there were big signs up saying Private Road, so I decided not to push my luck and turned back.


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## Twizit (3 Jan 2017)

steverob said:


> Go into the Activities page and switch on the Map button at top right. Underneath the map will be a tickbox to turn on the Explorer viewer; this will show you all the squares you've already crossed, plus highlighted in blue will be your current max square(s) so you can easily see what you need to cross to improve your score.
> 
> Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!



Oh dammit, now I've just given myself an interesting new target and some funny route planning for the next few weekends. Amazing what you can achieve in the first day back at work...


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## Sunny Portrush (3 Jan 2017)

Just had a look at Veloviewer and it`s just taken my first 25 rides from Strava as I havent upgraded - do you need to upgrade to get the results like SupersuperLeeds in past #17?

I could quite easily see me becoming addicted to this tho!


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## Smithbat (3 Jan 2017)

This is mine, not much in 2016 but i am aiming for 1500 miles in 2017.

is






Sbudge said:


> Dammit Steve, I've just had a look. There's a square like that between the villages of Marsh and Ford! Otherwise I could go from an 8x8 to 13x13 in a couple of rides max. Grrr. As it is I reckon I can get to 11x11 this weekend easy enough.


I have that square empty on mine too, also out to the north east of Aylesbury, I have a square between, the A413 and Hulcott that is just going to annoy me.


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jan 2017)

Sunny Portrush said:


> Just had a look at Veloviewer and it`s just taken my first 25 rides from Strava as I havent upgraded - do you need to upgrade to get the results like SupersuperLeeds in past #17?
> 
> I could quite easily see me becoming addicted to this tho!



No you don't need to upgrade to get that graphic, it might take a while to load up though as it has to go to Strava and get all your data to work it out.


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## summerdays (3 Jan 2017)

Tom B said:


> View attachment 155775
> 
> 
> Genius.. This needs a VV tab of its own and probably a CC thread!
> ...


That looks interesting ...


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## steverob (3 Jan 2017)

Smithbat said:


> I have that square empty on mine too, also out to the north east of Aylesbury, I have a square between, the A413 and Hulcott that is just going to annoy me.



Which square is that on the map I've previously posted? (e.g. go up one, right two from the yellow square). If I've already crossed it off, I'll be able to tell you exactly what I did to get it so you can try the same.


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## Sunny Portrush (3 Jan 2017)

There we go - don`t know why it`s chosen Sunderland as a start point!


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## chappers1983 (3 Jan 2017)

I can see me becoming addicted to this - love a good stat breakdown

Couldn't help but join in the fun and share my 2016 infographic


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## Smithbat (3 Jan 2017)

steverob said:


> Which square is that on the map I've previously posted? (e.g. go up one, right two from the yellow square). If I've already crossed it off, I'll be able to tell you exactly what I did to get it so you can try the same.


Looking at it, I think we have the same square empty....


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## bruce1530 (3 Jan 2017)

Just paid my tenner and signed up. Liking this “Explorer view” thing...

Unfortunately, where I live is on the coast, and one of the key squares for me is right in the middle of the bay.... and another key one appears to be moorland. But there are wind turbines up there - maybe need to break out the mountain bike :-)


Is there any sensible way to link the explorer view to a Garmin (I have an 810) - it would be good if I could somehow automatically generate a route that would increase my “square”....


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## al3xsh (4 Jan 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> Just paid my tenner and signed up. Liking this “Explorer view” thing...
> 
> Unfortunately, where I live is on the coast, and one of the key squares for me is right in the middle of the bay.... and another key one appears to be moorland. But there are wind turbines up there - maybe need to break out the mountain bike :-)
> 
> ...



Ben has released a chrome plugin that helps integrate with strava route planner to plot routes through empty explorer squares.

http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-explorer-score-and-max-square/


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## al3xsh (4 Jan 2017)

Here's my 2016 summary!


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## Sbudge (4 Jan 2017)

View attachment 156195

Well if we're all doing it ...this was my first full year on the bike mind you (so doesn't compare with many of the folks here)


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## tallliman (21 Jan 2017)

3 extra boxes crossed today, only 2 more away from moving from 12x12 to 16x16! This could become addictive but it's nice finding some strange new roads to ride down even if some are (essentially due to busy dual carriageways or really) dead ends.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Apr 2017)

Thanks to @tallliman and his endless quest to tick off explorer boxes I spent £10 to see what mine will be. I don't expect it to be high as the majority of my rides are to and from work, but over the summer I'm going to tick a shed load of boxes off.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Apr 2017)

That surprised me got 16x16 and another 7 squares needed for 19x19 and 11 for 20x20.


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## Sunny Portrush (18 Apr 2017)

If you live on the coast like I do, surely it`s impossible to build large squares unless you cycle in the sea (not recommended!)


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## bruce1530 (18 Apr 2017)

I’m on the coast too - it makes things more difficult - in my case I’m always starting from the bottom left of the square....


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## Saluki (18 Apr 2017)

I decided to cough up my tenner at the end of last year. I love my veloviewer. I am getting a bit geeky in my old age. Can't wait to move so I can ramp up my mileage without all the climbing and associated pain in my knees.


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2017)

I'm up to 16x16 I think but need 3 squares for 17x17 - all in Leicester. In actual square width, I'm around 21 but limited by the 2 cities to the north and south.


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2017)

Went and did a square today and my grid is now 20x16, I miscounted yesterday and need another 12 to turn it into a 20x20 square


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## si_c (19 Apr 2017)

Currently on an 8x8, but unfortunately limited by the fact that I live on a the Wirral, which as a peninsular cuts 45 degrees across the squares, meaning the largest grid you can do on the peninsular is 5x5. I've managed to get an 8x8, but spreading it out further is going to require some significantly longer rides through Cheshire and North Wales


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Went and did a square today and my grid is now 20x16, I miscounted yesterday and need another 12 to turn it into a 20x20 square



You've not had to resort to os maps to determine rights of way yet I see!


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2017)

tallliman said:


> You've not had to resort to os maps to determine rights of way yet I see!



Not yet, I think most of the squares around this way will be fine. They seem quite big as I thought we would get stuck with Rutland Water, but the path around it covers it all


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2017)

@tallliman I've found a square near South Croxton that looks like it only has footpaths on it. What are the rules for getting these squares? Do I have to carry the bike over the fields to get it or can I lock it up at the stile and walk with the GPS?


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2017)

I don't know! I'm trying to only get squares by bike but I've one near Gotham which looks pretty difficult to do so in a quandary.

Think I've got all of them round South Croxton, will check later.


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2017)

Yep, all the squares around South Croxton have been claimed. I'm missing one at Tilton On The Hill (but not been that way for a while) but have them all from Scraptoft/Tilton north to just south of Melton.

This is quite handy if you use chrome: http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2017)

tallliman said:


> Yep, all the squares around South Croxton have been claimed. I'm missing one at Tilton On The Hill (but not been that way for a while) but have them all from Scraptoft/Tilton north to just south of Melton.
> 
> This is quite handy if you use chrome: http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/



It's a bit further south than South Croxton, definitely no roads on it.

I don't use chrome, but have installed it and had a look and will be using it to plan routes to get the squares. Strava doesn't plot a route on the square mentioned above.


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## tallliman (20 Apr 2017)

Let me know how you get on....I've a square like that near Gotham!


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Apr 2017)

tallliman said:


> Let me know how you get on....I've a square like that near Gotham!



I've come up with two ideas.

1) Take a second GPS unit with me. Pause the one on the bike , walk into the square with the second unit and back to the point I paused the first unit and then carry on with the ride. Upload the walk as a run on Strava, this should give the square.

2) Not sure if this one is cheating or will work: Get as close to the square as possible and pause the GPS and then ride around the square so you have an "as the crow flies" line going through the square and turn the gps back onto recording. This will on Strava put a straight line through the square, it does mean you will lose some distance cycled and also may have to re do a square next to the one you are trying to get. 

I'm not sure if this will work as your data file may not record a point within the square and therefore veloviewer may not recognise it. It depends on how it verifies where you have been.

If the square is covered entirely by private land then bar a bit of trespassing 1) above won't work.

When I'm off in a couple of weeks I am going to see if 2) works


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## si_c (20 Apr 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I've come up with two ideas.
> 
> 1) Take a second GPS unit with me. Pause the one on the bike , walk into the square with the second unit and back to the point I paused the first unit and then carry on with the ride. Upload the walk as a run on Strava, this should give the square.
> 
> ...


#1 Seems perfectly reasonable to me.


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## steverob (20 Apr 2017)

As the person responsible for derailing this thread onto the subject of Explorer Squares, I thought I should at least update with my own progress. A few months ago, I dug out the running shoes and went on a rather marshy cross country jog to get that one square near me that didn't have any sort of cycleable trails across it and that took me from 13x14 right up to 17x17 in one hit. Since then, have started doing some rides in and around Milton Keynes to cross off squares which will lead to getting possibly an 18 or a 19 square in future, but for now I'm on 17x20.


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## steverob (20 Apr 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I've come up with two ideas.
> 
> 1) Take a second GPS unit with me. Pause the one on the bike , walk into the square with the second unit and back to the point I paused the first unit and then carry on with the ride. Upload the walk as a run on Strava, this should give the square.
> 
> ...



1) I've done that, except I didn't even bother breaking it into two separate activities. Edge of a square was about 200 yards off a main road and there was a bridleway that would get to it, but it would have involved lifting the bike over two stiles to get there (and then back over them again to get back to the road) and I couldn't be bothered. So I locked the bike to a gate, removed the GPS device and took it with me on a walk far enough to get the square and then came back and carried on the ride. Strava just sees it as a couple of minutes where I was travelling at 2 mph - my average speed isn't that fast that this would affect it much anyway!

2) I could test this just by editing one of my recent rides - if I export it as a GPX and delete a chunk of waypoints, it will look like a straight line crosses an otherwise empty square that the road skirts round. Will upload it as a test and see what happens (will delete it afterwards, keeping the original ride) and let you know.


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Apr 2017)

If I can get this pesky square a 70 mile ride will take my square to 20x20


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## steverob (20 Apr 2017)

steverob said:


> 2) I could test this just by editing one of my recent rides - if I export it as a GPX and delete a chunk of waypoints, it will look like a straight line crosses an otherwise empty square that the road skirts round. Will upload it as a test and see what happens (will delete it afterwards, keeping the original ride) and let you know.



Tested and confirmed - as long as the line goes over some part of the square, even if it has no waypoints in it, VeloViewer will mark it as having been crossed. Now whether that is "cheating" or not is another matter that I think will be down to personal opinion... (gets popcorn ready)

There's an ex-RAF base near me that is now a "secure" business park that takes up almost exactly the whole of one square that I know I'll probably never be able to access, but I still think there's a possibility of getting close enough to one of the square borders via an unmarked country lane (former railway trackbed) to cross it off. The trouble is I'd need a mountain bike (or something with very good suspension) to get down it and there's nowhere round me that rents out bikes any more. Doesn't matter too much as there's a number of other difficult squares I'd need to cross off before this one even became an issue - probably at around 22x22?


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## tallliman (20 Apr 2017)

I think I prefer (1) from an honesty perspective, it feels more like you've actually visited the square in question.

Thanks @steverob for getting us started, it's good fun trying these new roads.


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Apr 2017)

I'm not too worried about the honesty perspective as you are actually having to ride around the square to be able to tick it off. Plus this method means the adjacent square you use to go around will not get flagged as being ridden, so you will have to do that one twice. I do think it should only be used for squares with no ridable roads on them though.


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## Sunny Portrush (20 Apr 2017)

steverob said:


> Tested and confirmed - as long as the line goes over some part of the square, even if it has no waypoints in it, VeloViewer will mark it as having been crossed. Now whether that is "cheating" or not is another matter that I think will be down to personal opinion... (gets popcorn ready)
> 
> There's an ex-RAF base near me that is now a "secure" business park that takes up almost exactly the whole of one square that I know I'll probably never be able to access, but I still think there's a possibility of getting close enough to one of the square borders via an unmarked country lane (former railway trackbed) to cross it off. The trouble is I'd need a mountain bike (or something with very good suspension) to get down it and there's nowhere round me that rents out bikes any more. Doesn't matter too much as there's a number of other difficult squares I'd need to cross off before this one even became an issue - probably at around 22x22?




All you need to do is put your gps unit into a small secure bag, tie it to a fishing line and cast your unit far enough into the square before reeling it back in again lol


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## Sunny Portrush (20 Apr 2017)

Just paid my tenner and her is mine - as you can see, the big wet blue thing plays havoc with my squares!


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## huggy (20 Apr 2017)

This could become a new obsession while helping the old obsession of the Eddington Number. Swimming required in 3 directions, if walking/running the coast path is included I think I can just fill in Milford Haven water way then a 20x20 or so should be possible with Tenby in the South East corner.


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## tallliman (21 Apr 2017)

@hoggy, once you start looking, it quickly becomes an obsession


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## si_c (21 Apr 2017)

Here's mine, looking at this my best bet for a decent sized square is going to be NW, completely boxed in.


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## huggy (21 Apr 2017)

Looks like a job for a pedalo.


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## Milkfloat (21 Apr 2017)

huggy said:


> Looks like a job for a pedalo.



I read that very incorrectly first time around and was wondering why Sir Jimmy was bought into this.


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Apr 2017)

Went out and ticked another square off. Had the choice of riding the A46 - no thanks, or a quiet road that only led to the A46. Took the quiet road, was a fantastic climb, nice steady gradient, Strava has it as 189 feet of climbing over 1.7 miles. Got to the top, turned around and came back to work.


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Apr 2017)

Sunny Portrush said:


> Just paid my tenner and her is mine - as you can see, the big wet blue thing plays havoc with my squares!
> 
> View attachment 348484





huggy said:


> This could become a new obsession while helping the old obsession of the Eddington Number. Swimming required in 3 directions, if walking/running the coast path is included I think I can just fill in Milford Haven water way then a 20x20 or so should be possible with Tenby in the South East corner.
> 
> View attachment 348505



You're both going to have to befriend a dolphin and strap your GPS to its back.


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## Sunny Portrush (21 Apr 2017)

I was looking again at it and noticed a solitary dot in New York. I had forgotten that I used Strava when my wife and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge!


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## tallliman (21 Apr 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Went out and ticked another square off. Had the choice of riding the A46 - no thanks, or a quiet road that only led to the A46. Took the quiet road, was a fantastic climb, nice steady gradient, Strava has it as 189 feet of climbing over 1.7 miles. Got to the top, turned around and came back to work.



Nice little climb that one! Did the same thing earlier this year!


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Apr 2017)

Now up to 18x18. @tallliman I plan to do some squares around your end tomorrow morning.


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## tallliman (23 Apr 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Now up to 18x18. @tallliman I plan to do some squares around your end tomorrow morning.



I'd join you but I'm in London this weekend!


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## tallliman (24 Apr 2017)

We've a lot of work to do to catch some people on this: http://blog.veloviewer.com/meet-the-explorers/


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Apr 2017)

tallliman said:


> We've a lot of work to do to catch some people on this: http://blog.veloviewer.com/meet-the-explorers/



Flip, I don't think I'll get to that level


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## Sunny Portrush (27 Apr 2017)

Went out today and crossed a few squares to up my overall square to a massive 7x7 lol

North West Corner is now a goner tho!


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## Supersuperleeds (4 May 2017)

Rode out to the pesky square that has no roads in it and walked the footpath. When I came back to the bike there was a woman from the farm looking concerned. She was worried as it was unusual for a bike to be left in the middle of nowhere. 

I explained what I was doing and she looked at me as if I was a sandwich short of a picnic. I confirmed to her I was indeed a can short of a six pack when I told her I was now going to ride to the top of the hill to go down a field road to bag another square 

Now up to 20x20, to get 21x21 I need to get squares on all sides of my current square so might take a few rides


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## tallliman (4 May 2017)

Gonna have to check if I have that square now I know which one it is! Will the lady be more or less confused if someone else does it I wonder?

Got to 17x17 the other day. My main issue is that I need sparsely covered squares or trips round Leicester! Neither are necessarily nice cycling trips!


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## Supersuperleeds (4 May 2017)

tallliman said:


> Gonna have to check if I have that square now I know which one it is! Will the lady be more or less confused if someone else does it I wonder?
> 
> Got to 17x17 the other day. My main issue is that I need sparsely covered squares or trips round Leicester! Neither are necessarily nice cycling trips!



If you want to ride south I'm happy to guide you.


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## tallliman (4 May 2017)

@Supersuperleeds, we can discuss at the weekend but I'll try and send you a map. Some suburban bits of Leicester need covering!


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## al3xsh (5 May 2017)

So,thanks to this thread , I'm now obsessing about ticking off the squares round here! However, there are several squares that are causing me trouble due to no roads running through them (highlighted with black boarders!). I'm currently on 9x8 with 4 squares (requiring mtb or getting off and walking) stopping me from getting to 14x9! You'd never guess that I actually live about 5 miles from the top right of the blue square!


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## Milkfloat (5 May 2017)

al3xsh said:


> However, there are several squares that are causing me trouble due to no roads running through them (highlighted with black boarders!).



Is this cheating?


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## HorTs (5 May 2017)

steverob said:


> Go into the Activities page and switch on the Map button at top right. Underneath the map will be a tickbox to turn on the Explorer viewer; this will show you all the squares you've already crossed, plus highlighted in blue will be your current max square(s) so you can easily see what you need to cross to improve your score.
> 
> Just a warning though - once you start down this path, you'll spend the next few months obsessing over that one square that you can't find any way of getting to on your bike!



Don't take this the wrong way but after reading this I hate you.

Just planning an absurdly indirect route to take in missed squares.


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## Supersuperleeds (5 May 2017)

Now up to 21x21, going to have to start catching trains or taking the car out to new starting points soon.


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## HorTs (5 May 2017)

Having just checked I'm on 8x8. I've planned a 60 mile ride that should make that 12x12. Annoyingly (only for the purposes of this) I live by the sea so there are many squares that are beyond marking to my south.


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## Sunny Portrush (5 May 2017)

HorTs said:


> Having just checked I'm on 8x8. I've planned a 60 mile ride that should make that 12x12. Annoyingly (only for the purposes of this) I live by the sea so there are many squares that are beyond marking to my south.



I think they should make special squares for thos of us who live by the coast!


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## wajc (7 May 2017)

Another Max Square fan here located just east of Lincoln. Got the bug when I signed up to Veloviewer last December for the extra stats it gave - then discovered the Max Square Score (was on 8x8 at the time). Currently on 21x21 and need 1 square for 22x22. Hoping to get on the leaderboard (28x28 needed).

I've had to negotiate a few farm tracks but nothing too daring yet. Can't go too far east otherwise I'll be hindered by the Wash and Humber to the North. Area either side of the Trent to the West may be a bit difficult but it will be a while before I need to worry about those.

I have a bit of a KOM addiction as well but like the Max Square for encouraging me to investigate new routes. Also no one can take the squares back off you


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## Mark1978 (7 May 2017)

wajc said:


> I have a bit of a KOM addiction as well but like the Max Square for encouraging me to investigate new routes. Also no one can take the squares back off you
> 
> View attachment 351333



226 KOM, holy moley!! That's crackalackin'


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## HorTs (8 May 2017)

I'd like a way I could plot a route on the red gridded map so I could see exactly what boxes I'm in.


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## bruce1530 (8 May 2017)

HorTs said:


> I'd like a way I could plot a route on the red gridded map so I could see exactly what boxes I'm in.


That's sort of possible if you're pre-planning a route - if you install the veloviewer extension for Chrome http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/ and then start the Strava route builder, it'll overlay the current grid on the map when you're setting up a new route.

Not so easy to do in real time tho...


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## HorTs (8 May 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> That's sort of possible if you're pre-planning a route - if you install the veloviewer extension for Chrome http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/ and then start the Strava route builder, it'll overlay the current grid on the map when you're setting up a new route.
> 
> Not so easy to do in real time tho...



Thanks, that is exactly what I was after!


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## Supersuperleeds (9 May 2017)

Ended up doing two miles on a bridleway over the fields near Winwick today for this pesky game


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## tallliman (9 May 2017)

I think I've decided I want all the squares in the square between Leicester, Nottingham and the A1.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 May 2017)

23x23


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## tallliman (11 May 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 23x23



Your need 29 for the leaderboard.....


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## Supersuperleeds (11 May 2017)

tallliman said:


> Your need 29 for the leaderboard.....



That will take some time, I'm only 2 squares off 24x24 but its over 40 miles round trip to get them! 

Anyway next explorer square ride is to get yours up


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## tallliman (11 May 2017)

Hehe! I can't wait for that on Saturday! Hopefully I'll be over this cold bug thing by then!


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## Supersuperleeds (11 May 2017)

tallliman said:


> Hehe! I can't wait for that on Saturday! Hopefully I'll be over this cold bug thing by then!



It will be a steady ride as the first part of the ride is city streets as we tick off those first few boxes no bridleways though . I went and tested the cake at Ellis Tea Rooms today, it passed inspection but not Nice Pie quality.


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## tallliman (11 May 2017)

I'm looking forward to it.....a steady ride will be fine!


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## tallliman (13 May 2017)

19x19!! :-)


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## Drago (13 May 2017)

Milkfloat said:


> Is this cheating?
> 
> View attachment 350902



One of those flew slowly over my back garden the other day. I was sat in the sun cleaning my shotgun and airguns. If my Weinrauch air rifle hadn't been semi dismantled in my hands I'd have shot the blooming thing down.


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## wajc (14 May 2017)

75km ride today took me to 22 x 22.

3 short bits of off road about 2km in total.

Was dressed in my best ninja cycling gear (a bright yellow cycling top) as one short stretch was down a farm track with no public right of way - with the farm house about 100m away. No one came after me with a shotgun so it must have worked well


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## bruce1530 (14 May 2017)

I got to 12x12 today.

Getting further is going to be a challenge - it’ll take time. 

I can’t go west or south, cos I don’t have a Pedalo.
North is difficult cos its moorland without even farm tracks - although I think there are some wind farm access tracks that might help - but not on a road bike!

So I’m now in a position where my home is outside my “square” - so any trip to bag another square is a minimum of 40k or so, just to get to the general area!


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## Supersuperleeds (14 May 2017)

wajc said:


> 75km ride today took me to 22 x 22.
> 
> 3 short bits of off road about 2km in total.
> 
> Was dressed in my best ninja cycling gear (a bright yellow cycling top) as one short stretch was down a farm track with no public right of way - with the farm house about 100m away. No one came after me with a shotgun so it must have worked well



I'd give you a double like if I could. I "missed" a private no right of way sign the other day getting a square


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## tallliman (14 May 2017)

No such shenanigans for me yet.....20x20 now....missed on on the other side of the trent. Will try and get it after work one day.


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## graham bowers (15 May 2017)

It would appear my joining VV has jinxed it as it appears to be "down" this morning. I'm in the process of loading my past rides to Strava so I can see what my square really is.


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## graham bowers (15 May 2017)

al3xsh said:


> So,thanks to this thread , I'm now obsessing about ticking off the squares round here! However, there are several squares that are causing me trouble due to no roads running through them (highlighted with black boarders!). I'm currently on 9x8 with 4 squares (requiring mtb or getting off and walking) stopping me from getting to 14x9! You'd never guess that I actually live about 5 miles from the top right of the blue square!
> 
> View attachment 350901


How is the black highlighting done please?


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## tallliman (15 May 2017)

@graham bowers, it appears to be back up now!


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## graham bowers (15 May 2017)

tallliman said:


> @graham bowers, it appears to be back up now!



Magic. I've completed uploading my historic rides to Strava (I've logged to RWGPS since late 2015). I have several VV 6 by 6 squares - lots of potential as an estate agent may say ;-))


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## tallliman (15 May 2017)

Looks good Graham, you should progress quickly!!


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## al3xsh (15 May 2017)

graham bowers said:


> How is the black highlighting done please?



Just in paint on the pc ☺


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## graham bowers (15 May 2017)

al3xsh said:


> Just in paint on the pc ☺


The black really helped visualise the empty squares so I optimistically hoped there was a feature in VV to do that - ah well...........


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## steverob (16 May 2017)

During my injury enforced lay-off from cycling, I've gotten a bit bored and have resorted to scoping out future routes that I can do to increase the number of squares covered once I get back on the bike, and more importantly back to full fitness. To this end, I've plotted my current squares on an Excel spreadsheet (I found it makes it a lot easier to see everything without the background map in the way) and have added in the squares that I'll cover if I do end up doing those planned routes.




Told you I was bored!

Yellow are the squares I've already covered, the black border is my current largest contiguous square (17x18) and the various shades of orange and brown (numbered) are the routes I've planned in Strava already - just by doing routes 1 and 4 only, I would increase my largest square to 19x20. Also, the green marked area is my home town of Aylesbury (the X being the square where I live) to give you an idea of how far I'll have to travel to reach the edges of my current map. I'll admit that most of these routes are just to fill in annoying gaps in the map and won't have any effect on my largest square size, but I'm a bit of a completist in that way.

If I could just cover that one blank square to the south of Aylesbury, that would dramatically expand my largest square (in one direction at least), but this will probably require a walk in the country - quite a few footpaths cross this square but none of them are cycle-able. The blank squares to the west are a lot harder however - no plans for these at the moment.


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## HorTs (16 May 2017)

I think Velo Viewer Explorer Squares deserses its own thread.


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## wajc (23 May 2017)

After my ride last weekend I'm up to 24 x 24. The goal posts keep moving though - you now need 30 x 30 to get on the leader board.

For info for those considering or already taking part in this endeavour madness, the Veloviewer extension for Chrome mentioned up thread is a great help. Obviously Google Streetview and Satellite Images as well, but also Bing Maps https://www.bing.com/maps as it has an option to view the Ordnance Survey Map which helps with identifying any footpaths/bridleways/tracks etc you may need to 'cycle' along.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 May 2017)

I'm planning on doing a 40 mile round trip on Saturday to tick off two squares to take me to 24x24. Must be mad


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## wajc (16 Jun 2017)

There has been a big update by Ben on Veloviewer allowing him to be far more accurate on how he identifies whether or not you have actually entered a square.

http://blog.veloviewer.com/explorer-tile-calculation-updates/

For me the effect has been to reduce my max square from 24 x 24, to 14 x 14.

Others have obviously been hit harder as I have now appeared on the leader board in 20th position which was my aim.

I could stop now  -


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## tallliman (16 Jun 2017)

It's been mentioned on the other vv thread. It hit me quite hard to be honest but shouldn't be too difficult to regain that lost ground.


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## wajc (16 Jun 2017)

I'm off the leader board now, must be taking a while to get everybody's data processed, I'd imagine it's quite a task. To be honest I've already been looking at what I need to do to regain those squares - so won't be stopping yet !

I'll take a look at the other thread thanks.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Jun 2017)

Today's ride took me back to 23x23


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## tallliman (17 Jun 2017)

I'm up to 17x19 now, only a few squares to recover back to 23x23


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## tallliman (18 Jun 2017)

Looks like clumps may be the new max squares: https://explorersquare.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/clump-examples/

I quite like it as an idea as I'm a little constrained by Nottingham and Derby to the north and Leicester to the south which I'd rather avoid so I could easily have a clump that does just that and caters to my trips toward Lincoln. Any other have thoughts on it?


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## tallliman (18 Jun 2017)

Indeed, you can now see your "max clump" on your activities tab, mine is 637 squares!


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Jun 2017)

Max clump for me is 803


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## HorTs (19 Jun 2017)

I lost about 240 tiles in the great cull :-(


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jun 2017)

My job is done. I am 20th on the leaderboard for max square 

Won't last long though once everyone starts clawing back their lost squares


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## graham bowers (20 Jun 2017)

tallliman said:


> Looks like clumps may be the new max squares: https://explorersquare.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/clump-examples/
> 
> I quite like it as an idea as I'm a little constrained by Nottingham and Derby to the north and Leicester to the south which I'd rather avoid so I could easily have a clump that does just that and caters to my trips toward Lincoln. Any other have thoughts on it?



I think max clump / cluster lacks the geometric elegance of max square, but who cares, its only a game ;-))


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jun 2017)

I like the max clump as it is making me look at squares further away from the max square than I would normally look at.


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## graham bowers (20 Jun 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I like the max clump as it is making me look at squares further away from the max square than I would normally look at.


Fair point, when planning a ride for my own enjoyment I prefer to go somewhere distant I haven't been to before. My extremely short max-square career has taken me to some enjoyable local lanes though. I need to re-read the cluster rules in order to understand how choice of route/new squares affects the max cluster statistic.


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## wajc (20 Jun 2017)

Now back up to 17 x 17.

Not sure how many tiles I've lost overall, there are only a few that I've specifically targeted since starting on this mission - most have been lost due to the removal of the 100m grace we had.

With hindsight I should have made sure of those targeted squares but wanted to spend as little time as possible on those 'Private Roads'.

The positives to come out of this recent update are that we now have a truer square count and I don't have to plan such long routes - for a while anyway.


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Jun 2017)

Now back to 24x24 

Now off the leaderboard


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## tallliman (25 Jun 2017)

Well done, I need time to do some non-commuting rides to get my square back up.


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## tallliman (4 Jul 2017)

Calling the latest convert @13 rider


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## 13 rider (4 Jul 2017)

Reluctant convert here riding with 2 explores for the last couple of months I have finally caved in .
First ride today deliberately target squares today . 29 new ones and up to 9 by 9 first dead end road riden  max cluster 300 . Starting low I can make some easy gains


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## Supersuperleeds (4 Jul 2017)

13 rider said:


> Reluctant convert here riding with 2 explores for the last couple of months I have finally caved in .
> First ride today deliberately target squares today . 29 new ones and up to 9 by 9 first dead end road riden  max cluster 300 . Starting low I can make some easy gains



You're going to regret not doing that square with me and @tallliman near the River Trent on the last Lincoln ride


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## Effyb4 (4 Jul 2017)

My square is back to 7x7. I had to go along a dead end bridle path to get one square and ride along a short section of a busy A road to get another.


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## 13 rider (4 Jul 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> You're going to regret not doing that square with me and @tallliman near the River Trent on the last Lincoln ride


It will be a while before I need that one


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## 13 rider (4 Jul 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> You're going to regret not doing that square with me and @tallliman near the River Trent on the last Lincoln ride


It will be a while before I need that one


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Jul 2017)

Max cluster now up to 890 and Max square 27*27


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## HorTs (7 Jul 2017)

Where is the leaderboard for the max sqaure and cluster?


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Jul 2017)

HorTs said:


> Where is the leaderboard for the max sqaure and cluster?



Max Square No 1 is 50! 20th is 27. Don't know about the clusters


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## wajc (7 Jul 2017)

HorTs said:


> Where is the leaderboard for the max sqaure and cluster?



If you look at the summary tab for your Veloviewer profile you will see a box to the right with your activity stats in. To the right of this box is a button labelled 'Club and Overall Leader boards'. Click on this and the leader boards appear. You can select various leader boards including Max Square, Cluster, Tiles etc and you can also filter by year or select 'All Years'


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## tallliman (8 Jul 2017)

Back up to 19x19. 4-5 squares still needed to get back to 23x23.


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## 13 rider (9 Jul 2017)

Square disaster today been out today and bagged a few squares around Melton to expand my square only for my GPS to go flat with 68 miles on the clock a mile from home . Got home plugged in the charger ride recovered but only uploaded 14 miles so no new squares .


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## tallliman (9 Jul 2017)

There are ways and means for "mocking up" the route to get the squares but I don't know how I feel about the ethics of that. (Not that I'm the arbiter of veloviewer justice!)

Welby Lane is a lovely way of getting that square by the way, nice gradual climb up to Ab Kettleby.


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## 13 rider (9 Jul 2017)

tallliman said:


> There are ways and means for "mocking up" the route to get the squares but I don't know how I feel about the ethics of that. (Not that I'm the arbiter of veloviewer justice!)
> 
> Welby Lane is a lovely way of getting that square by the way, nice gradual climb up to Ab Kettleby.


Not really bothered about the squares .it was a nice ride so I will do it again . I did Welby lane but went right past the old pit to Melton to get another square then did the A 6006 to Upper Broughton


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## wajc (9 Jul 2017)

13 rider said:


> Square disaster today been out today and bagged a few squares around Melton to expand my square only for my GPS to go flat with 68 miles on the clock a mile from home . Got home plugged in the charger ride recovered but only uploaded 14 miles so no new squares .



That's a pain. If it's a Garmin you have with FIT file output the link below takes you to a Fit File Repair Tool. I've used it myself to repair corrupted files before. Hope it is of help.

http://garmin.kiesewetter.nl/


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## 13 rider (9 Jul 2017)

wajc said:


> That's a pain. If it's a Garmin you have with FIT file output the link below takes you to a Fit File Repair Tool. I've used it myself to repair corrupted files before. Hope it is of help.
> 
> http://garmin.kiesewetter.nl/


Thanks but it's a wahoo bolt . Just contact support to see if there something similar


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## tallliman (9 Jul 2017)

13 rider said:


> Thanks but it's a wahoo bolt . Just contact support to see if there something similar



A quick Google in an ad break says the Bolt file type is .fit so you should be able to use the site.


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## graham bowers (10 Jul 2017)

I'm pretty sure that I've seen a value in veloviewer for the distance advanced per pedal stroke. I imagine it calculates this from the cadence and speed sensor data. Boogered if I can find it - can anybody point me in the right direction please?


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## 13 rider (12 Jul 2017)

13 rider said:


> Square disaster today been out today and bagged a few squares around Melton to expand my square only for my GPS to go flat with 68 miles on the clock a mile from home . Got home plugged in the charger ride recovered but only uploaded 14 miles so no new squares .


It lives all data recovered and all square back 
Brought my work laptop home and as able to get the file off the wahoo then manually upload to strava after deleting the ride that was up uploaded 
Now 12 by 12


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## tallliman (13 Jul 2017)

Good to hear! 

My max clump is now over 700 squares after yesterday's ride with it able to grow a fair bit more if I do another ride to the west of Derby.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jul 2017)

Went and bagged four new squares on the way into work this morning. Increased my max cluster by 25 and it now stretches to Rutland Water.


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## Colin_P (14 Jul 2017)

I was on VV before you had to pay then gave up but have now just paid the £10 inspired by this thread.

I'm never going to achieve very much in the scheme of things with a damaged heart and taking huge numbers of drugs to keep my heart from killing me along with the defib-pacemaker but don't do to badly all that considered.

Here are my lowly stats;

77 tiles, average of 71.268 mi per tile
Max square 6x6 
Max Cluster: 42

Most of my bike rides are short and not far from home so I'm focussing on the average miles per tile 

It is a new metric I'm going to call the "Perfect Square"; being the Average miles per tile over total tiles. Mine is 92.55%. If get another tile it will drop to 91.36%, another ten tiles it would be 81.91%. This obviously doesn't factor in the miles you would ride to get any new tiles.

Out of interest, for you cycling warriors, what is your average distance per tile and "Perfect Sqaure % ? (post up your stats in the three lines above and i'll quite happily work it out for you if you want).

Also, how many have dropped Strava premium since signing up to VV (if you ever had it that is)?


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## tallliman (14 Jul 2017)

2,905 tiles, 7.624miles/tile. So my % will be very low by your new metric! 

Still a premium member on strava despite veloviewer.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jul 2017)

Colin_P said:


> I was on VV before you had to pay then gave up but have now just paid the £10 inspired by this thread.
> 
> I'm never going to achieve very much in the scheme of things with a damaged heart and taking huge numbers of drugs to keep my heart from killing me along with the defib-pacemaker but don't do to badly all that considered.
> 
> ...



1648 tiles, average 52.102 = 3.16%
Max Square 27x27
Max Cluster 917

Never done Strava Premium.


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## 13 rider (14 Jul 2017)

1380 tiles , 9.5 miles per tile
Max square 13 by 13
Max cluster 452


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## Colin_P (14 Jul 2017)

Some astonishing figures there Gents. 

I think that metric I made up above needs to go straight in the bin 

Currently 6x6 but will aim for 9x9 by year end.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jul 2017)

Colin_P said:


> Some astonishing figures there Gents.
> 
> I think that metric I made up above needs to go straight in the bin
> 
> Currently 6x6 but will aim for 9x9 by year end.



The metric needs to be number of tiles times miles per tile


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jul 2017)

Another 28 squares today and 50 more to the max cluster.


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## tallliman (15 Jul 2017)

Nice gains there!


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## steverob (15 Jul 2017)

1175 tiles, average of 8.453 mi per tile
Max square 17x17
Max Cluster: 713

Planned ride for tomorrow should get me another five tiles hopefully, of which one is a particularly awkward one that would significantly increase my max cluster.


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jul 2017)

tallliman said:


> Nice gains there!



Went and got the squares around Market Harborough, went down one horrid bridleway but it was for two squares so I carried on 

Rear mudguard bracket snapped on me so had to ride the last 15 or so miles with it rubbing on the tyre


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## tallliman (15 Jul 2017)

Hehe! You've not had a good week for mechanicals have you!?!

I've been doing some planning for future square grabbing but struggling for the days to do them!


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jul 2017)

tallliman said:


> Hehe! You've not had a good week for mechanicals have you!?!
> 
> I've been doing some planning for future square grabbing but struggling for the days to do them!



Nightmare week for mechanicals 

If you are heading Derby way I'll have to join you, got nothing that way.


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## huggy (15 Jul 2017)

My lowly stats, only been on Strava for 16 months or so - 630 tiles, average of 6.146 km per tile
Max square 9x9
Max Cluster: 149
Did do Strava Premium last year, turned it off for the winter and VV just about satisfies the stats need just miss the form and fitness graph and the live segments but square chasing has replaced moving from 678th to 656th in a list.


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## tallliman (15 Jul 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Nightmare week for mechanicals
> 
> If you are heading Derby way I'll have to join you, got nothing that way.



I'm gonna try and do some of the Derby ones after work as there's little between me and there that I need. Assuming the test doesn't go to Tuesday, I'll try and do some of the ones south of Leicester that I need.


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## 13 rider (6 Aug 2017)

Up to 16 * 16 after today's ride max cluster 592


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## Supersuperleeds (6 Aug 2017)

Today's ride took me to 28x28 and increased my max cluster to 1054


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## 13 rider (6 Aug 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Today's ride took me to 28x28 and increased my max cluster to 1054


I did notice one or two dead end lanes on your strava today


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## Supersuperleeds (6 Aug 2017)

13 rider said:


> I did notice one or two dead end lanes on your strava today



There were a few, a couple of dodgy bridleways and a bit of climbing over gates to ride on private land


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## tallliman (13 Aug 2017)

Up to 21x21 now with a max cluster of 864, just shy of 3,000 squares total!

Hoping to get a few more next weekend but think I probably need some horrid Leicester and Nottingham squares now!


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Aug 2017)

tallliman said:


> Up to 21x21 now with a max cluster of 864, just shy of 3,000 squares total!
> 
> Hoping to get a few more next weekend but think I probably need some horrid Leicester and Nottingham squares now!



Let me know the Leicester ones and I'll have a look at them, might even offer to take you round them if they ain't too bad


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## 13 rider (13 Aug 2017)

Got mine up to 17*17 today max cluster 609 1543 tiles .Did the tour of EMA to get the squares round that . All the easy gains done now . Need to cross the Trent to expand that way and Leicester in the way to expand south


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## tallliman (13 Aug 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Let me know the Leicester ones and I'll have a look at them, might even offer to take you round them if they ain't too bad



Cheers, I will do in a bit. They are near Oadby from memory. Up to 20 miles to get to the next uncrossed square to the east.


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## 13 rider (13 Aug 2017)

tallliman said:


> Cheers, I will do in a bit. They are near Oadby from memory. Up to 20 miles to get to the next uncrossed square to the east.


I have very little south of Leicester so a tour of Oadby would suit me  chat next week


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Aug 2017)

Some nice roads around Oadby. I might be heading east tomorrow


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Aug 2017)

Now up to 29x29 and a max cluster of 1092.


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## tallliman (18 Aug 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Now up to 29x29 and a max cluster of 1092.



Well done, a tactical drive to get the squares?


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Aug 2017)

tallliman said:


> Well done, a tactical drive to get the squares?



Yes. I couldn't face the 20 miles into the wind back home for two squares, so drove out there, bagged 17 and then drove home again.


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## tallliman (19 Aug 2017)

Makes sense to me, starting to think about doing that too.


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Aug 2017)

tallliman said:


> Makes sense to me, starting to think about doing that too.



Did the same today again. Now up to 30x30 and got all the pesky squares around the M69/M6/A46 junction


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## tallliman (23 Aug 2017)

Noted a mention of vv on the Vuelta highlights today.


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Aug 2017)

tallliman said:


> Noted a mention of vv on the Vuelta highlights today.



Team Sky use it a lot.


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## 13 rider (28 Aug 2017)

After a weekends squares gathering I'm up to 20 * 20 max cluster 691


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Aug 2017)

13 rider said:


> After a weekends squares gathering I'm up to 20 * 20 max cluster 691



After a weekend of fishing I've added nothing to my squares. Did manage to get a nice tench though


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## 13 rider (28 Aug 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> After a weekend of fishing I've added nothing to my squares. Did manage to get a nice tench though


We seem to have swapped sports I used to be a angler but cycling keeps getting in the way


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Aug 2017)

13 rider said:


> We seem to have swapped sports I used to be a angler but cycling keeps getting in the way



My dad has his own pond but he is knocking on a bit and my mam won't let him go on his own. So I go up every now and again and take him. Made sure I got the weeks mileage in before I went up


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## steverob (28 Aug 2017)

Went for a five mile walk across some fields today, just to cross off an outstanding tile that doesn't have any roads anywhere near it, just a couple of footpaths. Just that was all it took to get me all the way from 17x17 to 20x20 in one day! In fact, strictly speaking it's now 26x20 (from 17x19), such was the importance of that one tile, meaning I can now start venturing to the east of my home to try and get the tiles I need to turn that into a bigger square.


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## tallliman (28 Aug 2017)

My square hasn't budged in a bit but my total number of squares has gone up by about 100-150 in the last week!


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Sep 2017)

Took my total squares through 2,000 today and max cluster just over 1,200.


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## 13 rider (4 Sep 2017)

More square gathering today with a trip south of Leicester to @Supersuperleeds commuting routes and up to 21*21


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## 13 rider (9 Sep 2017)

Up to 23*23 thanks To a half mile detour down and back on the A47 where I crossed it on a charity ride it would have be rude not to get the square . Got a few strange looks from the other riders when I went left instead of straight on . Most of them didn't understand when I explained later 
Max cluster 786 total file 1667


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## tallliman (9 Sep 2017)

I did wonder if you grabbed a square or two on the ride!


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## 13 rider (9 Sep 2017)

tallliman said:


> I did wonder if you grabbed a square or two on the ride!


About 20. mostly from Carton Curlieu to Arnseby mostly new roads to me But that 1 square made the difference


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## Supersuperleeds (9 Sep 2017)

13 rider said:


> About 20. mostly from Carton Curlieu to Arnseby mostly new roads to me But that 1 square made the difference


Arnesby to Peatling is a great road, hard work the other way


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## Gravity Aided (9 Sep 2017)

I might mention that Veloviewer doesnt seem to have availability in the States. If you go through Google Play, it wont find it, but if you go to Google or some other search engine, it will let you back door into it via Strava.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Sep 2017)

Now up to 31x31 and a max cluster of 1216


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## tallliman (18 Sep 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Now up to 31x31 and a max cluster of 1216



You on the leaderboard yet?


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Sep 2017)

tallliman said:


> You on the leaderboard yet?


No, 20th is 33


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## bruce1530 (19 Sep 2017)

It’s addictive, this veloviewer tiles thing....

I’ve picked up most of the tiles near home. Living on the coast, there’s limited number of directions I can go without getting wet...

But tonight I noticed that there was an unchecked tile about 5 miles north. Mostly over the sea, but one corner of it was on land. And google maps said there was a path....

Headed along the coast road. Couldn’t see how to get onto the path without crossing the sand. Headed further along the road, to check out the other end of the path, but it didn’t seem to exist. Just lots of big houses with no access through to the beach.

Back to the first place. It’s just getting dark. Me and the bike crossing the sand, down to the water’s edge where the sand is more solid. Back on the bike, along the water’s edge for a quarter of a mile or so, then another walk for a few yards to make sure the square was definitely ticked off.

Then retraced my steps - and back home.

I’m probably mad.

There are also 3 squares on a peninsula just south of where I live. Huge area, fenced off (former explosives factory) and I’ve never been able to get access.....


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## 13 rider (19 Sep 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> It’s addictive, this veloviewer tiles thing....
> 
> I’ve picked up most of the tiles near home. Living on the coast, there’s limited number of directions I can go without getting wet...
> 
> ...


Yes your quite mad  none of us square chaser would do anything like that  .
While on holiday in Cornwall It annoyed me leaving little headland of lands just not quite in the square I got with no roads or paths to get them . Are boats allowed ?


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## wajc (19 Sep 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> It’s addictive, this veloviewer tiles thing....
> 
> I’ve picked up most of the tiles near home. Living on the coast, there’s limited number of directions I can go without getting wet...
> 
> ...



Sounds like a nice little adventure and adds to the satisfaction you get.

Your location on the coast isn't going to make life easy. I'm in a fairly rural location and the biggest problem I have is large fields and few roads which isn't quite the showstopper that an expanse of water is.

Current max square is 26 x 26 and hoping to one day get on the leader board but really need to dedicate a bit more time to the cause.


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## bruce1530 (19 Sep 2017)

I’m on a 10x10 square, which could easily go to a 13x13 by picking off a couple of strategic but quite inaccessible squares. But there’s sea to the south and west of me, and moorland to the north. I’ve been up the road to one of the wind farms on the moor, but don’t quite have the right sort of bike for the rest :-)


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Sep 2017)

13 rider said:


> Yes your quite mad  none of us square chaser would do anything like that  .
> While on holiday in Cornwall It annoyed me leaving little headland of lands just not quite in the square I got with no roads or paths to get them . Are boats allowed ?



Of course boats are allowed, as long as they are human powered and not motored!

I'm going to bag a sneaky square tonight. I'm driving up to a scout camp in Nottinghamshire today. My gps will be turned on for a few minutes as I walk around the site.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Sep 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> It’s addictive, this veloviewer tiles thing....
> 
> I’ve picked up most of the tiles near home. Living on the coast, there’s limited number of directions I can go without getting wet...
> 
> ...



Not mad at all. Before @13 rider joined in, he, @tallliman and myself went on a ride where he looked after the bikes whilst @tallliman and myself jogged down a track to bag a square 

I've ridden down some horrible bridleways and through a building site just to get squares. It's great fun.


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## tallliman (23 Sep 2017)

@Supersuperleeds, and I'm still KOM on that segment.....1 attempt by each of 2 riders, how odd!


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## 13 rider (23 Sep 2017)

tallliman said:


> @Supersuperleeds, and I'm still KOM on that segment.....1 attempt by each of 2 riders, how odd!


As I didn't do the segment It may come a time where I need the square and I may chase the Kom


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## tallliman (23 Sep 2017)

13 rider said:


> As I didn't do the segment It may come a time where I need the square and I may chase the Kom



You'd best practice your 200m sprint!


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## bruce1530 (23 Sep 2017)

I picked up another tile this morning. It looked like it was an isolated tile, the only one in the middle of a large area that I had visited. I hadn’t looked too closely, but I was sure that it would increase my max square. But no - I’m still stuck at 10x10. There are now about 5 or 6 10x10 squares....

The annoying thing is that I don’t actually live in any of them - the nearest “big square” starts about 3 miles away!


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## tallliman (23 Sep 2017)

@bruce1530, are they overlapping?


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## bruce1530 (23 Sep 2017)

yes, overlapping. Joining them up into one big square just needs a few strategic trips. But one would be over water, one would be over moorland with no paths, one is through a factory site... :-)

Some interesting trips ahead.


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## tallliman (24 Sep 2017)

Today's ride took me up to 24x24! Max cluster 932, nearing four figures. Perhaps that should be the year-end target?


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

Square still 31x31 but west to east is now 33 wide.

Max cluster now up to 1,287 and goes all the way up to Newark.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

@13 rider and @tallliman 

This is how I got the Bingham square, I had to walk through a field, definitely not rideable, but it is a public right of way.







This square was easy, road all the way though a bit of gravel at the end.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

Full map.


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## tallliman (17 Oct 2017)

Looks like a fun trip you had today! Will try and get those squares soon, Nice cafe near the one at Bleasby so a good incentive!


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

tallliman said:


> Looks like a fun trip you had today! Will try and get those squares soon, Nice cafe near the one at Bleasby so a good incentive!



I rode by the cafe but didn't stop as I wanted to bag that darn square first then couldn't be bothered to battle the headwind for an extra mile to go back.


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## tallliman (17 Oct 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I rode by the cafe but didn't stop as I wanted to bag that darn square first then couldn't be bothered to battle the headwind for an extra mile to go back.



Fair enough, the winds down there can be crazy!


----------



## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

tallliman said:


> Fair enough, the winds down there can be crazy!



Anything south or west today was a nightmare, going north or east though was brilliant. Hit 45mph down hill today


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## 13 rider (17 Oct 2017)

I had a square disaster by opening rides in Veloviewer I'm back to 20*20 lost 1 square near Earl Shilton where it shows I've just clipped the corner and lost 1 at Houghton on the hill where I rode down the A47 and back now shows I didn't go far enough


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

13 rider said:


> I had a square disaster by opening rides in Veloviewer I'm back to 20*20 lost 1 square near Earl Shilton where it shows I've just clipped the corner and lost 1 at Houghton on the hill where I rode down the A47 and back now shows I didn't go far enough



I warned you about that on Saturday


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## 13 rider (17 Oct 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I warned you about that on Saturday


You said I could get more  I know which way I'm going to Market Bosworth on Sunday via a farm drive just outside Kirby Mallory


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## tallliman (17 Oct 2017)

Guess you now know what we all felt around the time of the squarepocalypse


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

13 rider said:


> You said I could get more  I know which way I'm going to Market Bosworth on Sunday via a farm drive just outside Kirby Mallory



I said if the a square was missing and then followed it with don't do what I did which was to lose squares!


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## bruce1530 (17 Oct 2017)

Here’s mine, which illustrates the problem I have... Since I live on the coast, on a bit that slants diagonally, I’m a bit limited in the directions I can go unless I get a pedalo! I live in Saltcoats - near the bit on the map below that says “Ardr” (Ardrossan) - so I actually live outside my max squares!

There’s a little peninsula just southeast of where I live - 3 squares there - but being an explosives factory, it’s well fenced off. And the 6 squares a few miles north of me are moorland with no roads or paths. Same with the larger section further north.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> Here’s mine, which illustrates the problem I have... Since I live on the coast, on a bit that slants diagonally, I’m a bit limited in the directions I can go unless I get a pedalo! I live in Saltcoats - near the bit on the map below that says “Ardr” (Ardrossan) - so I actually live outside my max squares!
> 
> There’s a little peninsula just southeast of where I live - 3 squares there - but being an explosives factory, it’s well fenced off. And the 6 squares a few miles north of me are moorland with no roads or paths. Same with the larger section further north.
> 
> ...



I like the route around Arran. You need to ride your bike around the ferry next time you go across


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## bruce1530 (17 Oct 2017)

You can see that my battery went flat when I did the “round arran” last year... :-)


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

bruce1530 said:


> You can see that my battery went flat when I did the “round arran” last year... :-)



I wondered what happened there, gives you an excuse to go do it again. Is it possible to get all the squares on Arran? Just had a look, would involve a lot of hiking


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## tallliman (17 Oct 2017)

Here's my 24x24 max square and some of the extent of my local exploring....the lines go as far as Newcastle, Norfolk and the South Coast!!


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Oct 2017)

tallliman said:


> Here's my 24x24 max square and some of the extent of my local exploring....the lines go as far as Newcastle, Norfolk and the South Coast!!
> 
> View attachment 379243



When you want to head south we can easily knock off all those squares around Glen Parva.


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## Effyb4 (17 Oct 2017)

This is my veloviewer map. It is only 8x8, but it is increasing gradually. I am slightly hampered by the Thames to the south and the North Sea to the East. There is also London to the west.


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## tallliman (18 Oct 2017)

@Supersuperleeds, cheers. Just need a weekend where the wind is right! I really want to get the cluster to Lincoln.


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## steverob (18 Oct 2017)

Because virtually all my rides are in one area, I had to turn down the route opacity option as otherwise my map just looked like a giant blob of red lines and you couldn't see any of the map details! I do have a few rides in other areas of the country (and my London rides go off the bottom of this picture), but none of them are joined up to my main cluster.












Veloviewer



__ steverob
__ 18 Oct 2017



Explorer max square and cluster as at 18th October 2017


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## Skuhravy (18 Oct 2017)

@bruce1530 Can't you jump over the Bridge of Scottish In(ter)vention?


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Oct 2017)

Max cluster now 1299. @13 rider you were right about the Earl Shilton square, good job I rode up the track with you as even though I had it, I hadn't actually ridden in it!


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## 13 rider (22 Oct 2017)

Squares 1947 ,cluster 873 back to 22*22 thanks to regaining that square . Need to reduce some near cafe Ventoux to get all squares back


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## tallliman (22 Oct 2017)

After this weekend, over 3,300 squares, max cluster over 1,100! Max square 24x24


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## wajc (22 Oct 2017)

105km ride today to target several squares that involved some off-road. Wanted to get them done before the ground conditions deteriorated when winter finally gets here. Max square 28x28 , Max Cluster 1023.

Annoyed about one square as I was a few meters short and it involved about 100m of riding over pretty big stones (for 23mm road tyres anyway). The original GPS trace shows I did make a small turn at the end of the track towards the square but not far enough. 3x GPS on board and no amount of getting Veloviewer to calculate the true tiles covered made any difference. No choice but to revisit.


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## 13 rider (22 Oct 2017)

wajc said:


> View attachment 379889
> 105km ride today to target several squares that involved some off-road. Wanted to get them done before the ground conditions deteriorated when winter finally gets here. Max square 28x28 , Max Cluster 1023.
> 
> Annoyed about one square as I was a few meters short and it involved about 100m of riding over pretty big stones (for 23mm road tyres anyway). The original GPS trace shows I did make a small turn at the end of the track towards the square but not far enough. 3x GPS on board and no amount of getting Veloviewer to calculate the true tiles covered made any difference. No choice but to revisit.


I take it theres no other way to get that square ? . There annoying like that


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## wajc (23 Oct 2017)

Unfortunately not, I'm usually careful to go beyond where I need to and wait for the GPS units to tell me I'm off course but this time I wasn't concentrating and just turned around thinking I'd done what was necessary. I'm sure I'll be back down in that direction again sometime - here it is in the grand scheme.


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## tallliman (23 Oct 2017)

@wajc, how did you get the square where the rifle range near Beckingham is? Struggling with that one!


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## wajc (23 Oct 2017)

I'm guessing you mean the one that I've marked with a star.

You need to turn off Coddington Lane on to Highfield Drive which is a reasonable surfaced road - obviously popular with fly-tippers though as about 3/4 of the way along I had to get off and walk past a variety of dumped items. You'll reach a gate, just climb over as from this point it is actually marked as a footpath on an OS map - https://www.bing.com is good to look at as it has and OS map layer. They fly red flags if an exercise is on and there is one just beyond the gate on the RHS IIRC - don't know whether this means there is no access at all or just take care. There was nothing going on when I was there. The footpath right of way carries straight on towards some buildings on a gravel track but then it takes a 90 degree left turn off the track along the edge of the field before a 90 degree right turn brings it back on to the track again. I ignored this small diversion and just carried on along the gravel track until I was sure I'd gone far enough
.
Just make sure you're dressed correctly


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## tallliman (23 Oct 2017)

Wonderful, ta! It's been frustrating me as it is stopping my max cluster.....must edit the next route to Lincoln! Might be back with more questions, I love riding in Lincolnshire!


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## wajc (23 Oct 2017)

tallliman said:


> Wonderful, ta! It's been frustrating me as it is stopping my max cluster.....must edit the next route to Lincoln! Might be back with more questions, I love riding in Lincolnshire!



Glad to be of help. Yes Lincolnshire is a great place to ride - I'm just to the east of Lincoln and have a huge area of quiet roads to play on with the Wolds being the highlight.


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## 13 rider (23 Oct 2017)

tallliman said:


> Wonderful, ta! It's been frustrating me as it is stopping my max cluster.....must edit the next route to Lincoln! Might be back with more questions, I love riding in Lincolnshire!


I not dressing in camouflage lyrca in case I get shot I think we should send @Supersuperleeds in first  just in case


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## cosmicbike (26 Oct 2017)

I'm thinking of signing u to Veloviewer to get square hunting next year. Does anyone know it it will give me the squares I have already covered over the past few years, or do I start with a blank canvas?


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## 13 rider (26 Oct 2017)

cosmicbike said:


> I'm thinking of signing u to Veloviewer to get square hunting next year. Does anyone know it it will give me the squares I have already covered over the past few years, or do I start with a blank canvas?


You up load up existing strava history so no you don't start with a blank canvas .


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## cosmicbike (26 Oct 2017)

13 rider said:


> You up load up existing strava history so no you don't start with a blank canvas .


Cheers.


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## 13 rider (29 Oct 2017)

Square up to 25*25 today was 24*24 then lost a couple of squares by opening rides in Vv and then finding out I hadn't riden into the square ( just missed ) so was back down to 22*22 but a couple of weekends and reriding the missing squares I'm a bit happier . Max cluster 949 target 1000 . Will take alot of work to increase max square now


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## cosmicbike (29 Oct 2017)

My first weekend since signing up, and I found a square only 3 miles away which was stopping my 7x7 becoming 10x10. Solved that this morning on my metric half for the month, and according to the summary I'm at 10x10 with a max cluster (whatever that is) of 148, and 560 squares.
This is going to become somewhat addictive I think..


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## 13 rider (29 Oct 2017)

cosmicbike said:


> My first weekend since signing up, and I found a square only 3 miles away which was stopping my 7x7 becoming 10x10. Solved that this morning on my metric half for the month, and according to the summary I'm at 10x10 with a max cluster (whatever that is) of 148, and 560 squares.
> This is going to become somewhat addictive I think..


Very Addictive . Max cluster is the number of squares touching 3 other squares ( I think ) designed to help people living on the coast etc who came not expand the square in all directions


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## wajc (29 Oct 2017)

13 rider said:


> Square up to 25*25 today was 24*24 then lost a couple of squares by opening rides in Vv and then finding out I hadn't riden into the square ( just missed ) so was back down to 22*22 but a couple of weekends and reriding the missing squares I'm a bit happier . Max cluster 949 target 1000 . Will take alot of work to increase max square now



Deleting your ride from Strava, then carrying out an update on Vv followed by a re-upload to Strava and a further update of Vv would have resolved this. Just don't click on the ride again 

This has me wondering why Ben hasn't automatically processed a definitive tile list for all rides, rather than wait for someone to manually click on a ride and view it on Vv as it is more accurate than the tile list calculated using the default summary map line.

I'd rather have the most accurate picture of which tiles I've covered (I know things improved when the 100m buffer was removed and the resulting squareapocalypse) but currently only a few of my 800+ rides have had a definitive tile list calculated and it would take a long time for me to manually select each one to trigger a more accurate calculation. You can see which ones this has been done for by looking on the activities tab and filtering your listed rides by 'Tiles calculated'

Having been prompted by your post though, I've clicked on the ride I did today and was relieved to see that all the tiles I gained are still there. Gaining one of the tiles involved riding 800m down a road towards a farm that was clearly signposted 'Private Road' and 'CCTV in Use' at the start of it and had been troubling me for some time - phew!


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## 13 rider (29 Oct 2017)

wajc said:


> Deleting your ride from Strava, then carrying out an update on Vv followed by a re-upload to Strava and a further update of Vv would have resolved this. Just don't click on the ride again
> 
> This has me wondering why Ben hasn't automatically processed a definitive tile list for all rides, rather than wait for someone to manually click on a ride and view it on Vv as it is more accurate than the tile list calculated using the default summary map line.
> 
> ...


I had accidently clicked on the ride while browsing my squares and intially did not see If lost the squares. To fair I hadn't entered either square I'd lost so couldn't really complain now all ok thanks to a farm drive gets you to interesting places . Today I rode down a private road at the side of HMP Gartree


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## Effyb4 (29 Oct 2017)

My ride today increased my max square to 9x9 and I can see an easy square, only 4 miles from home, that will increase it to 10x10.


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## tallliman (29 Oct 2017)

13 rider said:


> Very Addictive . Max cluster is the number of squares touching 3 other squares ( I think ) designed to help people living on the coast etc who came not expand the square in all directions



Any square touching the 4 squares up, down, left and right. My max cluster is nicely over 1,100 now....im finding it more fun than the max square to be honest. The max square means I have to ride some places I don't enjoy!


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## bruce1530 (18 Nov 2017)

Went out for a quick trip today, to try to catch the last 3 squares which are near my house. I’ve mentioned before that they’re on a small peninsula on a site that once was (and maybe still is) an explosives factory. So no public roads in the area, and it’s mostly fenced off. There are plenty of gaps in the fence where you could squeeze through, and I’m told it’s great exploring the site on a fat bike - but not so easy with a road bike...

But I’ve currently got 35mm tyres on, so thought I’d try.

Last week, I’d tried a disused road that takes you into a quarry on the site. I remember walking down that way years ago, and it was an easy access. Only difficulty is that to get onto that access road, you’ve got to do a mile on a busy dual carriageway. But I tried it, and found there was a gate that was locked.

After speaking to some other cyclists, they told me that there was a way in from a path near the NCN73. Looking back through my previous trips, I’ve been down that path before. If I had gone about 50 yards further, I’d have crossed the boundary into one of the squares. But today it was pretty muddy. Some other time.

So I headed for the south side of the site - and down to the beach. No restrictions there - but cycling along the sand isn’t something Ive really done before. The tide was out, and I had 35mm tyres. Went down the track to the beach, and pushed the bike across the soft sand to nearer the waters edge, where the sand was a little firmer. Then headed along the beach for 2.5km, picking up 2 of the problematic squares in the process!

None of this, however, increased my max square - but when I get that last one, it’ll make a difference.


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## tallliman (19 Nov 2017)

Superb! Ended up walking down a muddy track with the bike yesterday for a square. Am sure I could've ridden it by taking a different route but 200 yards vs 2 miles won out!


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## cosmicbike (19 Nov 2017)

This is very addictive. I found myself cycling North of the airport after finishing work at 0200hrs. I live South of the airport.... But I bagged 5 squares


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## 13 rider (19 Nov 2017)

cosmicbike said:


> This is very addictive. I found myself cycling North of the airport after finishing work at 0200hrs. I live South of the airport.... But I bagged 5 squares


I think I warned you its very addictive 
A few more squares bagged today filling in holes in max cluster . Now up to 1023


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Nov 2017)

Currently on the train on my way back from a square hunting ride to Newark. Hopefully filled in some gaps. Had to go down a few private roads but should see my max cluster jump a few squares.


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Nov 2017)

19 new squares and increased my max cluster by 47.


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## Tom B (22 Nov 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Currently on the train on my way back from a square hunting ride to Newark. Hopefully filled in some gaps. Had to go down a few private roads but should see my max cluster jump a few squares.



Playing by my rules my home contiguous cluster squares and, X x Xmust be collected having cycled from and to home. No trains or cars allowed.


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## tallliman (22 Nov 2017)

I've done all of my squares leaving from where I was the previous night in my max cluster. No issues getting a train home though else I'd really struggle to get any square now!!


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Nov 2017)

13 more squares done today and the max cluster up another 20 (now 1367)

One square I had to lift the bike over three gates before I got along the track far enough 

@Tom B will be pleased as it was a round trip from home


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Nov 2017)

Tom B said:


> Playing by my rules my home contiguous cluster squares and, X x Xmust be collected having cycled from and to home. No trains or cars allowed.



I'm now looking at a minimum 40 mile round trip to add a square, to me it is about riding new roads and doing a one direction route gives you a lot more to aim at.


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## Tom B (23 Nov 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I'm now looking at a minimum 40 mile round trip to add a square, to me it is about riding new roads and doing a one direction route gives you a lot more to aim at.



And that's the thing that I love about these sorts of challenges everyone can play by their own chosen rules.

What is about us humans, males in particular that drives us to collect things? Be it football stickers, stamps or squares on a map.


What device do you use to navigate these unexplored areas? I sometimes find that plotting a route tricky having to keep referring between two differing maps.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Nov 2017)

Tom B said:


> And that's the thing that I love about these sorts of challenges everyone can play by their own chosen rules.
> 
> What is about us humans, males in particular that drives us to collect things? Be it football stickers, stamps or squares on a map.
> 
> ...



I use a combination of Strava, Google Maps (for street view) and Bing maps (for the OS mapping) to plot the routes.

On the ride I use a Satmap GPS unit with the route on it which also has OS mapping on it.


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## tallliman (23 Nov 2017)

Tom B said:


> And that's the thing that I love about these sorts of challenges everyone can play by their own chosen rules.
> 
> What is about us humans, males in particular that drives us to collect things? Be it football stickers, stamps or squares on a map.
> 
> ...



Generally strava and @Supersuperleeds' gps unit for the trickier ones if we're riding together.


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## wajc (26 Nov 2017)

I've spent the last month doing one ride each weekend in an attempt to tick off as many off-road/awkward squares as possible before the lanes/tracks/bridleways and farmers fields get too muddy for my road bike on 23mm tyres with the onset of wetter winter weather. I do have a cross bike as well which is used for commuting and would be ideal for the rougher stuff but it's a lot heavier and slower.

Today's ride was a 90km tour from home to the eastern side of the Trent at Collingham nr Newark, north to Dunham on Trent and back home again. I had to divert off the main road down to the Trent on several occasions - altogether about 8km off road which was predominantly rough track, but as hoped for not too muddy.

Also had to get off the bike hop over a fence and walk about 100m in to a grassy farmers field and walk back again - anyone seeing this must have been wondering what the hell I was doing 

A short stretch that may have been a private road as well. This altogether resulted in a far more interesting and rewarding trip on the bike than if I'd just gone for a spin around my local roads.

13 new squares today (50 this month with a fair few awkward ones) Max square still 28 x 28 but a good deal of progress made and low 30s shouldn't be too far away, Max cluster 1148


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Nov 2017)

wajc said:


> I've spent the last month doing one ride each weekend in an attempt to tick off as many off-road/awkward squares as possible before the lanes/tracks/bridleways and farmers fields get too muddy for my road bike on 23mm tyres with the onset of wetter winter weather. I do have a cross bike as well which is used for commuting and would be ideal for the rougher stuff but it's a lot heavier and slower.
> 
> Today's ride was a 90km tour from home to the eastern side of the Trent at Collingham nr Newark, north to Dunham on Trent and back home again. I had to divert off the main road down to the Trent on several occasions - altogether about 8km off road which was predominantly rough track, but as hoped for not too muddy.
> 
> ...



Any chance of a Strava link so I can see how you did some of the awkward squares? I have a line between Newark an Lincoln through Collingham but need a fair few squares either side of that line.


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## tallliman (26 Nov 2017)

Most of the squares up that east side of the Trent to Newton I've done on tarmac.....I only think one of em was a muddy road. I did some of those last weekend if it helps?


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## wajc (26 Nov 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Any chance of a Strava link so I can see how you did some of the awkward squares? I have a line between Newark an Lincoln through Collingham but need a fair few squares either side of that line.



This is the route I created on ridewithgps to follow today on my Garmin.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26533692


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## wajc (26 Nov 2017)

tallliman said:


> Most of the squares up that east side of the Trent to Newton I've done on tarmac.....I only think one of em was a muddy road. I did some of those last weekend if it helps?



How does your route compare to the one I did?

Westfield Lane out of Collingham was a good one to do as if you go right to the end of it and then walk/ride northwards along the riverbank for a few meters you can get 2 squares for little extra effort. Definitely would describe it as a rutted track once you get to the half way point and beyond the point that the Google car went.


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## tallliman (26 Nov 2017)

I've got the squares on the other side of the Trent from other rides but here's the 2 rides I did to get some of those iffy squares: 

https://www.strava.com/activities/1280534856
https://www.strava.com/activities/1240204271

I rode the old railway to Lincoln a few years ago too.


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## 13 rider (26 Nov 2017)

Another weekend square gathering top left corner Saturday and top right today . Left a square at Barton in Fabis as the track looked rough and dirty . Got a few tricky possible walking squares on the edge of max square that will probably left until spring now . So will continue to build around them so might be a good jump come spring


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## tallliman (26 Nov 2017)

13 rider said:


> Another weekend square gathering top left corner Saturday and top right today . Left a square at Barton in Fabis as the track looked rough and dirty . Got a few tricky possible walking squares on the edge of max square that will probably left until spring now . So will continue to build around them so might be a good jump come spring



Think I got that from the other side of the Trent on tarmac.


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## Supersuperleeds (27 Nov 2017)

The leaderboards have all been upgraded so it is much easier to see were you sit on them.


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## 13 rider (3 Dec 2017)

Another weekend square gathering . Got max square up to 26*26 by ignoring the walking squares on right and top boarders to gathers squares top right and bottom left . Total tiles 2135 max cluster 1073


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## Supersuperleeds (6 Dec 2017)

Another jaunt up to Newark. Max cluster now 1,398 and total squares 2,595. Max square still stuck on 31x31


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## wajc (16 Dec 2017)

A straightforward relatively short ride today to take me to 30x30.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1316138210

I got out for just after 2pm (the ice has been very slow to melt today nr Lincoln), the idea was to get back before it started freezing again. Didn't quite manage that, as the last 4km was back on a minor road where the ice was already beginning to 'twinkle' on the road surface.


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Dec 2017)

Max Square now 33x33


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## wajc (24 Dec 2017)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Max Square now 33x33



Good stuff - only 2 off the leaderboard now or maybe 3 depending how tied scores are sorted.


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## tallliman (24 Dec 2017)

Good going dude! My max cluster has grown again to 1250ish....thinking of having a day's walking/driving to get some odd squares that I'd struggle to ride.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Dec 2017)

Got a lone rogue square near Atherstone this morning, the one square increased my max cluster by 5 and now stands at 1413.


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## tallliman (30 Dec 2017)

Max cluster now up to 1315....it would have been many more but for a flooded road called "water lane"....also missed a couple of squares in the rush for the 4pm train at Grantham. 2 trains an hour toward Nottingham at 45 and 57 past the hour! Definitely a new route extension opportunity!


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## 13 rider (30 Dec 2017)

Bit of square gathering out to Bretby and Swadlincote max cluster now 1107


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Jan 2018)

@13 rider 

This is how I got the M69/M6 squares:


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Jan 2018)

Bagged this evil bugger today, no I didn't ride the A14.


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## steverob (13 Jan 2018)

Picked up 20 extra tiles today in the lanes between Hemel Hempstead and St. Albans. Cluster now up to 889 (total tiles 1480), but still stuck on 20x20 maximum square (and probably will be for a while yet).


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jan 2018)

@13 rider The two squares were bridleways:


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## 13 rider (14 Jan 2018)

Cheers @Supersuperleeds I thought so may wait for a dry period


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jan 2018)

13 rider said:


> Cheers @Supersuperleeds I thought so may wait for a dry period



If I remember correctly the top one was road most of the way down, the biggest problem is the A5 is quite busy there. I'd do it on a weekend fairly early if I were you.


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## Supersuperleeds (27 Jan 2018)

I've been thinking for a while that I would like to ride every square in Leicestershire. After a lot of faffing about I've finally created a Strava route that shows the squares the Leicestershire county boundary goes through. If you use Chrome and the explorer plug in then you can use it to see which squares inside the boundary you are missing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I've only got 7 squares to do.

For anyone else that is interested link is here for the route.

https://www.strava.com/routes/11778517

For anyone wanting to create their own county this is how I did it.

Found a KML file for the county and used this site to create a GPX file

https://mygeodata.cloud/converter/kml-to-gpx


Then used this site to create a TCX file from the GPX- you need to put in the start date and time and an average speed.

http://gotoes.org/strava/Add_Timestamps_To_GPX.php

Uploaded the TCX file to Strava, marked it as private, updated Veloviewer (I tried to create a route from the Strava route but it kept failing)

Used the activities tab on Veloviewer to see the squares the boundary went through and used manual mode on Strava to sketch a route.

Deleted the ride from Strava and Veloviewer

Extremely sad I know, but going to do Rutland once Leicestershire is done.


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## wajc (28 Jan 2018)

That's a nice variation on the max square/cluster idea.

Unfortunately I live in the 2nd biggest county in the country, and Lincolnshire is over 3x bigger in area than Leicestershire.

Fortunately I can't find a KML file or outline map of the county boundary with enough detail to be useful for this additional quest


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## wajc (28 Jan 2018)

I've been busy on the computer myself during the dark evenings and spent a couple of them last week selecting all my rides on Veloviewer so that they all have had their definitive tiles calculated. Approx 900 rides altogether but left out my commutes (approx 600) as they are mostly less than 15km and I will have ridden the same areas on my longer rides anyway, this left about 300 rides in total.

Before I started

Total Tiles 3173, Max Cluster 1236, Max Square 30 x 30

Occasionally I would gain a tile but the general trend was downwards (I'd check my summary every so often)

After getting the definitive tile list for all the rides my stats were

Total Tiles 3163, Max Cluster 1207, Max Square 23 x 23

I'd lost 3 squares from within my original max square, when I looked closely it was clear that I hadn't actually entered these squares. No big deal as they're all relatively close (within a 65km round trip).

After a couple of rides I'm back to

Total Tiles 3179, Max Cluster 1256, Max Square 26 x 26


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## tallliman (28 Jan 2018)

I've mentioned this to @Supersuperleeds but my aim for this year is to extend my max cluster to London. I'm originally from down there and so have quite a nice cluster developing which I'd like to connect up.

I think I'll need 1 ride to Northampton and then 2-3 to fill the gap between there and Luton. It'll be only 3 squares wide all the way down (apart from corners) but I'll meet the rules!I'm 

Quite like the idea of completing a county but I need quite a few squares south of Leicester to do it! Are the squares containing the border line part of Leicestershire or not?


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Jan 2018)

tallliman said:


> I've mentioned this to @Supersuperleeds but my aim for this year is to extend my max cluster to London. I'm originally from down there and so have quite a nice cluster developing which I'd like to connect up.
> 
> I think I'll need 1 ride to Northampton and then 2-3 to fill the gap between there and Luton. It'll be only 3 squares wide all the way down (apart from corners) but I'll meet the rules!I'm
> 
> Quite like the idea of completing a county but I need quite a few squares south of Leicester to do it! Are the squares containing the border line part of Leicestershire or not?



Yes the border line squares are part of Leicestershire. If you want to do the southern squares let me know


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Jan 2018)

Here's Rutland border:

https://www.strava.com/routes/11778853


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## cosmicbike (28 Jan 2018)

I'm a little behind, but now up to 12x12, max cluster 235 and 642 tiles. Lots of little ones in the midst that I need to collect, some of which are set up as part of my challenge rides. 
Much as I find this square gathering infuriating, it's providing a great motivator and getting me out on longer rides to places I wouldn't normally go, which is making my cycling that much more enjoyable.


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Jan 2018)

All Post Code KML files here 

http://www.northeastraces.com/runningstatic/pcas/table.htm

Also I've found another site for converting the KML file to GPX, the original one only lets you convert 3 files a month free.

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/

Here is Northants post code map if anyone wants it. https://www.strava.com/routes/11791953


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## tallliman (28 Jan 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Yes the border line squares are part of Leicestershire. If you want to do the southern squares let me know



Cheers, I will do when I'm able to ride distance again....it's really frustrating!


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## Skuhravy (28 Jan 2018)

Finally got square up to 30x30 - max cluster is 1800-and something.

I only really started this last year, but I reckon I had a good base as I like new roads, trails and don't mind too much about the strictly legal status..

It's getting harder, though. I'm in Darlington, which is pretty flat, but there are bastard hills to the east and west, trackless moors and so on. I've already ran up against the North Sea to the east. The thing that's annoying me, though, is out-of-bounds army bases and firing ranges. With Europe's largest army base on my doorstep, there are lots of these, and they're really active. I can't extend my square south west without riding across Bellerby Ranges, and in the many years i've ridden past, I only remember the flags being down once. 

I'm sure everyone has their own local issues, of course! It does reinforce my belief that England needs an open access law equivalent to Scotland's. I've hacked across private estates and perfectly good tracks which would make awesome routes. Only been told off once though


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## jiberjaber (30 Jan 2018)

After a chat with someone whilst I was riding up in my homelands I've been plugging away filling in my local gaps and grown from 10x10 to 22x22 in 4 weeks... it's quite addictive and a great alternative to audax & training rides 

Has anyone managed to get the shaded tiles functionality in to anything other than Strava? I would really like to use RWGPS for my planning but I'm having to keep at least 2 maps open to ensure I plot the route right.

Also getting the square overlay on to a Garmin device would be nice - looks like there is something called 'raster maps' support for most Edge devices which might be a way... anyone had any experience of this?
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin#Raster_Maps


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## wajc (1 Feb 2018)

jiberjaber said:


> Has anyone managed to get the shaded tiles functionality in to anything other than Strava? I would really like to use RWGPS for my planning but I'm having to keep at least 2 maps open to ensure I plot the route right.



I was going to point you to this from Ben at Veloviewer and the question at the end, but I guess there is only one 'jiberjaber' 

http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/

I find RWGPS better for routing as well, especially for off road sections and where you need to draw lines manually.

It's not unusual for me to be looking at Google maps, Bing maps (for it's OS map layer), Strava and RWGPS when targetting those difficult to get tiles with no easy access.


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## Siclo (1 Feb 2018)

Is taking the ship canal cruise with a bike allowed? Or do I need to buy a pedalo? The Mersey is wider than a tile.


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## jiberjaber (2 Feb 2018)

wajc said:


> I was going to point you to this from Ben at Veloviewer and the question at the end, but I guess there is only one 'jiberjaber'
> 
> http://blog.veloviewer.com/veloviewer-chrome-extension-for-strava-website/
> 
> ...



So I did manage to get a slightly better workflow going yesterday, I used the export to KML option in VV which I then loaded in to Garmin Basecamp in which I have a customised OSM map installed. It does this by representing each square as a 6 km track.

I was then able to see a lot more detail in basecamp (obvs still not UK OS but sort of close enough and more detail than in RWGPS for none road items etc) to ensure I plotted a route that caught tiles, I then duplicated this in RWGPS allowing me to double check the route with Google street view.

I suppose I could use the route straight out of Basecamp, but for some reason I have never had successful rides when using basecamp for some reason or another


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## Skuhravy (2 Feb 2018)

Siclo said:


> Is taking the ship canal cruise with a bike allowed? Or do I need to buy a pedalo? The Mersey is wider than a tile.



That's up to you - no one else will care. I'd not want to do that, mind. I've a square in the middle of the Tees estuary, and I can't see any way to get it, short of putting a Garmin on a container ship. Or maybe I can wait until there's a really low tide


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## tallliman (3 Feb 2018)

The above situations are why I prefer the max cluster idea. It means my square hunting can continue round major obstacles.

Could you get a ferry through the squares and run whilst you're on it?


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## Siclo (3 Feb 2018)

Skuhravy said:


> That's up to you - no one else will care.



Yeah I know and this game is forcing me to face some deep philosophical questions, such as 'when does a bike ride become a walk?' and 'what do I really feel about driving somewhere in order to ride my bike?'

Actually the latter is something I've struggled with for a while and is a big part of I've done very little MTB for a few years.

I feel an existential crisis looming


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## tallliman (3 Feb 2018)

Managed to grab some new squares riding out of London to the suburbs yesterday. The weather has put pay to riding again today. So, hopefully I'll grab some more on the way back tomorrow.


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Feb 2018)

Siclo said:


> Yeah I know and this game is forcing me to face some deep philosophical questions, such as 'when does a bike ride become a walk?' and 'what do I really feel about driving somewhere in order to ride my bike?'
> 
> Actually the latter is something I've struggled with for a while and is a big part of I've done very little MTB for a few years.
> 
> I feel an existential crisis looming



My view is it doesn't matter how you get to the square as long as you go through some of it on your own steam, whether that be walking, cycling, canoeing then it counts.


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## wajc (11 Feb 2018)

Todays ride has taken my max square to 31x31. 

It was a bit more 'off-road' on one stretch than I expected as the Google car had been down there but it turned out to be more of a cinder track - probably thought they were on a rally stage.


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## 13 rider (11 Feb 2018)

Grabbed a single tricky square on today's ride via a farm driveway fun isn't it


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## wajc (11 Feb 2018)

Sure is, the trickier the square the more satisfaction you get once it's done.


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## Skuhravy (11 Feb 2018)

Hurrah, the flags were down at Bellerby Ranges, so I knocked off those annoying three squares. I'd have hated to have ridden that far into the hills and a headwind only to see the flags up. 

Up to 32x32. Take that, Si.


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## Skuhravy (11 Feb 2018)

jiberjaber said:


> So I did manage to get a slightly better workflow going yesterday, I used the export to KML option in VV which I then loaded in to Garmin Basecamp in which I have a customised OSM map installed. It does this by representing each square as a 6 km track.
> 
> I was then able to see a lot more detail in basecamp (obvs still not UK OS but sort of close enough and more detail than in RWGPS for none road items etc) to ensure I plotted a route that caught tiles, I then duplicated this in RWGPS allowing me to double check the route with Google street view.
> 
> I suppose I could use the route straight out of Basecamp, but for some reason I have never had successful rides when using basecamp for some reason or another



I've used a few different methods - I've not found a decent techy on-the-go solution yet (I often carry OS maps with a rough square scrawled over it), but I try to plan it in advance, and I use a mix of Strava heatmaps, Google Earth and good old OS maps to work out a decent bike ride taking in the squares.


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## bruce1530 (17 Feb 2018)

well, my square unexpectedly went up from 10 to 11 today.

I know that doesn’t sound much compared to some of you chaps - but because of the local geography, the closest side of my “square” is about 6k away from where I live


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## Siclo (19 Feb 2018)

Progress of a sort, up to 17x17, planned to bag a few more at the weekend but got distracted by some new infrastructure on the A556, should have known better since not much later I got dumped out somewhere really nasty and had to ride the A533. I'm reminded that a lot of the holes in my heatmap are simply there because I know alternative routes, this weekends escapade included the A34, the A537 and the A530, ordinarily I'd use the parallel lanes which are much nicer if significantly slower. 

I've also noticed that there's obviously a quite a bit of point filtering that goes on when the rides are plotted on the map, resulting in straight lines with sharp angles. This is a bit of a swings and roundabouts thing in that I can see I've got tiles that I know I've never ridden through but not got some I know I have. Seems like the longer rides are affected much worse than the shorter ones.


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## Siclo (19 Feb 2018)

Does this work?


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## steverob (19 Feb 2018)

Siclo said:


> I've also noticed that there's obviously a quite a bit of point filtering that goes on when the rides are plotted on the map, resulting in straight lines with sharp angles. This is a bit of a swings and roundabouts thing in that I can see I've got tiles that I know I've never ridden through but not got some I know I have. Seems like the longer rides are affected much worse than the shorter ones.



The lines on the Activities map are simplified, so yes you do end up with a lot of lines that have sudden changes in angle, especially on the longer rides - this is just to make the map load faster according to Ben from VeloViewer. However the tiles that are coloured in are based on your actual ride line, not the simplified line, *AS LONG AS* you view the ride in VeloViewer at some point (e.g. click on the activity name). When you do that, it calculates your actual ride path and works out which tiles you should/shouldn't have got with 100% accuracy.

If you identify any tiles you don't think you should have got (or some you think you should but haven't), just going in to each of the relevant activities once, then refreshing the map page will sort it out for good.


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## Siclo (19 Feb 2018)

@steverob Thanks, I guess I have some viewing to do

Edit: you've just saved me hundreds of miles and I don't have to choose between riding the A523 or jumping the fence at Woodford aerodrome


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## tallliman (19 Feb 2018)

@Siclo, a good excuse to visit xm603 though!!


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## Pumpkin the robot (24 Feb 2018)

I just checked my explorer view, and I have a very modest 10x10, but there is a lot of low hanging fruit that will boost that pretty quickly. I am aiming to add a square each week now, see where that tales me!


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## 13 rider (24 Feb 2018)

Pumpkin the robot said:


> I just checked my explorer view, and I have a very modest 10x10, but there is a lot of low hanging fruit that will boost that pretty quickly. I am aiming to add a square each week now, see where that tales me!


Enjoy the easy picking it's great to start off with as you fill in the little gaps and your square builds but then it gets harder when your riding 25 miles to the first new square


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## Pumpkin the robot (24 Feb 2018)

Fortunately I have done all the squares for Manchester town centre, and only need 3 more for everything inside the M60 (I am aiming to pic one of them off this afternoon, with an alternative route to my LBS!)
I have just checked the route for tomorrow's group ride and that picks another solo square off for me as well!


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## tallliman (24 Feb 2018)

Another 8 squares for me today to bring me to a cluster of 1369.

Little easy pickings now though.

What's the most squares you've got in a straight line? Mine's somewhere in the mid-40's from a quick look!! Might be longer if I look a bit harder.


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Feb 2018)

tallliman said:


> Another 8 squares for me today to bring me to a cluster of 1369.
> 
> Little easy pickings now though.
> 
> What's the most squares you've got in a straight line? Mine's somewhere in the mid-40's from a quick look!! Might be longer if I look a bit harder.



I've got a couple of lines in the 50s, longest counted so far is 54.

Bagged four more squares today, might have had to go down a private drive to get one of them


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Feb 2018)

Found a line that is 64 squares


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## tallliman (24 Feb 2018)

Quite impressive!


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Feb 2018)

tallliman said:


> Quite impressive!



Runs parallel with Lincoln and goes passed Market Harborough


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## wajc (25 Feb 2018)

tallliman said:


> What's the most squares you've got in a straight line? Mine's somewhere in the mid-40's from a quick look!! Might be longer if I look a bit harder.



49 for me - could be another metric for Ben at Veloviewer to add to the mix? We'll all be doing long linear routes if that happens 

A crisp winters ride today - max square now 33 x 33

It's been so dry recently (the easterly winds have helped as well) that even though it was -2C overnight around here there was no ice on the roads.


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## tallliman (25 Feb 2018)

49 is good going as well. Think mine is relatively low because of the nearby cities.


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## 13 rider (25 Feb 2018)

52 squares in a straight line for me East to West ,ApplebyMagna to past Stamford this will jump to 54 when I complete the ride I had planned for today but life got in the way


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## cosmicbike (25 Feb 2018)

steverob said:


> The lines on the Activities map are simplified, so yes you do end up with a lot of lines that have sudden changes in angle, especially on the longer rides - this is just to make the map load faster according to Ben from VeloViewer. However the tiles that are coloured in are based on your actual ride line, not the simplified line, *AS LONG AS* you view the ride in VeloViewer at some point (e.g. click on the activity name). When you do that, it calculates your actual ride path and works out which tiles you should/shouldn't have got with 100% accuracy.
> 
> If you identify any tiles you don't think you should have got (or some you think you should but haven't), just going in to each of the relevant activities once, then refreshing the map page will sort it out for good.



Thanks for that, I was rather frustrated to find a square missing because of the simplified lines, but just done the above and whilst the line is not in the square, it has coloured the square as done.

Up top 13x13 now, 655 tiles and 268 cluster. Longest line is a mere 23 (a great thing though, perhaps a suggestion to those in charge of Veloviewer as an addition to the summary page). Looks like I've got some catching up to do in this strangely obsessive game.

Edit, cross posted with @wajc


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## 13 rider (25 Feb 2018)

cosmicbike said:


> Thanks for that, I was rather frustrated to find a square missing because of the simplified lines, but just done the above and whilst the line is not in the square, it has coloured the square as done.
> 
> Up top 13x13 now, 655 tiles and 268 cluster. Longest line is a mere 23 (a great thing though, perhaps a suggestion to those in charge of Veloviewer as an addition to the summary page). Looks like I've got some catching up to do in this strangely obsessive game.
> 
> Edit, cross posted with @wajc


Conversely opening the ride can also make you lose squares when the simplified line goes through the square but the ride didn't . I know this as once my max square went from 24 sq to 20 sq by opening a ride and losing 1 square which had to ride up a farm drive for a 100 yards to get it Properly


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## Siclo (26 Feb 2018)

This weekends ride took it to 18 x 18, need about a dozen squares to get to 21 x 21 but they're on the opposite side of Manchester to home so could take a few weeks of extended Friday night commutes. Longest line is 44.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Mar 2018)

Thanks to @wajc for guiding us to some easy awkward squares today. Another 47 added to the total


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## tallliman (11 Mar 2018)

Indeed!! Thanks to one of them, the max cluster is now all the way to Wickenby!!


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Mar 2018)

Has anyone got this square and did you avoid the A17 getting it?


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## tallliman (11 Mar 2018)

Nope, I think that's an A17 n into the Golf club job.


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## wajc (11 Mar 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Has anyone got this square and did you avoid the A17 getting it?
> 
> View attachment 399584



I've got that one. No need to ride on the A17 at all. It can be got by heading east from Coddington. Just before the RAB is a small road that goes off to the right which then develops in to a farm track (you can see it on the OS layer of Bing Maps) - easily rideable when I did it in the dry and if IIRC not the sort of track that would get particuarly muddy even when wet.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1242398343#30692234794

Of course taking your chances with club wielding golfers and dodging incoming golf balls might be more fun


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## Siclo (26 Mar 2018)

More progress, now up to 21x21, going to take a while to progress now as I need tiles on all four sides of the square, but not too many and at least I've coloured in some of the more... er.... shall we say interesting parts of East Manchester.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Mar 2018)

This weekends ride up to Beverley and back added 147 new squares and increased the max cluster by 17 to 1475


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## Skuhravy (26 Mar 2018)

Still stuck on 32x32, but I've been doing other rides recently. I've two squares to get to go up to 33x33, but they're miles away from one another. One's in t'Moors and one's in t'Dales.

Annoyingly, I just missed the one in t'Moors when I got lost in Boltby Forest last week and ended up dragging my bike down a woody ravine to get out of the place.


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## si_c (26 Mar 2018)

Really crap at this, stuck on an 8x8 still with a max cluster of 166. Maybe I should actually try and get a few new squares.


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## tallliman (26 Mar 2018)

3 bonus squares wandering round Newcastle today! They don't contribute to my max cluster but good all the same!


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Apr 2018)

63 more squares today.

@13 rider and @tallliman you might want to check your rides as Veloviewer missed a square until I opened the ride on the activity screen


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## 13 rider (1 Apr 2018)

58 for me . Max cluster out to Suzie cafe . I always open the ride just in case


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## cosmicbike (1 Apr 2018)

Lots of fresh roads for me today saw a gain of 61 squares. Rather frustratingly my eyes must have gone wrong during the planning of this ride, as I missed a row of 3 squares, all in a block I was zigzagging through to catch
Still stuck at 14 x 14. The 3 I missed today would have made it 17 x 17, but I have a far more challenging one to get in the middle of Ash Ranges, a live firing military site. I reckon a_ very_ early ride out may be in order...


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## 13 rider (1 Apr 2018)

cosmicbike said:


> Lots of fresh roads for me today saw a gain of 61 squares. Rather frustratingly my eyes must have gone wrong during the planning of this ride, as I missed a row of 3 squares, all in a block I was zigzagging through to catch
> Still stuck at 14 x 14. The 3 I missed today would have made it 17 x 17, but I have a far more challenging one to get in the middle of Ash Ranges, a live firing military site. I reckon a_ very_ early ride out may be in order...


Just ride quick they never hit you then .
It's nice when you can see progress but it's get so much harder when your nearest square is 25 miles away


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## tallliman (1 Apr 2018)

Max cluster up to 1444 after today!


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## Pumpkin the robot (2 Apr 2018)

Well a few weeks has seen my square go from 10x10 to 14x14. I am doing the tour de Manc next month, and that takes a few odd squares which means I do not need to make a seperate trip to do them!


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Apr 2018)

10 new squares today, including one which required going up a waterlogged bridleway for roughly half a mile (and then back), got a puncture at the end of that and the bike was filthy, so was I ten minutes later. 

Anyway, those 10 squares increased my cluster by 32 and now stands at 1,509


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## steverob (7 Apr 2018)

Added 15 more tiles today, which puts me on a path to get up to a 23x23 max square in about three rides time (although I probably won't do them as my next three rides - will space them out over the next month or so).

Annoyingly though, I've missed out on a tile by possibly a matter of centimetres. My GPS trace seems to have drifted slightly off-road at exactly the point where I needed it to be accurate, because this road only just crosses in to the corner of a particular tile. Put it this way, if I'd have been going the other direction (e.g. in the other lane), I'd have been safely inside the tile boundary even with a bit of GPS drift, but going the way I did (east to west on the aerial view below), the margin for error just wasn't there.


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## tallliman (8 Apr 2018)

Have you tried clicking on the ride in vv to check it's calculated everything correctly?


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## steverob (8 Apr 2018)

Yes, the above map is actually from the VeloViewer activity itself (I added on the ticks). In fact I'd missed out on the square originally with the simplified line, so made sure I clicked in the hope that would correct it, only to still not (quite) end up getting it.


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## tallliman (8 Apr 2018)

Damn, that's frustrating then!!


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## wajc (8 Apr 2018)

steverob said:


> Added 15 more tiles today, which puts me on a path to get up to a 23x23 max square in about three rides time (although I probably won't do them as my next three rides - will space them out over the next month or so).
> 
> Annoyingly though, I've missed out on a tile by possibly a matter of centimetres. My GPS trace seems to have drifted slightly off-road at exactly the point where I needed it to be accurate, because this road only just crosses in to the corner of a particular tile. Put it this way, if I'd have been going the other direction (e.g. in the other lane), I'd have been safely inside the tile boundary even with a bit of GPS drift, but going the way I did (east to west on the aerial view below), the margin for error just wasn't there.



If you like you can email me the file - gpx is best, you can export if from your Strava upload if it was in a different format and I'll sort it for you. Let me know roughly at what distance the road in question is. email address for this is pc123456@virginmedia.com


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## wajc (8 Apr 2018)

Not been able to do much square hunting for the past few weeks due to snow, lack of time or doing other rides so was keen to get out today. Forecast didn't look great but I was determined to get out to get some squares. It started off dry but then gradually worsened - not particularly heavy rain but enough to wet the roads and make them really grotty in places.

Ride distance was nearly 133km, walking distance about 25m (to ensure that I just crossed in to a square at the end of a track), all for just 13 more squares - not a great return for the effort made but all going towards improving my max square.

max square 33x33, max cluster 1373


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## steverob (9 Apr 2018)

wajc said:


> If you like you can email me the file - gpx is best, you can export if from your Strava upload if it was in a different format and I'll sort it for you. Let me know roughly at what distance the road in question is. email address for this is pc123456@virginmedia.com


Thanks for the offer, but I think I may be okay. Having studied the map, I'll probably need to go down that road again in a month or so to cross off some other tiles, except this time I'll do it in the other direction to give me more of a chance to get within the boundaries. If that fails, then I'll e-mail you with the GPX file!


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Apr 2018)

26 more squares this morning which increased the cluster by 25. 1 square away from making the max square 34x34


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Apr 2018)

65 more squares bagged.

Total squares now 3,014; max clyster 1,603 and max square 35x35.


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## Siclo (16 Apr 2018)

Friday's commute extension, from 20 to 52km, gets me to max square 22x22. Total tiles 3192, max cluster 685. Mrs S is beginning to register displeasure at me being cream-crackered on Friday nights so the strategy might need tweaking, I reckon she'll go for meeting for a pub tea so that should increase my range, I finish an hour before her on Fridays and if I go east I'll have oodles of tiles to go at and she'll have to get through the middle of Manc.


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## Pumpkin the robot (16 Apr 2018)

A little detour on my ride yesterday, up a muddy/gravel/pot hole filled hill gave me another 3 squares and means I now have 3off 14x14 squares, and just need to get a couple of squares to the side to increase to 17x17.


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## graham bowers (16 Apr 2018)

I've come out of hibernation and bagged a few squares today. Could have got up to 12x12 but sloppily failed to go far enough down a dead end lane. No matter, will pick it up with others in that area.

3862 squares, Max cluster 262, 11x11.


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## 13 rider (16 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> I've come out of hibernation and bagged a few squares today. Could have got up to 12x12 but sloppily failed to go far enough down a dead end lane. No matter, will pick it up with others in that area.
> 
> 3862 squares, Max cluster 262, 11x11.


Park lane ? We've all done that one only way to bag the square think you have to go all the way to the hotel . I wonder if someone has spotted cyclist riding down a deadend then turning round  and riding back up the hill


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## 13 rider (16 Apr 2018)

11 squares today I ride I've had planned for weeks weather delayed it then been to busy . Total tiles now 2321 max cluster 1142 . I now have a straight line east to west of 54 tiles need to work on north and south to expand square


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## graham bowers (16 Apr 2018)

13 rider said:


> Park lane ? We've all done that one only way to bag the square think you have to go all the way to the hotel . I wonder if someone has spotted cyclist riding down a deadend then turning round  and riding back up the hill


That's the one Phil. Should have gone all the way to the hotel. Not the end of the world as I can pick it up with others in the area. I did quite a bit on bridleways today so used a rigid mtb and it was hard work! Road bike next time.


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## 13 rider (16 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> That's the one Phil. Should have gone all the way to the hotel. Not the end of the world as I can pick it up with others in the area. I did quite a bit on bridleways today so used a rigid mtb and it was hard work! Road bike next time.


Recognised straight away from your strava map . I did a bit of off road around Lillington today about 1\2 miles bit tough but managed it on the roadie


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## tallliman (16 Apr 2018)

Grabbed a couple of squares wandering round London at the weekend but it got me thinking as I know I've walked most of Central London in my life but all pre-Garmin. Not sure I feel right in grabbing them unless I do them again.


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## graham bowers (17 Apr 2018)

tallliman said:


> Grabbed a couple of squares wandering round London at the weekend but it got me thinking as I know I've walked most of Central London in my life but all pre-Garmin. Not sure I feel right in grabbing them unless I do them again.



From a technical perspective, how would it be possible to upload a valid file to Strava without "kosher" GPS data? For example, I have a corrupt gps file of an Audax I did that shows the route in RWGPS but it won't upload to Strava as it has corrupt time data.


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## 13 rider (17 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> From a technical perspective, how would it be possible to upload a valid file to Strava without "kosher" GPS data? For example, I have a corrupt gps file of an Audax I did that shows the route in RWGPS but it won't upload to Strava as it has corrupt time data.


http://garmin.kiesewetter.nl/
Try this web site


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## graham bowers (17 Apr 2018)

13 rider said:


> Recognised straight away from your strava map . I did a bit of off road around Lillington today about 1\2 miles bit tough but managed it on the roadie


Lillington or Lullington Phil?


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## 13 rider (17 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> Lillington or Lullington Phil?


Near Lullington . Drive near Grafton farm house .


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## graham bowers (17 Apr 2018)

13 rider said:


> http://garmin.kiesewetter.nl/
> Try this web site


Duly noted Phil, thanks. I originally had 3 .fit files for the ride due to Garmin crashes and somehow combined them in order to upload to RWGPS, but can't remember how now. Anyway, today I just exported a .TXC history from RWGPS and Strava accepted that - success. I recovered 31 squares!


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## graham bowers (17 Apr 2018)

13 rider said:


> Near Lullington . Drive near Grafton farm house .


This one? if so, I have that in my sights - how was it - chased by rabid farmer??


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## 13 rider (17 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> This one? if so, I have that in my sights - how was it - chased by rabid farmer??


Yes that's the one . Hard compacted rough drive just rode up as far as I needed towards the crosses about 300 yds didn't see anyone


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## graham bowers (21 Apr 2018)

Still fiddling with VV and downloaded a KML file that purports to show missing tiles . Trouble is, it showed 3 squares as missing that are not. Attached are screen shots from the KML file in Google Earth and VV max cluster view that shows my tracks. Am I missing something, or is something broken pls?

12 by 12 now, 3919 tiles and 408 cluster.


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Apr 2018)

Ride out to Swadlincote to bag the missing Leicestershire squares I had out there. Also took me to 36x36 max square.


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Apr 2018)

graham bowers said:


> Still fiddling with VV and downloaded a KML file that purports to show missing tiles . Trouble is, it showed 3 squares as missing that are not. Attached are screen shots from the KML file in Google Earth and VV max cluster view that shows my tracks. Am I missing something, or is something broken pls?
> 
> 12 by 12 now, 3919 tiles and 408 cluster.
> 
> ...



Did you download the KML file before updating VV? If not then I presume it's a glitch.


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## graham bowers (21 Apr 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Did you download the KML file before updating VV? If not then I presume it's a glitch.


VV updated many days before the KML file was generated. Not the end of the world as I monitor "opportunities" manually. I'll let Ben know for completeness.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Apr 2018)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Looks like there has been another update, I've dropped to 27x27 max square


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Apr 2018)

Had a closer look, seems I've only lost one square, I'm positive I've ridden that the square, but none of my rides are going through it. Luckily it is only 7 miles away


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## tallliman (29 Apr 2018)

Had an annoying moment on uploading my ride today. I'd ended riding past Cromford Station to top my ride up to 50 miles, so did half a mile down a road and back. Turns out, had I done 0.55 mile each way, I'd have got 2 bonus squares!!


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## Skuhravy (5 May 2018)

Phew, finally bagged that annoying square in the middle of Boltby Forest. Max square now up to 33x33. 

I bagged a few more round the Eston Hills and the Moors too, and linked some squares round the south of Teesside with my main cluster. That's up to 2271. It's like Blockbusters.


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## graham bowers (17 May 2018)

Picked up a few more squares today, 15x15 now. One Garmin switchoff, one Garmin freezeup and two closed and impassable roads had me wondering if it was meant to be, but all the data was there to be stitched together, and the closures didn't matter.


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## bruce1530 (17 May 2018)

A few nights ago, I ...umm...err, cough, took a wrong turning, and followed a path, and ... cough, don’t know how it happened, but I appear to have ended up inside the perimeter of the old explosives site. There’s security, and fences and signs near the main entrance warning of dire consequences if you come near, but round the back it’s quite a pleasant path...

So that’s a few more squares ticked off that were frustratingly close to home, taking me to 13x13 (with my house being outside that square!)

Is anyone doing this in the Glasgow/ayrshire/renfrewshire area? There are some squares that I can’t see any obvious routes to...


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## PapaZita (18 May 2018)

I’ve just discovered Veloviewer and its squares, thanks to this thread. I’m currently at 13x13 in SW Hertfordshire. It’s grown quickly over the last couple of weeks, but I think all the easy pickings have been had. Now I’m pushing up against Luton to the north, Watford to the south, Hatfield to the east, places my normal rural routes would tend to avoid. I think this weekend’s project might be to explore the joys of the Luton-Dunstable guided busway, but it’ll take a few more rides in different directions to get to 14x14.


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## graham bowers (18 May 2018)

PapaZita said:


> I’ve just discovered Veloviewer and its squares, thanks to this thread. I’m currently at 13x13 in SW Hertfordshire. It’s grown quickly over the last couple of weeks, but I think all the easy pickings have been had. Now I’m pushing up against Luton to the north, Watford to the south, Hatfield to the east, places my normal rural routes would tend to avoid. I think this weekend’s project might be to explore the joys of the Luton-Dunstable guided busway, but it’ll take a few more rides in different directions to get to 14x14.


Not sure how you plan your routes, but you may wish to give cycle.travel a go. It routes quieter roads and cycle paths, not sure how much that would help in your area, but it did a good job for me in Derby. The basic method I use is to pick my start point and set my first destination as the end. Then drop a "Via point" in just before your destination point, them drag the end point to your next destination. Hope that makes sense. Clearly its impossible to avoid traffic in cities. I also plan some rides early Sunday morning. Example cycle.travel route below.


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## PapaZita (18 May 2018)

graham bowers said:


> Not sure how you plan your routes, but you may wish to give cycle.travel a go.



Thank you. So far I've been planning using Veloviewer's OS and Open Cycle Map overlays, and a bit of local knowledge, but I'll soon be getting into less familiar territory. I didn't know about cycle.travel and it looks like it could be really useful, not just for collecting squares, but for some of the route guides too - we've been thinking about a C2C trip this year...


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## Supersuperleeds (18 May 2018)

If you use Google Chrome then you can add a veloviewer plug in that shows the squares on Strava, combined with google maps ( for street view) and Bing maps (for OS mapping) you were need anything from else.

Cycle travel is brilliant for quiet routes though


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## Supersuperleeds (19 May 2018)

Another 12 squares today increasing my max cluster by 29 to 1658. Max square is still 36x36 but the east to west bit is up to 38.


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## Supersuperleeds (20 May 2018)

68 more squares today, only added 6 to my max cluster though.


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## graham bowers (21 May 2018)

25 new squares yesterday. Max square 16, cluster 585, total squares 3978. It was a lovely ride that took in a few miles of the Coventry Canal towpath and varous bridleways West of Lichfield. Thank heavens for Sputnik rims and 32mm tyres!


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## graham bowers (21 May 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> If you use Google Chrome then you can add a veloviewer plug in that shows the squares on Strava, combined with google maps ( for street view) and Bing maps (for OS mapping) you were need anything from else.
> 
> Cycle travel is brilliant for quiet routes though


Thanks for that. Chrome installed and VV plug in added. That will make things a lot easier. I have asked the owner of cycle.travel if squares can be made visible.


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## steverob (21 May 2018)

PapaZita said:


> I’ve just discovered Veloviewer and its squares, thanks to this thread. I’m currently at 13x13 in SW Hertfordshire. It’s grown quickly over the last couple of weeks, but I think all the easy pickings have been had. Now I’m pushing up against Luton to the north, Watford to the south, Hatfield to the east, places my normal rural routes would tend to avoid. I think this weekend’s project might be to explore the joys of the Luton-Dunstable guided busway, but it’ll take a few more rides in different directions to get to 14x14.


I'm currently at 20x20 in Buckinghamshire and also have Luton next on my list to do (it's currently to the ENE of my max square) and like you find doing urban/suburban tiles far more awkward to cross off than my usual country lanes approach. The good news is that I confirmed that the cycleway alongside the guided busway is now fully tarmac-ed, meaning it should be a lot easier to cross those few tiles off.


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## PapaZita (21 May 2018)

steverob said:


> I'm currently at 20x20 in Buckinghamshire and also have Luton next on my list to do (it's currently to the ENE of my max square) and like you find doing urban/suburban tiles far more awkward to cross off than my usual country lanes approach. The good news is that I confirmed that the cycleway alongside the guided busway is now fully tarmac-ed, meaning it should be a lot easier to cross those few tiles off.



I rode the busway on Saturday. It’s wide, smooth, and was almost deserted (I think there was something on telly). It must now be a great facility for those who need to travel between Luton and Dunstable.

That still leaves a lot of Luton to be explored though. I don’t know what NCN6 is like through the town, but I think it could be the basis of a route that (with a few zig-zags) can cross off two rows of tiles in a single ride. 

Sunday’s ride was west, towards Tring. I’ve extended my cluster a little but am still at 13x13. However, a few key squares have been visited, a few nice new roads discovered, and I have set up the possibility of skipping 14x14 altogether and getting to 15x15 next weekend!


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## steverob (21 May 2018)

PapaZita said:


> Sunday’s ride was west, towards Tring. I’ve extended my cluster a little but am still at 13x13. However, a few key squares have been visited, a few nice new roads discovered, and I have set up the possibility of skipping 14x14 altogether and getting to 15x15 next weekend!


Well if you're cycling west towards Aylesbury at any point and come across any tiles you can't seem to find a way to get, let me know which ones they are and I'll see if I can remember how I bagged them. At present the four corners of my max square are roughly Stokenchurch (SW), Chorleywood (SE), Thornborough (NW) and Flitwick (NE) and my cluster obviously goes further (including all of MK, Bicester and Hemel), so chances are that anything within those boundaries I've already ticked off.


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## tallliman (21 May 2018)

Have you ridden the rail trail from Luton south toward Wheathampstead?


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## PapaZita (21 May 2018)

View attachment 410329



tallliman said:


> Have you ridden the rail trail from Luton south toward Wheathampstead?



Parts of it, yes. I used it on Saturday to get from East Hyde into Luton, but I’m not so familiar with the section through Harpenden. It’s a pleasant route with a tarmac surface and nice views. I met this chap:

View media item 10528
East of Wheathampstead there’s also the Ayot Greenway, on the route of the same old railway, which will take you on to Welwyn, although that section isn’t tarmac and can get a bit muddy.


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## tallliman (22 May 2018)

Thanks! The tarmac section should be good enough....might have luggage when I use it.


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## tallliman (26 May 2018)

Max square is up to 25x25 thanks to ticking off quite a few squares today. Max cluster up to 1546 as a result.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 May 2018)

Strategic 32 mile ride this morning saw me bag 16 more squares. Those 16 included the ultra tricky military range square in Beckingham which saw my max cluster jump by 185 to 1,849 and now stretches to Lincoln and Woodhall Spa.

I now need to target the area between Nottingham and Derby


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## tallliman (26 May 2018)

When you do, let me know!! It's rather lumpy up that way


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2018)

Train out to Nottingham this morning, 40 mile ride which saw me bag 32 more squares and nudge the max square up another 35. Some cracking squares ticked off around the Trent, including the Great Wilne square that I've ridden past loads of times but never done the extra few hundred yards to bag it.


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## tallliman (28 May 2018)

Some nice roads and trails up that way


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2018)

tallliman said:


> Some nice roads and trails up that way



The ride down the river was brilliant


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## Skuhravy (29 May 2018)

A couple of days' riding round the Moors has left my square unchanged at 34x34 (I'd need to sea kayak from Seaton Carew to the Headland for that extra square, I reckon), but has jumped my cluster up to 2422 - and I'm in the leaderboard! Well, 19th, and it's pretty tight, so no doubt those behind me will catch up soon. 

But it's an impressive beastie - north to Jesmond, south to Selby, east to Whitby and west to Arkengarthdale. West is hard - there just aren't that many ridable places. However, I only need a half dozen or so squares to get the cluster north to Morpeth, and a single square would extend it out to Hawes. It's like Blockbusters.


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## PapaZita (29 May 2018)

I managed to get three rides in over the long weekend, growing my square from 13x13 to 16x16. A nice hilly ride west to Wendover on Saturday, and out towards Hitchin on Sunday got me to 15x15. Then on Monday, the planned trip through Luton on NCN6 got extended out to Leighton Buzzard on the Sewell Greenway when I spotted the opportunity for the 16x16. I took the CX bike in anticipation of a few bridleways and dodgy surfaces, which turned out to be a good choice. I wasn't sure what an orange line on OpenCycleMap was, but followed one to avoid a main road, and found myself up to my elbows in nettles. Later a wrong turn meant scrambling through a muddy ditch and up an embankment to get back to the track. Great fun!


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## Ivo (1 Jun 2018)

A continental tilehunter here.
I've started with veloviewer about 2 months ago. First I uploaded my old tracks archive and since 2 months I'm working on my tiles and squares.
Yesterday added a few tiles near Liège airport to reach the 20x20.
Just to give an impression, a screenshot


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## Venod (1 Jun 2018)

I used VV when it was free but never bothered with the subscription, but I quite like this squares thing so subscribed, I went out today to fill a few holes in my map, I thought I had got all the four I targeted, but turns out I didn't go far enough up the track in one of them, so I will try again, it will take a bit of trespass and deviousness if I am to bag some of my missing ones, the Peat farm near Goole looks like its a no go.


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## 13 rider (3 Jun 2018)

A square gathering ride today including a tricky one at Car Colston managed it on the bike still yet to walk a square I think others have had to walk this one . Stumped by another one only way to get seems a farm drive which had a locked gate on it . Uptown 2539 squares max cluster 1208


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jun 2018)

13 rider said:


> A square gathering ride today including a tricky one at Car Colston managed it on the bike still yet to walk a square I think others have had to walk this one . Stumped by another one only way to get seems a farm drive which had a locked gate on it . Uptown 2539 squares max cluster 1208



If you let me know the square I’ll see if I’ve done it


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## 13 rider (3 Jun 2018)

It's between Bingham and Car Colston . I think @tallliman walked a footpath I found a driveway at the side of the cricket club just ! Long enough to get into the square . It's off a large village green


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## 13 rider (3 Jun 2018)

The one I Didn't get ? Is at Thithby as you come out of Thithby and head to Bingham it's on the right


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## graham bowers (3 Jun 2018)

13 rider said:


> A square gathering ride today including a tricky one at Car Colston managed it on the bike still yet to walk a square I think others have had to walk this one . Stumped by another one only way to get seems a farm drive which had a locked gate on it . Uptown 2539 squares max cluster 1208


Preparation is everything....................

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rWifmDuJEA


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jun 2018)

13 rider said:


> The one I Didn't get ? Is at Thithby as you come out of Thithby and head to Bingham it's on the right




This one?










There are a couple of businesses at the end of this track so might be best to do it during the week.


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jun 2018)

a truly mad ride for squares today down a few nice descents to only have to climb back up them as @tallliman tooks us on detour after detour . 

45 more to the overall total and another 109 to the max cluster which is now 7 shy of 2000. Only four more squares to get all the Leicestershire ones, 2 north of Corby and annoyingly 2 that I had forget about near Bottesford.


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## 13 rider (3 Jun 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> This one?
> View attachment 412480
> 
> 
> ...


Yes that one but it now has a gate at the road and possibly electronic entry


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## tallliman (3 Jun 2018)

You can walk the old railway from Bingham to get that square too.


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## 13 rider (3 Jun 2018)

tallliman said:


> You can walk the old railway from Bingham to get that square too.


Walk !!


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## tallliman (3 Jun 2018)

13 rider said:


> Walk !!



Yes! I'm sure you could ride it on a fat bike if you wanted?


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## wajc (3 Jun 2018)

No shame in walking - it's a sign of your dedication to the game .

I managed to get a square today that I had been putting off for a while until the ground was a bit drier as it involved a couple of km of track (easily rideable as dry despite the recent storms that have been about) and then about 400m on a footpath through a field. Unfortunately when I got there the field was rather more overgrown than I had expected and I ended up pushing the bike through grass above knee height. Heading back I spotted that there were some tracks where a vehicle/tractor had flattened the grass and was able to ride over these and thankfully get out the field a different way.







Max square still 33x33, max cluster 1569.


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## Venod (4 Jun 2018)

Managed to bag 5 today to make my square up to 20 x 20 and 726 cluster, just one rough track to get one of them the other four were all dead ends that I wouldn't have gone down without this square ticking off, a long way off @wajc total but its getting me to some unridden places.


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## 13 rider (10 Jun 2018)

A big weekend gathering new squares riding in new territory . 3 long rides and 280 squares gathered but no change to max cluster . Total squares now 2819


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## 13 rider (10 Jun 2018)

@Supersuperleeds did you check out where we turned round at Market Rason we were a few yards from linking today's squares to a Lincoln ride via Wragby I did tell you there was a square up there


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## Supersuperleeds (10 Jun 2018)

An excuse to go back. I got 252 squares and added 13 to the max square


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## wajc (10 Jun 2018)

Not quite such a productive ride for myself as for some today - 117km ridden and only 13 new squares but most importantly including one that I had been putting off for some time.

The best routes into it are marked in blue (but not good routes), the orange ones went through farmyards with inhabited farmhouses. None of the routes had any public right of way.
The route I chose was the shortest one in to the square from the North with plan B the one from the east - although the eastern route would add about 7km. There would also be a total of 3km of farm track to get to and from the square with a gate stopping vehicular access at the start.






Plan A though, involved a dead end road with a private railway crossing. Then 200m to get in to the square on a track. On the south side of the railway was a house and some buildings which I'd found out were a Kennels and Cattery so likely a lot of dogs going mad alerting people to my presence - stealth mode may well be compromised. I'd also read on a Geocache website that someone had moved one of their hidden geocaches from near the railway crossing as people who had been looking for it had been met with hostility from someone from the house. Strava heatmap showed no traces of anyone haven been down the lane either.

Heading south from the B1205, before I got to the crossing I noticed that there were several home made signs placed on the verges saying 'Private Road No Parking' and 'No parking for Network Rail and contractors' an indication maybe that someone from the house had already had run ins with people.

Got over the crossing easily - the gates didn't even have catches just pushed them open and there were rubber strips to soften the noise of the gates closing - things were looking better.

Couldn't see anyone about so I set off towards the house, still saw no one so shot past and made my way along the overgrown track for about 150m and claimed the square!

Turned round and headed back only to see that there was now a bloke watching me intently from the garden wall. Oh well the joy of this game is that he can tell me to F**K OFF all he likes cause I'm not coming back anyway 

As I got level with him I shouted a cheery 'Hello' as if was the most normal thing for me to be doing cycling past his house, not a word said in return - he's probably still wondering why the hell any cyclist would be taking the route I did.

I must admit there was a sense of relief once I'd got back over the crossing again and in the end it turned out to be non eventful.

Apologies to those who were hoping for a different ending !

Max square now 37 x 37 !


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## 13 rider (10 Jun 2018)

True dedication to the pursuit of squares @wajc and I thought @Supersuperleeds and @tallliman were obsessive


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## steverob (11 Jun 2018)

Added 25 new squares on my 70 mile Saturday ride and I make it that I'm just one ride away from increasing the 20x20 I've been stuck on since September last year, to a 23x23! And only another two rides after that should get me to 25x25, if I can work out a suitable route that doesn't involve me mixing with dual-carriageway traffic on the A6.

I actually could have bagged another 5 squares, but it was a bit that was down as an "optional detour" on my route and having just gone up two surprisingly steep hills that I'd somehow overlooked on my ride profile, my legs were starting to struggle, so I thought it best to leave them for later (still had 27 miles to go at that point). No worries though - I've added these to one of my routes for another day, as they weren't exactly difficult squares to cross off, just a tad out of the way.


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Jun 2018)

Max square now 38x38, 16 squares off making it 40x40 and they are all in same area so one dedicated ride will should get them.


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## tallliman (16 Jun 2018)

Good work dude! About an extra 70-80squares yesterday all on completely new territory so no benefit to the cluster


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## Ivo (16 Jun 2018)

Today I managed to ride the tiles to the south of the Awacs base. Luckily there's a dirttrack nearly directly hugging the outside perimeter of the base so I tlooks like one more ride and I have these tiles covered.


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Jun 2018)

Correction, 16 squares for 39x39. I'll then need one square near Cotgrave to get 40x40


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## 13 rider (16 Jun 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Correction, 16 squares for 39x39. I'll then need one square near Cotgrave to get 40x40


Is it a tricky one we could head that way on July 1st


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Jun 2018)

13 rider said:


> Is it a tricky one we could head that way on July 1st



No dead easy, though it is a ride into the square and ride back. Might as well get the other four whilst we are at it.


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## wajc (17 Jun 2018)

wajc said:


> Another Max Square fan here located just east of Lincoln. Got the bug when I signed up to Veloviewer last December for the extra stats it gave - then discovered the Max Square Score (was on 8x8 at the time). Currently on 21x21 and need 1 square for 22x22. Hoping to get on the leaderboard (28x28 needed).



That was back in May 2017 and I have finally made it on to the leaderboard in 20th place with todays ride taking me to 39x39.

I've taken a screenshot of the leaderboard for posterity as I don't think I'll be on it for long. @Supersuperleeds might have something to do with that 






I can't begin to think of the dozens of dead end roads, farm tracks and U-turns I've performed (once I've crossed in to the square) whilst pursuing this goal - not forgetting one or two 'cheeky' routes as well. I've enjoyed it all - especially those roads that I would never have ridden on but discovered them to be great for cycling.

I'm about 6 squares short of 40x40 which is doable in 2 rides (it would have been 1 but I missed a square a few weeks ago when not concentrating). I'm going to put chasing squares for my max square on the backburner a bit - I'll still add a few occasionally but won't dedicate the time required to keep on the leaderboard.


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## 13 rider (17 Jun 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> No dead easy, though it is a ride into the square and ride back. Might as well get the other four whilst we are at it.
> 
> View attachment 414636


I can plot a route to grab the 3 of them leaving the A52 for a non group ride


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## tallliman (17 Jun 2018)

Well done @wajc!

It's strange but I've all but given up with the max square, all about my max cluster for now. I guess having 3 cities around me has just made it less fun to get those squares


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Jun 2018)

I prefer max cluster as well, by concentrating on that for a while you see chances to increase the max square though.


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## cosmicbike (17 Jun 2018)

Todays metric century saw me pick up a good few squares, 33 to be precise, North of the airport, and took me to 18x18 with a max cluster of 465. I have a rather annoying single square which sits in the middle of the military firing ranges. Not sure if it's Ash range or Pirbright, if it's the latter then I'll never get it as it's no entry due to unexploded ordanance


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## Siclo (18 Jun 2018)

An extended commute last week takes me to 23x23, keep chipping away


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## Siclo (19 Jun 2018)

Blast! Just clicked a ride, gained a tile and lost a tile, down to 21x21, back to sneaking around the gas storage site at Lach Dennis this weekend then


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## PapaZita (19 Jun 2018)

I’ve just lost a tile too, fortunately only down to 17x17 from 19x19. I had been planning to report a bug where none of my tiles were getting recalculated when I clicked on a ride. I gave it one last try today, and was happy to find that it seemed to be fixed. I knew of a couple of miscounted tiles outside my square, and they got corrected. Unfortunately, there was also one hiding inside my square, that I hadn’t even realised was at risk.


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Jul 2018)

Hit 40*40 today. Joint 18th but still not on the leaderboard, time to concentrate on the max square for a bit I think.


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## cosmicbike (1 Jul 2018)

Broke the 1000 square count today, now 1020 and still 19x19, though a careful and long loop should see that go to 21x21 quickly.


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## Pumpkin the robot (1 Jul 2018)

Blimey, I have 4872 square count and a meagre 15x15!


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## tallliman (1 Jul 2018)

Lots of gaps to fill in then!


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## tallliman (7 Jul 2018)

Today's ride took advantage of an open return train fare I had and extended my cluster from the A47 down to Northampton. Now I need to connect it to Wellingborough and then onto Luton!


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Jul 2018)

Rode with @tallliman today and bumped my tile count by another 32 squares and the max cluster by 13.


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## cosmicbike (8 Jul 2018)

How annoying, despite careful planning I managed to miss a square this morning, so now up to 20x20. Looks like another lumpy ride into the Surrey Hills again.


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Jul 2018)

Just checked the leaderboard:


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## PapaZita (9 Jul 2018)

I had a very pleasant 65 mile ride in the sunshine this weekend, using my CX bike to explore a few bridleways in the north-east Chilterns between Luton and Hitchin. Something like 35 new tiles, and max square up to 21x21. I even managed an accidental KOM, then found myself at a dead-end and ended up climbing through a hedge to get back to the main road. Clearly most people know that you can't get through, but of the five people who didn't, I'm the least slow.


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## Supersuperleeds (10 Jul 2018)

Today's ride saw me get the last two squares to complete all Leicestershire squares






The "route" above covers all the squares the Leicestershire boundary goes through. Might try Rutland next as it is a bit smalller.


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## tallliman (11 Jul 2018)

Superb going!


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## steverob (11 Jul 2018)

Still got a little way to go before I can say I've completed Buckinghamshire, but I'm making good progress. The central stretch of the county is completed barring four or five awkward tiles, leaving me with just the chunks up around Olney to the north of Milton Keynes, a small area around Brackley out to the northwest, and the major areas around Marlow, Gerrards Cross and Slough to the south, which will take some time (and probably a lot of climbing!).






Note that this map is of the historical county of Bucks - the current county officially now does not include Milton Keynes borough and the towns/villages to its north, so I've put a yellow line on the map to show where this border would be. I can always do these tiles last and then say that I've completed current Bucks and then go out and do the historical version later.

And if you have noticed, yes there are two tiles missing near the centre of the map to the east of Aylesbury - there's a small bit of Hertfordshire that juts in at that point, and while most of the tiles around that area are shared between both counties (meaning that they are included on the map), there are two tiles that are purely Herts, so I have removed them in order to be accurate!


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jul 2018)

Max square now 42 by 42 

Need absolutely loads of squares for 43x43 so going to ignore it for a while now


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## Alan O (12 Jul 2018)

I've just subscribed to Veloviewer, and my initial stats are pretty unimpressive. Due to my location and there being a river in the way, my max square is a paltry 6x6. Max cluster is 85 squares, with a total of 405 squares. I tend to ride the same routes repeatedly, so there are lots of gaps in the map, many of which can be filled in easily. Oh dear... I have a new obsession!

Ooh, and I've just spotted one untouched square in the city that would add 14 to my max cluster!


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## tallliman (12 Jul 2018)

Welcome to the club @Alan O


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## 13 rider (12 Jul 2018)

Alan O said:


> I've just subscribed to Veloviewer, and my initial stats are pretty unimpressive. Due to my location and there being a river in the way, my max square is a paltry 6x6. Max cluster is 85 squares, with a total of 405 squares. I tend to ride the same routes repeatedly, so there are lots of gaps in the map, many of which can be filled in easily. Oh dear... I have a new obsession!
> 
> Ooh, and I've just spotted one untouched square in the city that would add 14 to my max cluster!


Hope you now what you've let yourself in for


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## bruce1530 (13 Jul 2018)

Picked up an awkward tile today, taking my square to 14x14, max cluster to 400, with 765 tiles.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m obsessive, or just daft:






The edge of my missing square was about half way between that little bridge (which in itself was across a field from the nearest road) and the tree line.


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## steverob (14 Jul 2018)

Finally made it to 23x23!

Two tiles required me to go off-road, but they weren't that bad in the scheme of things. One was about a 200 yard detour into a wheat field, but I was able to walk my bike along the tracks left by a tractor, while for the other one I needed to walk just 100 yards down a bridleway that continued at the end of a dead-end road, although it did mean getting my bike over a set of stiles (yes, I know I could have left the bike at the gate and just walked with my GPS device, but where's the challenge in that?)

Getting to 24x24 will be quite easy, probably can do that in just one ride, but 25x25 is going to be a challenge - I'm currently hemmed in on both the east and west sides by "ungettable" tiles (already at 27 north/south), so will have to work out how best to tackle this.


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## Alan O (16 Jul 2018)

Alan O said:


> I've just subscribed to Veloviewer, and my initial stats are pretty unimpressive. Due to my location and there being a river in the way, my max square is a paltry 6x6. Max cluster is 85 squares, with a total of 405 squares. I tend to ride the same routes repeatedly, so there are lots of gaps in the map, many of which can be filled in easily. Oh dear... I have a new obsession!
> 
> Ooh, and I've just spotted one untouched square in the city that would add 14 to my max cluster!


Ride on Saturday took my max square to 7x7, max cluster to 91, and total tiles to 424 - with only one deliberate side-trip to edge into another tile. I was going out again today and would have covered more new ground, but feeling icky and have to stay home.

A bit of closer examination shows my biggest possible square based from my home is limited to 8x8. The sea/river to the West is one limit, and I've realized that two tiles to the East lie entirely within the private Knowsley estate and are inaccessible (and I doubt they'd let me cycle round the Knowsley Safari Park!) Oh well, I'll stick to pursuing my max cluster for now, and perhaps think about a bigger max square further North.


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## Sbudge (16 Jul 2018)

steverob said:


> Finally made it to 23x23!
> 
> Two tiles required me to go off-road, but they weren't that bad in the scheme of things. One was about a 200 yard detour into a wheat field, but I was able to walk my bike along the tracks left by a tractor, while for the other one I needed to walk just 100 yards down a bridleway that continued at the end of a dead-end road, although it did mean getting my bike over a set of stiles (yes, I know I could have left the bike at the gate and just walked with my GPS device, but where's the challenge in that?)
> 
> Getting to 24x24 will be quite easy, probably can do that in just one ride, but 25x25 is going to be a challenge - I'm currently hemmed in on both the east and west sides by "ungettable" tiles (already at 27 north/south), so will have to work out how best to tackle this.


Does this mean that you finally got *that* problem square Steve? If so you must tell me how.


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Jul 2018)

A max cluster focussed ride today to Lincoln. 36 new squares saw my max cluster go up 76 squares


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## tallliman (19 Jul 2018)

You spoilt my plans for a group early August ride!!


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Jul 2018)

tallliman said:


> You spoilt my plans for a group early August ride!!


There are still a couple of squares between Newark and Lincoln that I need to get.


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## tallliman (19 Jul 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> There are still a couple of squares between Newark and Lincoln that I need to get.



Tell me where they are and I'll put em in....was tempted to aim for Fulbeck or the Giant concept store


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jul 2018)

tallliman said:


> Tell me where they are and I'll put em in....was tempted to aim for Fulbeck or the Giant concept store


I need the Giant store square, I also need four squares just south of Lincoln near the RAF station. (Waddington?)

Will do a screenshot when I'm on the computer


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jul 2018)

These are the squares I need that way


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## graham bowers (21 Jul 2018)

Not been on the bike for ages - man flu plus extras.............
Local pootle today for a single missing square pushed me up from 15 by 15 to 17 by 17.


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## graham bowers (21 Jul 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Today's ride saw me get the last two squares to complete all Leicestershire squares
> <snip>
> The "route" above covers all the squares the Leicestershire boundary goes through. Might try Rutland next as it is a bit smalller.



Impressive!!


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## 13 rider (21 Jul 2018)

My fortnight's riding in Cornwall added 99 squares to my total now 2918 . Didn't alter my max cluster in Leicester . Being based on the coast certainly limits your options riden the same area for 3 years now and nearest squares that are rideable are 15 miles away . Few little bits of land on the coast missing as there no roads in then might have to breakout the pedallo


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## Alan O (21 Jul 2018)

13 rider said:


> Few little bits of land on the coast missing as there no roads in then might have to breakout the pedallo


Yeah, I find that annoying. In my case there's a stretch of Mersey shoreline that has a cycleable path - but earlier this year they put up big barriers claiming the shoreline is crumbling and dangerous, and I hadn't ridden it when I could (and last time I was nearby I hadn't joined Veloviewer and had no thought of squares). I'll need to explore access a bit more closely - and I might even have to try hiring a fatbike and having a go along the sand/mud at low tide  But yes, I suppose a bike pedalo counts


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## Ivo (21 Jul 2018)

Alan O said:


> But yes, I suppose a bike pedalo counts



Indeed, human power is what counts. Quite a few difficult tiles have been scored by Dutch Velo Viewer enthousiasts at the end of winter, when quie a lot of lakes were frozen and they could cross them on skates.


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## tallliman (21 Jul 2018)

13 rider said:


> My fortnight's riding in Cornwall added 99 squares to my total now 2918 . Didn't alter my max cluster in Leicester . Being based on the coast certainly limits your options riden the same area for 3 years now and nearest squares that are rideable are 15 miles away . Few little bits of land on the coast missing as there no roads in then might have to breakout the pedallo



The key question is whether you've worked out a few routes to connect Cornwall to your max cluster.....


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Jul 2018)

tallliman said:


> The key question is whether you've worked out a few routes to connect Cornwall to your max cluster.....


Cycle Travel gives Leicester to Holywell as 331 miles, do it there and back in five days.


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## 13 rider (21 Jul 2018)

tallliman said:


> The key question is whether you've worked out a few routes to connect Cornwall to your max cluster.....


I have routes but no enthusiasm need to connect my clusters in Cornwall ,Leicester ,Bridlington and Loch Ness ,I have a bit of work to do


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## Alan O (21 Jul 2018)

13 rider said:


> I have routes but no enthusiasm need to connect my clusters in Cornwall ,Leicester ,Bridlington and Loch Ness ,I have a bit of work to do


I'm planning to start cycling in Thailand in the near future - it's where my dear wife of 30+ years is from. Connecting that up to Lancashire and Cheshire might be tricky.


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Jul 2018)

I'm up for doing Brid.


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## 13 rider (26 Jul 2018)

Finally expanded my max square from 26*26 to 27*27 need just 2 squares for this both looked like they required riding a bridle paths . Spotted the canal went through 1 square and the other was just off the canal . Drove to a start point hybrid in the boot . 27 miles of towpath exploring bit of bridle path then a bit of road in Bedworth for a couple of bonus squares and jobs a good un  May go for another tricky square on the north edge of my square on Sunday


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## PapaZita (26 Jul 2018)

I've been riding quite a lot of bridleways and farm tracks recently too. In this dry weather they're about as accessible as they'll ever be, so it seems like a good time to go seeking out some of the tricky looking squares. I use my CX bike, but usually with 30 mm nearly-slick tyres so I can still make good progress on the on-road bits (which are still the majority of the ride). Still at 21x21, but slowly accumulating squares... I like the idea of collecting the whole county too, so made a trip over to the east side of Hertfordshire, just to check that it's in range.


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## bruce1530 (26 Jul 2018)

I’m at 14x14, and starting to hit some boundaries. To the east, it’s sea. To the north and east, moorland and wind farm, no roads suitable for my current bike. And I already have to cycle about 5 miles before I even reach my ”max square”. 

Of course, I could invest in a MTB...


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## Ivo (26 Jul 2018)

I also use a sturdy tourer with 28 or 32mm tyres for the semi-paved sections.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Jul 2018)

13 rider said:


> Finally expanded my max square from 26*26 to 27*27 need just 2 squares for this both looked like they required riding a bridle paths . Spotted the canal went through 1 square and the other was just off the canal . Drove to a start point hybrid in the boot . 27 miles of towpath exploring bit of bridle path then a bit of road in Bedworth for a couple of bonus squares and jobs a good un  May go for another tricky square on the north edge of my square on Sunday



Driving to a square, you'll be walking them soon


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## 13 rider (26 Jul 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Driving to a square, you'll be walking them soon


Saving the walking ones for when I definitely need them.


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## graham bowers (26 Jul 2018)

bruce1530 said:


> I’m at 14x14, and starting to hit some boundaries. To the east, it’s sea. To the north and east, moorland and wind farm, no roads suitable for my current bike. And I already have to cycle about 5 miles before I even reach my ”max square”.
> 
> Of course, I could invest in a MTB...



n+1 opportunity!

Being sensible for a moment:

The way I see it is that the VV explorer game offers several statistics, and its up to the individual to decide how to play.

Max cluster was, I believe, developed to offer people with impassable geographical boundaries to still have a meaningful opportunity to make a big personal smudge on the map.

Total squares is, for me, the essence of exploration. I do the max square and max cluster thing, but I've been musing an objective of doing rides with no repeat squares. Impossible from home, but its an aspiration I wish to, err, aspire to.


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## graham bowers (26 Jul 2018)

If I show you mine, will you show me yours ?-)


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## 13 rider (26 Jul 2018)

Cornwall ,Leicester ,York ,Bridlington and Loch Ness


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## bruce1530 (26 Jul 2018)




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## 13 rider (26 Jul 2018)

See your issues @bruce1530 awkward spot . The coast really limits your options my little cluster in Cornwall after staying in the same spot for 3 years gets harder to expand each year .


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## Alan O (26 Jul 2018)

This is my very modest coverage so far...


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## PapaZita (26 Jul 2018)

Ivo said:


> I also use a sturdy tourer with 28 or 32mm tyres for the semi-paved sections.



I tend to think of my carbon road bike as fragile and not suitable for going off road. Then I remember, it survived the Paris-Roubaix sportive unscathed, and even went out in the rain once. They’re tougher than they look. With its 28 mm tubeless tyres on, I think it could manage most of the tracks around here, at least while the ground is dry.


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## PapaZita (26 Jul 2018)




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## Ivo (26 Jul 2018)

graham bowers said:


> n+1 opportunity!
> 
> Being sensible for a moment:
> 
> ...



Agree. Touring, even if it's only a 2 week holiday, really helps if you want to explore:


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## Supersuperleeds (27 Jul 2018)




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## 13 rider (27 Jul 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> View attachment 421318


What's the bit north of Stoke ?


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## Supersuperleeds (27 Jul 2018)

13 rider said:


> What's the bit north of Stoke ?



I did a hike with work testing kit last year.


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## bruce1530 (27 Jul 2018)

I was out for a short pootle along the coast today, just really checking that the day’s fettling had removed the creak and not introduced any others.

I noticed this square....







I also noted that it was quite a low tide...

I must be mad.






The square boundary was about 20 yards beyond the sand.... there were some rocks and rock pools just to the left - I didn’t get wet...


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## 13 rider (27 Jul 2018)

True dedication @bruce1530  or utter madness  there seems a fine line between the two.


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## Ivo (29 Jul 2018)

Today's tiles ride involved some special safety measures. I wanted to bag the tiles to the north east of Geilenkirchen Airbase, home of the Awacs fleet. When i did the south-western side I discovered a gravel road just outside the fence with a lot of camera's. So I opted for a Randonneurs USA shirt to fit in . Alas, no gravel road on the north-east side (and no camera's). So lot's of dirt tracking and making my way over overgrown farmer's roads on the northern side. The eastern side luckily had gravel tracks again. 28mm tyres are a bit small for the farmer's tracks. These tiles are done but I don't think I'll repeat these tracks soon.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1736440392


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## Alan O (4 Aug 2018)

I finally got round to filling in a remaining square in south Liverpool which added 14 to my max cluster, from 91 to 105


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## 13 rider (4 Aug 2018)

A square gathering imperial century today added 36 to my total of 2962 . 3000 here I come


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## Supersuperleeds (4 Aug 2018)

On the same ride as @13 rider I added 33 squares to my total and increased my max cluster by 10. 

Total squares now 3890, max cluster 2331, max square 42x42


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## cosmicbike (5 Aug 2018)

Todays imperial century saw me grab 51 squares and upped by max cluster to 584. Still on 20x20, I'm putting in the building blocks for a massive jump. Honest...


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## Alan O (5 Aug 2018)

A 35-mile ride today added a modest 3 extra squares for a total of 428, and added 2 to my max cluster to 107. I've got a long way to go yet


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## Venod (5 Aug 2018)




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## Ivo (5 Aug 2018)

Afnug said:


> View attachment 422798



Ah, you also rode in my backyard .


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## Venod (5 Aug 2018)

Ivo said:


> Ah, you also rode in my backyard .



Its a bit misleading, I haven't actually ridden near Maastricht, Velo Viewer has mapped all my turbo rides as well


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## Ivo (6 Aug 2018)

Today I reached my north-western limit, I've extended my square until the edge of the firing range near Houthalen. So from now on I'll have to expand towards the south (the Ardennes).


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## graham bowers (7 Aug 2018)

Afnug said:


> View attachment 422798



Nice LEJOG. If I do it again, it'll be West coast and include Scottish islands.


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## 13 rider (11 Aug 2018)

13 rider said:


> A square gathering imperial century today added 36 to my total of 2962 . 3000 here I come


Nearly there another square gathering ride up to 2997 max cluster up to 1271. Still not walked any yet .foothpath for one today for a tricky square that @Supersuperleeds needed but it was ridable just . This is now in my max cluster so a bonus


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Aug 2018)

Ride with @13 rider saw my squares jump to 3916 and max cluster to 2362. @13 rider the scenic route through Stamford was for squares.


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## Alan O (11 Aug 2018)

13 rider said:


> Still not walked any yet


I've been thinking about that, and I'd still be happy including sections of a rides where I had to walk as a part of the ride (eg very tough terrain, very steep hills), though thankfully none of my modest collection of squares relies on walking so far.

But looking around the edges, on coastal areas here, there are definitely some squares I could get to at low tide by riding to the coast and then walking out - but I can't help seeing that as a cheat.

(Although, I suppose, if I had the cash it might be a good excuse for a fat bike!)


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## 13 rider (11 Aug 2018)

Alan O said:


> I've been thinking about that, and I'd still be happy including sections of a rides where I had to walk as a part of the ride (eg very tough terrain, very steep hills), though thankfully none of my modest collection of squares relies on walking so far.
> 
> But looking around the edges, on coastal areas here, there are definitely some squares I could get to at low tide by riding to the coast and then walking out - but I can't help seeing that as a cheat.
> 
> (Although, I suppose, if I had the cash it might be a good excuse for a fat bike!)


Basically some squares your going to have to walk Im just leaving them for now . Basically under your own power is the general rules . But the thing is with velo viewer you can do it to your standard .If your happy with it it's fine


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## Alan O (11 Aug 2018)

13 rider said:


> Basically some squares your going to have to walk Im just leaving them for now . Basically under your own power is the general rules . But the thing is with velo viewer you can do it to your standard .If your happy with it it's fine


Yeah, I guess so. Maybe it's just that cycling is the only thing I record on Strava, and not walking or running (not that I ever run anywhere). But yes, there's no reason why walkers and runners shouldn't use VeloViewer.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Aug 2018)

My rule is if you go through the square under your own power then it is fine. Therefore walking, running, skiing, rowing, paddle boarding, swimming are all allowed.


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## Alan O (11 Aug 2018)

Argh, close inspection shows a square that I'm credited with which I haven't been in! It looks like a Strava failure which ended up drawing a straight line between two points has given it to me - and I definitely have to go back and get that one legitimately!


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## Ivo (12 Aug 2018)

I've walked a few squares here which essentially were mountainbike tracks. Using a tourer with 28mm tyres will result in pushing and dragging your bike along.
On a Dutch forum there's quite some debate on how to tackle a few wet squares. Some opt for waiting untill it freezes, others debate canoes.


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## Alan O (12 Aug 2018)

Ivo said:


> On a Dutch forum there's quite some debate on how to tackle a few wet squares. Some opt for waiting untill it freezes, others debate canoes.


Yeah, there's quite a few wet squares round here, along the Mersey estuary and around the Wirral. I'm sure I can get to a few of them at low tide.


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Aug 2018)

You need one of these


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## Alan O (13 Aug 2018)

Today's ride was 72 miles and added a total of 27 new squares to take me to 455, and upped my maximum cluster by 11 squares to 118. Before I set out I had a hard time deciding on which return route out of two to go for - one covered just one new square further away from home, while the other covered five new squares closer to home which would add a good few more to the cluster. I resisted the immediate gratification and went for the one further away, on the grounds that it made more sense to get it while I was there, and the ones closer to home are easier to get at a later date.

My next few rides are all group rides over routes I've done before, so my VeloViewer stats are not going to move for a little while now.


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## Alan O (13 Aug 2018)

Alan O said:


> Today's ride was 72 miles and added a total of 27 new squares to take me to 455, and upped my maximum cluster by 11 squares to 118. Before I set out I had a hard time deciding on which return route out of two to go for - one covered just one new square further away from home, while the other covered five new squares closer to home which would add a good few more to the cluster. I resisted the immediate gratification and went for the one further away, on the grounds that it made more sense to get it while I was there, and the ones closer to home are easier to get at a later date.
> 
> My next few rides are all group rides over routes I've done before, so my VeloViewer stats are not going to move for a little while now.


Ooh, and I've just seen that two squares near where I was today, one square apart (that is, next door but one), would add another 28 to my max cluster! That's got to be a target for next time I'm round there - I don't have any group rides scheduled for September, so maybe it will become VeloViewer month.


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## PapaZita (13 Aug 2018)

Alan O said:


> I resisted the immediate gratification and went for the one further away, on the grounds that it made more sense to get it while I was there, and the ones closer to home are easier to get at a later date.



I like this sort of planning. Rides end up kind of mushroom or jellyfish shaped. I've just been planning a ride over to Bishop's Stortford. It's about 32 miles from St Albans, so there and back should be 70 miles or so, with lots of good squares collected on the way. But I may not be going back that way for a while, so I throw in a few loops and make sure I don't leave too many holes that will necessitate doing essentially the same ride again in the future. Before I know it I'm looking at a 125 mile epic...


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## Ivo (13 Aug 2018)

PapaZita said:


> Before I know it I'm looking at a 125 mile epic...



Which will boost your Veloviewer Eddington score


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## steverob (14 Aug 2018)

PapaZita said:


> I like this sort of planning. Rides end up kind of mushroom or jellyfish shaped. I've just been planning a ride over to Bishop's Stortford. It's about 32 miles from St Albans, so there and back should be 70 miles or so, with lots of good squares collected on the way. But I may not be going back that way for a while, so I throw in a few loops and make sure I don't leave too many holes that will necessitate doing essentially the same ride again in the future. Before I know it I'm looking at a 125 mile epic...



Yeah, I know that feeling. Got a route planned in Strava that will be about 75 miles, yet it doesn't go much more than 20 miles from my home as the crow flies at any point; it's just all the twists and turns and double-backing to hit as many tiles as possible that really add the distance up quickly.

Was prevented from getting a missing tile at the weekend and am a bit gutted about it. Had done some research and found that this one tile has only two ways of getting to it - walking up a steep hill on a grassy footpath for about 400 yards (would probably have to lock my bike up at the gate as it looked too small to get a bike through easily), or by going about 200 yards down a bumpy, stony track towards a farm house, but this was most likely a private road and I really try not to chance my luck with things like that. Both of these routes started from the same layby on a country lane, so thought I'd take a breather there during my ride and work out my options on the ground as it were.

The trouble was that the Google Streetview image I was working on was 8 years out of date and it seems that a lot of work had been done in the area since then. The stony track to the farm was now a smoothly paved drive, but was behind big automated gates with CCTV cameras and lots of warning signs. The uphill footpath still existed, but apart from a small gap for a kissing gate, the rest of the fence around that field was marked as being electrified and there were more warning signs about private land and not straying from the path and not using it for means that it was not specified for - all very OTT if you ask me, but there you go (the field seemed to have a lot of pheasants in it if that gives a clue as to why?).

Anyway, as I was taking a drink from my bottle while weighing up my next step, I saw a pickup truck come flying down the farm drive towards the layby. The gates opened and it drove through, but stopped a good 10 yards short of the junction with road. Out of the corner of my eye I noted that the driver was staring in my direction. I didn't look back but just carried on eating and drinking pretending that I hadn't even noticed, but the pickup stayed where it was. I even pretended to rummage in my saddle bag for something (not sure what!) but still he carried on waiting/staring. After about a minute and me making a big show of putting my helmet back on and deliberately spending ages adjusting the straps, he decided to pull forward to the road and then eventually drive off.

However it left me a bit unnerved - if he was being that paranoid about a cyclist stopping for a drink near his farm's boundary, I wasn't about to leave my bike locked to a gate and then go on a walk up a footpath, in case he returned five minutes later with a pair of bolt croppers to undo my lock while I was 400 yards away (in cycling shoes) and unable to get back to it quickly! So I decided that today was not the day to tackle this tile and rode on, with some planning still to do to decide how I would eventually be able to tackle it.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Aug 2018)

A max cluster extending ride today, 27 new squares saw the cluster increase by 58 and towards the east now reaches Market Deeping.

Had a lorry driver flag me down to tell me I was heading down a no through road. I thanked him and with a smile told him I was turning around before the end of the road and it was probably best he didn't ask me what I was doing


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## PapaZita (15 Aug 2018)

steverob said:


> However it left me a bit unnerved - if he was being that paranoid about a cyclist stopping for a drink near his farm's boundary, I wasn't about to leave my bike locked to a gate and then go on a walk up a footpath,



That's a tricky one. Perhaps you were spotted on the CCTV, apparently checking out ways to steal his pheasants. I too would be reluctant to lock up in the area after that. How about stopping some distance away, change your shoes and hide your helmet, then you're just another jogger heading up the footpath?

I've not yet had to use any footpaths, but I've been down a few private roads and tracks and not had any trouble so far. I think you can get a sense from any signs and gates whether visitors are genuinely unwelcome or not. I have planned, in my head, what I might say if challenged. It is, after all, easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.  "I was looking for a bridleway through to <somewhere-that-sounds-plausible> but I think I must have gone the wrong way", or, "I was exploring but I'm a bit lost. Do you know how I can get back to <place-I'm-heading-for-anyway>". But usually I don't see a soul, or if I do they're too busy farmering to notice me.


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## Alan O (15 Aug 2018)

steverob said:


> Anyway, as I was taking a drink from my bottle while weighing up my next step, I saw a pickup truck come flying down the farm drive towards the layby. The gates opened and it drove through, but stopped a good 10 yards short of the junction with road. Out of the corner of my eye I noted that the driver was staring in my direction. I didn't look back but just carried on eating and drinking pretending that I hadn't even noticed, but the pickup stayed where it was. I even pretended to rummage in my saddle bag for something (not sure what!) but still he carried on waiting/staring. After about a minute and me making a big show of putting my helmet back on and deliberately spending ages adjusting the straps, he decided to pull forward to the road and then eventually drive off.


I think I might have looked up, waved, and voiced a friendly "morning/afternoon" (as appropriate). Depending on the reaction to that, I might have wandered over and greeted the chap with a pleasantry about the weather. And perhaps even enquired about the accessibility of said steep hill on said grassy footpath - you never know, nothing to lose.

It can be fun devising ways to get into difficult squares - but it's not cold-war espionage, and meeting and chatting with strangers is part of the fun of being out and about for me.

I had a slightly similar situation on my way home Monday, when I reached a barrier closing off my familiar canal towpath route (although I wasn't chasing squares at the time). There was a path through a field, which was my only real option, but I quickly found myself heading along a temporary construction track, and when I got to the end of it and a gate to a road a (presumably security) guy got out of a car and approached me...

And he was friendly and helpful, pointed out that if I'd gone another 10 metres or so I'd have found a safer path that led out about 100 metres away - and he even opened and closed the gate for me!


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Aug 2018)

Another max cluster filling ride, this time up to Lincoln, 26 new squares increased the max cluster by 66.

Also got to ride on the old airfield near Stragglesthorpe: (@tallliman)


I planned to get the square on the west side and then come back out, but Strava had plotted my route around the airfield 

When I got to Fenton there was a barrier across the road that I wanted to use so I turned around knowing there was a footpath just above it that went into the square. Couldn't find the footpath so went back to the barrier and there was a woman walking her dog the other side, so I nipped over the barrier and asked her if it was public access.





Long story short: Second world war the MOD bought the land from a farmer for the airfield and afterwards sold it back to the farmer but didn't reinstate the right of ways. Woman told me all the locals use the airfield and just ignore the farmer when he has a go at them, good enough for me . 

I bagged the square how I originally planned and then headed around the airfield.

Farmer caught me just as I was getting to the end. I played dumb and said I was lost and was looking for Stragglesthorpe. He asked me where I'd come from so I pointed back towards Fenton and said I'd come from Snubton (village before Fenton) he was as nice as pie with me and gave me directions to get to Stragglesthorpe


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## wajc (15 Aug 2018)

I had a look at your ride on strava @Supersuperleeds, it's always interesting to see how you've tackled squares I've already done or need to do.

The Stragglethorpe one I approached from the eastern side via the entrance to the Karting Circuit and then rode round to the southern edge of the airfield. It's a well pot holed road to get to the square and you have to ignore the farmers signs on this side as well to get the 100m or so beyond the karting circuit to bag the square.

I was planning to get the one near Belton Woods by going through the hotel complex from the A607, I guess you had no drama on Grange lane - were there any 'Keep Out' notices as it doesn't look like a right of way on an OS map.'

I've been to the cafe at Syston (by car so still need that square as well), food seemed pretty good and as an added bonus you bag another square as well as you go up the drive.

(If anyone else is in the area it's also a good cafe for a lone cyclist without a lock, as you can take your bike round the back to the picnic table area and still keep a good eye on it whilst you are inside).


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## bruce1530 (15 Aug 2018)

That’s one of the reasons I like living north of the border. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is our friend!


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Aug 2018)

There were a couple of keep out signs that I happened not to see 

I wasn't sure if you could go in the karting entrance hence why I went to the west side of it


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## wajc (15 Aug 2018)

Fortunately there was a Kart meet in progress when I was there so the gate was wide open. I can't remember how substantial it was and whether it would have been possible to get over/round it if it had been closed.

Thanks for the heads up on the Grange Lane - I think when I get round to it I'll pretend to be a lost hotel guest.


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## Venod (15 Aug 2018)

Has anybody visited this square all the tracks into it are private, it looks like the next attempt might be round the river bank, but its rough and the public footpath stops before the square.


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Aug 2018)

Afnug said:


> Has anybody visited this square all the tracks into it are private, it looks like the next attempt might be round the river bank, but its rough and the public footpath stops before the square.
> 
> View attachment 424645



Not ridden there so can't help. As an aside, what software/web site are you using to overlay ordnance survey mapping on your squares?


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Aug 2018)

Ignore that, found the OS option on Veloviewer!


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## Venod (15 Aug 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Ignore that, found the OS option on Veloviewer!



That was my answer


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## tallliman (15 Aug 2018)

@Supersuperleeds, was there much left in the way of buildings? Been past quite a few times!


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Aug 2018)

tallliman said:


> @Supersuperleeds, was there much left in the way of buildings? Been past quite a few times!



No buildings at all, the long straight was decent tarmac, but once round the bend it was quite rough.


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## PapaZita (15 Aug 2018)

Afnug said:


> Has anybody visited this square all the tracks into it are private, it looks like the next attempt might be round the river bank, but its rough and the public footpath stops before the square.
> View attachment 424645



I’ve never been either. I assume the south east corner of the square can’t be accessed through Drax Abbey Farm? Otherwise, you might have to check out the nature reserve at the south west corner: https://www.drax.com/visit-us/visit-skylark-centre/. It seems to be open to the public every weekend and in addition to nature walks offers something called a “mound construction viewing platform”, which if it’s what I think I can see on the satellite view is well inside the square.


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## Alan O (15 Aug 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Ignore that, found the OS option on Veloviewer!


Ooh, I hadn't seen that - very useful!


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## wajc (15 Aug 2018)

Afnug said:


> Has anybody visited this square all the tracks into it are private, it looks like the next attempt might be round the river bank, but its rough and the public footpath stops before the square.



Looks a tricky square. I often use the strava heatmap to see where people have been (not the one on the Strava route planner but the one linked as it seems to show more)

https://www.strava.com/heatmap#7.00/-120.90000/38.36000/hot/all







A lot of people seemed to have been walking/riding along the river bank to the north and then headed directly south on what appears to be a farm track before stopping and turning round but that will get you far enough. If you filter by activity type it looks as if there has been more walkers/runners down there then cyclists.


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## Venod (15 Aug 2018)

PapaZita said:


> I’ve never been either. I assume the south east corner of the square can’t be accessed through Drax Abbey Farm? Otherwise, you might have to check out the nature reserve at the south west corner: https://www.drax.com/visit-us/visit-skylark-centre/. It seems to be open to the public every weekend and in addition to nature walks offers something called a “mound construction viewing platform”, which if it’s what I think I can see on the satellite view is well inside the square.


Yes a visit to the nature reserve looks the way to bag it, a lot of the square is in Drax PS grounds, I have been in the square numerous times when I did some work there, The Drax Abbey Farm route means passing through the farm on a private track, I got to the top of the track at the North of the square then chickened out going past the house, it had a deliverance feel about it.


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## Alan O (16 Aug 2018)

wajc said:


> I often use the strava heatmap to see where people have been.


Ah, a heatmap view - seems like an obvious thing for VeloViewer to offer.


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## steverob (16 Aug 2018)

Alan O said:


> Ooh, I hadn't seen that - very useful!


They've had an OS map option for a very long time, but you couldn't overlay the coloured tiles on it until very recently - think this might have only been added in the past month or so.


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## Alan O (16 Aug 2018)

steverob said:


> They've had an OS map option for a very long time, but you couldn't overlay the coloured tiles on it until very recently - think this might have only been added in the past month or so.


Oh, it was just me being dumb - I hadn't even seen the pop-up list of map options! (Only been on it a month or so, which is maybe some excuse )


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## Venod (16 Aug 2018)

wajc said:


> Looks a tricky square. I often use the strava heatmap to see where people have been (not the one on the Strava route planner but the one linked as it seems to show more)



Thanks @wajc that's a good tip.


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## Venod (17 Aug 2018)

Thanks to @wajac and his heat map tip I bagged the square mentioned above, I had been to the North end of the track before but chickened out of going past the house, but the heat map indicated someone had been down.

Bagging this square gives me several more to bag to increase my maximum square, there was no point in going for them unless I got this one.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Aug 2018)

Used the wind to ride up to Nottingham and bag some squares. Max cluster now 2,500.


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## 13 rider (18 Aug 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Used the wind to ride up to Nottingham and bag some squares. Max cluster now 2,500.


Me too we did the same bit around Ruddington . I chose to cycle back into the headwind . 6 squares today to take the total to 3003 . Bagged the awakard Gotham moor lane from Ruddington by ignoring the no cycling sign  and a bit of grass footpath at the side of the railway


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Aug 2018)

13 rider said:


> Me too we did the same bit around Ruddington . I chose to cycle back into the headwind . 6 squares today to take the total to 3003 . Bagged the awakard Gotham moor lane from Ruddington by ignoring the no cycling sign  and a bit of grass footpath at the side of the railway



I went through Ruddington, Carlton was stupidly hilly, won't be going back there.


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## tallliman (18 Aug 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I went through Ruddington, Carlton was stupidly hilly, won't be going back there.



Rode through Carlton last Christmas.....some brutes of hills for suburbia.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Aug 2018)

tallliman said:


> Rode through Carlton last Christmas.....some brutes of hills for suburbia.



One of the roads I went up was over 100 foot climb in 0.2 miles. I did three climbs like that all on a housing estate. I wouldn't want to park a car round there.


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## Skuhravy (18 Aug 2018)

I've been busy riding my bike so haven't pushed my scores up much recently. But a ride round t'Moors yesterday pushed my cluster up to 2650 or so.

And since everyone else is sharing...


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## Ivo (19 Aug 2018)

Skuhravy said:


> I've been busy riding my bike so haven't pushed my scores up much recently. But a ride round t'Moors yesterday pushed my cluster up to 2650 or so.
> 
> And since everyone else is sharing...



You'll be repeating the bit west of Paris next year?


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## Skuhravy (19 Aug 2018)

That's the plan, Ivo! And maybe fill in some gaps either side of it too.


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## Ivo (19 Aug 2018)

Skuhravy said:


> That's the plan, Ivo! And maybe fill in some gaps either side of it too.



There are some rumours about routechanges so that might be already catered for. Certainly there'll be a few Parisian gaps to cover before and after the event.
I did some gapcovering 4 years ago on the saturday after the finish.


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## Ivo (20 Aug 2018)

The rumours are confirmed, the start is moved to Rambouillet. So to maximise your new tiles you shouldn't stay in Paris but in Chartres (30 minutes by train, 40km) to the south-west of the start and ride out and back to the bikecheck .


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## Venod (20 Aug 2018)

Following last weeks bagging of the tricky Drax square I have been out today to improve my max square.

From 20 x 20 I have gone to 24 x 24 

It says I have 6704 tiles at an average of 6.370 mile per square.

Max Cluster 816

I don't fully understand the Max Cluster thing, if I click and download a KML file of unexplored tiles around my max cluster, when I open the file in google earth I have visited a lot of the tiles that are highlighted so I don't know whats going on.


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## wajc (20 Aug 2018)

@Afnug

This will explain it

https://blog.veloviewer.com/introducing-the-explorer-cluster-and-configurable-explorer-visuals/


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## Venod (20 Aug 2018)

wajc said:


> @Afnug
> 
> This will explain it
> 
> https://blog.veloviewer.com/introducing-the-explorer-cluster-and-configurable-explorer-visuals/



Thanks @wajc I had read this and thought I understood but the downloaded KML file had me baffled, the KML file must be wrong because some of the squares highlighted are in fact part of my Max Cluster.


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## Ivo (20 Aug 2018)

Yesterday I filled up some gaps between quite a bunch of tiles near Antwerp and my cluster. So now I've crossed the Schelde with my cluster. Next up will be crossing the Rhine. The clusterscore is slowly reaching a decent level. 2366. My max cluster is quite limited by the shooting range near Houthalen.


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## cosmicbike (24 Aug 2018)

Grabbed a few extra squares on holiday through France, adding to those done last year. Nearly done all possible squares on Ile de Re, just enough left to justify a return visit

A question if I may. I plan my rides using RidewithGPS, and having a tab with that open, plus a Veloviewer tab and flipping back and forth to make sure I get the squares is a tad annoying. Can I plan the rides on Veloviewer, or overlay a grip on RwGPS?


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## wajc (24 Aug 2018)

I think the nearest you'll get is to use Chrome and plan your rides on Strava with the Veloviewer extension for Strava installed.

The darker pink squares are ones I have already ridden through, the bluish squares are part of my max cluster, the blue line is showing the western edge of my max square. The lighter squares are ones I have yet to ride through.

The drawbacks of Strava compared to RWGPS is that if you have to go off road the Strava 'manual' routing is not so good as RWGPS 'Draw lines' function and the step by step route instructions are not as good on Strava either.


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## tallliman (25 Aug 2018)

6 more squares today, @Supersuperleeds managed none and @Lilliburlero refused some


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## 13 rider (25 Aug 2018)

tallliman said:


> 6 more squares today, @Supersuperleeds managed none and @Lilliburlero refused some


Just 1 for me the Bescadby 1  if you've not guessed


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Aug 2018)

wajc said:


> I think the nearest you'll get is to use Chrome and plan your rides on Strava with the Veloviewer extension for Strava installed.
> 
> The darker pink squares are ones I have already ridden through, the bluish squares are part of my max cluster, the blue line is showing the western edge of my max square. The lighter squares are ones I have yet to ride through.
> 
> ...



I've got those squares


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## Lilliburlero (25 Aug 2018)

tallliman said:


> 6 more squares today, @Supersuperleeds managed none and @Lilliburlero refused some



I think I already have them


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## tallliman (25 Aug 2018)

Lilliburlero said:


> I think I already have them



Show us your map!


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## Lilliburlero (25 Aug 2018)

I know what you`re trying to do, you want me to make one don`t ya 

Must resist....


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## cosmicbike (25 Aug 2018)

My metric century challenge ride today took me up to 1221 tiles, and 21x21. Got a few gaps here and there to fill in, now made so much easier to plan thanks to @wajc , tried the method advised and it works a treat


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## Alan O (1 Sep 2018)

After a couple of weeks off the bike with a toe injury, I did a 30-ish mile ride today round some local haunts but choosing different routes to hit more tiles.

Total tiles now up from 455 to 466, and max cluster up from 118 to 140.

I wish I'd come across this thing earlier, rather than riding the same routes over and over again for most of the year


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## 13 rider (1 Sep 2018)

40 more today total now 3044 max cluster up by 7 to 1307


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Sep 2018)

Same ride as @13 rider saw me add 38 squares to take me to 4020 and increase the max cluster by another 53 to 2553


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## 13 rider (2 Sep 2018)

Cleared a little 6 square cluster of unridden squares near Rutland water today bumped my max cluster by 16 to 1323 total squares now 3050


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## Pumpkin the robot (2 Sep 2018)

I need to ride locally a bit more. I broke 5000 squares today and still only have a 15x15.


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## Ivo (3 Sep 2018)

Pumpkin the robot said:


> I need to ride locally a bit more. I broke 5000 squares today and still only have a 15x15.



Or you just keep on piling up new squares and go for the ranking of highest amount of tiles.


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## Alan O (3 Sep 2018)

Pumpkin the robot said:


> I need to ride locally a bit more. I broke 5000 squares today and still only have a 15x15.


I've only covered a small number of tiles so far, but my "home" square can never get bigger than 9x9 - two impenetrable tiles on one side with a river and the sea on the other.


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## Ivo (3 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> I've only covered a small number of tiles so far, but my "home" square can never get bigger than 9x9 - two impenetrable tiles on one side with a river and the sea on the other.



There should be land and the other side of the river


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## cosmicbike (3 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> I've only covered a small number of tiles so far, but my "home" square can never get bigger than 9x9 - two impenetrable tiles on one side with a river and the sea on the other.



Ever considered SUP?


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## PapaZita (3 Sep 2018)

cosmicbike said:


> Ever considered SUP?



And have a quick thumb through this book before setting out:


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## Alan O (3 Sep 2018)

Ivo said:


> There should be land and the other side of the river


There is and I can extend my max cluster across it. But just beyond the mouth of the Mersey is the Irish Sea, and that stops my max square.


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## Alan O (3 Sep 2018)

cosmicbike said:


> Ever considered SUP?


Not to Ireland


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## tallliman (4 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> There is and I can extend my max cluster across it. But just beyond the mouth of the Mersey is the Irish Sea, and that stops my max square.



Could you get a boat to cover the Mersey? If you ran all the time, itd count in my book!


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## Alan O (4 Sep 2018)

tallliman said:


> Could you get a boat to cover the Mersey? If you ran all the time, itd count in my book!


I've taken my bike on the ferries plenty of times, so maybe if I stayed sitting on it? 

But seriously, I got my max cluster across the river easy enough - I've cycled through the Mersey Tunnel a couple of times, and there's enough of the narrow section of the river for tiles on each side to meet.

The real problem is the sea stopping my max square extending West. You can see on the attached image...

There are two squares that look like they're accessible from the Liverpool side, but the land you can see is industrial/dock area with big security. I might be able to get onto one from the Wallasey side at low tide - but that's one tile further West at most.


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## 13 rider (9 Sep 2018)

13 more squares today including todays target square which due to navigation error I had missed on a ride a year ago and in ended up on the bottom line of my max square and was only 26 miles away from home . 1 more targeted ride should see max square jump from 27*27 to 29*29 . Max cluster up to 1355


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## Ivo (12 Sep 2018)

Managed to jump from 29x29 to 32x32 today. And the square is now spanning 3 countries. Still a bit of work to do for 33x33 as the tiles I now need aren't really concentrated (and in a few lumpy area's).


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Sep 2018)

Ride out to Grantham with @tallliman to bag his metric century saw us bag two tricky squares. 16 new squares in total which increased the max cluster by 29.


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## tallliman (15 Sep 2018)

And 20 extra squares for me raised my max cluster by 60!


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## Alan O (16 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> Total tiles now up from 455 to 466, and max cluster up from 118 to 140.


Group ride yesterday which covered some new ground, and to and from the start/finish I took some diversions to fill in an island of 8 untouched tiles. Total tiles now 495 (+29), max cluster 165 (+25).


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## Alan O (16 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> Group ride yesterday which covered some new ground, and to and from the start/finish I took some diversions to fill in an island of 8 untouched tiles. Total tiles now 495 (+29), max cluster 165 (+25).


I meant to say that part of the island of missing tiles is covered only by tracks and footpaths and I didn't know whether there was any way through, but I'd started early so that I'd have enough time to give it a go.

I found a great route through woods between fields, which someone told me later is known as the old coach road. It's broken and very bumpy now, but fine on my touring bike - and the woods were full of pheasants (so close to the E Lancs road where motorists drive past every day with no idea).

It will be a regular route now - and if it wasn't for VeloViewer, I'd never have found it


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## tallliman (16 Sep 2018)

@Alan O, that's part of what I love about square grabbing; finding routes that you wouldn't normally use but are just stunning


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## 13 rider (22 Sep 2018)

13 rider said:


> 13 more squares today including todays target square which due to navigation error I had missed on a ride a year ago and in ended up on the bottom line of my max square and was only 26 miles away from home . 1 more targeted ride should see max square jump from 27*27 to 29*29 . Max cluster up to 1355


Target ride completed and max square up to 29*29 . Max cluster 1385 total number 3084 . The tricky square involved a tough track on which I punctured on . My first velo viewer puncture considered the tracks I've riden it's not too bad


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Sep 2018)

13 rider said:


> Target ride completed and max square up to 29*29 . Max cluster 1385 total number 3084 . Throne tricky square involved a tough track on which I punctured on . My first velo viewer puncture considered the tracks I've riden it's not too bad




You know you've done a rough track when you discover a split rim or even a cracked hub 

Was that the track from the bottom of the industrial estate and a couple of gates to lift the bike over? If so, we've ridden much worse.


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## 13 rider (22 Sep 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> You know you've done a rough track when you discover a split rim or even a cracked hub
> 
> Was that the track from the bottom of the industrial estate and a couple of gates to lift the bike over? If so, we've ridden much worse.


Yes that lane . Gates were open . Yes we've been down worse . Didn't check tyre pressure before ride pinch flat,nice snake bite possibly down to low pressure


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## tallliman (22 Sep 2018)

Today, I cycled up a stony track to a folly. That word summed up the need to obtain some squares!


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## cosmicbike (22 Sep 2018)

48 squares today on a ride to Brighton for breakfast. I've had easier ones


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## Alan O (24 Sep 2018)

I added a modest 11 new tiles today to take my total from 495 to 506. I didn't extend my max cluster, but I'm building up for a potential big future boost with quite a few 1 or 2 tiles islands that would make a big difference.


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Sep 2018)

Ride out to Kettering this morning to take my max square to 43x43. 46 new squares which increased the max cluster by 47.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Sep 2018)

Another square filling ride, only 14 squares but it increased the max cluster by another 28 and and gave me 44 squares west to east on the max square. 

Now need to decide if I want to go north or south to take it to 44x44. North is more squares but looks easier to do than the south which involves either using the A45 or lots of miles to get squares next to each other.


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## tallliman (26 Sep 2018)

Someone at worked pointed me at explorer helper for veloviewer, bit basic but good to see the squares on my phone. Will help to know I'm in squares whilst I'm out


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Sep 2018)

tallliman said:


> Someone at worked pointed me at explorer helper for veloviewer, bit basic but good to see the squares on my phone. Will help to know I'm in squares whilst I'm out



Lazy bugger, here's the link if anyone wants it for android

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.anisart.vv&hl=en_GB


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## PapaZita (26 Sep 2018)

There has been a nice little enhancement to Veloviewer today, where the maps for an individual activity or planned route can show the tiles that have been or will be visited.


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## tallliman (26 Sep 2018)

PapaZita said:


> There has been a nice little enhancement to Veloviewer today, where the maps for an individual activity or planned route can show the tiles that have been or will be visited.



He just needs to get it to show any new squares against the route and against your current squares


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## steverob (26 Sep 2018)

PapaZita said:


> There has been a nice little enhancement to Veloviewer today, where the maps for an individual activity or planned route can show the tiles that have been or will be visited.


There's also a second part added where if you zoom in to maximum on an activity now, you can see where all the GPS plot points are, which is useful to see if/why you did or didn't get a tile.

I had a ride recently where I just grazed the edge of a new tile - literally there is only one road that crosses into the tile and even then, it's really only one side of the road that does just barely - and sure enough I did get it. Now looking back on it, I can see that officially I only recorded four plot points in that tile, so therefore was only over the tile border for four seconds, but it still counts! Had I been in the other lane going the other way, I almost certainly wouldn't have got it.


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## Alan O (27 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> I added a modest 11 new tiles today to take my total from 495 to 506. I didn't extend my max cluster, but I'm building up for a potential big future boost with quite a few 1 or 2 tiles islands that would make a big difference.


Ha, I was playing with the new features for individual activity maps, and it's recalculated and removed one of my tiles that was incorrectly credited to me (a straight line plotted by Strava when it was paused had crossed a tile I hadn't entered).

So my tile count has dropped from 506 to 505, and my max cluster from 165 to 157. The tile isn't far away, so I can easily make a quick trip out to get it.


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## Alan O (29 Sep 2018)

Alan O said:


> Ha, I was playing with the new features for individual activity maps, and it's recalculated and removed one of my tiles that was incorrectly credited to me (a straight line plotted by Strava when it was paused had crossed a tile I hadn't entered).
> 
> So my tile count has dropped from 506 to 505, and my max cluster from 165 to 157. The tile isn't far away, so I can easily make a quick trip out to get it.


I popped out this morning and regained that tile, to take my totals back up again. But, more importantly, I've been examining things more closely in satellite view and I think I've made a breakthrough discovery...

My big problem has been two tiles just to the east of me, covered by the private (walled and gated) Knowsley Park estate. It struck me a little while ago that I could probably get in to the southern one of the tiles by visiting Knowsley Safari Park - if I cycle there, the areas you can walk around are just into the southeast corner of the tile.

And the northeast corner of the northern tile looks like this...







You can see the tile borders at the top, and the difficult tile is the one on the left. The blue arrow indicates one of the gates of the estate, and there's a fence heading from it along the boundary of the field to the left of the trees. But then I spotted the track indicated by the orange arrow, which doesn't show on maps but is clearly there on the satellite image. And that heads just far enough into the tile, assuming it's as accessible on the ground as it appears from the air.

My max possible square including my home might be a lot bigger than I'd thought!


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## Supersuperleeds (29 Sep 2018)

I'd be parking the bike at the gate, nipping over it and going for a brisk walk


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## Alan O (29 Sep 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I'd be parking the bike at the gate, nipping over it and going for a brisk walk


It's a proper big gate - not a little country thing you can hop over.


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## Supersuperleeds (29 Sep 2018)

Have you had a look on OS mapping to see if there are any footpaths going through it?


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## Alan O (29 Sep 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Have you had a look on OS mapping to see if there are any footpaths going through it?


Yes, there are definitely none going through the estate - it's been the very private property of the Earls of Derby for centuries and is still owned by the same family. But it doesn't matter if I can get along the path at the edge of that field for about 50 metres or so.


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## 13 rider (30 Sep 2018)

Up to 30*30 after today's ride. Needed a dead end lane to the back of the Toyota plant then a few other squares in Derby 
Total squares 3097 max cluster 1393


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Oct 2018)

Another 26 squares today which increased the max cluster by another 36. Square count now 4,124 and cluster 2,693.


@13 rider should be along shortly to give his update


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## Ivo (7 Oct 2018)

Added a few strategic tiles yesterday. Now I'm on 27445 tiles and a cluster of 2574. Not really concentrating on squares at the moment.
On the 'downside', I convinced one of my cyclingmates to join, he immediately took a top 10 position in the total amount of tiles ranking, pushing me down a place.


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## 13 rider (7 Oct 2018)

Here I am 65 for me no increase in max cluster . Total squares 3183


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## cosmicbike (7 Oct 2018)

Lots of new roads gave me an extra 54 squares today. Still stuck at 21x21, but 28x21, so some work to be done.


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## PapaZita (8 Oct 2018)

I've been working on collecting Hertfordshire for the last few weeks, but yesterday took a break from that and rode up into Bedfordshire, adding the one elusive square required to get me up to 25x25, and making 27x27 look quite easily doable in the next week or two. Riding home in the fading light I was overtaken by an owl.


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Oct 2018)

13 rider said:


> Here I am 65 for me no increase in max cluster . Total squares 3183



I wanted to know how many new squares you got, not your age


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## Ivo (9 Oct 2018)

Today's ride was very fruitful. Not only did I bag my 3rd RRtY, I also added 49 tiles and extended my cluster with 105.
My current results are: 27397 tiles max square 32x32 max cluster 2479
27494 tiles and max cluster 2679. It was late last night, that were last month's amounts


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## steverob (11 Oct 2018)

A ride down to Windsor yesterday saw me add another 26 tiles, but more importantly I filled in a few gaps which meant I actually gained 44 tiles to my cluster.

Looks funny on my map as I now have a little "appendix" that is two tiles wide running down from Beaconsfield to Windsor (well it's four tiles wide really, but only two of which are purple of course), compared to the rest of my cluster that is a fairly uniformly round shape centred around my home town.


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## cosmicbike (16 Oct 2018)

The October metric century done today, linked my big square to some tiles I did a few years back whilst at work in Lane End. 20 squares added to the total, and a good few to the cluster too. Not in any way helpful to increasing the 21 x21 though


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## Alan O (30 Oct 2018)

I've only been repeating frequent rides of late, so I wasn't expecting any change to my VV scores. But I just had a look, and Sunday's ride just scraped the corner of a square where the same ride last time just missed it - and a slight variation on the way back took in 3 new squares and added 2 to my max cluster.

So total = 510 (from 506) and max cluster = 167 (from 165).

It's not a lot, but it's a nice surprise when I wasn't expecting any change.


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## tallliman (30 Oct 2018)

Currently not able to ride much but I've been plotting a route to extend my max cluster to London....126miles and about 200 squares.....one for next year I think. Only 1 mile of dubious paths.


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## Alan O (3 Nov 2018)

Southerly winds of 18-20mph today, so I caught the train to Chester and rode mostly north! I did have one spell of 6-7 miles due south, mind, and that was tough going.

Anyway, 42 miles to add another 11 tiles, with total now 521 tiles.

No difference to my max cluster, as the new tiles are in an area not yet connected. I only need a couple of tiles to connect up, but I'm saving them for now


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## Supersuperleeds (4 Nov 2018)

Ride to Lincoln with @13 rider saw me bag another 55 squares and increase the max cluster by another 42


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## cosmicbike (4 Nov 2018)

Finally got the missing 9 squares that took me from 21x21 to 24x24 on todays imperial century. Now need to think about whether I work East (London) or West (not London) to improve things. North & South is easier, the seaside is South


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## 13 rider (4 Nov 2018)

54 new squares for me today on my and @Supersuperleeds trip to Lincoln no effect on max square or cluster


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## PapaZita (4 Nov 2018)

My ride today was over to Epping Forest, and a zig zag home through north London, adding 51 new squares and increasing my max square up to 30 x 30. I don’t particularly enjoy the urban bits, so this is probably as far south as I’ll go for now. I do, however, now have a big flat base to my cluster, 42 squares wide, so I should be able to build on that for a while.


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## MichaelO (9 Nov 2018)

I've used veloviewer for sometime, and been vaguely aware of the tiles/square/cluster scores, but never purposefully gone out my way to maximise them. I've not cycled as much this year as previous years, so I thought about using that as a bit of motivation to up my mileage over the coming months.

I'm starting on 2,552 tiles, max cluster of 199 and max square a paltry 5x5.

I've spotted a few obvious missing tiles locally - they are generally fields, but some have concreted farms tracks running across them. Bag those (this weekend), and my max square should increase pretty rapidly. I have the problem of having London to the North - a clear corridor of 5-8 tiles running from home to work on the commute - not sure I fancy widening that much, so will have to look S/E/W. Adds a bit of something different to planning weekend rides 

There is one annoying square to the East which doesn't appear to have any roads on it at all - could be limiting


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## MichaelO (9 Nov 2018)

Some very obvious single squares to hunt over the coming weeks!! This could get addictive!


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## Ivo (9 Nov 2018)

For hunting big city tiles sunday mornings are ideal.


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## Supersuperleeds (9 Nov 2018)

MichaelO said:


> Some very obvious single squares to hunt over the coming weeks!! This could get addictive!
> 
> View attachment 437728



You lucky blighter, I loved it when I first started doing explorer squares and got to fill in all those gaps.


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## tallliman (9 Nov 2018)

Yep, some of us are up to 100mile rides for 30 squares......


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## Soltydog (15 Nov 2018)

MichaelO said:


> I've used veloviewer for sometime, and been vaguely aware of the tiles/square/cluster scores, but never purposefully gone out my way to maximise them.



Funnily enough I'm in the same position, but today was going out for a ride & was looking at my VV map, noticed a few easy tiles locally so headed out to bag a few. I sometimes go out for 100 miles & only bag 3 or 4, but today did just over 60 miles locally & got 8 new tiles & just missed another. It's boosted my max square from 7x7 to 8x8  Not easy when you live on the coast, no tiles to be had east of me , but my max cluster has gone up from 149 to 193 . Might see how many more i can bag over winter


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## MichaelO (15 Nov 2018)

Soltydog said:


> Funnily enough I'm in the same position, but today was going out for a ride & was looking at my VV map, noticed a few easy tiles locally so headed out to bag a few. I sometimes go out for 100 miles & only bag 3 or 4, but today did just over 60 miles locally & got 8 new tiles & just missed another. It's boosted my max square from 7x7 to 8x8  Not easy when you live on the coast, no tiles to be had east of me , but my max cluster has gone up from 149 to 193 . Might see how many more i can bag over winter


Did the same yesterday - headed out for a short 2 hour ride, and bagged 3 squares - cluster up from 119-252 (!) and max square 5x5 to 7x7. A perfect winter motivation to get out & find new roads 

I now have a very East-West concentration - need to head South (North is London, so may have to vary the commute into town to bag those).


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Nov 2018)

Good old explorer ride today. 106 miles bagged me 44 new squares and increased the max cluster by 48.

Total squares 4223; max cluster; 2783; max square 44x44


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## Soltydog (17 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Good old explorer ride today. 106 miles bagged me 44 new squares and increased the max cluster by 48.
> 
> Total squares 4223; max cluster; 2783; max square 44x44



We are not worthy 

Top effort today mate. If I take up swimming I might have a better chance of increasing my max square


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Nov 2018)

Soltydog said:


> We are not worthy
> 
> Top effort today mate. If I take up swimming I might have a better chance of increasing my max square



It's getting harder and I've been knocked off the leaderboard


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## Ivo (18 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> It's getting harder and I've been knocked off the leaderboard



It's a constant battle to stay on the leaderboard.

Friday's DIY 200 increased my max cluster by 97 to 3100. 27676 tiles in total but the square is lagging a bit behind with 32x32. I'll wait until the hunting season is over before I head to the Ardennes again.


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## 13 rider (18 Nov 2018)

On my northern edge I have two Cities Nottingham to the East and Derby to the West .Nottingham was the target today .A mixture of busy roads decent cycle paths and some shared paths by the river which were very busy with walkers so slow progress . 17 squares added and 18 to max cluster ! . Total square 3255 max cluster 1419 . Next week onto Derby may see my max square jump by 1 to 31* 31


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Nov 2018)

13 rider said:


> On my northern edge I have two Cities Nottingham to the East and Derby to the West .Nottingham was the target today .A mixture of busy roads decent cycle paths and some shared paths by the river which were very busy with walkers so slow progress . 17 squares added and 18 to max cluster ! . Total square 3255 max cluster 1419 . Next week onto Derby may see my max square jump by 1 to 31* 31



I'm thinking of doing Derby next saturday


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## 13 rider (18 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I'm thinking of doing Derby next saturday


I was thinking Sunday .will let you now .I post you my route in the week


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Nov 2018)

I can't do Sunday, but am free Saturday once I've dropped the missus at the station. (Which I think is around 8ish)


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## cosmicbike (18 Nov 2018)

Well still stuck at 24x24, but it's now 27x24 so some North/South work to do. A nice 66 miler today save 17 new squares in the pot, now at 1399. My square is looking too square, so I need some pointy out bits to start building from. I really enjoyed the long ride down to Brighton, so there's a good few options to build Southwards there.


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## wajc (18 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> It's getting harder and I've been knocked off the leaderboard



You've spent a lot longer on it than I did - a whole week was all I managed for 39 x 39 back in mid June this year.

I prefer to look at the national records here now 

https://rideeverytile.com/tiling-records/

I've not increased my max square score since then (although 40x40 is easily doable) but have covered over 500 new squares


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Nov 2018)

wajc said:


> You've spent a lot longer on it than I did - a whole week was all I managed for 39 x 39 back in mid June this year.
> 
> I prefer to look at the national records here now
> 
> ...



7th


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## Ivo (18 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 7th



8th for me (but at another table)


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## 13 rider (18 Nov 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 7th


A bit of work to do to move up


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Nov 2018)

13 rider said:


> A bit of work to do to move up



Yeah, I don't think I'll be threatening a higher position for a long time


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Nov 2018)

Another 18 squares which also increased the max cluster by 18. East to west on the max square is now 45


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## 13 rider (25 Nov 2018)

A targeted ride to my top left corner know as Derby saw me add just 5 squares to my total now 3260 these put my max cluster up by 24 to 1441 and increased my max square by 1 to 31*31 all in all a good ride . Not far off 32*32 then it gets harder again as flat lines along 3 sides of my square


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## Alan O (26 Nov 2018)

Yesterday's 67-mile ride didn't go exactly to plan, after a couple of wrong turns and then a blocked bridle path ended up with me crossing some locks to a footpath along the river Weaver. That started out easily navigable but after a while it petered out into ploughed fields and super-narrow muddy riverbank paths.

I ended up pushing for a couple of miles and struggling to get through those gates that are intended to keep bikes (and cows, probably) out, until I found a path uphill and had to carry the bike up there (tangential thought - do cyclocross riders do this kind of thing for fun?)

Anyway, I finally found my way back on to rideable lanes and then roads I knew, after losing about an hour and a half. A puncture later also lost me more time and, not wanting to ride too much in the dark, I abandoned a few tile-seeking detours and took a direct route home.

The result is that I added 20 tiles to my total, to 541, but max cluster is unchanged at 167 - I was mostly away from home with a couple of nearby blanks in between which should up my cluster significantly when I ride them.

And looking at the map after I got home, it seems my riverside struggle actually got me three tiles that would have been tricky to get into otherwise, so that bit of pain actually had an upside!


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Dec 2018)

Another 30 squares today taking total count to 4,271 which saw the max cluster increase by 45 to 2,846


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## 13 rider (1 Dec 2018)

31 for me on the same ride and 44 to max cluster . Total squares 3291 max cluster 1488


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## 13 rider (9 Dec 2018)

Another targeted ride for just 3 squares .Which got my max square to 32*32 .Total squares 3295 max cluster 1496 . It will be a while before the max square increases again


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## tallliman (10 Dec 2018)

Spent the weekend back home in London, grabbed a few errant squares that I know I've been to in my life but not much since squaregrabbing commenced!


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## 13 rider (16 Dec 2018)

11 more squares today . A targeted ride around the town of Tamworth very busy roads . Total squares 3306 max cluster 1510 . Set up my western edge with two extras columns of squares now need to extend north and south force max square jump . Eastern edge currently blocked by a tricky square which may requiring walking


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## derrick (16 Dec 2018)




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## Supersuperleeds (16 Dec 2018)

The infographic has been updated, you can now show your cluster, square and tile increase in the year


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Dec 2018)

Ride out to Tamworth today to grab 8 squares


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## Ivo (26 Dec 2018)

My failed attempt at the Festive 500 in one go at least scored 150 new tiles. So I managed to pass the Swiss guy. Next target is my mate Peter but that'll be hard, he is about 2500 Tiles ahead of me.


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## tallliman (26 Dec 2018)

@Ivo, not sure I'd even contemplate a 500km ride.....what happened?


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## Ivo (26 Dec 2018)

tallliman said:


> @Ivo, not sure I'd even contemplate a 500km ride.....what happened?



Crosspost from the Festive 500 thread:

My attempt to get it done in one go went up in smoke. Last week I did a 200 audax under hard conditions. This one was still in my legs. No power and a nagging headwind for the first 160k. Then some proper Flemish hills territory. By the time I arrived at the Zelzate service station I was 1h30 behind schedule and seriously knackerd. I spent far too much time there eating and warming up. That was really needed as halfway between Zelzate and Antwerp the energy drink in my thermobottles had turned to slush. My food was frozen solid. I slogged on to Antwerp, reaching the town 3 hours behind schedule. Time to call it a day because I have to work tomorrow. I decided us the southernly wind and cycle to Breda railway station. Ended there with 366k on Strava.


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## tallliman (26 Dec 2018)

Thanks, 366k can't be a failure!! Sounds like some bad luck and poor weather!


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## steverob (28 Dec 2018)

One of my aims for next year is to take my main cluster, which is all the rides that I do from home, centred around Bucks, but spreading into Beds, Oxon and Herts and link it to my slightly smaller London cluster, which has mainly been achieved via a number of central London hire bike rides done while going from one office to another for work purposes, plus participating in RideLondon. That way once the two are linked, any more London rides I do, will actually count towards my main cluster count.

I've worked out that by doing just two or three rides (depending on how circuitous I want to make them), I should be able to make a link from the south east corner of my current cluster (around the Watford/St. Albans area) that's about 4-5 tiles wide all the way down through the NW London suburbs, and that should be enough to turn it all purple. On each occasion, I'll get the train back home once I reach London (having a season ticket makes that a touch easier). However I probably won't actually do the rides until spring, so have plenty of time to plan some good routes.


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## Ivo (28 Dec 2018)

steverob said:


> One of my aims for next year is to take my main cluster, which is all the rides that I do from home, centred around Bucks, but spreading into Beds, Oxon and Herts and link it to my slightly smaller London cluster, which has mainly been achieved via a number of central London hire bike rides done while going from one office to another for work purposes, plus participating in RideLondon. That way once the two are linked, any more London rides I do, will actually count towards my main cluster count.
> 
> I've worked out that by doing just two or three rides (depending on how circuitous I want to make them), I should be able to make a link from the south east corner of my current cluster (around the Watford/St. Albans area) that's about 4-5 tiles wide all the way down through the NW London suburbs, and that should be enough to turn it all purple. On each occasion, I'll get the train back home once I reach London (having a season ticket makes that a touch easier). However I probably won't actually do the rides until spring, so have plenty of time to plan some good routes.



Depending on wind direction you could either start with the trainride or finish off with it.


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## tallliman (28 Dec 2018)

@steverob, I'm 2 long rides away from getting my cluster from the East Midlands to London. It's gonna happen in 2019 but will likely need a train journey to the start as I'm missing a lot between Wellingborough and Luton.


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## Alan O (29 Dec 2018)

Did only my second ride in December today, and the previous one was just a gentle Boxing Day pootle so I'd had no new tiles for about a month.

A 53-mile ride today took my total tiles from 541 to 555, and my max cluster from to 167 to 179. I'm still riding round the same general area, but slightly varied routes are slowly filling in the islands.


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## wajc (30 Dec 2018)

Rode my last square grabbing ride of 2018 today so here are my stats for the year






My max square had been stuck on 39x39 since June but I finally got round to getting the one square that I needed recently to get to 40x40. The max square is made up of rides to and from home so minimum ride distance to get any squares is now approaching 100km. One of my other cycling interests is Audax - I've started on another RRTY attempt (this involves riding a minimum 200km ride each calendar month). This will be made up of quite a few DIY by GPS rides giving an ideal opportunity to plan a route of for square grabbing and hopefully complete the Audax challenge as well.

All the best to my fellow square hunters for 2019!


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## tallliman (30 Dec 2018)

Superb work dude, are you getting worried that your max square is gonna be constrained by the sea?


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Dec 2018)

tallliman said:


> Superb work dude, are you getting worried that your max square is gonna be constrained by the sea?



He'll be okay for a while. When the tide goes out at Cleesthorpe you can walk for miles out to sea


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## wajc (30 Dec 2018)

Supersuperleeds said:


> He'll be okay for a while. When the tide goes out at Cleesthorpe you can walk for miles out to sea



I hadn't thought of that!

However I think I've gone as far east as I want for my max square otherwise I'll start to have issues further south around the wash. Easier to concentrate extending the square south and westwards (I think I can go one further north as well).


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## PapaZita (31 Dec 2018)

Here’s my end of year report:






I only started using Strava late last year, and discovered Veloviewer early this year, which explains why my square seems to have grown from almost nothing so quickly. I realised a few weeks ago that there were only a couple of squares, quite close to home, that I hadn’t visited in 2018, so I collected those last week and got myself up to third place on the 2018 max square leaderboard! That leaderboard does seem to favour people who started tile collecting in the year, as there are plenty of boring local tiles that I don’t plan on revisiting in 2019.






My cluster does look embarrassingly square. It’s almost as if building my max square has been my only objective in 2018 . The edges are getting quite far from home now, so I think in 2019 I’ll focus less on riding along its edges and more on big loops to visit places outside the square.

The one target that I missed this year was to collect all of Hertfordshire. It only needs one or two rides, but I think I’ll save those for the spring.

It has been great fun, and I’ve done loads of rides to nice places that I probably wouldn’t have thought to visit.


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## cosmicbike (31 Dec 2018)

I'll miss miles to and from work today since no new squares and only adds 20 miles.

I used Scafell Pike as it was the first of the 3 peaks I did.

Only 1438 squares, so I need to get going to more new places in 2019...


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## tallliman (1 Jan 2019)

An 8 mile ride is easily the most I can manage at the moment but it was enough to increase the cluster by 3.


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## 13 rider (1 Jan 2019)

Today's ride combined with a ride on the 27th I have gained 13 squares to 3327 and max cluster up by 36 to 1557


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Jan 2019)

Also 13 new squares today which also increased the max cluster by 36.


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Jan 2019)

2019 Infographic


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## LeetleGreyCells (2 Jan 2019)

Joining the VV tile madness.

I've uploaded my data for all rides to VV. Here's my starting graphic (for 2018):






The data above is 20 miles short total distance due to a flat battery one day.

From looking at my explorer map, I've to grab 1 square to get to 6x6 and 3 quite-far-apart squares to get to 7x7. Then we'll see how to get more....


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## Alan O (2 Jan 2019)

Seeing as everyone else is doing it...


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## Alan O (2 Jan 2019)

RealLeeHimself said:


> The data above is 20 miles short total distance due to a flat battery one day.


If I ever lose miles due to equipment failure (the Strava app has an annoying habit sometimes of going into Pause and not coming out), I use the Strava Route Builder to calculate the missed distance and add it as a manual entry.


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## Venod (2 Jan 2019)

My 2018


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## LeetleGreyCells (2 Jan 2019)

Alan O said:


> If I ever lose miles due to equipment failure (the Strava app has an annoying habit sometimes of going into Pause and not coming out), I use the Strava Route Builder to calculate the missed distance and add it as a manual entry.


Thanks, it never occurred to me. I know the exact missed distance because I've cycled the same route several times which has been recorded before.


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## Alan O (2 Jan 2019)

RealLeeHimself said:


> Thanks, it never occurred to me. I know the exact missed distance because I've cycled the same route several times which has been recorded before.


Ah, if you know that, it's not too late to add it for the appropriate date and update your full-year totals.


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## Soltydog (2 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 2019 Infographic
> 
> View attachment 445108


What's your projected mileage for the year after that ride? Think there maybe a glitch in the calculations, as I didn't ride yesterday & did a steady 42 miles today. My projected mileage was 200k+ after 1 ride this afternoon, but it has now dropped to 31804 
Also Strava must be playing up, not showing a ride from you today


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## tallliman (3 Jan 2019)

I assume (hope!) @Supersuperleeds has just been late uploading stuff.


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jan 2019)

I'm still riding, just not had chance to uploaded the commutes yet.


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## Soltydog (3 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I'm still riding, just not had chance to uploaded the commutes yet.


That's a relief 2 days with no rides, I was starting to worry☺


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## LeetleGreyCells (4 Jan 2019)

So as the kids are still off it's been difficult to get a ride in and chase squares, however an errand today allowed me to take a slightly extended route (OK it was in the opposite direction...) to grab a nearby unclaimed tile to take me from a 4x4 to a 6x6 square. The game is afoot!

Now I've planned out which next tiles I need to jump to a 9x9 square and the kids are back at school next week


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## 13 rider (4 Jan 2019)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> So as the kids are still off it's been difficult to get a ride in and chase squares, however an errand today allowed me to take a slightly extended route (OK it was in the opposite direction...) to grab a nearby unclaimed tile to take me from a 4x4 to a 6x6 square. The game is afoot!
> 
> Now I've planned out which next tiles I need to jump to a 9x9 square and the kids are back at school next week


Your on the slippery slope to becoming a square chaser . It's great fun but gets harder as you go


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## LeetleGreyCells (4 Jan 2019)

13 rider said:


> Your on the slippery slope to becoming a square chaser . It's great fun but gets harder as you go


Yes, just looking at the distances on the map is making my legs ache, but then increasing my ride distances and stamina is the point of doing this so win, win. Plus I like exploring so with this I get to ride along roads (or the odd bridleway, footpath, cart track) that I've never done before - case in point, the tile I got today is the location of a tiny hamlet about 1.5 miles from my house that I've never been to before.


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## tallliman (5 Jan 2019)

Looks like we're all a little way behind: https://rideeverytile.com/2019/01/05/the-first-tiling-century/


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## LeetleGreyCells (5 Jan 2019)

tallliman said:


> Looks like we're all a little way behind: https://rideeverytile.com/2019/01/05/the-first-tiling-century/


Wow! Just wow!


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## the_mikey (6 Jan 2019)

Frustrated by a number of impenetrable squares nearby...


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## wajc (6 Jan 2019)

A 200km ride today to bag 59 squares and take me to 41 x 41 . This time of year I'd normally avoid any off road squares where it's likely to be muddy but with the recent dry spell I decided to include them in my ride.

A couple of them were a little muddy but not too bad (for a MTB on knobbly tyres) so I decided to ride them on my road bike with 23mm tyres . This made for several hundred metres of slipping about but it was once I got back to the road that I realised my wheels were nearly stuck solid with the mud. Cue a lot of clearing it out of my close fitting mudguards.

Big  to Jonathan France who is in a different league at 101 x 101


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## 13 rider (7 Jan 2019)

5 more squares today including a tricky one on my western edge in Glooston which @Supersuperleeds had walked but I am trying to ride all my squares. After much map studying I found a field road leading onto a bridle path , not sure about the surface so drove out to the village with the hybrid in the boot .Managed to ride it a bit slippy at times certainly not ridable on a road bike today . Now need to expand my North or South edges for another max square jump


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## steverob (7 Jan 2019)

the_mikey said:


> Frustrated by a number of impenetrable squares nearby...



Yeah, I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking I'm at the largest possible max square I'll ever get (barring some sort of miracle), so am concentrating on increasing the cluster instead now. On that note, I added 15 more tiles yesterday on a ride out to Denham; while only two of them counted towards the cluster, it does set me up nicely for a future ride, where just a few new tiles will now bring in a massive cluster increase.


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## steverob (7 Jan 2019)

Oh and as I'm a bit late to the party, here's my 2018 stats. I've excluded any trainer/Zwift rides and runs/hikes; these are outdoor cycling numbers only - which makes sense when we're talking about Explorer square stats (you don't get any new tiles for riding around Watopia - believe me I've checked!)












VV 2018 stats



__ steverob
__ 7 Jan 2019
__ 1


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## cosmicbike (7 Jan 2019)

45 new squares on my imperial century challenge ride yesterday, somehow managed to go all the way round and never through one, so a return visit required. Just as well it's nice cycling territory


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## Alan O (7 Jan 2019)

An extra 15 tiles on a 43 mile ride to reach 570 today, but no cluster extension.


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## JonBuoy (7 Jan 2019)

13 rider said:


> 5 more squares today including a tricky one on my western edge in Glooston which @Supersuperleeds had walked but I am trying to ride all my squares. After much map studying I found a field road leading onto a bridle path , not sure about the surface so drove out to the village with the hybrid in the boot .Managed to ride it a bit slippy at times certainly not ridable on a road bike . Now need to expand my North or South edges for another max square jump


I assume that the tricky one is the one on the bridleway towards Noseley. I managed to grab that with some very cautious riding on the summer bike on 25mm slicks back in August. The biggest problem was avoiding the cracks in the parched ground. I bumped into you on the way home in Mountsorrel and we had a brief chat.


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## 13 rider (7 Jan 2019)

JonBuoy said:


> I assume that the tricky one is the one on the bridleway towards Noseley. I managed to grab that with some very cautious riding on the summer bike on 25mm slicks back in August. The biggest problem was avoiding the cracks in the parched ground. I bumped into you on the way home in Mountsorrel and we had a brief chat.


Yes I remember you . Yes that's the one @tallliman has been advised to try it in summer would have been walking if I was on the road bike today


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## JonBuoy (7 Jan 2019)

A bit further north but - I picked up the tile on the byway between Stonesby and Coston at the back end of December. The StreetView car has been down there and I am sure that it would be lovely in the summer but if you are after that tile I suggest you wait a few months for it to dry out!


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jan 2019)

Went and bagged some awkward squares out Oakham way. Had to ride a fair few bridleways, quality ranging from rough tarmac to quagmires through planted fields. 21 new squares and 38 more added to the max cluster


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## Alan O (14 Jan 2019)

Just 5 new tiles on a 45-mile ride today, total now 575. No change to square or cluster as it was several islands away from home.


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## LeetleGreyCells (15 Jan 2019)

Did a 50km ride today and managed to collect 12 tiles. No movement on the square size as I need to get a few individual squares now which may take a number of rides as they are all in different directions from home. One doesn't have any roads passing through it so I will have to take the MTB and see if the paths I see on the map are bridleways otherwise I'll be pushing.


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## cosmicbike (15 Jan 2019)

Out in a similar direction to last week, staying South of Farnham and approaching Alice Holt Forest nabbed me another 10 squares. Increased my count to 1497, and my Imperial Eddington to 50


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jan 2019)

cosmicbike said:


> Out in a similar direction to last week, staying South of Farnham and approaching Alice Holt Forest nabbed me another 10 squares. Increased my count to 1497, and my Imperial Eddington to 50



Double like (you might want to update your sig )


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## 13 rider (20 Jan 2019)

Schoolboy error this morning left a tile untouched 35 miles away from home . Must have misplotted the route as I stuck to the route had an island of 4 tiles and only got 3 off them. The 1 I missed would have increased my max square .Another ride that way soon


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jan 2019)

13 rider said:


> Schoolboy error this morning left a tile untouched 35 miles away from home . Must have misplotted the route as I stuck to the route had an island of 4 tiles and only got 3 off them. The 1 I missed would have increased my max square .Another ride that way soon



Where was that?


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## 13 rider (20 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Where was that?


To the East of Lubenham above Marston Trussell


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jan 2019)

Was it the square on your dead end or the one above it? (You've gone right into the dead end square, but no way far enough north to get the next one)

Idiot question, have you opened the ride up on Veloviewer?


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## 13 rider (20 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Was it the square on your dead end or the one above it? (You've gone right into the dead end square, but no way far enough north to get the next one)
> 
> Idiot question, have you opened the ride up on Veloviewer?


The one above .I somehow missed routed myself I have opened the ride but the ride goes nowhere near enough .I do need squares to the West of Harborough do a future ride to be planned


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jan 2019)

13 rider said:


> The one above .I somehow missed routed myself I have opened the ride but the ride goes nowhere near enough .I do need squares to the West of Harborough do a future ride to be planned



Excuse to go to the cafe where we met @PeteXXX


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## PeteXXX (20 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Excuse to go to the cafe where we met @PeteXXX


Waterloo café is to the South. Sibertoft glider club café is to the West.


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Jan 2019)

PeteXXX said:


> Waterloo café is to the South. Sibertoft glider club café is to the West.



Sibertoft, 50p for unlimited coffee  (or was that day)


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## tallliman (20 Jan 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Sibertoft, 50p for unlimited coffee  (or was that day)



And sandwiches made to order for tired cyclists!


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## Alan O (21 Jan 2019)

Total tiles up from 575 to 588 today, but again too far from home for any cluster increase.


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## Alan O (5 Feb 2019)

I haven't been deliberately exploring any new ground recently, but yesterday's ride accidentally crossed the corner of one new tile! Whoooo, up to 589 now!


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## 13 rider (10 Feb 2019)

4 squares today total Upto 3339 max cluster 1595


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## cosmicbike (11 Feb 2019)

A rather lumpy ride out to gather a patch of 12 squares brings me up to 1509 squares, max cluster 884 and my square up one to 26x26.


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## 13 rider (16 Feb 2019)

13 rider said:


> The one above .I somehow missed routed myself I have opened the ride but the ride goes nowhere near enough .I do need squares to the West of Harborough do a future ride to be planned


Been back out this morning to claim the square I managed to miss a month ago . 7 squares in total ,total now 3346 max cluster 1613. Max square up by 1 to 33*33 need 7 squares on my North edge to increase again but there urban roads between Nottingham and Derby


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## cosmicbike (16 Feb 2019)

Oooh I forgot. Yesterdays imperial century was built around stray squares in the Surrey Hills. Gained 28 squares and now at 28x28. More hills needed to go bigger to the South, or urban stuff to go North which includes North-East London around Wembley. I save that for early Sunday rides.


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## Pumpkin the robot (16 Feb 2019)

I am out tomorrow to pick up a few odd squares, but mainly to get the 100 mile ride in for Feb. I noticed this week that where I live is not in my max square. I need to pick off a couple of odd squares on the border, but it is not a nice ride, so I will leave it for a bit!


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Feb 2019)

Rode down to Buckinghamshire to grab Verney Junction for the ABC photo challenge. Gave me 78 mew squares and increase the cluster by 32.

Tiles: 4,393; Cluster 2,972; Max square 44


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## tallliman (17 Feb 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Rode down to Buckinghamshire to grab Verney Junction for the ABC photo challenge. Gave me 78 mew squares and increase the cluster by 32.
> 
> Tiles: 4,393; Cluster 2,972; Max square 44



You've now overtaken my total tiles!


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## steverob (17 Feb 2019)

15 more tiles added today in the south-east corner of Buckinghamshire, putting me up to 1,830 in total. Plus this filled in a gap in the map, so I ended up with 20 more on the cluster - now at 1,165.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Feb 2019)

tallliman said:


> You've now overtaken my total tiles!



More to do with your enforced inactivity than my awesomeness


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## Ivo (17 Feb 2019)

Added a few strategic tiles lately. Now my score is 28360 tiles, 34x34 square and a cluster of 3604.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Feb 2019)

Completed all the Rutland squares today:


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## tallliman (23 Feb 2019)

Well done dude!

I'm back in the game, 30 odd new squares but some dodgy road choices meant I couldn't get all the ones I wanted. Max cluster up a bit too.


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Mar 2019)

20 new squares today which increased the max cluster by 2. Rode with @13 rider who I suspect got a lot more squares and @Lilliburlero who still won't play


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## tallliman (2 Mar 2019)

Another 30 odd squares today riding up towards Lincoln. Tried to get these 6 months ago but fell ill before I could get there. Max cluster at 1865 now. If i get out next weekend, itll be around 1900!!


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## 13 rider (2 Mar 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 20 new squares today which increased the max cluster by 2. Rode with @13 rider who I suspect got a lot more squares and @Lilliburlero who still won't play


Yep 36 for me and 13 onto my max cluster ,total 3382 max cluster 1626


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## wajc (2 Mar 2019)

Took my max square to 43x43 today with another fenland trip to bag a further 8 squares


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## Ivo (2 Mar 2019)

Took the train out to Gembloux today and rode back. 15 new tiles but my cluster improved by 64 to 3668.


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## MichaelO (4 Mar 2019)

MichaelO said:


> Some very obvious single squares to hunt over the coming weeks!! This could get addictive!
> 
> View attachment 437728


I've not been out much over Christmas, other than my standard commutes. But managed to get out in the last couple of weeks & start filling in some gaps. 
Max square 5x5 to 9x9 and cluster from 199 to 316


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## tallliman (30 Mar 2019)

50 mile ride out toward Oakham gave me a few more squares, 30 more to the cluster and 2 more to my max square. Now 1906 and 28x28 respectively.

Legs still not good enough to do just relentless hills for a day. I'll get better!


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Mar 2019)

46 new squares today which saw the max cluster jump 87 to 3,081


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## MichaelO (1 Apr 2019)

8 new squares from my ride on Saturday - cluster +55 Need to fill in some more gaps & up my max square...but that means some unenjoyable urban riding!


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## Soltydog (1 Apr 2019)

7 new squares this morning, cluster up 8 to 207 & max square up from 8 to a massive 9  hard to get it much bigger with being so rural round here  but i'll keep working at it


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## tallliman (1 Apr 2019)

MichaelO said:


> 8 new squares from my ride on Saturday - cluster +55 Need to fill in some more gaps & up my max square...but that means some unenjoyable urban riding!



Reminds me of a 100km ride through Leicester to get many squares....not the most entertaining ride until @Supersuperleeds showed me some railway infrastructure!


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## Supersuperleeds (5 Apr 2019)

67 mile ride to bag another 6 squares. 2 squares needed to make the max cluster 45x45


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## 13 rider (6 Apr 2019)

53 new squares today on ride Leicester to Northampton and back . Total 3435 max cluster up by 1 to 1627 .Got 1 square by riding in the gutter on the wrong side of the road on @Supersuperleeds advice as the road just clips the dividing line . Didn't get until I opened the ride on V V


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## tallliman (7 Apr 2019)

A weekend's riding round Northamptonshire increased my square count by 80 tiles and the max cluster by 72. Now at 1978!


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Apr 2019)

50 miler for three squares, two of which took my max square to 45x45


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## tallliman (13 Apr 2019)

Superb going!


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## wajc (14 Apr 2019)

Picked up 5 new squares today on a 100K ride which also saw the rare occasion a square hunting ride didn't involve any u-turns, dead ends or dodgy tracks 

Was quite profitable as well - no change in max square but it did increase my max cluster by 69 squares.


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2019)

Increased the max square not by 1, but by 2 today. 49 strategically placed new squares around Derby and Notingham took it to 47x47.

It's bloody lumpy around Ilkeston


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## bruce1530 (19 Apr 2019)

A trip up to the wind farm today took mine to 15x15. 

and I now don’t even live inside my max square - it’s a 4 mile trip to meet the closest edge!


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Apr 2019)

My nearest new square is now a 52 mile round trip,


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## bruce1530 (19 Apr 2019)

I’ve got several squares that are only about 10 miles away. But I’d need a mountain bike - it’s over moorland. I’m looking at the tracks up to the wind farm.

I’ve also got a square that’s about a mile away - but that one would need a Pedalo :-)


The closest square that I can get to on a “normal” bike is a 70k round trip.


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Increased the max square not by 1, but by 2 today. 49 strategically placed new squares around Derby and Notingham took it to 47x47.
> 
> It's bloody lumpy around Ilkeston



Agreed!!! Good riding country though.


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## Supersuperleeds (20 Apr 2019)

Another 11 squares and the max cluster up another 31.

@13 rider I had to open the ride to get one of the squares, you might want to double check yours.


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## 13 rider (20 Apr 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Another 11 squares and the max cluster up another 31.
> 
> @13 rider I had to open the ride to get one of the squares, you might want to double check yours.


13 tiles for me max cluster up by 23 . Tiles 3446 max cluster 1650 . I have a missing surrounded square at mile oak but the road we travelled on didn't go in it . Near more that way so no issue


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## bruce1530 (21 Apr 2019)

A trip to Glasgow today, and picked up a few squares to the south and west of the city, joining together 2 “clusters”. So 14 new squares, but max cluster grown by 40.

I got the train home. Is that cheating? :-)


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Apr 2019)

bruce1530 said:


> A trip to Glasgow today, and picked up a few squares to the south and west of the city, joining together 2 “clusters”. So 14 new squares, but max cluster grown by 40.
> 
> I got the train home. Is that cheating? :-)


 Train, cheating? I hope not, I've done several train journeys


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## tallliman (22 Apr 2019)

Today's riding pulled my max cluster over the 2,000 mark. Now 2026


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## 13 rider (22 Apr 2019)

Same ride as @tallliman gave me 30 new squares total now 3476 max cluster up by 36 to 1686


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Apr 2019)

Same ride as @tallliman and @13 rider saw me get 29 more squares with the cluster up 35 to 3,214.


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## 13 rider (4 May 2019)

An imperial ton targeting some little clusters of squares gave me 17 squares but jumped my max cluster by 36 . Total squares 3493 max cluster 1722 . Poor @Supersuperleeds came with me and didn't get any new squares


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## bruce1530 (4 May 2019)

ten new squares for me today. I’ve got one annoying square that I don’t see a way to get to - in a former MOD site, fence all round, signs saying :Guard Dogs”. I’m sure I could get there quite easily on foot, but that’s cheating.

There’s construction going on at one part of the site. The outside gate was closed today, but I reckon if I rolled up there one working day, went through the main gate and car park and up to the site hut, I’d be far enough in!


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## wajc (4 May 2019)

bruce1530 said:


> I’m sure I could get there quite easily on foot, but that’s cheating.



Walking is fine - they'll be plenty of occasions where someone has had to get off their bike to walk a few metres to 'claim' a square.

Walks involving no cycling are also fine (in fact anything human powered - canoeing etc is). Though I'd draw the line at walks less than a mile in length - so no driving to a square, hopping out and just switching the GPS on and getting back in to the car and driving off for me.


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## tallliman (4 May 2019)

Walking is fine!

80mile winding roads replete with hail, bridleways and singletrack yielded about 80 or 90 new squares. It also leaves me with about 15 miles where I need new squares to get my max cluster to London!


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## Supersuperleeds (4 May 2019)

13 rider said:


> An imperial ton targeting some little clusters of squares gave me 17 squares but jumped my max cluster by 36 . Total squares 3493 max cluster 1722 . Poor @Supersuperleeds came with me and didn't get any new squares



125 miles and didn't even get out of my max cluster


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## tallliman (4 May 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 125 miles and didn't even get out of my max cluster



Looking at the route, it would've been the same for me!


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## tallliman (18 May 2019)

92 new squares today, 11 more on the max cluster, up to 2035!


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## 13 rider (18 May 2019)

Same ride as @tallliman and 92 for me as well total now 3585 no increase in max cluster


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## Supersuperleeds (18 May 2019)

Same ride as @tallliman and @13 rider saw me get 80 new squares and increased the max cluster by 6


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## PapaZita (19 May 2019)

I haven’t checked in for a while, but have been quietly working away at it. I had a great ride today to explore a few villages between Royston and Cambridge, 110 miles, 35 new tiles, some of which required flinging my road bike down bumpy byways. My cluster now reaches Duxford, and, finally, the 35x35 max square that I’ve had since January, has grown to 36x36! Just one planned tile missed, where a big angry looking gate has appeared since the Google car went that way. I’ll have to make another plan for that one.


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## LeetleGreyCells (23 May 2019)

I had a ride with several short detours to collect tiles expanding my Max. Square to 10x10 from 6x6.


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## Supersuperleeds (25 May 2019)

27 new squares today which gave the max cluster a 50 square boost.


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## 13 rider (27 May 2019)

I had 1 annoying square near the village of Teigh which was in my max cluster and completely surrounded by my max cluster . Had to ride down a rough bridle path to tick it off today so 1 square but max cluster up by 5 to 1727


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## MichaelO (28 May 2019)

I really need to start heading North/South rather than the usual East/West!!! Hoovered up a few odd squares in recent weeks, but haven't been on my bike as much as I wanted to be. Crawley and the edges of South London are next on my list!


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## Ivo (28 May 2019)

3 days of Belgian tiles expanded my cluster nearly to the French border. So quite soon I can add a 4th country to my cluster.


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## Soltydog (28 May 2019)

Been out on a recce ride today for Colin's & the Fridays York to Hull rides, but also took the opportunity to grab a few squares on the way back home. Only got 6 new squares, but my max cluster has gone up from 207 to 386


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## Ivo (28 May 2019)

The pics of both square and the south-western extension:


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## 13 rider (1 Jun 2019)

Out with @Supersuperleeds who had plotted a square grabbing ride around Lichfield . 34 new squares for me total now 3620 max cluster up by 19 to 1756


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Jun 2019)

Also 34 new squares for me, mac cluster up by 29.

@13 rider we got the square below Curborough when we went through Lichfield.


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## graham bowers (2 Jun 2019)

Square bashing around Tamworth on Friday got me to the milestone 20 by 20 square.
Max cluster 696 and total squares 4059.


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## PapaZita (2 Jun 2019)

A big ride to the eastern part of Hertfordshire today. 130 miles and 69 new squares to complete my collection of every square in Hertfordshire. Where should I go next?


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## 13 rider (9 Jun 2019)

A weekend away in Wales has given me 232 new squares total now 3852 . No increase in anything else


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## tallliman (9 Jun 2019)

Another 44 squares today, up to 4760 total and a cluster of 2054


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## tallliman (15 Jun 2019)

22 more squares today, 4782 total and cluster up to 2088. Better than that was I felt a lot better than my last hilly ride


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jun 2019)

50 new squares today, it should have been 52 but I missed two squares, I'm blaming the rain, I couldn't see my gps properly and the two squares were both very short jumps one way and then back. Those two squares stopped the max cluster increasing by 6. 

Anyway the max cluster still jumped by 24. Now at 3,323 and total tile count 4,783. Max square still on 47x47


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## Ivo (16 Jun 2019)

An attempt at the Limoges 1000 BRM pushed my total tile count over the 30.000 mark, 30287 to be exact. Cluster is at 4299 now, max square lagging a bit behind at 35x35


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## Soltydog (16 Jun 2019)

Weekend away in North Yorks has resulted in 128 new squares  but no change to max square or cluster


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## Supersuperleeds (29 Jun 2019)

Square grabbing ride out Wellingborough way., 42 new squares increasing the max cluster by 39 and the max square by 1 to 48x48. You need over 50 for the leaderboard now!


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## 13 rider (30 Jun 2019)

76 miles this morning along my northern edge taking in the suburbs of Nottingham and Derby gave me 40 new squares total now 3873 max cluster up by 13 to 1769 and most significantly max square increased by 1 to 34*34 . More work required on my northern edge which means more urban riding in Nottingham and Derby and southern edge which includes the M6 junction near Coventry ! .


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## steverob (30 Jun 2019)

Finally got round to the first of the two rides I posted about early in the new year - linking up my main cluster of tiles in Buckinghamshire and the home counties to my smaller one in Central London. 29 new tiles, but only one added to my max cluster - it'll take a secondary ride to (or from) London on a parallel route some time in the future to make the number of tiles wide enough to allow the cluster to expand down it.


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## PapaZita (30 Jun 2019)

I had been reading about Heathrow airport expansion plans, and it occurred to me that if I wanted to get those tiles for my Buckinghamshire collection, I ought to do it before it all gets turned into a building site. So that’s what I did this afternoon. 42 new tiles, and 20 added to my cluster.


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## 13 rider (4 Jul 2019)

A ride out to the vale of Belvior filling in some holes in the map gained me 13 new squares total now 3886 but max cluster went up 27 to 1796


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## Soltydog (8 Jul 2019)

A little ride out today , including some rough, off road bridleways bagged me another 2 tiles, increasing my max sq from 9*9 to 11*11 & max cluster from 245 to 256. The joy of living so rural, got a few squares needed now with no roads, bridleways or paths in them, but I'll explore further & see if I can bag them


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## graham bowers (10 Jul 2019)

Lon Las Cymru and ride home from Holyhead makes total tiles 4596 however had no effect on max square or cluster. I'd have like to have ridden it from home, however my brother didn't have the time.


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Jul 2019)

40 new squares today saw the max cluster jump by 59 and the max square to 49x49


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Jul 2019)

100km ride for 8 squares, must be mad, but I did get to ride some cracking roads south of Rugby. 

It is starting to get really difficult now, my nearest square is now 29 miles from home, so a 58 mile round trip minimum


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Jul 2019)

Rode up to Beverley to see the parents on Wednesday, with a short ride yesterday and a ride back down to Lincoln today I got 60 new squares and increased the max cluster by a whopping 2. A couple of rides between Lincoln and the Humber Bridge should see me get the max cluster right up to Beverley though


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## 13 rider (20 Jul 2019)

2 weeks on holiday in Cornwall yielded 36 new squares total now 3922 . I have returned to the same place in Cornwall which is on the Coast so now appricate the difficulty of people living near the coast were you only have 3 directions of travel . Grabbed a couple of coastline squares with just a bit of headland sticking out into a square


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## tallliman (20 Jul 2019)

You've still gotta join em up to the rest.....


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## wajc (21 Jul 2019)

It's been 3 months since I did a ride with the goal of grabbing specific squares but today I did a 100km ride out towards Retford to target 15 squares.
Still need to do more work on the NW section of my Max Square.

Max Square 43x43, Max Cluster 2473 and 4666 squares in total.


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## tallliman (21 Jul 2019)

Now up to 4,821 tiles and a max cluster of 2,134. Not many new squares today but filled in quite a few gaps.


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Jul 2019)

Took advantage of the wind and headed to Newark, bagging 35 new squares and increasing the max cluster by another 34.

Had to go up this to get a square, was steep and stupidly gravelly. The square boundary is just around the top bend. I walked back down it.


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## tallliman (22 Jul 2019)

Where was that one?


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Jul 2019)

This one, just north of Grantham


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## iandg (22 Jul 2019)

Just found this, only a 4x4 at the moment but looking at grabbing missing squares. Unfortunately I'm limited by the Solway Forth a few miles south and a lot of moorland to the north so going need some long rides on and off road to up the score


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## tallliman (22 Jul 2019)

That's a nasty square to grab!

@iandg, it's a fun way to expand where you ride, hope it brings many fun rides!


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## graham bowers (22 Jul 2019)

30 new squares brings my total to 4626 squares, 22 by 22 max square and 776 max cluster following today's ride in the Marston Montgomery area.


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## iandg (23 Jul 2019)

tallliman said:


> That's a nasty square to grab!
> 
> @iandg, it's a fun way to expand where you ride, hope it brings many fun rides!



It's going to be easier to grab tiles/squares/clusters living in Dumfries than it was up in Stornoway


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## graham bowers (23 Jul 2019)

iandg said:


> It's going to be easier to grab tiles/squares/clusters living in Dumfries than it was up in Stornoway
> ]


Coincidentally I was near Auldgirth last weekend, although without bicycle. Looks like a really nice riding area.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Jul 2019)

Very hot ride down to Wellingborough. A proper square grabbing ride, going through fields and down rough tracks, but it was a special one.

This one took my square count over 5,000 to 5,019 and the max square to 50x50.

34 new squares increasing the max cluster to just over 3,500 at 3,502.


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## tallliman (23 Jul 2019)

Well done dude!


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## iandg (23 Jul 2019)

graham bowers said:


> Coincidentally I was near Auldgirth last weekend, although without bicycle. Looks like a really nice riding area.



Aye, very satisfied with where I've ended up in my retirement


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## aferris2 (23 Jul 2019)

Added 37 new squares on the ride today to give a total of 1402. Max square up 2 to 23*23. Max cluster now 751. I've now just about gone as far as possible to the south and east unless I work out how to add squares in the Thames estuary, so need to concentrate my efforts going north and west.


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## LeetleGreyCells (23 Jul 2019)

Increased my tile count from 387 to 422 and max cluster from 131 to 132.

Slow and steady.


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Jul 2019)

Another 9 squares increasing the max cluster by 13. Back to work tomorrow so the square grabbing goes back on hold.


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## Ivo (28 Jul 2019)

Missed a tile at the former RAF base Brüggen by about 15m fridaynight. The old barrier was up but there was a fence just before the tile border. I must return there (probably best in company with someone sporting an RAF cycling shirt  ).


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## iandg (29 Jul 2019)

Targeted 5 tiles today taking my total to 2858. Upped my square from 6x6 to 7x7 and cluster from 62 to 91


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## 13 rider (31 Jul 2019)

Anyone needing Coventry city centre squares British cycling are having a free road on closed roads on Sun Sept 8th may be a good opportunity


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## Ivo (1 Aug 2019)

Yesterday I added some tiles near Jackerath, tiles which soon will be lost forever, falling victim to the great road and soil eating machines.


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Aug 2019)

13 rider said:


> Anyone needing Coventry city centre squares British cycling are having a free road on closed roads on Sun Sept 8th may be a good opportunity



Ditto Leicester on 25th August


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## 13 rider (3 Aug 2019)

Another ride out helping @Supersuperleeds hopefully increase his max square gained me 18 squares total now 3940 and max cluster up by 38 to 1806


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Aug 2019)

13 rider said:


> Another ride out helping @Supersuperleeds hopefully increase his max square gained me 18 squares total now 3940 and max cluster up by 38 to 1806



Yep 9 squares today increased the max square to 51.


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## bruce1530 (3 Aug 2019)

A trip to Glasgow today, with some diversions up farm roads to claim some elusive tiles.
21 new tiles, max cluster increased by 30.

Google Maps and strava helpfully offered a route which joined together some of these inaccessible squares:


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## Soltydog (7 Aug 2019)

Got 3 fairly easy squares this aft, upto 2956. Max still 11x11 & that's gonna take some to increase, but max cluster up 50 to 307 now


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## 13 rider (10 Aug 2019)

Another ride with fellow VV square chasers @Supersuperleeds and @tallliman Leicester to Lincoln gained me 45 new squares total now 3985 ( homing in on 4000) max cluster up by 10 to 1816 . Further squares were left up touched as original route was cut short due to the wind meaning we will have to return another day


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## Supersuperleeds (10 Aug 2019)

Same ride as @13 rider and @tallliman saw me bag 36 new squares, max cluster jumped by 32 to 3,555 and total squares now 5,073


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## tallliman (10 Aug 2019)

4868 tiles for me after that ride....@supersuperleeds has jumped in front over the last few weeks! Cluster 2161


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## Ivo (11 Aug 2019)

A veryy effect tilechase yesterday, 111km but my cluster increased by 77

Total tile count 30698, cluster 4713 (square stays at 35 due to military training grounds).


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## Ivo (11 Aug 2019)

The cluster looks like this now:


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## graham bowers (12 Aug 2019)

Ivo said:


> A veryy effect tilechase yesterday, 111km but my cluster increased by 77
> 
> Total tile count 30698, cluster 4713 (square stays at 35 due to military training grounds).


Are you going to have to sign up to the military to ride those inaccessible squares :-)


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## LeetleGreyCells (12 Aug 2019)

Tile increase from 434 to 444.
Max Cluster increase from 137 to 144
No increase to Max Square.


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## Ivo (12 Aug 2019)

graham bowers said:


> Are you going to have to sign up to the military to ride those inaccessible squares :-)



That could maybe bag me 2 of the 4 tiles, but first I should change my citizenship then, followed by my age and political background .
The eastern part of those 4 tiles are a target area for the Belgian airforce with quite a lot of unexploded ordnance.


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## MichaelO (12 Aug 2019)

Eventually got round to bagging some horrid urban squares yesterday, which should open up the chance of increasing my max square considerably. 
Tiles: 2,627. Max Square: 13x13. Max cluster: 443


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Aug 2019)

22 new squares today increasing the cluster by another 19


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## Soltydog (15 Aug 2019)

31 new tiles today , but no increase to cluster or max square


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## tallliman (17 Aug 2019)

Up to 4911 squares (+50) with some tactical riding around North London. No change to the cluster....


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Aug 2019)

tallliman said:


> Up to 4911 squares (+50) with some tactical riding around North London. No change to the cluster....



If you don't do it before, the York trip should see you top 5,000


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## tallliman (18 Aug 2019)

I'd hope I get there before but you never know.


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## iandg (22 Aug 2019)

Targeted 4 new tiles today and pushed my cluster up from 103 to 110.


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## andyoxon (25 Aug 2019)

Ian, did the Glentrool forest road many moons ago onna tour - great area. Also remember the back way to Newton Stewart from Gatehouse of F - with views of the Bigwater of Fleet viaduct.


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## tallliman (26 Aug 2019)

A 100km ride today in sweltering heat saw me add about 60 squares taking me to 4,974. More importantly, it joined up my northern and southern clusters adding 300 to the cluster, now 2,485.

Cluster now goes from the East Midlands to Central London!


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## tallliman (30 Aug 2019)

This takes square grabbing to the next level: https://wandrer.earth/


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Aug 2019)

tallliman said:


> This takes square grabbing to the next level: https://wandrer.earth/



Bugger, I've signed up, looks like they are having server issues, it might take them a while to process all my rides.

I suspect I will have a really low score as the majority of my miles are commuting.


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## tallliman (31 Aug 2019)

I've signed up but in 3 days, they've only managed to load 30 odd rides out of a 1000+. Intrigued as to where I've missed near home....


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## Tom B (31 Aug 2019)

tallliman said:


> I've signed up but in 3 days, they've only managed to load 30 odd rides out of a 1000+. Intrigued as to where I've missed near home....




Similar expirences. Their site was throwing errors too when I signed up on Wednesday. Chrome didn't like their security certificate either. Weird TLD does not inspire confidence. 

That said I wonder if the issue lies with stravas API getting battered as people sign up. I know that causes issues for vv at times


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Aug 2019)

They've put a message on the dashboard saying they are only uploading 25 rides due to server issues. I've got 34 up so far. Will leave it a week or so before I start looking at it properly. Though I did do 4 dead end roads on the way back from the LBS this afternoon


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## tallliman (31 Aug 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> They've put a message on the dashboard saying they are only uploading 25 rides due to server issues. I've got 34 up so far. Will leave it a week or so before I start looking at it properly. Though I did do 4 dead end roads on the way back from the LBS this afternoon



Aiming to complete Leicester?


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Aug 2019)

tallliman said:


> Aiming to complete Leicester?



Thinking of doing it parish by parish. Only problem is it looks like footpaths, bridleways and farm tracks are on it, think it might be impossible to do 100% of some areas by riding.


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## tallliman (31 Aug 2019)

Agreed that it's a bit iffy on that....surprised by how few roads near me I've ridden in a way....guess there was never a need.


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Sep 2019)

200km ride today square hunting with @13 rider. I don't think I got out of my max cluster.


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## 13 rider (1 Sep 2019)

Same ride as above have me 24 new squares total now 4009 max cluster went up 58 upto 1874 now . Had to leave the one targeted square, got to a private no access sign ignored that . Then key coded entry barrier to the sailing club got some strange looks from people going sailing so turned round but got a bonus square by riding down the cycle path of The A1 at Long Bennington


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## Supersuperleeds (1 Sep 2019)

Edit, I picked up three squares near Burton Joyce


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Sep 2019)

60 rides now uploaded on the wandrer site. Think I will wait till Christmas before having another look


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## Supersuperleeds (4 Sep 2019)

Ride to Skeggy today saw me bag another 52 squares, no change in the max cluster


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## Soltydog (16 Sep 2019)

Who started me on this game?  A 30 mile ride this afternoon, just to bag 1 square  upped my max cluster by 5 I think, now 320. Might even change my commute tomorrow & ride home along the River Hull & Leven canal, to bag a few more squares & hopefully increase my max square


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## MichaelO (17 Sep 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 60 rides now uploaded on the wandrer site. Think I will wait till Christmas before having another look


$10 to get them all uploaded in 24 hours.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Sep 2019)

MichaelO said:


> $10 to get them all uploaded in 24 hours.


I saw that and thought I’d do it, but next day all the rides were up. My score is totally wrong though. Reckons I’ve only done 400ish unique miles


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## Soltydog (17 Sep 2019)

Soltydog said:


> Might even change my commute tomorrow & ride home along the River Hull & Leven canal, to bag a few more squares & hopefully increase my max square



I did as I planned & can confirm that the Leven Canal 'path' isn't suitable for 25mm road tyres  very slow progress, but 5 extra squares, max sq up to 12x12 now, but unless i buy a boat it's gonna be hard to increase that, i'll just keep working on my cluster, which went up by 8 today, now 328


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Sep 2019)

Soltydog said:


> I did as I planned & can confirm that the Leven Canal 'path' isn't suitable for 25mm road tyres  very slow progress, but 5 extra squares, max sq up to 12x12 now, but unless i buy a boat it's gonna be hard to increase that, i'll just keep working on my cluster, which went up by 8 today, now 328


As a kid I rode along the River Hull to were Leven Canal started,to fish, if only I had a GPS then I could have had all those squares as I only did it once so assume I didn't catch anything


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Sep 2019)

Another 41 squares today, should have been 43 but a road closure meant I missed two, Added 50 to the cluster and the max square is now 52


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## wajc (17 Sep 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I saw that and thought I’d do it, but next day all the rides were up. My score is totally wrong though. Reckons I’ve only done 400ish unique miles



I think what is happening is that although all your rides are viewable the ride analysis for covering new roads is still going on. For me it seems to be gradually working from oldest to newest rides - you can tell when the analysis is done for a ride because it actually states how many new miles you've covered in that ride and how much of an area you have completed next to the ride image. This is from page 30 of my ride list, newer rides where I have definitely covered new roads don't show the new mile details







I think only when this is done (I've still got the last 250 rides for it to go through) that it will give you a proper score. Oddly when looking on a PC my score is showing as 4675 and has been for a number of days. On my phone whenever I check, the score seems to have increased - now 6518 (as more rides are analysed I guess) yet still shows 4675 when looking at the leaderboard on my phone as well.

I think it'll sort itself out and give some proper scores once all this has been done but it'll take some time yet .


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## 13 rider (30 Sep 2019)

Weekend away watching the UCI world champs gain me 257 squares total now 4266 max cluster up by 12 to 1886


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Sep 2019)

Same weekend as @13 rider saw me get 205 new squares, added 2 to the max cluster.


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## bruce1530 (30 Sep 2019)

Anyone else having trouble with the Veloviewer Chrome plugin for Strava? Seems to have stopped working for me, saying “you need to log in to veloviewer to use this feature"


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Sep 2019)

bruce1530 said:


> Anyone else having trouble with the Veloviewer Chrome plugin for Strava? Seems to have stopped working for me, saying “you need to log in to veloviewer to use this feature"



I had to open veloviewer in another window just now to get Strava to play


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## 13 rider (30 Sep 2019)

@Supersuperleeds I opened all 3 long rides and gained 3 squares worth checking


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Sep 2019)

13 rider said:


> @Supersuperleeds I opened all 3 long rides and gained 3 squares worth checking



Cheers, since squarmageddon I always open any square grabbing rides before checking changes


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## bruce1530 (30 Sep 2019)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I had to open veloviewer in another window just now to get Strava to play


I deleted then reinstalled the plugin, seems OK now.


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## LeetleGreyCells (30 Sep 2019)

Velo viewer update news

The above post on Facebook explains what’s happening.


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## LeetleGreyCells (1 Oct 2019)

For riders who use Veloviewer and Zwift:

Announcing The Zwift Route Hunter Leaderboards, P/B Veloviewer


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## Noodle Legs (4 Oct 2019)

Bit late to the game with all this VV malarkey, was always dubious and thus reluctant to do it getting visions of getting chased off by a farmer with a gun while grabbing squares but inevitably signed up and once synced with strava I can definitely see the appeal........ off out tomorrow to catch a few stragglers!!


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## Soltydog (4 Oct 2019)

Chris Doyle said:


> getting visions of getting chased off by a farmer with a gun while grabbing squares



All adds a bit of 'fun' to your ride


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## bruce1530 (5 Oct 2019)

A 50k ride today, plus a train journey at each end. And how many new tiles did I pick up? 

Just one!

But it was an important one. While my tile score only went from 1137 to 1138, and the max square is unchanged, the “max cluster” went from 605 to 645.


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## Noodle Legs (5 Oct 2019)

Did an early doors 50k ride out this morning through local lanes towards Nuneaton and Hinckley to pick up some missed squares. Being new to veloviewer and having ridden these roads seemingly hundreds of times it was frustrating to find some were missed in this area! And on reflection still missed one in Hinckley! Ah well, four more bagged on a cool but bright morning and looking like another jolly out......


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## MichaelO (7 Oct 2019)

Filled in some gaps over the last couple of weeks - buying a gravel bike certainly helped with a handful of them!! Next up is trying to fill in the gaps down towards Haywards Heath. Max square up to 14 from 8 at the beginning of the year


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## Noodle Legs (12 Oct 2019)

Nipped out this morning to meet up with a friend and ride around Charnwood forest and the lovely villages that lie therein.
It just so happened that there were three squares up for grabs in the area and today was the day to nab those pesky little stragglers! 

Even managed another point on the board for the Half Century a Month challenge too. Win win.


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## tallliman (12 Oct 2019)

Good going, take it you didnt go all the way down to the dam? Lovely views down there!


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Oct 2019)

27 new squares today saw my max cluster jump 75. It now goes to Boston, via Coningsby!


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## Noodle Legs (12 Oct 2019)

tallliman said:


> Good going, take it you didnt go all the way down to the dam? Lovely views down there!


We went around the res and came out between woodhouse and swithland. Rushey Lane I believe.... didn’t see another way!


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## tallliman (12 Oct 2019)

Think that's the only way....its a lovely deserted road.


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## Noodle Legs (13 Oct 2019)

Think the term “road” might be overstating it somewhat.... it was a bit bumpy!


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## 13 rider (20 Oct 2019)

Today's ride to my southeast bottom corner gave me 20 squares total now 4286 max cluster up by 27 to 1913


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## Soltydog (23 Oct 2019)

Did my century ride today & bagged 14 new tiles, but only upped the max cluster by 2 to 336


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## Soltydog (6 Nov 2019)

Did my November century ride today & targeted a few VV tiles, 32 in fact, no change to my max sq, but my max cluster has gone from 336 to 509 now 😊


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## 13 rider (8 Dec 2019)

Today's jaunt added 39 new squares total now 4341 no change to max cluster 1926


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Dec 2019)

25 new squares today and the cluster increasing 15.

Total squares 5,463 and max cluster 3,732


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## PapaZita (14 Dec 2019)

50 new squares today in Cambridgeshire, to get to 40 x 40. It was quite a nice day, after it stopped raining. Unfortunately my so-called ”waterproof” boots had already filled with water by then, and never dried out, despite a couple of stops to wring out socks.


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## Ivo (25 Dec 2019)

A ride from Aalter to Brussels finished off my year, work and other commitments prevent me from riding for the next few days. 
total tile count rose from 28158 to 32336 , square only from 33 to 35 but the cluster increased from 3251 to 5336.


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## tallliman (30 Dec 2019)

So the important year end stats. 950 more tiles (total 5151) meaning my max square went up by 6 (now 31) and cluster went up by 748 (2547 total)


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Dec 2019)

1,183 more tiles (5,463)
Max square went up by 8 (52)
Cluster went up by 873 (3,732)


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## 13 rider (30 Dec 2019)

Mine are 1028 new tiles ,total 4342 ,Max cluster up 405 ,total 1926 and Max square went up from 32 to 34


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## Noodle Legs (31 Dec 2019)

7 little stragglers got this past weekend (1 Saturday and 6 today) 
managed to get my max square to 13x13 now.


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## wajc (31 Dec 2019)

847 new squares (4863 total)
43 x 43 max square (up from 40 x 40)
575 increase in max cluster (2560 total)

Hoping to increase the max square a bit further yet, 50 is probably the limit before I hit a big urban area that I'd rather not bother with (Nottingham). To do this I also need quite a few squares that have some 'off-roading' aspect to them so really need to wait until things dry up in the spring. 

Happy square hunting to you all in 2020.


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Dec 2019)

wajc said:


> 847 new squares (4863 total)
> 43 x 43 max square (up from 40 x 40)
> 575 increase in max cluster (2560 total)
> 
> ...



Nottingham isn't too bad to get to be fair. If you do head this way and you want some slow company I'm sure we could arrange a forum ride.


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## wajc (31 Dec 2019)

Thanks for the offer, I've got quite a lot of work to get there first !


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## Supersuperleeds (31 Dec 2019)

@wajc 

How did you get this square? There looks like there may be a farm track going into it but I'm not sure if it is a public right of way


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## wajc (31 Dec 2019)

That's quite an easy one to get to. Just head down Southmoor Lane which is a paved road that eventually leads to a farm - there were no restricted access signs and it seemed to be just like any other country lane to me. Before you get too far (about 500m) take the turn on the left to the oil wells. This was fine as well as it's a service road (concreted or at least hard-packed ground IIRC). You need to go right up to the gate to claim the square but you could go beyond this and walk down the side of the compound if you felt the need to.

Top tips - don't smoke and watch out for slippery patches


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## tallliman (31 Dec 2019)

Cool, was looking at that square too. Most of the ones toward Nottingham (and the city itself) are quite easily grabbable.


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## 13 rider (1 Jan 2020)

Today's ride gained me 12 squares upto 4354 ,Max cluster went up by 14 to 1940 . Took the opportunity to grab 3 squares at Magna park at Lutterworth a normally busy distribution centre but today is was a ghost town


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## tallliman (3 Jan 2020)

22 more squares today, an extra 37 to the cluster.


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jan 2020)

@tallliman have you got this one yet?


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## tallliman (3 Jan 2020)

No, I need that one and the one that encompasses Jericho Wood in that region.

I should add that the 2 squares that Green Lane goes through near Aisby were impassable today....I'd have sunk in the mud!


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## Supersuperleeds (3 Jan 2020)

I got Jericho Wood by doing a farm track off Belton Lane. There might have been a few private signs up that I failed to see


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## wajc (5 Jan 2020)

@Supersuperleeds

You've got a choice on the square you were interested in.

1) You can ride down the road to Pasture Farm - it is signposted as a private road. However these are often bridleways as well where cycling/walking and horseriding are allowed - which you could use as an excuse if needed because there is a bridleway that goes to the farm just not from this direction. You do need to go nearly up to the farm though.

Other options are the Red Lane bridleway north out of Welby - 800m, Track A to the east of Welby - 200m North on a track to the side of a field (best in dry conditions), Track B - a 100m walk along the edge of a field and a farm garden.

I think I'll end up using the bridleway when conditions allow as I try to use a permitted route where possible.






@tallliman 

I need the 2 squares between Aisby and Dembleby as well, when the ground drys up I was going to approach the western square from Aisby and the eastern square from Dembleby in the hope that it would be easier to not venture too far down the bridleway


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## tallliman (6 Jan 2020)

@wajc, I spoke to a horse rider near there who said the bridleway rarely gets properly dry even in the summer. Almost wish I'd done it now but itll wait until summer.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jan 2020)

Ride up to Lincoln saw me bag another 23 squares which increased the max cluster by 72. Got the awkward looking one near Newton on Trent, as @wajc pointed out it was a relatively easy one to get once I followed his route.

Also rode along the best bridleway ever to grab two squares, the road that lead to it was pot holed to hell, but once I turned onto the bridleway it turned into nice concrete and then once I'd gone through a gate it turned into runway smooth concrete, it was surreal.


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## wajc (11 Jan 2020)

I'm guessing the bridleway was the one out of Thurgarton, - it sounds like they must have extended the concrete road recently. Google maps shows it becoming a dirt track near to the last farm you passed on the right and before you get to the squares. I need those 2 squares as well so would be nice to know if it's been improved and can be easily done whatever the weather.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jan 2020)

wajc said:


> I'm guessing the bridleway was the one out of Thurgarton, - it sounds like they must have extended the concrete road recently. Google maps shows it becoming a dirt track near to the last farm you passed on the right and before you get to the squares. I need those 2 squares as well so would be nice to know if it's been improved and can be easily done whatever the weather.



Yes it was, the concrete after the gate looked brand new. definitely baggable whatever the weather. Annoyingly If I'd carried on all the way up I'd have got the next square as well.


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## tallliman (11 Jan 2020)

Theres a cafe at the top end of the bridleway. Not done those squares yet though to know if its good.


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## wajc (11 Jan 2020)

A bridleway covered with runway smooth concrete AND a cafe at the end of it - surely the stuff of dreams for any square hunter


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## 13 rider (26 Jan 2020)

Targeted ride to my bottom left corner gave me 7 tiles total now 4361 Max cluster up by 9 to 1949 but Max square increased by 1 to 35*35


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## tallliman (1 Feb 2020)

100km ride round the south side of Rutland including Nevill Holt straight after lunch! The ride was made more difficult by forgetting to load the route onto the Garmin.

Max cluster 2645, squares 5,208.


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## Soltydog (6 Feb 2020)

This months century ride saw me grab 20 tiles, max cluster up from 630 to 684, but max sq still 12x12 but I have 9 different 12x12 squares now, only a matter of time before I increase one of them  but I don't think it will be the one including home , due to the coastline & Humber


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Feb 2020)

Nicked a route from @tallliman to Boston, couple of little tweaks to pick up some different squares saw me bag 60 new squares and increase the max cluster by 58. Max cluster now links directly with Boston from Leicester. (Previously it went to Boston but via Lincoln.)

@tallliman your route was great, all the roads were proper tarmac and in pretty good condition apart from one. The one up Brown's Drove at Swineshead Bridge turned into a dirt track and then turned into a field road through a ploughed field, it was okay today because it was dry, but would be horrendous to do in the wet. It wasn't much fun doing it on a knackered front wheel but it was for two squares and it looks like that is the only way to them so I had to plough on


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## tallliman (8 Feb 2020)

Followed @Supersuperleeds but about 4 hrs later. 40ish new squares....max cluster now connected to Leicester too


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Feb 2020)

tallliman said:


> Followed @Supersuperleeds but about 4 hrs later. 40ish new squares....max cluster now connected to Leicester too



Just seen your ride on Strava, were you hit coming off the A17? I didn't like riding down that bit but luckily I only had one car come by me.


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## tallliman (8 Feb 2020)

Yeah, the right hand turn. Chap turning right to go north didnt see me.


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## Soltydog (6 Mar 2020)

Soltydog said:


> This months century ride saw me grab 20 tiles, max cluster up from 630 to 684, but max sq still 12x12


This month's century ride was another tile grabber, max cluster up to 738, but struggling to increase the max sq


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Mar 2020)

Ride out today saw me get the final square around Birmingham Airport. Saw not one aeroplane in the sky.

24 squares in total bagged, increasing the cluster by 23 to 3,889 and total tiles to 5,574.


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## Soltydog (8 Apr 2020)

Gone a little quiet on here. I guess everyone is being good & staying local 🤔 I managed to grab an odd square today that was one of the few locally, cluster up 6 to 738 now 👍 There's another couple of local one which involve footpaths, so have been waiting for dry weather. Might grab them both next week. Might even see my max sq increase


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## Supersuperleeds (8 Apr 2020)

Soltydog said:


> Gone a little quiet on here. I guess everyone is being good & staying local 🤔 I managed to grab an odd square today that was one of the few locally, cluster up 6 to 738 now 👍 There's another couple of local one which involve footpaths, so have been waiting for dry weather. Might grab them both next week. Might even see my max sq increase



My closest square is now 32 miles away, so it might be some time before I bag my next one.


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## Ming the Merciless (8 Apr 2020)

You ought to have a tile trading scheme. Swap your local tiles to gain ones too far away at the moment.


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## Ivo (9 Apr 2020)

In order to improve my square I have to grab some tiles in Belgium. But the border is closed so no options for me at the moment.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Apr 2020)

My veloviewer sub has run out. Not going to bother renewing it until we can go riding up unhindered.


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## Noodle Legs (26 Apr 2020)

Bagged a square on a sunny Friday evening ride down to Atherstone. I took advantage of the quiet roads to nab it as it was a two mile stretch down the normally very busy A444 to its junction with the A42/M42.
Max square now 15x15.


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## 13 rider (26 Apr 2020)

Noodle Legs said:


> Bagged a square on a sunny Friday evening ride down to Atherstone. I took advantage of the quiet roads to nab it as it was a two mile stretch down the normally very busy A444 to its junction with the A42/M42.
> Max square now 15x15.


The bit past Stretton en le Field ? Not the best bit of road ,good time to do .Me and @Supersuperleeds did after a forum ride on a Sunday afternoon


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## Noodle Legs (26 Apr 2020)

13 rider said:


> The bit past Stretton en le Field ? Not the best bit of road ,good time to do .Me and @Supersuperleeds did after a forum ride on a Sunday afternoon


Yeah, rode over to and through Measham and up to the Cricketts at Acresford then came back on myself to do it. It was an ideal time to do it- as you say, it’s not the best road to ride on. Not a single car passed me!


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## Ming the Merciless (26 Apr 2020)

I’m about to join this tile / square collecting as something to do locally during lockdown. It’s the pro / £10 a year account I need isn’t it?


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Apr 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> I’m about to join this tile / square collecting as something to do locally during lockdown. It’s the pro / £10 a year account I need isn’t it?



Yes


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## 13 rider (26 Apr 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> I’m about to join this tile / square collecting as something to do locally during lockdown. It’s the pro / £10 a year account I need isn’t it?


Be warned it can be addictive


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## Ming the Merciless (26 Apr 2020)

13 rider said:


> Be warned it can be addictive



Oh I’m sure but I am sure it’ll generate some different routes as I try and collect “missing” squares. Routes I wouldn’t have normally chosen. So it’ll add variety during lockdown to stop me getting bored with doing the same local rides and routes.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Apr 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> Oh I’m sure but I am sure it’ll generate some different routes as I try and collect “missing” squares. Routes I wouldn’t have normally chosen. So it’ll add variety during lockdown to stop me getting bored with doing the same local rides and routes.


The filling in missing squares is by far the best bit of it.


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## tallliman (26 Apr 2020)

Its interesting though as we all have different techniques for square grabbing, I often prefer not to make my rides too knotty else I feel I'm not making progress on the ride itself. It does often mean I need 2 rides to make large gains


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## Global Nomad (1 May 2020)

Hi everyone, 
I have been aware and noting the explorer tiles for a couple of years, mostly as a by-product of my rides but just before Christmas decided to focus a little more on filling in the gaps and go tile hunting, always starting from home in east London. Before we knew about lockdown I gave myself a non-deadline aim to get all the tiles within the M25...now i'm not going out at all at the moment but I have had the time to route 20 rides of circa 100km to bag all those missing tiles and just waiting for restrictions to lift...nice to read some shared experience and tips here.


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## tallliman (1 May 2020)

Amazing! My cluster has a fair bit of London in now but I wouldn't want to do all the inner-m25 squares!!


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## Supersuperleeds (1 May 2020)

I've done all the M69 squares


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## HLaB (1 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I've done all the M69 squares


Were you the cyclist who was stopped by the police on the M69 last week? Just part of their daily excercise 🙄😂


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## Ming the Merciless (1 May 2020)

Grabbed two squares today which took me from max square of 7x7 to 10x10. What is the size of your max square? Mostly off road so far, to collect the missing squares.


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## Supersuperleeds (1 May 2020)

Mines 52x52


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## Global Nomad (1 May 2020)

2805 tiles, average of 9.397 km per tile
Max square 13x13 
Max Cluster: 352


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## Global Nomad (1 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> Amazing! My cluster has a fair bit of London in now but I wouldn't want to do all the inner-m25 squares!!


there's a lot of not very nice bits and plenty of knotty rides to reach some difficult bits, surprisingly large amount of 'wilderness' too


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## 13 rider (1 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Mines 52x52


But as your subscription has expired it dosnt count 
35*35 for me


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## Supersuperleeds (1 May 2020)

13 rider said:


> But as your subscription has expired it dosnt count
> 35*35 for me



Still showing on it


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## Noodle Legs (1 May 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> Grabbed two squares today which took me from max square of 7x7 to 10x10. What is the size of your max square? Mostly off road so far, to collect the missing squares.


 
15 x 15 for me


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## tallliman (1 May 2020)

Max square is 32x32 but I focus on the max cluster as I'm hemmed in by needing to get through cities in all directions. 2,733 for the cluster.


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## wajc (7 May 2020)

My rides over winter have included tiles that have contributed to my max cluster but not specifically to increasing my max square. This is because I have quite a few tiles bordering my max square which require some 'off roading' which I've left until ground conditions are dry.

So today I grabbed 4 tiles on the southern edge of my max square which involved a bridleway, a field edge and farm track that I've needed to do for some time, and will be of interest to @Supersuperleeds and @tallliman








Still no increase in my max square but now I have 48 (N-S) and 43 (E-W). I now need to head NW for more off road squares.

I've also recently discovered that although the rideeverytile site is being updated

https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/

it has an interesting feature where you can see how many people have bagged a particular tile - although I have noticed some tiles that are not correctly calculated but I believe it's 'work in progress'. Also not 'live' as such but currently based on data prior to 10th March

https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap/8168x5342

You can also see links to riders Strava activity to see how they have approached awkward squares which is useful.


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## Supersuperleeds (7 May 2020)

wajc said:


> My rides over winter have included tiles that have contributed to my max cluster but not specifically to increasing my max square. This is because I have quite a few tiles bordering my max square which require some 'off roading' which I've left until ground conditions are dry.
> 
> So today I grabbed 4 tiles on the southern edge of my max square which involved a bridleway, a field edge and farm track that I've needed to do for some time, and will be of interest to @Supersuperleeds and @tallliman
> 
> ...



What did you use on the square on the left of Oasby? I've got a route planned coming in from the west, I can't see anything on your route?


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## wajc (7 May 2020)

I used this field entrance here - it's about 200m to get to the square.

Field entrance

When I got there today it looked rather different. It looked like the grass track at the edge of the field showing on the google image had been recently tilled. It was flat apart from tractor tyre imprints and very dry - just about rideable on 23mm tyres.

I'd also considered using the side of this field and walking alongside the hedge (about 80m) but it borders a farm garden and it looked like I needed to go beyond the hedge line where there was less cover from the farmhouse so gave it a miss.

Field edge

my other option was to follow the bridleway North out of Welby but that would have been about 1.5km there and back.

If you want to stay on roads there is the farm road off the B6403 but you'll need to get virtually to the farm garden about 600m and it's not easy to see if anyone is about.

Private road to farm


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## tallliman (8 May 2020)

That certainly looks better than the boggy bridleway!! Not sure when next I'll get out that way.....im creating a max cluster 2020 from my local rides for now!


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## JonBuoy (8 May 2020)

I don't think I have even seen a slightly moist bridleway for over a month. The ones round Leicestershire are mostly baked rock hard.


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## Phaeton (8 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> I don't think I have even seen a slightly moist bridleway for over a month. The ones round Leicestershire are mostly baked rock hard.


LOL When I was out yesterday I was thinking that it's nice to be able to ride some of the tracks again due to them hardening up, but they are very rough where the tractors & horses have churned them up, that was until I decided to take a shortcut back home to get me off the main road, it was still very damp with large puddles right in the bottom of the tractor tracks which were so deep you could ride out of them once you were in.


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## Noodle Legs (8 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> I don't think I have even seen a slightly moist bridleway for over a month. The ones round Leicestershire are mostly baked rock hard.


I concur!


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## tallliman (8 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> I don't think I have even seen a slightly moist bridleway for over a month. The ones round Leicestershire are mostly baked rock hard.



The one that I've declined to ride and @wajc found a way to get the squares without using is under trees and from what I was told by an equestrian, is boggy all year!


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?


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## JonBuoy (9 May 2020)

The tile boundaries in the top image look 'right'. The tile boundaries in the bottom image appear to have moved relative to the map. How did you manage to do that ?


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> The tile boundaries in the top image look 'right'. The tile boundaries in the bottom image appear to have moved relative to the map. How did you manage to do that ?


Not a clue. I just screen shotted a before and after and never even noticed! Either way, I missed a tile!
The GPS seems quite a way off the road as well.....


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## JonBuoy (9 May 2020)

On looking closer - the GPS tracks have also slipped relative to the map. A bit of lockdown-boredom-induced Strava stalking shows me that those two spikes that appear to come out of Burton on the Wolds actually came off Loughborough Road between Hoton and Cotes. Your highlighted square is also a pink one rather than the white one next door. Strange. I would try switching it off and on again 

I assume that your missing square is the one NE of Rempstone. VeloViewer 'made me' ride the lane past Hill Farm and Wolds Farm a while ago - and very nice it was too


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> On looking closer - the GPS tracks have also slipped relative to the map. A bit of lockdown-boredom-induced Strava stalking shows me that those two spikes that appear to come out of Burton on the Wolds actually came off Loughborough Road between Hoton and Cotes. Your highlighted square is also a pink one rather than the white one next door. Strange. I would try switching it off and on again
> 
> I assume that your missing square is the one NE of Rempstone. VeloViewer 'made me' ride the lane past Hill Farm and Wolds Farm a while ago - and very nice it was too


The two “spikes” we’re indeed between Cotes and Hoton and were deliberately done to get a tile. I’d done this route purely from memorising the initial ”before” screenshot so I winged it. I only needed one of those “spikes” as such, but couldn’t remember which so I did them both just to make sure.
I remembered I needed to do the A60 between Rempstone and Costock to get that tile but forgot about the one just off to the right. Ah well, I have a load more to get in that area so can pick them up at a later stage once Veloviewer “makes” me go that way!


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

I think that might be actually it...


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## tallliman (9 May 2020)

@Noodle Legs, there's a road through that square out of Rempstone. A few big potholes on it when I did it few days ago.


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> @Noodle Legs, there's a road through that square out of Rempstone. A few big potholes on it when I did it few days ago.


Yeah I saw when I zoomed in. Need to pick up some on the way up to Gotham so can do it then. Cheers for the heads up......


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## tallliman (9 May 2020)

Noodle Legs said:


> Yeah I saw when I zoomed in. Need to pick up some on the way up to Gotham so can do it then. Cheers for the heads up......



Have you still got to do Moor Lane in Gotham?


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> Have you still got to do Moor Lane in Gotham?


I’ve got to do all of Gotham and ruddington and all along that A60 corridor up to Nottingham!


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## Supersuperleeds (9 May 2020)

The A60 up to Ruddington is fine, after Ruddington you don't need it for square grabbing


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> The A60 up to Ruddington is fine, after Ruddington you don't need it for square grabbing


Yeah it seems to be more Gotham and Ruddington itself I need to go...


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## Supersuperleeds (9 May 2020)

There is one awkward square at Gotham which needs a rough bridleway ride, though saying that @13 rider might have got it a different way to me and @tallliman


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## Ming the Merciless (9 May 2020)

Got a few more squares today and increased max square by 1x1


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## 13 rider (9 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> There is one awkward square at Gotham which needs a rough bridleway ride, though saying that @13 rider might have got it a different way to me and @tallliman


The Moor lane one I did from the Ruddington end down a foothpath at the side of the railway it was ridable but do it in the summer while it's dry


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## 13 rider (9 May 2020)

Bottom left corner is how I got that square


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## Noodle Legs (9 May 2020)

13 rider said:


> View attachment 521205
> 
> 
> Bottom left corner is how I got that square


Good to know, cheers fellas!


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## Supersuperleeds (16 May 2020)

7 new squares today and I've renewed my subscription


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## Ming the Merciless (16 May 2020)

I managed to grab 33 squares yesterday. No increase in my max square. But it’ll pay dividends soon enough. I’m now beginning to look at my max square and it’s the corners that need filling out. So I have 2 or 3 trips mapped out, that when complete should square off a bigger max square then everything outside that is fairly contiguous. So trips after that should be nice and productive. My main decisions are whether I’m going to do much off road to get tiles. That determines the bike to take and clearly the route between tiles.

I found yesterday that I needed to zoom the map out to see which part of the route was out and back. Think I’ll have a piece of paper next time so I know when I come to the route going either way which one is out and back. Therefore which way to turn before returning.


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## 13 rider (16 May 2020)

@YukonBoy you can download an app v v explorer for you phone which will give you live data as to where you are relating to tiles


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## Ming the Merciless (16 May 2020)

13 rider said:


> @YukonBoy you can download an app v v explorer for you phone which will give you live data as to where you are relating to tiles



I prefer pre planning the routes through them to make for efficient but also suitable ways. No tiles are close enough now that I’ll accidentally pass through anyway. I download the tile kml and load that into my route planning software so it’s easy to plan.


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## Noodle Legs (16 May 2020)

Today’s haul of 11 (I think)


----------



## Ming the Merciless (16 May 2020)

Noodle Legs said:


> View attachment 522862
> 
> 
> View attachment 522864
> ...



Did you meet Batman?


----------



## Noodle Legs (16 May 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> Did you meet Batman?


In the daylight? Erm....,


----------



## Ming the Merciless (16 May 2020)

Noodle Legs said:


> In the daylight? Erm....,



ok Bruce Wayne then...


----------



## 13 rider (16 May 2020)

It's the Gotham joke @Noodle Legs . 
Strangle local pronounce it Goatham


----------



## Noodle Legs (16 May 2020)

13 rider said:


> It's the Gotham joke @Noodle Legs .
> Strangle local pronounce it Goatham


You took the words right out of my mouth @13 rider, it is indeed!


----------



## Noodle Legs (16 May 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> I prefer pre planning the routes through them to make for efficient but also suitable ways. No tiles are close enough now that I’ll accidentally pass through anyway. I download the tile kml and load that into my route planning software so it’s easy to plan.


I planned mine using the VV/strava overlay, first time I've actually used it but as I had so many tiles to get in a certain area I couldn't really wing it like I normally would have done.....


----------



## tallliman (19 May 2020)

So my 2020 max square is now up to 9x10. Is anyone else checking their 2020 specific stats during this period of lockdown?


----------



## Supersuperleeds (19 May 2020)

Just looked mine is 6x9


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## tallliman (19 May 2020)

I'm nearly limited by the iffy Square near Cotes and Field Lane in Gotham!


----------



## Supersuperleeds (20 May 2020)

Another ride out to Yoxall to get 9 more squares. The roads out there were fantastic, apart from being a bit rolling.


----------



## HLaB (20 May 2020)

My max square is only 8x8 I saw some simple gains to improve that but I'm not sure about going down farm tracks to isolated homes just now :-/


----------



## Supersuperleeds (20 May 2020)

HLaB said:


> My max square is only 8x8 I saw some simple gains to improve that but I'm not sure about going down farm tracks to isolated homes just now :-/



I agree, I've put my dicey squares on hold and am currently just grabbing normal ones.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (20 May 2020)

Some urban riding today to grab squares blocking my eastern expansion. Roads still pretty quiet. Three towns hit and just a couple of urban squares further east to get next time out that way. Then I should be able to build east whilst staying rural for a while.


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## Noodle Legs (20 May 2020)

12 tiles today.


----------



## aferris2 (21 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> So my 2020 max square is now up to 9x10. Is anyone else checking their 2020 specific stats during this period of lockdown?


Just checked mine. I've got a massive 2 x 2, but I have been moving around a bit


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## Noodle Legs (27 May 2020)

2 more tiles today, a very rattly track between edingale and catton and a straggly one in castle gresley.


----------



## Supersuperleeds (27 May 2020)

Noodle Legs said:


> 2 more tiles today, a very rattly track between edingale and catton and a straggly one in castle gresley.
> View attachment 525480
> 
> 
> ...



The Coton square is easier to get than the way you did it. There is a very rideable track at the bottom of the right hand side


----------



## Noodle Legs (27 May 2020)

I just wanted to make it a loop, so I went all the way through. Rideable, but not the best as you say.


----------



## JonBuoy (27 May 2020)

I seem to remember that there was a lot of shooting going on when I bagged that one. I didn't hang around...


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## Noodle Legs (27 May 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> I seem to remember that there was a lot of shooting going on when I bagged that one. I didn't hang around...


Yeah it’s a shooting ground one end, and dog kennels the other. Luckily no one about.....


----------



## HLaB (28 May 2020)

Got a local tile on Wednesday and another couple today and took my:
Tiles from 8885 to 8888
Max square from 8x6 to 11x11
Max cluster from 567 to 573


----------



## Phaeton (28 May 2020)

HLaB said:


> Got a local tile on Wednesday and another couple today and took my:
> Tiles from 8885 to 8888
> Max square from 8x6 to 11x11
> Max cluster from 567 to 573


Where do you find this information?


----------



## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Where do you find this information?


On the summary page:


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> So my 2020 max square is now up to 9x10. Is anyone else checking their 2020 specific stats during this period of lockdown?


Now 8x8


----------



## Phaeton (28 May 2020)

Apologies again there is probably an FAQ I should read 

I looked at the summary 






Then viewed the map






I can see 3 different colour squares, 3 squares which have no colour, then some that have a pink hue & others that have a purple hue, what do each of those signify?


----------



## LeetleGreyCells (28 May 2020)

The VeloViewer Chrome extension for Strava has been updated to show the overlay again.


----------



## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Apologies again there is probably an FAQ I should read
> 
> I looked at the summary
> 
> ...


No colour = you've not ridden through that square yet - GO GET IT!
Pink = you've ridden that square but have squares to get around it. - GO GET THEM!
Blue = You've got that square and all four on all sides - WELL DONE, THIS SQUARE FORMS PART OF YOUR MAX CLUSTER


----------



## Nomadski (28 May 2020)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> The VeloViewer Chrome extension for Strava has been updated to show the overlay again.



Fantastic! It's the only reason I used Stravas routing tbh. It's still sluggish as heck tho.

Ive got a 20x20 max square now, but think I'm going to hit trouble soon, trouble called parts of the peak district.


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## Phaeton (28 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> No colour = you've not ridden through that square yet - GO GET IT!
> Pink = you've ridden that square but have squares to get around it. - GO GET THEM!
> Blue = You've got that square and all four on all sides - WELL DONE, THIS SQUARE FORMS PART OF YOUR MAX CLUSTER


Thank you, that's going to be quite hard to get those 3 blanks as that is all private land, have to see if I can get lost one day.


----------



## bruce1530 (28 May 2020)

My veloviewer map hasn’t really changed so far this year..

1138 tiles, Max square 15x15 Max Cluster: 645







I live on the coast, pretty much where that straight line ferry trip hits the mainland. So I’m actually about 5 miles outside my max square.

South and West is sea.
The big unexplored patch north of me is moorland. There are no roads. Maybe a few paths, but I don’t ride the right type of bike. 

There’s one bit that’s annoying me:






That’s just outside Glasgow - the grey diagonal strip at bottom right is the Glasgow Airport runway. The square is on the site of the Bishopton defence munitions place, so no access. I do think there’s one point at the bottom right of the square where the boundary fence is about a yard inside the square, so might take a trip into the field beside it....


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## Noodle Legs (28 May 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Apologies again there is probably an FAQ I should read
> 
> I looked at the summary
> 
> ...


My old stomping ground, that neck of the woods!


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## tallliman (29 May 2020)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> The VeloViewer Chrome extension for Strava has been updated to show the overlay again.



Ahh....all is right again with the (Veloviewer) world again. My route plotting looked naked without it!


----------



## Phaeton (29 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> No colour = you've not ridden through that square yet - GO GET IT!
> Pink = you've ridden that square but have squares to get around it. - GO GET THEM!
> Blue = You've got that square and all four on all sides - WELL DONE, THIS SQUARE FORMS PART OF YOUR MAX CLUSTER


5 tiles today, this could be dangerous & addictive especially as I prefer offroad/MTB riding


Noodle Legs said:


> My old stomping ground, that neck of the woods!


Certainly nice around that area, but access is being closed down, 20-30 years ago you could go anywhere you wanted virtually, but there are gates & signs everywhere now.


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## Supersuperleeds (29 May 2020)

Phaeton said:


> 5 tiles today, this could be dangerous & addictive especially as I prefer offroad/MTB riding
> Certainly nice around that area, but access is being closed down, 20-30 years ago you could go anywhere you wanted virtually, but there are gates & signs everywhere now.



I don't know how I missed all these signs nor how I carried my bike over the gate to bag a square


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## tallliman (29 May 2020)

Looks like there's a ladder in that gate!

2020 max square now 10x10 need 2 squares for 10x15


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## LeetleGreyCells (29 May 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Thank you, that's going to be quite hard to get those 3 blanks as that is all private land, have to see if I can get lost one day.


I need to get three squares that are all on private land too and the land owner is keen on chasing trespassers off I’ve been told


tallliman said:


> Ahh....all is right again with the (Veloviewer) world again. My route plotting looked naked without it!


I really hate Strava route mapping. It’s crap. I gave up yesterday after an hour of faffing. Much prefer Komoot and cycle.travel. They’re so much more user-friendly. Can’t get the overlay for those though.


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## HLaB (29 May 2020)

HLaB said:


> Got a local tile on Wednesday and another couple today and took my:
> Tiles from 8885 to 8888
> Max square from 8x6 to 11x11
> Max cluster from 567 to 573


Popped out at after lunch for an hour and grabbed a tile which takes it to:
8889 tiles,
12 x 12 Max Square and
582 Max Cluster

Don't think I'll be able to Join up my post gps UK tiles in to Squares.



I might be able to get a few more tiles by travelling further afield.






To Join up more closer though I'll need go off road


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## tallliman (29 May 2020)

No one said the new plug in for Chrome colours in squares as you plot a route! Amazing!


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## Ming the Merciless (29 May 2020)

Currently 15x15 but haven’t loaded today’s route yet. It may have jumped to 19x19. Will find out tomorrow. Loving this new addiction I started in lockdown. Causing me to plan lots of new routes compared to my favourites.


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## Noodle Legs (31 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> No one said the new plug in for Chrome colours in squares as you plot a route! Amazing!


Yes I spotted that when I plotted my Doncaster route, they turn yellow! Strava route planning still irks me somewhat when you try to plot a given road but need to put in 3,000 waymarkers along it because it wants to take you an extra 5 miles from point A to point B because it’s more “popular”  

Yes, I know I could put it on manual mode but I find that can be just as bad!


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## Noodle Legs (31 May 2020)

....and speaking of my Doncaster route, quite a few new tiles were got yesterday. Not my normal turf these days but I went to visit my lads who live in shireoaks so I took the opportunity to explore that way on. Maybe one day these tiles might just join up back towards Leicestershire!


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## tallliman (31 May 2020)

@Noodle Legs, just think of it as a goal! I connected my London squares to the East Midlands and thats a little further than Donny!


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## Noodle Legs (31 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> @Noodle Legs, just think of it as a goal! I connected my London squares to the East Midlands and thats a little further than Donny!


Well technically they do link based on when we did the UCI ride up to York, but there’s a lot of gaps to fill!


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## bruce1530 (31 May 2020)

50 mile trip this morning, and picked up one tile that had been eluding me. South of Kilmarnock, on the stretch between the prison and Crosshands, There’s only one road through it, and that’s the A76. Several times I’ve been down that way, stopped at the crossroads, thought “there’s a tile half a mile north of here”, but the traffic’s just been too crazy on the A76. One time it took me the best part of 5 mins just to cross over.

But today - Sunday morning, during lockdown - it was a lot quieter. Cars still doing silly speeds, but far fewer.

And I got lucky - a tractor pulling a trailer of cut grass pulled out in front of me, and trundled up the road at about 20mph. I sat behind it for a few minutes to get into the square, stopped, turned back, and got onto the quiet country roads again.


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## LeetleGreyCells (31 May 2020)

Three new tiles this morning to the north of me. 

I need to get three tiles to the south of me. Unfortunately, they are on private land and the landowner is quite quick on his feet (according to a club mate who wanted the same three tiles), "Get off my land!" Which is fair enough as it is his land. And I'm sure he wouldn't take kindly to a polite request as it would no doubt encourage other tile-seekers.


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## Ming the Merciless (31 May 2020)

Now confirmed new max square is 17x17 not 19x19. Just drawn a single larger 18x18 square on the map to highlight the ones I need to expand to that size. Will try and get the ones I need next week.


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## tallliman (31 May 2020)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> Three new tiles this morning to the north of me.
> 
> I need to get three tiles to the south of me. Unfortunately, they are on private land and the landowner is quite quick on his feet (according to a club mate who wanted the same three tiles), "Get off my land!" Which is fair enough as it is his land. And I'm sure he wouldn't take kindly to a polite request as it would no doubt encourage other tile-seekers.



Are there no footpaths going through there?


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## bruce1530 (31 May 2020)

Don’t you wish you lived in Scotland. No such hassles here (well, maybe some...)


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## LeetleGreyCells (31 May 2020)

tallliman said:


> Are there no footpaths going through there?


And walk the bike through? I'm not sure if there are public footpaths through there. Just had a quick look on Google Street Maps and can't see signage - some of the entrances have PRIVATE, some have nothing, none have Public Footpath that I can see.

EDIT - looked at Map Data on Open Street Map and all access is marked as Private.


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## Supersuperleeds (31 May 2020)

LeetleGreyCells said:


> And walk the bike through? I'm not sure if there are public footpaths through there. Just had a quick look on Google Street Maps and can't see signage - some of the entrances have PRIVATE, some have nothing, none have Public Footpath that I can see.



If you look on veloviewer you can select OS mapping, that will show if there are any rights of way


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## LeetleGreyCells (31 May 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> If you look on veloviewer you can select OS mapping, that will show if there are any rights of way


Thanks for this. Just checked on there and no, there are no rights of way. Frustrating.


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## tallliman (31 May 2020)

Quite frustrating that! I think I'm lucky here that there a few truly difficult squares.


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## HLaB (1 Jun 2020)

bruce1530 said:


> Don’t you wish you lived in Scotland. No such hassles here (well, maybe some...)


Did they ever sort out the Ann Gloag thing? IIRC Her estate was the one exception to 'right to roam'


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## Noodle Legs (14 Jun 2020)

12 tiles got this morning, taking my max up to 19x19. One tile was a bit iffy to get which involved a private track and prying eyes but it appears to have been got so we’ll say no more about it eh?


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## 13 rider (14 Jun 2020)

16 new tiles on today's ride total 4451 max cluster up 24 to 2003 .
Extended my Northern edge to above Derby and Nottingham ,not far off a max square increase from 35*35 to a think 37*37


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## Phaeton (14 Jun 2020)

Picked up 5 tiles today & went from a lowly 9x9 to a slightly less lowly 11x11 but there is one still eluding me, not sure how to get to it, the green road is a dual carriageway part of the A1 I really don't fancy riding on it, I suppose the only way is up the farm lane then plead ignorance if get stopped, but I'm not keen on doing that.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jun 2020)

22 new tiles today which increased the max cluster by 15 to 3,921.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Jun 2020)

@tallliman I presume this is the Wittering square you are on about, if we can't get it on that road, we can take a walk through the fields on the public path to the right.


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## tallliman (14 Jun 2020)

Yeah, that's the one. I think when I looked at Google maps, the edge of the square is the edge of the airfield. Might be worth checking that the footpath is open....

4 new squares for me to complete Rutland Water. Needed nearly 70miles riding for 4 squares though....I can't wait until we can use trains again!


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## Solocle (14 Jun 2020)

Went from 7x7 to 15x15 over lockdown, including moving it to a different part of the country... can't say that there were any particularly hard tiles to get if avoiding the trunk road. But I did do 50 miles on an MTB two weeks ago to nab some bridleway tiles that extended my max cluster.


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## ukbabz (15 Jun 2020)

I started at 12x12 and have upped it to 19x19. With the dry weather some of the bridleways have been passable on my roadbike too so has helped tick off random tiles that I've missed. Trickiest part is finding time for long enough rides to get to new tiles now but it's a nice way of finding new places to ride.


2745 tiles, average of 6.106 km per tile
Max square 19x19
Max Cluster: 556


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## Global Nomad (15 Jun 2020)

Hi Everyone, i've managed to do a few long rides now and can focus on filling in the squares within the M25, have a route to do the a full lap too once i can align weather and a day pass from mrs nomad...all rides from home and planned on strava + google maps/streetview) - too much trouble to get turn by turn so just follow the line and stop and check when necessary, as ukbabz noted some paths are dry enough to go across fields on a road bike with tubeless..last years london revolution is the big loop showing..


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## Global Nomad (15 Jun 2020)

PS -- thats an all time map rather than 2020

2930 tiles, average of 9.148 km per tile
Max square 16x16
Max Cluster: 494


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## Ming the Merciless (15 Jun 2020)

Got a square raid planned tomorrow. Should clock up about 130km. I’ve made the out and back sections left, right, left etc. To make it easy when navigating on the road. Current square 17x17. This raid may make a jump but to be honest I’m trying to be efficient about collecting squares in an area rather than nibbling at edges of current max square. The jumps will come anyway.


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Jun 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> Got a square raid planned tomorrow. Should clock up about 130km. I’ve made the out and back sections left, right, left etc. To make it easy when navigating on the road. Current square 17x17. This raid may make a jump but to be honest I’m trying to be efficient about collecting squares in an area rather than nibbling at edges of current max square. The jumps will come anyway.



That's how I do it, all of a sudden you get to a point were a couple of squares gives you a massive jump, then back to area filling for a while before another jump.


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## Solocle (16 Jun 2020)

17 more for my max cluster.


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## tallliman (16 Jun 2020)

@Solocle, are you trying to get anywhere with your spurs to the west and the south?


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## 13 rider (16 Jun 2020)

4 new squares today . Filled in a couple of surrounded squares and a couple linked together around Tamworth to cover the town .max cluster went up by 18 to 2021


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## Solocle (16 Jun 2020)

tallliman said:


> @Solocle, are you trying to get anywhere with your spurs to the west and the south?


Not really, although I might eventually make a push for Exeter. South isn't going anywhere... the real trick will be pushing north to Oxford, where I have another cluster ready and waiting!


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## Global Nomad (17 Jun 2020)

Did some 'area filling ' yesterday around Rainham and North Ockendon but the blocked roads and paths on my route lead to a lot of on the fly exploration across gravel tracks and fields ( with a road bike) and dropped the average speed, cut out some loops as a consequence so will have to return to fill. have already dropped my idealism in respect of 'properly' going through tiles rather than just crossing the boundary briefly...


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## tallliman (17 Jun 2020)

Solocle said:


> Not really, although I might eventually make a push for Exeter. South isn't going anywhere... the real trick will be pushing north to Oxford, where I have another cluster ready and waiting!



I spent a few months connecting my cluster in the East Midlands to Central London.....it was good fun with some jeopardy as if I missed a square, it was a long way back to get it!


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## 13 rider (17 Jun 2020)

@Supersuperleeds how did you get the square with the A5 diagonally through it . Did you ride the A5 can't see a cycle path in Street view


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Jun 2020)

13 rider said:


> @Supersuperleeds how did you get the square with the A5 diagonally through it . Did you ride the A5 can't see a cycle path in Street view
> View attachment 530607


I did It on the A5 from the north. Got into the square and turned round and went back up to the roundabout to get off the A5


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## JonBuoy (18 Jun 2020)

I grabbed that one a couple of weeks ago using the bridleway from Lutterworth. This gave me the opportunity to pay a visit to the front gates of the delightful Lutterworth Sewage Works  I later regretted it when I got to a sticky bit of field and got a bit clogged up. Escaping onto the A5 was actually a relief and the run up to the B4428 island was fine. However, this was a Sunday lunchtime and I wouldn't fancy it in rush hour.


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## Rob and Alison (18 Jun 2020)

Crikey, everyone here is way ahead of us. Veloviewer has come onto our radar during lockdown, but as Alison is shielding we haven't been able to take advantage of the quieter roads.
We did sign up though to see where we were and start planning, that was the first time we have regretted not uploading all our rides to strava in the past! Lots of gaps where we know we have ridden in the past. Anyone know if there is a way to retrospectively get them from our Garmin connect to strava?

Trawling through this thread has really helped answer most/all of our questions about how it works, so thanks for that.

Our max square is rather embarrassing at 6x6, with an unridden(according to rideeverytile - which we found through here) tile in the corner preventing at least 7x7, we do think it should be possible to get on the MTB's though, along with a second nearby unridden tile too.
Just two reasonable rides since shielders were allowed out for exercise has upped our tile count by 20 and our cluster by 74 tiles.


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## Ming the Merciless (18 Jun 2020)

Rob and Alison said:


> Crikey, everyone here is way ahead of us. Veloviewer has come onto our radar during lockdown, but as Alison is shielding we haven't been able to take advantage of the quieter roads.
> We did sign up though to see where we were and start planning, that was the first time we have regretted not uploading all our rides to strava in the past! Lots of gaps where we know we have ridden in the past. Anyone know if there is a way to retrospectively get them from our Garmin connect to strava?
> 
> Trawling through this thread has really helped answer most/all of our questions about how it works, so thanks for that.
> ...



Ride every can only see public data. So it’d never see the squares I have ridden. I too found VeloViewer during lockdown. I don’t worry about rides not in Strava. It’s just a another excuse to ride the same road , bridleways, byway etc. For instance I’m visiting old mtn bike rides on the road bike for fun when collecting squares.


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## Supersuperleeds (18 Jun 2020)

Rob and Alison said:


> Crikey, everyone here is way ahead of us. Veloviewer has come onto our radar during lockdown, but as Alison is shielding we haven't been able to take advantage of the quieter roads.
> We did sign up though to see where we were and start planning, that was the first time we have regretted not uploading all our rides to strava in the past! Lots of gaps where we know we have ridden in the past. Anyone know if there is a way to retrospectively get them from our Garmin connect to strava?
> 
> Trawling through this thread has really helped answer most/all of our questions about how it works, so thanks for that.
> ...



Re the Garmin connect, worse case you will be able to download the gpx files and manually upload them to Strava. Though someone who uses a Garmin may be able to tell you how to get it to do it automatically


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## tallliman (18 Jun 2020)

If you connect your garmin connect to strava, it'll sync all future rides but I don't know if it'll do them retrospectively. I'm sure therell be a Web app to do it for you if not.


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## tallliman (18 Jun 2020)

Strava suggest the following: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us...cal-Data-From-Garmin-Connect?mobile_site=true


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## Global Nomad (18 Jun 2020)

Rob and Alison, we all started somewhere, once you make the shift to conscious riding in new places you'll see your numbers go up very quickly. best wishes and take it easy.


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## Noodle Legs (20 Jun 2020)

Took my max square from 19x19 to 22x22 today on a non stop 77 mile ride out. Leicester itself pretty much done now.


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## Ming the Merciless (20 Jun 2020)

I used lockdown to tackle many of the city centres on the edge of my max square. So now just lots of country lanes left to expand in those directions.


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## Global Nomad (20 Jun 2020)

just made a classic mistake of routing with a spur to grab a tile rather than taking the longer route....and of course missing the spur and realising to much further on to go back....now a ride of 25km just to get to the lone tile...should have turned back...
anyhow, up to a 19x19 this week, so all good.


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## Ming the Merciless (20 Jun 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> just made a classic mistake of routing with a spur to grab a tile rather than taking the longer route....and of course missing the spur and realising to much further on to go back....now a ride of 25km just to get to the lone tile...should have turned back...
> anyhow, up to a 19x19 this week, so all good.



I have a couple of spurs I missed. Oh well it’s nice countryside to ride again and not every ride has to be dominated by square collecting.


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## Phaeton (23 Jun 2020)

Is this normal?


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## 13 rider (23 Jun 2020)

@Phaeton mine is working ok how are you accessing ,mobile ?


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## 13 rider (23 Jun 2020)

@tallliman I think these are the squares we talked about


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## Solocle (23 Jun 2020)

Todays ride started my Big Push to Oxford.
Before: 2273 tiles, Max Cluster: 331




After: 2309 tiles, Max Cluster: 354


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## Phaeton (23 Jun 2020)

13 rider said:


> @Phaeton mine is working ok how are you accessing ,mobile ?


Nope, Mac & broadband


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## Ming the Merciless (23 Jun 2020)

Got a few more squares today tidying up edges of current max square. Next outing should mean a jump in max square.


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Jun 2020)

Phaeton said:


> Is this normal?
> 
> View attachment 531965




I'm getting the same, it is when you are using OS mapping, looks like they have either lost the rights to access it or more likely have breached a set cap with Ordnance Survey. Switch to a different map and it works fine


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## tallliman (23 Jun 2020)

13 rider said:


> @tallliman I think these are the squares we talked about
> View attachment 531969



Thanks, do you (or @Supersuperleeds) remember if the track south to Stonton Wyville was rideable?


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## JonBuoy (23 Jun 2020)

I rode the Stonton to Noseley track on my 'summer bike' on 25mm slicks two year ago. A certain amount of caution was required as there were some areas where there were large cracks in the ground.

NB a mate tried it from the Nosely end a week ago and turned back as there were 'Bull in 'Field' signs.


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## Solocle (24 Jun 2020)

Turns out that to join my max cluster with my old max cluster, it's almost a round 200 km.


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## 13 rider (24 Jun 2020)

tallliman said:


> Thanks, do you (or @Supersuperleeds) remember if the track south to Stonton Wyville was rideable?


I didn't ride it and I don't think @Supersuperleeds did either . But looks like it is ridable as @JonBuoy states


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Jun 2020)

13 rider said:


> I didn't ride it and I don't think @Supersuperleeds did either . But looks like it is ridable as @JonBuoy states



I walked it


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## Ming the Merciless (24 Jun 2020)

Indeed some are much more amenable and sensible to do as part of a walk.


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## JonBuoy (24 Jun 2020)

It is 30k to the Noseley tile. I'm not walking that!


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Jun 2020)

JonBuoy said:


> It is 30k to the Noseley tile. I'm not walking that!



If you ride to the road along its eastern side you can lock your bike up at the farm, walk into the square and back out again. Pretty sure you can do the same from the top but that way you can walk in with your bike.


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## Global Nomad (25 Jun 2020)

Solocle, that looks like a great goal...did you plan the route to ensure a string of blue?


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## Global Nomad (25 Jun 2020)

reached 20x20 yesterday and have to choose between aiming for the bigger goal of filling the M25 or picking of edge tiles to get the square size up. doing about 100-115km for each ride


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## Solocle (25 Jun 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> Solocle, that looks like a great goal...did you plan the route to ensure a string of blue?


Yep, I also have one planned that pushes the cluster up to Sheffield, which is rather striking - but I don't have many existing rides to work with, there!




600 km of goodness...

Back to reality, I've got several approaches for the Oxford connection - I could chip away at it from either end (to Devizes), which is feasible as a 150 km round trip. But, chances are that at some point there's going to be a drive up to Banbury to pick up my gumph from storage, so a long one way ride is very feasible...




Those are the tiles that would be part of the max cluster on completion.


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## tallliman (25 Jun 2020)

Having got my cluster from Lufbra to London, I'd recommend a series of shorter rides without too many out and back detours. I say this mainly because it can start to get a bit tiring and slow if you're forever turning round. It may have taken me a few more rides to do it this way but was pleasant (apart from the gap in the middle of the country).


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## Solocle (25 Jun 2020)

tallliman said:


> Having got my cluster from Lufbra to London, I'd recommend a series of shorter rides without too many out and back detours. I say this mainly because it can start to get a bit tiring and slow if you're forever turning round. It may have taken me a few more rides to do it this way but was pleasant (apart from the gap in the middle of the country).


Oh yeah, I try to avoid spurs as much as possible for that reason. The Oxford ride is only 14 U-turns, the rest is done with junctions! I find the worst thing I can do when tiling is hit off-road stuff, which is a real drag...


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## Ming the Merciless (25 Jun 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> View attachment 532312
> reached 20x20 yesterday and have to choose between aiming for the bigger goal of filling the M25 or picking of edge tiles to get the square size up. doing about 100-115km for each ride



I have checked today and have also hit 20x20 after this weeks square grabbing outing.


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## tallliman (25 Jun 2020)

Solocle said:


> Oh yeah, I try to avoid spurs as much as possible for that reason. The Oxford ride is only 14 U-turns, the rest is done with junctions! I find the worst thing I can do when tiling is hit off-road stuff, which is a real drag...



Definitely agree there. Unless its the only way, I try and avoid any off-road sections


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## Ming the Merciless (25 Jun 2020)

Solocle said:


> Oh yeah, I try to avoid spurs as much as possible for that reason. The Oxford ride is only 14 U-turns, the rest is done with junctions! I find the worst thing I can do when tiling is hit off-road stuff, which is a real drag...



14 U-turns is a lot of spurs!


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## Solocle (25 Jun 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> 14 U-turns is a lot of spurs!


Perhaps, but they're generally not long spurs.
*




*
It's not that dissimilar to the number of control points on an Audax, so nothing too taxing!


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## Ming the Merciless (25 Jun 2020)

Solocle said:


> Perhaps, but they're generally not long spurs.
> *
> View attachment 532404
> *
> It's not that dissimilar to the number of control points on an Audax, so nothing too taxing!



14 controls on an audax, only if it’s over 600km or so.


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## Global Nomad (26 Jun 2020)

as long as you don't miss the spurs which on such a ride/goal will be properly annoying. I don't have turn by turn guidance so just following the route on the garmin is usually ok, but spurs can easily be missed. tend to cross check with explorer viewer app, strava on the phone and the every tile app on the garmin - the latter is limited but can be useful to see if a tile has been visited, particulalry when you just dip into it...


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## Solocle (26 Jun 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> as long as you don't miss the spurs which on such a ride/goal will be properly annoying. I don't have turn by turn guidance so just following the route on the garmin is usually ok, but spurs can easily be missed. tend to cross check with explorer viewer app, strava on the phone and the every tile app on the garmin - the latter is limited but can be useful to see if a tile has been visited, particulalry when you just dip into it...


Yep, I have turn by turn on the Wahoo, and tend to have the map up on such endeavors! My preferred method of ensuring that I hit the tile is ride along the spur until it recalculates, because often it doesn't tell you precisely where you need to turn, and I don't like guessing off a map...


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Jun 2020)

Solocle said:


> Perhaps, but they're generally not long spurs.
> *
> View attachment 532404
> *
> It's not that dissimilar to the number of control points on an Audax, so nothing too taxing!



Why not remove the spur? The road in the middle looks well used and appears to come back onto your route at the bottom.


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## Solocle (30 Jun 2020)

A slightly different one yesterday...












Grabbed 6 extra tiles with a 12 km run. My mum had a dental appointment in Poole, so couldn't let the chance to fill out a bit go to waste!

It really feels like lockdown is over, running alongside main roads is pretty stinky again.

It's not too difficult to add that little set to my max cluster


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## Solocle (30 Jun 2020)

OK, so I was playing around with the chrome extension...




I tweaked the code to show clusters created by new rides! Currently no way of telling whether it's max cluster or not, the main use for such a feature that I can think of would be giving you prospective explorer score and max cluster...


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## Global Nomad (1 Jul 2020)

nice coding...
i just moved up to 22x22 which currently looks like the limit from riding new tiles on one side of the square, i.e have to get tiles in two directions - north and west


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## tallliman (1 Jul 2020)

@Solocle, are you going to share the code hacks with Veloviewer Ben? Might be a handy change.


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## Ming the Merciless (1 Jul 2020)

Out grabbing a few squares today. Not sure if new max square . Forgot to load VeloViewer before shutting PC down🤭


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## Global Nomad (2 Jul 2020)

out for a longer ride today, grey and a bit rainy until at the furthest point on my ride, in the rain and trying to navigate tracks between fields and non existent public ways I slashed a tyre (25mm tubeless) and despite all attempts could not fix it. end of ride. walked a mile to the nearest village. called a cab, waited 30 mins - the sun had at least come out - and then for the first time ever I was rescued by a taxi and paid £65 for a 32 mile journey home....explorer tiles....worth it? of course!! just need to try and be more careful on the routing, though its not always possible as you all well know. its a long way out to the edge so only got about ten missing tiles/holes but they helped the cluster


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## wajc (4 Jul 2020)

Big ride today (200km) to grab 71 squares to the NW of my max square (including 13.5km of tracks more suited to a gravel bike than my old road bike with 23mm tyres)

This takes my max square to 45x45 (first increase since Mar 2019)

I nearly met with disaster 30km from home when I lost the nut from my QR skewar on the rear wheel leaving it totally insecure - I've had trouble with this QR in the past when it has appeared tight but wasn't. I guess it wasn't helped by the amount of rough tracks I'd been on. 

Fortunately I had a massive stroke of luck when to my astonishment I discovered the nut 300m back along the route I'd taken in the middle of the road - I really thought that it would have found it's way in to the verge never to be seen again.


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## Global Nomad (5 Jul 2020)

@wajc nice riding, glad you had the luck on your side, perhaps time for a new skewer...


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## Solocle (5 Jul 2020)

21 more tiles for my max cluster (now 375), and an increase from 15x15 to 16x16 (and another ride to get 3 tiles to the north should get that to 17x17!)


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## Global Nomad (6 Jul 2020)

picked of some missing tiles to the north after my abandoned ride last week and nudged up to 23x23 and 886 cluster. a small group in the northwest should take it up to 25x 25 before all directions need attention for any growth


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## tallliman (6 Jul 2020)

Had to pick something up this afternoon so took the long way round to get some squares in Hucknall. Little left of the airfield now which is a shame but I saw the magnificent Bennerley Viaduct again.

100km ride for 10 squares. 5,303 squares, max cluster 2,757.


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## Solocle (9 Jul 2020)

Another spur! Max cluster is now 398...


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## Global Nomad (9 Jul 2020)

was out in the autumn rain and grime today..


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## Solocle (10 Jul 2020)

Up to 429, and some of Dorset's A road hell done. 1 mile on the A35... the guy cycling on the SUP around the roundabout must have thought that I was absolutely bonkers! 












Just crossed the A31 this time.


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## Global Nomad (10 Jul 2020)

@Solocle those two tiles to make the link look very tempting....


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## Solocle (10 Jul 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> @Solocle those two tiles to make the link look very tempting....


Very tempting indeed, although the bottom of the two isn't the easiest, it probably involves gravel.


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## Ming the Merciless (10 Jul 2020)

Solocle said:


> View attachment 535189
> 
> Up to 429, and some of Dorset's A road hell done. 1 mile on the A35... the guy cycling on the SUP around the roundabout must have thought that I was absolutely bonkers!
> View attachment 535191
> ...



SUP?


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## Solocle (10 Jul 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> SUP?


Shared Use Path


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## Global Nomad (11 Jul 2020)

I've done plenty of gravel tracks and paths along fields on my road bike, 25mm tubeless tyres and a few big problems aside, these have been less bad than expected. I more careful and measured approach perhaps and a willingless for a little more jarring ride, but the hunt for tiles is a strong motivator.


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## steverob (11 Jul 2020)

My first post on here in a VERY long while! (considering I was the person who posted the first reply to the OP)

Finally extended my cluster down to Marlow and just slightly over the Thames for only the second time from home. Most of my other tiles south of the river were ones where my ride started in London, which is not quite as difficult to do!

11 new tiles in total, plus 11 added to the cluster (5 of which were brand new).

If you look carefully, you'll see two little spurs, one to the left of the B482, one to the right, both around Marlow Bottom. This is because the B482 (according to the map anyway) goes almost exactly through the NW corner of the tile, meaning I couldn't tell which one I was going to get, so I decided to take a trip out to add both manually just to be sure!


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## Global Nomad (12 Jul 2020)

@steverob I have realised how important it is to check while on a ride that tiles really are crossed, as you say spurs can be reassuring. I now use both the veloviewer explorer app (phone) and Everytile on my garmin to check that I have really ticked off a square - ride until it changes colour then a bit more to be sure. noting worse than missing a tile when they are all now 40km from home...


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## Global Nomad (12 Jul 2020)

PS, is that a gif you have posted?


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## steverob (12 Jul 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> PS, is that a gif you have posted?


Yes, created my own GIF from two screenshots of VeloViewer - one before and one after the ride.

As for your comment about checking tiles while you’re still riding, unfortunately my GPS device can’t install the apps required, so I just have to plan my route very carefully on VV and Strava in advance to take care of every eventuality. If yesterday I’d have had the info “live” as it were, I’d have known I didn’t need to take the first spur as it turns out I’d managed to cross into that tile already just by being on the main road.

What works for me though, is when plotting my route, for any spurs I want to do, I put the marker in Strava Route Planner just literally over the border (like by maybe a few pixels). When it comes time to ride, I then go down that spur and wait until my Garmin beeps that I am off course and need to turn around. I’ve found that usually happens about 50-100 metres after my plotted point - certainly have never failed to cross off a tile yet!


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Jul 2020)

Out to Solihull today to get 18 new squares, which also increased the cluster by 18.


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## ukbabz (13 Jul 2020)

I rode out to colour in some missed tiles between Newbury and Reading. 
73 km ride to add 12 new tiles
Max cluster increased by 34 (to 604)
Max square increased by 1 to 20x20

I think I need to finish joining up the big cluster to those around Wokingham/Bracknell but that involves riding closer to Reading and folk really can't drive there!


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## Global Nomad (13 Jul 2020)

just looking at two screen shots that show my progress over the last month and in the second added my ambition for the year with a green box - a square that encompasses the M25...perhaps too much but something to set the agenda for rides. I've done about a 1000km last month but everything is getting much longer now so progress likely to slow..apologies for scale difference


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## Solocle (16 Jul 2020)

Featuring the Fosse Way!

Cluster: 429->464 +35




Where the A37 leaves the line of the Fosse to go to the Podimore Roundabout


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Jul 2020)

@tallliman 

I went and got the Wittering squares today, all very easy to get if you don't mind riding on the A47


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Jul 2020)

just checked the ride and the Wittering jaunt added 10 more squares and increased the max cluster by 21.

No prizes for guessing where I live:


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## 13 rider (17 Jul 2020)

I'm amazed you can do all that from Hunstanton


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## Global Nomad (17 Jul 2020)

awesome tiling...


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## Global Nomad (17 Jul 2020)

ticked of some tiles taking the scenic route home from my mum - out south east before heading back to east london, linked up a bunch of tiles into the cluster - tipped over 1k to 1008 tiles


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## tallliman (17 Jul 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> @tallliman
> 
> I went and got the Wittering squares today, all very easy to get if you don't mind riding on the A47



I rode alongside the a1 to take a picture of the gate guardian once!! Its the one to the north of the airfield I was worried about. I wasn't sure if it was in the airfield grounds.


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Jul 2020)

tallliman said:


> I rode alongside the a1 to take a picture of the gate guardian once!! Its the one to the north of the airfield I was worried about. I wasn't sure if it was in the airfield grounds.



It's fenced off but I just climbed over.



Only kidding, you get the square well before.


Oh and if anyone didn't know, Leeds are going up.


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## tallliman (18 Jul 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> It's fenced off but I just climbed over.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Cool! I'll do that next time I'm out that way.

I'd heard you guys were going up.....maybe you should ride to the first game back wherever it is?


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## tallliman (18 Jul 2020)

My first century of the year saw me pick up another 35 squares today and see some cricket! Bit of a frustrating ride in many ways, lots of dead end turns and a 1 mile climb just to descend it!


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## Solocle (20 Jul 2020)

120.8 km, 75 miles.













Shitter-ton of tiling! The cluster is now 521, 57 new ones apparently!


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## Global Nomad (21 Jul 2020)

filled in a hole to the NW of London during the nice afternoon today, discovered some nice lanes after the traffic and stress ( yes its back) of London.
added 20 tiles and got the square up to 25x25


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## Global Nomad (21 Jul 2020)

as noted before any square increase now is going to require rides to south east and south west - that will have to wait until after my holiday...two weeks off ...


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Jul 2020)

45 miles direct into the wind to grab some squares, then another 57 mostly wind supported home giving me 20 more squares and increasing the max cluster by another 24. Also extended the west to east part of my max cluster to 53. Northern line I need 5 squares to push it to 53x53, same with the southern line, 5 squares needed.

Total squares now 5,660 and max cluster 3,984.


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## 13 rider (26 Jul 2020)

55 miles of lovely tailwind out to fill a little cluster near Grantham then 45 miles of Brutal headwind home to grab a couple more on the way home . 19 new squares now 4490 max cluster up by 37 to 2058


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## steverob (26 Jul 2020)

Finally got round to filling in a gap in my cluster in the Chalfont area. Actually had this particular route planned since about June last year, but not long after I ended up with injuries that pretty much wiped out any long distance cycling in the second half of 2019, and since then mechanicals, lockdown and lack of fitness have ruled out doing the ride until now.






Gained 19 new tiles and added 30 to my cluster in total. Even then, my route as originally planned was meant to be 67 miles, but I still don't quite have the legs for that, so I cut an extra 10 mile loop off which would have gone south-east of Harefield and gained me an extra 8/9 tiles, but I can always get those at a later date.


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## Global Nomad (28 Jul 2020)

@steverob glad your getting back to fitness and taking the recovery gently too. Some nice riding around that neck of the woods. I am currently of on holiday for a couple of weeks without riding, getting some recovery and hoping to do some longer rides in August but the uk govt quarantine rules may mean i am locked up indoors on my return...hoping things change by the time i return....have mapped a few all day rides since march that would be nice to do.


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## Solocle (28 Jul 2020)

Chipping away, my cluster is now 559, but it was on the MTB today, lots of off roading! You'll also see the Cerne Abbas spur from Dorchester. That's a bridleway that'll complement future road rides down the A352, to Up Sydling, and probably on the A37 




The route, first draft and final version (bar the impromptu pickup due to fading light):


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## Solocle (31 Jul 2020)

Cut this ride down to 100 km by removing the top loop.








2 17x17 squares have become *5 *18x18s!
Max cluster has gone from 559 to 599.

It was a quite the A road madness - taking in the A357, A3030, A352, *A37*, and A356. But it actually wasn't as bad as I expected!
I did wangle it so that the A37 (and the A352, actually) were primarily downhill...


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## tallliman (1 Aug 2020)

A handful of new squares yesterday including some unplanned ones on the a43. Just too hot to ride for too long really.


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## 13 rider (2 Aug 2020)

Today's imperial ton gave me 29 new squares total now 4519 max cluster up by 6 to 2064. Went an grabbed some Birmingham city centre squares even rode pass the Bull ring shopping centre


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Aug 2020)

Same ride as @13 rider gave me 10 new squares and increased the max cluster by 7. Nearly got it to Birmingham.


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## Solocle (3 Aug 2020)

And a new speed record - *56 mph* descent thrown into the mix! 
Rear footage

Oh, and a bit of a stint on the A35 - I forgot to turn off at the Bridport Bypass 




Chideock
80 km, 1550 m ascended. Boy is West Dorset Hilly!


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## Supersuperleeds (6 Aug 2020)

A proper square grabbing ride today; plenty of off road including footpaths across fields; horrendous hills, horrendous farm tracks. Two road closures that I couldn't get through.

For the locals the two closures were Long Lane in Kegworth, one of the workmen gave me great directions for the cycling diversion, which was a good job as the signage was non existent. Tiny detour on that one. The second one was Lambley Lane near Gedling, this one resulted in me going back up the hill I had descended and adding well over two miles to the distance. It did let me get over 40 miles an hour without trying down the road I diverted down, again absolutely no diversion signs for cars or cyclists.

Then I got to the cafe stop too early for a sandwich so had to settle for cake.

Anyway it was all worth it as I increased my max square to 53*53 and the max cluster is now over 4,000 (4,012) I need to check my records to see the actual new squares grabbed today. 

@13 rider I got to Nice Pie at about 11:30 and it was rammed. They don't have a lot of tables outside and I don't think they are allowing people to sit inside, so @tallliman suggestion of booking a table might make sense.


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## tallliman (6 Aug 2020)

@Supersuperleeds, I sat inside the other week but I'd still book.


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## Global Nomad (12 Aug 2020)

heat notwithstanding, i am stuck in quarantine after our holiday, ten days to go until i can get out on the bike again, will mean I have had more than a good rest and might even be a bit rusty..looking forward to finishing of the tile hunting goals for summer/ early autumn...


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## Global Nomad (29 Aug 2020)

well, I've finally got back to exploring and filled in a gap out west today in the grey autumnal weather, no change to square but the tiles within the M25 to west, north and east are all done - southern gaps to fill before the weather really turns..the notch around st albans will have to be done too..just because


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## Solocle (31 Aug 2020)

Got my big hole filled in, at least. Now 670 tiles in my cluster.




A couple of days back I finished the A37 tiles, which I was glad of, but it didn't really seem to warrant its own post.


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## Soltydog (2 Sep 2020)

Not really been doing much on VV squares of late, just the odd one here & there, but today there were a couple of local (ish) ones that have been bugging me for a while, so went out to bag them today. Now upto 3338 tiles, max cluster is 773 & max sq up from 12x12 to 16x16. It's gonna be a real struggle to increase the max square now, some blanks with no roads or paths in 🤔 I may just work on the max cluster now


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## tallliman (2 Sep 2020)

Think I got about 30 new squares today. Lovely ride up to Lincoln and managed to miss the rain!


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## Supersuperleeds (5 Sep 2020)

11 new squares today and now at 5,700. Hard ride to Lincoln including a 10% climb to get three squares, come back down it, go further up the road and back up it again. 

Vicious headwind along the water railway cycle path from Bardney to Lincoln just about finished me off, to make matters worse once in Lincoln I had another 10 miles of square grabbing including the horrible cycle path down the A15 which abruptly turned into hard core rubble due to road works, I jumped on the road but by then I was getting back into Lincoln anyway

Max cluster increased by 34 to 4,046.


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## tallliman (6 Sep 2020)

Filled in some gaps yesterday on the way up to Lincoln to watch some cricket. Only 8 tiles bringing me to 5,453 and a max cluster of 2927. Had to abort one tile due to time reasons but it's easily accessible from a different direction.


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## Solocle (6 Sep 2020)

I turned around at the M4, instead of doing 200km! It was more like 100 today.








Cluster: 670 -> 720


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## 13 rider (6 Sep 2020)

Today's ride gained me 40 tiles ,total now 4571 max cluster up by 4 to 2086


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## Solocle (10 Sep 2020)

A bit different for today's tiling... I went and walked to grab 1 tile, during my lunch break!








I managed to grab a second that I wasn't planning on getting, by commandeering a bike on my route...


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## Solocle (11 Sep 2020)

Cheeky one today...




Got told off for taking photos and generally being on private land. 
I'd already got the tough tile in the Poole Port area, though, so I was happy. And I still got a good photo, or two. 








And the chap wasn't nasty or anything, but I just apologized and said that I thought I was a bit lost  And I walked away with that tile, for which I suspect you would have to board a channel ferry, in order to get it "legitimately".


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## Solocle (14 Sep 2020)

Max cluster 724 -> 959 (+235)




Not a route I'll be repeating in a hurry. An ungodly amount of time spent on the A420...








And the A34 was just too convenient to ignore.


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## tallliman (14 Sep 2020)

Superb ride to connect your two clusters. I've done it to my London cluster and its rather rewarding!


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## Global Nomad (14 Sep 2020)

wow, what a feeling that must be to join clusters....well done...and for putting up with the main roads...needs must...got a big tiling ride planned for tomorrow..unfortunately after London my next biggest cluster is in Lagos, Nigeria...


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## Global Nomad (14 Sep 2020)

this is the plan...hoping it will be a little cooler than today...210km.


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## Solocle (14 Sep 2020)

tallliman said:


> Superb ride to connect your two clusters. I've done it to my London cluster and its rather rewarding!


Yep, sadly, beyond perhaps a nice little cluster over the Mendips, the next tiles worth speaking of are... Sheffield. And then Leeds.

But hey, it's only 600 km to tile up to Sheffield from Oxford!


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## Global Nomad (15 Sep 2020)

struggling to fix a gps/route anomoly links data points without sufficient accuracy so I missed a tile..iw ent down the main road (yellow) and the side street...any ideas?


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## Global Nomad (15 Sep 2020)

but in better news i filled in a lot of other tiles to the south today, had to chop a bit off the ride...


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## steverob (15 Sep 2020)

You can edit a GPX file with a program called RouteConverter - I quite often use that to drag my ride back on to roads when the GPS has gone a bit wonky (usually when I'm cycling in the more built up bits of London).


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## Solocle (17 Sep 2020)

That's the second failed attempt at this particular tile... I got turned around be a security chap. The utility pole is in my target tile!









ETA:




Finally got the thing


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## Global Nomad (19 Sep 2020)

well done....sounds satisfying...


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Sep 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> struggling to fix a gps/route anomoly links data points without sufficient accuracy so I missed a tile..iw ent down the main road (yellow) and the side street...any ideas?
> View attachment 547374



Have you opened the ride up in Veloviewer? If you double click on it on the activity page it opens it in another window, wait until the map pops up and you see your ride on it. If you then go back to the activity page and reload it you may have the square. By opening up the ride Veloviewer takes all your data points rather than just the few it takes when you first update your activities.


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Sep 2020)

25 new squares including all the Grimsthorpe Park ones which had been on my list for a fair while:

How about this for ultimate efficiency, no wasted distance on these 3 squares 
I can't say time as the top left one was a field with a footpath into it and I had to walk in (with the bike) and out (still with the bike)


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## Solocle (19 Sep 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 25 new squares including all the Grimsthorpe Park ones which had been on my list for a fair while:
> 
> How about this for ultimate efficiency, no wasted distance on these 3 squares
> I can't say time as the top left one was a field with a footpath into it and I had to walk in (with the bike) and out (still with the bike)
> ...


Nah, you had to turn around. I got free tailwind.


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## 13 rider (20 Sep 2020)

A week away up in Derbyshire gained me 113 new squares total upto 4684 no increase in anything else . Didn't pay any attention while route planned . After uploading all my rides my most southern point was only 2 squares away from my main cluster . A ride to Ashbourne may occur in the future


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## Solocle (20 Sep 2020)

An annoying little hole, filled, with a run while waiting for the shops to open.

The route that made it in the first place was me going out annoyed and without a GPS, so just sticking to *ahem* main roads.




That brings my max cluster to 971, the kilocluster is within sight!


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## 13 rider (27 Sep 2020)

Today's ride out to Coventry gained me 13 squares total up to 4697 max cluster up by 15 to 2101 but most importantly max square jumped by 2 to 37*37


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## bruce1530 (28 Sep 2020)

So now I’m depressed..... lockdown hasn’t helped my Veloviewer score one little bit!

Since the turn of the year, my mileage has been good - at the moment I’m about 100 miles up on where I’ve been at this time in previous years.

BUT....

1 Jan: 1138 tiles. Max square 15x15 Max Cluster: 645

Today: 1139 tiles. Max square 15x15 Max Cluster: 649

2000 miles, but just one new tile this year! That’s just rubbish....


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## Global Nomad (4 Oct 2020)

Hey Bruce, I feel your pain...but I think being able to get out and ride as much as previously is already a good place to be in....keeping safe and healthy to allow future tile grabbing is the aim....all the best..and lets hope the weather is kind to us this autumn


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## PapaZita (4 Oct 2020)

My progress has been slow too. I’ve picked up a handful of new tiles, but haven’t extended my square at all this year. Lockdown, and a bit of uncertainty over where I’ll be able to refill water or get food, has meant my rides have tended to be shorter, faster, and a bit more off-road. I’ve found some nice bridleways not far from home, and have been working on ‘collecting’ any previously unridden roads in the area. It’s been just as much fun, although I am looking forward to exploring further afield again soon.


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## Global Nomad (5 Oct 2020)

Well today I managed to find the gap in the rain and go out and complete my tiling goal for the year - every tile within the m25 has now been ridden...the max square jumped up to 32x32 too with that last corner...not sure what the next goal/motivation will be, either a square to encompass the m25 or something different like all the SE 100 climbs...but for now i can pause the tiling


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## 13 rider (5 Oct 2020)

@Global Nomad out of curiosity when did you do the Dragon tour ? . I did it 2019 and just wondered in we had sort of riden together


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## Global Nomad (5 Oct 2020)

@13 rider yes I did it in 2019...did you do the 300km? I had a place this year that I gave up when I got a place on the fred whitton but alas we know what happened next...did the dragon tour as well, so a lot of riding that weekend and the last 2 or 3 hours (at least) was pretty much solo..still managed 14:02 hrs / 12:58 riding....also walked up the devils staircase - didn't have the strength nor the gearing for it...


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## 13 rider (5 Oct 2020)

Global Nomad said:


> @13 rider yes I did it in 2019...did you do the 300km? I had a place this year that I gave up when I got a place on the fred whitton but alas we know what happened next...did the dragon tour as well, so a lot of riding that weekend and the last 2 or 3 hours (at least) was pretty much solo..still managed 14:02 hrs / 12:58 riding....also walked up the devils staircase - didn't have the strength nor the gearing for it...


No I did the medio (150) on the Sunday . Did the the tour as well so we've sort of ride together 3 times . I did the long route on the Friday ,I've never been so wet on a bike .


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## Soltydog (7 Oct 2020)

Did my century qualifier today & used the opportunity to grab a few new squares. Went over the humber bridge & grabbed a couple of squares there which now takes my cluster over into Lincs  18 new squares, now 3368, but max cluster up from 773 to 819, gonna work on building that more now as I'm really limited with options on my max sq


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## tallliman (9 Oct 2020)

An extra 44 tiles today riding out to Peterborough. Good increase on the max cluster. It was a really nice ride with a good tailwind and the hills felt achievable all the time. Stopped at a bakers in Uppingham which was lovely and then kept climbing hills until Peterborough!


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## Solocle (10 Oct 2020)

Today's ride was awfully tough for 70 km, I must be getting out of shape. I had 110 km planned...

However, it was enough to bump my total from 984 to 1014 tiles, so it's officially a kilocluster


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## steverob (15 Oct 2020)

I finally did it - my main cluster of tiles (centred around Buckinghamshire) is now connected to my smaller London cluster! Did the setup work on one ride almost 16 months ago, but have only just managed to get round to doing the other ride which adds enough new tiles to turn everything a nice purple colour.






Turned off all the other red lines on the map for the GIF above, because it just looked incredibly messy - you couldn't see what it was I'd actually done if I'd have left them on!

37 new tiles on the actual ride itself, 106 added to max cluster.


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## Solocle (15 Oct 2020)

steverob said:


> I finally did it - my main cluster of tiles (centred around Buckinghamshire) is now connected to my smaller London cluster! Did the setup work on one ride almost 16 months ago, but have only just managed to get round to doing the other ride which adds enough new tiles to turn everything a nice purple colour.
> 
> View attachment 552633
> 
> ...


That's one that would have been on my radar had I been going back to uni.


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## steverob (15 Oct 2020)

It's something I'd wanted to do for a while, especially once I'd realised how large my London cluster was getting. I mean, it wasn't actually all that big compared to my main cluster, but it was a lot larger than any of my other isolated clusters, plus it was pretty compact, in that there weren't many missing tiles in the middle of it.

While my route into London was a little circuitous, that was mainly because I'd specifically picked a way that kept me on suburban roads and away from the main roads for as long as possible, so it turns out that I was crossing off most of the tiles I needed without having to go too far out of my way. In fact there was only one point where I had to go down a route then pull a u-turn and come back the same way to get a tile, and that was before I even got into London itself. Admittedly there was the Swains Lane (nearly) loop which added two extra tiles, but I was wanting to do that climb anyway, so I'd have got them eventually even if I hadn't done them today (and it made sense as I was going right past it).


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## tallliman (20 Oct 2020)

I dont normally click onto traffic being dodgy videos but did enjoy the mention of vv squares: https://road.cc/content/news/video-driver-forces-cyclist-road-woodhead-pass-278091?amp


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## Solocle (25 Oct 2020)

I've pretty much got Dorset surrounded with tiles now (or the sea).




7 tiles have escaped my clutches, all in the same area (Hengistbury-Highcliffe on Sea)

Makes planning that little bit easier


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## Solocle (1 Nov 2020)

This was today's plan:




Sadly, I got a puncture just as I entered the top of the screen, and couldn't sort the thing.


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## tallliman (2 Nov 2020)

Not sure how many more squares are achievable this year with lockdown resuming. I've a few squares that I can target with 100km rides but not sure how much I'll want to do them without cake


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## Trickedem (2 Nov 2020)

I've just got started on this crazy game. Bit annoying that yesterday I was about 300 m from a tile that I didn't have that is about 25 miles from home!
My current stats are:
13217 tiles, average of 2.784 mi per tile
Max square 12x12 
Max Cluster: 1220 
I think I will try and do all the squares in Kent during 2021.


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## tallliman (4 Nov 2020)

Well due to the clear weather and an unused half days holiday to take, I took the long way home from work to tick off some northerly squares in South Derbyshire. 10 squares increased my cluster by about 30 to 3094.

It was a lovely ride undermined by the greasy roads full of thin mud. The worst kind as it both slows you down and can be slippy especially if you don't know the descent. Some beautiful views though and a lot of climbing.


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## Trickedem (6 Nov 2020)

Just getting started on this. I went out to get my last few tiles on the Isle of Grain. Unfortunately, the NE tip is an Army Range, so will require a clandestine walk along the shore to get. The two on the South side will require a canoe!


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## Supersuperleeds (7 Nov 2020)

Ride out to just short of Stratford today to grab 12 squares. Total tile count 5,749 and max cluster 4,101


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## Trickedem (12 Nov 2020)

Popped out for a quick lunch time ride to get an elusive tile on the Isle of Grain. 
I had to climb down a bank then walk alongside an old wreck to just get into the tile.
I had a printed satellite map with me and knew exactly where I needed to get to. However when got home and uploaded my ride to Strava it hadn't properly registered how far I had got to. I hope it is within the spirit of tile-bagging to edit the gpx file to add the extra few feet it had missed! 









Since getting started a couple of weeks ago, I have increased my max square to 17x17, having started at 9x9. This is just by filling in a few gaps. From here on in it will get a lot harder.


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## 13 rider (12 Nov 2020)

@Trickedem sometimes veloviwer does not give you a tile that's you've just touched unless you open the ride on your activities page . Be careful as this can also work the other way and remove a tile you've not quite been in 
As for editting the gpx it's not a competition so to me you've made a proper effort to what looks a very difficult tile so I would take it anyway


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Nov 2020)

13 rider said:


> @Trickedem sometimes veloviwer does not give you a tile that's you've just touched unless you open the ride on your activities page . *Be careful as this can also work the other way and remove a tile you've not quite been in*
> As for editting the gpx it's not a competition so to me you've made a proper effort to what looks a very difficult tile so I would take it anyway



You won't let it go will you? I did warn you that it could happen


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## Trickedem (12 Nov 2020)

Supersuperleeds said:


> You won't let it go will you? I did warn you that it could happen


It's madness!


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## Trickedem (13 Nov 2020)

Trickedem said:


> It's madness!


Definitely mad. Went back and did it again, but this time I had my eTrex with me, which is much for accurate!


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## Solocle (15 Nov 2020)

No new cluster tiles today, but laying some groundwork with a ride to Salisbury.




The secret ingredient to bring it all together is a ride along Old Shaston Drove and Ox Drove


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## tallliman (15 Nov 2020)

I always like doing a square ride to lay the groundwork for a future expansion to the cluster. I was thinking of ticking a few squares off on Wednesday but the weather isn't looking the best in the afternoon.


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## Solocle (22 Nov 2020)

More groundwork, but nicely pushing up against the Moonrakers and sunseekers ride (which mostly encloses Dorset on this side).




And then at the end, I went and did some singletrack!  Not even for tiling, just to pass the time. I'm pretty much bang in the middle of the strava segment, too.


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## Noodle Legs (22 Nov 2020)

Picked up a few straggly ones today.


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## Soltydog (26 Nov 2020)

Used my November century ride to grab a few more tiles, today. 22 new tiles, no change to max square, that's a big challenge to get up from 16*16 , max cluster up 74 to 893


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## Solocle (29 Nov 2020)

More groundwork done, the gap was an annoying one with no public access from the west. There's a road into that tile from the east...

Looking ahead:




And the scraggly edges of Dorset, with some new tiles in the New Forest, because why not:


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Dec 2020)

Today is probably my last explorer square ride of the year - unless I get a decent Christmas ride in. Bagged another 13 tiles and increased the max cluster by 6. Total tiles now 5,762 and max cluster 4,107


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## Solocle (6 Dec 2020)

Max cluster now up to 1169.


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## 13 rider (20 Dec 2020)

Today's ride added 25 tiles ,total 4735 . Max cluster up by 8 to 2129 
In the year I've added 393 tiles ,Max cluster up by 203 and Max square increase from 34 to 37*37


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## Solocle (27 Dec 2020)

Not exactly a tiling ride yesterday... but it sorted out the main thrust of this route.












Decided that that section of the A35 was quiet enough to bash out, instead of a convoluted route to make it all downhill.


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## Solocle (7 Mar 2021)

Been chipping away at the SE corner of Dorset, moving is convenient like that!







The Isle of Wight growing decidedly visible.


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## tallliman (7 Mar 2021)

I cant wait to go out for a long square-grabbing ride!


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## Solocle (13 Mar 2021)

Poole Harbour, done, except for Brownsea Island (an easy walk when they reopen).

Edit to add some photos:







That "no" looks like it's been graffitied on, doesn't it


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## Solocle (31 Mar 2021)

A tiling ride after work this evening. Lots of gravel! In fact, I had a rear skid, followed by a front wheel skid on a gravel patch... on the road, go figure. Fortunately I held it.








Then you get faced with a bridleway that looks like that!


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## steverob (31 Mar 2021)

After not doing anything for ages, I did pick up one tile on Saturday, but as it was just the one, I'm not going to bother with a map or anything. If you really wanted to look it up, it's the town/village of Benson in Oxfordshire.

However I do have a number of routes planned for over the next few months that should see me gain a great deal more tiles - watch this space...


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## Solocle (1 Apr 2021)

steverob said:


> After not doing anything for ages, I did pick up one tile on Saturday, but as it was just the one, I'm not going to bother with a map or anything. If you really wanted to look it up, it's the town/village of Benson in Oxfordshire.
> 
> However I do have a number of routes planned for over the next few months that should see me gain a great deal more tiles - watch this space...


Hmm, I do actually have Benson, but it's not in a cluster.




The "swiss cheese" effect is due to only ever doing one _tiling _ride in Oxfordshire (the highlighted one, which finished joining up my Dorset and Oxford clusters, while collecting some A34 tiles and generally filling in some easy gaps).


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## steverob (1 Apr 2021)

On your map @Solocle, I've got a long straight horizontal line of tiles from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell to Cookley Green, but Benson was missing for some reason, so I've now completed that bit. That line forms part of the southern boundary of my map currently, but then it starts going E/SE towards Henley and Maidenhead after that.


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## Solocle (2 Apr 2021)

Just the one tile today, but +4 to my max cluster... walked a little way off the road into a random piece of woodland to bag it!

It actually looks like the New Forest Sportive used to start in that tile, but the start point seems to have moved. No public rights of way.


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## bruce1530 (10 Apr 2021)

6 tiles today. Which is 6 times more than I added in the whole of last year.....


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## graham bowers (13 Apr 2021)

Back on it. 327 new tiles so far this year bringing the grand all-time total to 5119. They're spread out a bit, so max cluster 1153 and max square 25.


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## Solocle (13 Apr 2021)

I started tiling on April 1 2020, so a look back.








The first tiling ride:




All tiling rides (and ride rides) inc 1st April 2020:




And today's map:


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## Solocle (16 Apr 2021)

Some long term planning... if I go through with this DIY audax -



Then this would join up the few tiles that I've got lying around in Sheffield.



Closer to home, some ideas for this weekend:


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## steverob (18 Apr 2021)

Five new tiles between St. Albans and Harpenden today, out on the eastern edge of my cluster.







Got a future ride lined up where I might (finally) be able to extend my max square - found a way to get one tile that seemed completely impossible at first glance. It will require about a 3km detour to an existing route, of which 600 metres will be riding on gravel by the looks of it (300m out, 300m back) and as I only have access to a skinny tyred road bike, I may change my mind when I get to see it up close and personal (StreetView stops about 50m before the tarmac part ends), but it's worth a try.


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## tallliman (19 Apr 2021)

Which square @steverob? One of us may have it already.


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## steverob (19 Apr 2021)

In the following screenshot of my planned route, it's the square I'm just briefly entering at the 26 mile marker. This is on the north-eastern outskirts of Luton, with the main road I've turned off being the A505 towards Hitchin.






The road past the Memorial Garden is tarmac as far as the left hand bend where the dotted line veers off to the right, then it looks like gravel/dirt after that point. Certainly there are bike riders going up that way because there's a Strava segment that continues on up that track, but it must be mountain bikers, because after that they all seem to head up to Warden Hill, which is all grass paths.


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## tallliman (20 Apr 2021)

I've done that one, I think the track was broken but just rideable on thin tyres. My memory is cloudy on that as just after I got the square, the heavens opened for a torrential downpour so I hid under a tree!!  there were lots of dog walkers up there so the strava bits could well be walkers.


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## Solocle (24 Apr 2021)

Yesterday's ride sealed up one hole, now it's just that wannabee tetris and Dorset will be done in the North East!


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## Solocle (25 Apr 2021)

Solocle said:


> View attachment 585463
> 
> Yesterday's ride sealed up one hole, now it's just that wannabee tetris and Dorset will be done in the North East!


Aaaaand it's gone.




Max square: 19x19->23x23
Max cluster now at 1364


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## Solocle (1 May 2021)

Another failed attempt at the Lulworth Ranges tile.


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## Tribansman (1 May 2021)

tallliman said:


> I've done that one, I think the track was broken but just rideable on thin tyres. My memory is cloudy on that as just after I got the square, the heavens opened for a torrential downpour so I hid under a tree!!  there were lots of dog walkers up there so the strava bits could well be walkers.


That's just weird - I had exactly the same experience, veered off to get that square and the enormous black clouds finally gave way to a ferocious thunderstorm. The tree I hid under was pretty inadequate from memory.

I was also in a hurry to get home so went back to Hitchin on the A505. Never again,nhad some frighteningly close passes from vands and lorries


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## steverob (1 May 2021)

Tribansman said:


> I was also in a hurry to get home so went back to Hitchin on the A505. Never again,nhad some frighteningly close passes from vands and lorries


Hmmm, my planned route does involve going on the A505 afterwards. I’m only on it until the first junction and then turn off for Lilley, and it is almost all downhill to that point so thought I might be able to get away with it but maybe I need to rethink.


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## Tribansman (1 May 2021)

steverob said:


> Hmmm, my planned route does involve going on the A505 afterwards. I’m only on it until the first junction and then turn off for Lilley, and it is almost all downhill to that point so thought I might be able to get away with it but maybe I need to rethink.


I think that section should be ok (although still busy - maybe do early Sunday if you can?)

The uphill stretch after that and the downhill into Hitchin - with a couple of very long slip road entries and people belting to get a last overtake before it turns back into two-way road - is lethal


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## tallliman (1 May 2021)

Tribansman said:


> That's just weird - I had exactly the same experience, veered off to get that square and the enormous black clouds finally gave way to a ferocious thunderstorm. The tree I hid under was pretty inadequate from memory.
> 
> I was also in a hurry to get home so went back to Hitchin on the A505. Never again,nhad some frighteningly close passes from vands and lorries



Was it this tree? That's the one I hid under!!

Rode 100miles today to get 52 new square but missed one due to carelessness.


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## Tribansman (1 May 2021)

tallliman said:


> Was it this tree? That's the one I hid under!!
> 
> Rode 100miles today to get 52 new square but missed one due to carelessness.


Looks familiar! 😂
Impressive square bagging that 👍


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## Solocle (2 May 2021)

Failed attempt at this tile yesterday...
















And success today, although I may have misinterpreted the region to which some signage applied...




At least that's the only tile in Dorset that was at one point held to be "impossible"!




No, I wasn't the first.


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## steverob (9 May 2021)

Got my missing Luton tile crossed off - path turned out to be compacted mud, albeit with lots of potholes all filled with water, but was navigable on a road bike. Probably would have been a complete bog in winter, but the warm temps over the weekend certainly helped make it rideable. Also got another tricky-ish tile crossed off nearby in the village (hamlet?) of Little Offley that turned out to be a little more straightforward than I'd at first feared.




17 new tiles in total, 21 added to max cluster, but most importantly, max square has finally gone up (after about a three year wait with nothing happening) from 24x24 to 26x26! Unofficially it was 24x31 and now it's 26x27, but that just goes to show how far north/south I'd gone because I felt I couldn't expand east/west any more.


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## 13 rider (23 May 2021)

Finally got off the mark for this year as I have been staying local and as I'm at 37*37 with home in the centre is a decent ride to get any tiles . Today's ride got me 19 tiles total now 4754 max cluster up by 16 to 2145 
Got the last few Nottingham city tiles


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## steverob (9 Jun 2021)

Done two long rides the last two Monday's (May bank holiday and now a week off work) and have extended my cluster slightly on both of them. First ride added six tiles to the northern edge between Newport Pagnell and Cranfield, while the more recent one I went to the southern boundary and gained three tiles to the east of Marlow and four to the west.

Didn't have time to do proper GIFs this time, but here's two maps I've shoddily coloured in. Blue tiles are the new ones, red ones I'd already done previously (some revisited on this ride, most not).


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## tallliman (14 Jun 2021)

Managed to add another 10 tiles or so, mainly filling in gaps yesterday. It was so hot in Hertfordshire. After leaving the edge of Hatfield with lots of water, I realised I was hungry and thirsty but decided to wait for a shop which never turned up. Found water at a pub but wasn't feeling good so aborted any more squares and rode to Luton for the train. Train station shops were all shut so no food there either.

Still; a good day of square grabbing even if a little slow


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## PapaZita (14 Jun 2021)

It was a bit warm, wasn’t it! I headed west from St Albans, through the Chilterns, to get five new tiles near Stokenchurch, my first in a while. The scenery looked particularly good in the sunshine, even if the cyclist probably didn’t.


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## Solocle (14 Jun 2021)

Joined Josh Garman on Saturday, who was setting out from Bournemouth, having ridden down the coast from Berwick-upon-Tweed! https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/coast5000

Picked up 4 new tiles, 3 with a visit to Old Harry Rocks, despite this not at all being a tiling ride.


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## 13 rider (18 Jun 2021)

I have been away in Oswestry for a few days so a few vv tiles were grabbed ,82 while I was there then another 83 were grabbed on the ride home . Total tiles now 4913 no other changes


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## Solocle (20 Jun 2021)

Coastal walk picking up 5 tiles today, from Charmouth to Chideock. Not many, but they'd be a little tricky to do on a bike anyway.


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## 13 rider (18 Jul 2021)

Today's imperial ton ride was a good old fashioned tile grabber focused on my bottom right corner . A trio of tricky tiles which involved riding down footpaths still not walked any yet . 28 new tiles total now 4941 max cluster up by 53 to 2198 . Most importantly max square up by 2 now 39*39


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## Nomadski (21 Jul 2021)

I hoped that a hike, recorded with my Garmin Watch would still fill a square in as there's a few in the middle of the Peaks that are impossible to get on a bike so am at a bit of an impasse, eastwards.

Having the mersey estuary to the west will also prompt a bit of a problem.


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## PapaZita (2 Aug 2021)

85 miles yesterday, up into Bedfordshire to visit places with curious names such as Newton Blossomville. At Pictshill House near Turvey a bridleway led me through a field of water buffalo. Fortunately they were all too busy lying down (due to the impending rain) to pay me any attention, but I was still quite happy to reach the gate at the other side. Altogether 12 new tiles, and the first increase in my square in a long time, to 41x41.


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## Supersuperleeds (10 Aug 2021)

First square grabbing ride of the year today. Rode out to Skegness and collected 34 new tiles. Increased the max cluster by 6 as well


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Aug 2021)

Having not bagged any squares this year on the bike until Tuesday, ride up to Lincoln saw me bag another 29 squares today, including a couple of awkward ones.


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## 13 rider (15 Aug 2021)

I had a square that's was bugging me as I had completed surrounded it with getting in but it's 30 miles from home . Today I had an chance to grab it . My big sister had arrange a family picnic at Rutland water which I could ride too and the tile was near enough to make the detour . Into the village of Riddlington down the deadend road up the gravel briblepath as you do, got some strange looks from the mountain bikers going the other way ,Don't think they expected a road bike down here . Tile grabbed retraced the route ,As I was early I extended my ride and grabbed 4 more tiles . The little gap in the map has gone . Need 55 more tiles for 5000 can I make it this year


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## steverob (16 Aug 2021)

Added 14 tiles to my total and increased my my cluster by 19 on my ride up to Towcester yesterday. Only three tiles I had to go out of my way specifically to get, the rest were on the planned route regardless. One of them involved going down a long private road to a rather posh golf course and conference centre, but considering the only other way to cross that tile off was to attend a track day at Silverstone circuit, I thought that this was slightly easier!



* --> *


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## LarryDuff (16 Aug 2021)

I got my max square up to 16x16 but now I am blocked extending it north or west by Lough Neagh. South and East it is then.


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Aug 2021)

LarryDuff said:


> I got my max square up to 16x16 but now I am blocked extending it north or west by Lough Neagh. South and East it is then.



Get the kayak out


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## HLaB (17 Aug 2021)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Get the kayak out


Surely it's got to be a pedalo to be valid 😉


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## cosmicbike (18 Aug 2021)

Not been here for a while, ever since I stopped the 100m & 100km challenge getting new squares has been a challenge. But with a week in the Lakes last week, and a day at Christchurch yesterday I've nabbed another 20 or so. Rather pleasingly the Christchurch ones tied on nicely to a group done back in 2017, annoyingly I turned around too early at Hengistbury Head and missed that one which means a re-visit!


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## 13 rider (19 Aug 2021)

steverob said:


> Added 14 tiles to my total and increased my my cluster by 19 on my ride up to Towcester yesterday. Only three tiles I had to go out of my way specifically to get, the rest were on the planned route regardless. One of them involved going down a long private road to a rather posh golf course and conference centre, but considering the only other way to cross that tile off was to attend a track day at Silverstone circuit, I thought that this was slightly easier!
> View attachment 604504
> * --> *
> View attachment 604505


For those after the tricky Silverstone tiles ,British cycling have an event on ride the circuit on Sept 5th £36 !!
https://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/cycle-silverstone/prices


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## steverob (19 Aug 2021)

They used to have about 5 cycling free rides a year (by free I mean not tied to a specific event, you still had to pay through the nose!) at the circuit but Covid knocked those on the head. Not that I could get to most of them anyway as they were typically 5pm starts on weekdays, but glad to see they’re bringing them back.

However, all the tiles in and around the circuit can also be reached via public roads apart from one and I’ve now crossed that one off too, so I’m now good.


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## 13 rider (28 Aug 2021)

Another hole filling ride ,had another tricky completely surrounded tile bit of off roaring got this one and a few clusters of 2 and 3 tiles around the A1 ticked off another 10 in total (4955) max cluster up 47 (2257)


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Aug 2021)

13 rider said:


> Another hole filling ride ,had another tricky completely surrounded tile bit of off roaring got this one and a few clusters of 2 and 3 tiles around the A1 ticked off another 10 in total (4955) max cluster up 47 (2257)



I take it there was a path alongside the A1?


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## 13 rider (28 Aug 2021)

You could hardly call a path but yes I wasn't on the A1 , short section near Great Ponton only other way into the tile was marked private rd


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## Supersuperleeds (28 Aug 2021)

13 rider said:


> You could hardly call a path but yes I wasn't on the A1 , short section near Great Ponton only other way into the tile was marked private rd



I did it via the green lane track - your route looked much easier


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## HLaB (5 Sep 2021)

Decided to reactivate my Veloviewer account and go for a tile which had been outstanding. This was the result from this:






To this:


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## 13 rider (5 Sep 2021)

Another 10 squares bagged today ,top right corner of my max square . I now need the top of Derby city centre ,the top of Coventry and the squares around Birmingham airport all doable but won't be the most pleasant rides


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## Supersuperleeds (17 Sep 2021)

Managed to bag another 24 squares over the last two days which increased the max cluster by another 44.

I'm getting close to being able to extended the max square again, another 23 squares will do it, only problem they are in the north west corner,south east corner, and southern edge, but at least I can start planning them


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## 13 rider (17 Sep 2021)

My Cornish Holiday added another 7 tiles to my Cornish cluster





Grabbed a couple of headlands near Padstow to tick off another bit of the coastline . After 6 years of staying the the same place at the coast squares are getting further away


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## steverob (18 Sep 2021)

Fourteen more tiles added today on a ride through and around Oxford, cluster up by eleven.


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## HLaB (19 Sep 2021)

HLaB said:


> Decided to reactivate my Veloviewer account and go for a tile which had been outstanding. This was the result from this:
> 
> View attachment 607847
> 
> ...


Picked out another strategic square yesterday now to raise it to a 16x16max square and with last weekend's trip with some mates I raised my max cluster to 645.


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## Solocle (20 Sep 2021)

After LEJOG.




4646 tiles (+1136).

Max cluster is 1404, up by only a couple of tiles. I had some little tiling excursions planned that I generally ignored.

However, I joined up all my big rides, and showed my mini-clusters some love:








Before:




It may come as no surprise that one of my eventual goals is to join these up to my main cluster. It's a fair bit easier now that I've done one ride up the backbone of England


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## 13 rider (22 Sep 2021)

Gone past 5000 tiles thanks to today's ride ,Leicster to Skegness 112 miles gained me 44 tiles ,total now 5016 ,max cluster went up 4 to 2470 . Just 1 tricky one near Dry Donnington requires a ride down a farm track


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Sep 2021)

13 rider said:


> Gone past 5000 tiles thanks to today's ride ,Leicster to Skegness 112 miles gained me 44 tiles ,total now 5016 ,max cluster went up 4 to 2470 . Just 1 tricky one near Dry Donnington requires a ride down a farm track



That Donnington one was the one I got last Friday. You need to go to the north side of the square to get it.

Did you get the train back? I was speaking to a passenger on Friday who had come from Skeggy and he said it was horrendous at the station.


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## 13 rider (22 Sep 2021)

The one in the middle ? Above West field
No I persuaded by sister she needed a day at the seaside and got a lift home


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Sep 2021)

13 rider said:


> View attachment 610450
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oops, I was on about a different square. This one I got from the south:


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Sep 2021)

This is the google street view of it, I can't remember doing it - scuttles off to check when I did it, August 2018, no wonder I don't remember


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Sep 2021)

First proper square grabbing ride for a long time today so me head out to the edge of my max square to Daventry to grab a couple of busy road /industrial estate squares that thankfully with being the weekend were very quiet. Then onto Stratford before turning back for home, 111 miles and 54 new squares.


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## tallliman (26 Sep 2021)

Supersuperleeds said:


> This is the google street view of it, I can't remember doing it - scuttles off to check when I did it, August 2018, no wonder I don't remember
> 
> View attachment 610456


It's a footpath and access way to the airstrip, that's how I got that one. Nice and easy.


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## 13 rider (10 Oct 2021)

Ticked most of the squares around Birmingham Airport ,14 new squares total 5030 ,max cluster up 24 to 2494 . I now have 3 39*39 max squares east to west . Need to work on North and South edges


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Oct 2021)

13 more tiles today, I found a roundabout that if you go right around it, you get four squares, though I had got two of them previously I still went right around it just for the fun .

Couple of awkward tiles ticked off that I might have got lost on. I twice ended up going down private drives before realising I had read my map incorrectly


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## 13 rider (17 Oct 2021)

Just 5 tiles today along my northern boarder of my Max square between Nottingham and Derby ,Sets me up as I now need 5 more tiles all in a row on my northern edge to increase my Max square


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Oct 2021)

8 more squares today including 4 via bridleways, made for a slow and very muddy ride

This was a dry part, later on I have no idea what I was riding through, but it was either very wet or very sloppy, bike is going to need a clean tomorrow


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## HLaB (24 Oct 2021)

I didn't go out to improve my max tile count today but on today's gravel ride it looks like I did 

From




To


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## steverob (25 Oct 2021)

Went south / southwest from home yesterday and added twenty new tiles around Wallingford, increasing my cluster by 16 at the same time. Also finally got my Eddington score up to 63 miles, a year (and 14 rides) after reaching 62. Another 8 rides to get it up to 64 though.


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## Dolorous Edd (25 Oct 2021)

Hi all. Stumbled across this thread and it got me interested in VV so signed up to Pro to try it out.

I like it!

One question please if I may - if I see a stat that I would like to improve (e.g. Max square is currently 11 x 11), is there a facility on the site to track progress on that stat over time?


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## Supersuperleeds (25 Oct 2021)

Dolorous Edd said:


> Hi all. Stumbled across this thread and it got me interested in VV so signed up to Pro to try it out.
> 
> I like it!
> 
> One question please if I may - if I see a stat that I would like to improve (e.g. Max square is currently 11 x 11), is there a facility on the site to track progress on that stat over time?


I don't think you can, I note down at the end of each year where I am:


CurrentLast positionMovement2021​2020​2019​2018​2017​2016​2015​2014​2013​2012​Tiles:5,9465,93885,9465,7625,4634,2802,6071,0791,0286682809Cluster:4,2764,257194,2764,1073,7322,8591,4084273733031661Max Square:5353-535352442712111092ImprovementTiles:1842991,1831,6731,528513603882719Cluster:1693758731,45198154701371651Max Square:-18171511172


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## Dolorous Edd (25 Oct 2021)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I don't think you can, I note down at the end of each year where I am:
> 
> 
> CurrentLast positionMovement2021​2020​2019​2018​2017​2016​2015​2014​2013​2012​Tiles:5,9465,93885,9465,7625,4634,2802,6071,0791,0286682809Cluster:4,2764,257194,2764,1073,7322,8591,4084273733031661Max Square:5353-535352442712111092ImprovementTiles:1842991,1831,6731,528513603882719Cluster:1693758731,45198154701371651Max Square:-18171511172


Thanks. It's not a major effort of course, I just wondered.


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## steverob (25 Oct 2021)

I think the best you can do is use the filters on the Activities page to show what your map might have looked like on certain dates. For example, below is what my max square and cluster was back in October 2015 (8x8 with LOTS of gaps) :







Think I might try to create an animated GIF of my max square to see how much it has grown over the years, though I may have to keep each frame to only every six months or so, or otherwise the file might end up pretty massive!


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## Solocle (25 Oct 2021)

steverob said:


> I think the best you can do is use the filters on the Activities page to show what your map might have looked like on certain dates. For example, below is what my max square and cluster was back in October 2015 (8x8 with LOTS of gaps) :
> View attachment 615197


It's crazy to look back on what I had in March 2020, before I started aiming for tiles


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## Dolorous Edd (26 Oct 2021)

steverob said:


> I think the best you can do is use the filters on the Activities page to show what your map might have looked like on certain dates. For example, below is what my max square and cluster was back in October 2015 (8x8 with LOTS of gaps) :
> 
> View attachment 615197
> 
> ...



Yes many thanks this looks very good.


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## Dolorous Edd (29 Oct 2021)

I'm very much liking this, thanks for introducing me to it.

May I just ask, is there a way to plan routes on a map which shows which tiles have been visited, and which have not?


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## steverob (29 Oct 2021)

Yes, there is a VeloViewer extension for Chrome (it also works on Firefox, but you have to jump through a few hoops to get it running on that browser) that overlays on the Strava Route Planner. That will then show you your already visited tiles plus will highlight a tile you haven't visited when your route goes through it.


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## 13 rider (14 Nov 2021)

Today's ride along my Northern edge involving Derby city centre gained me 8 squares up to 5043 ,max cluster up 10 to 2509 and Max square up 1 to 40*40 not far off 42*42 but need squares on both northern and southern edges probably about 3 rides away


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Nov 2021)

13 rider said:


> Today's ride along my Northern edge involving Derby city centre gained me 8 squares up to 5043 ,max cluster up 10 to 2509 and Max square up 1 to 40*40 not far off 42*42 but need squares on both northern and southern edges probably about 3 rides away


I nearly went out Derby way this morning, but didn't fancy doing the distance (or the elevation)


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## 13 rider (12 Dec 2021)

Today's imperial ton was a targeted square grabbing ride ticking a few of Coventry city centre on my southern edge . 24 squares up to 5084 ,max cluster up 31 to 2555 and Max square up 1 to 41*41


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## Solocle (10 Jan 2022)

A family walk that grabbed 3 more tiles. It would have been four, but I think I'd have had to wade at low tide, which it... wasn't.


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## bruce1530 (15 Jan 2022)

No new tiles today, but....

First ride of the year. 51k.
Last year I did about 2000k total.
Veloviewer plots my progress and predicts this year's distance, based 60% on last year's trend and 40% on last 30 days.
It's currently predicting that I will do 267,963km by the end of the year.

I think it may be overestimating my capabilities.


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## steverob (17 Jan 2022)

Found myself in East London yesterday and while there had an hour or so to kill, so hired a bike in Stratford and ticked off six tiles around East Ham and Barking Riverside by using the Greenway and CS3, then on my way back into the City picked up a further one in the Isle of Dogs that was a gap on my map I'd previously somehow missed (probably because no part of the RideLondon route crossed that tile).


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## 13 rider (23 Jan 2022)

Today's imperial ton gained me 18 new tiles ,total 5102 ,max cluster up 20 to 2575 . I now have 3 41*41 squares west to east . So targeting north and south edges next should get to 43*43 in about 3 targeted rides


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## Supersuperleeds (29 Jan 2022)

First square grab ride of the year, a wind assisted ride out to Skegness, but with the square grabbing some horrible miles into the wind. Anyway the max cluster went up by a whopping 3, but I bagged 49 new squares and am now on 5,995.


----------



## Supersuperleeds (26 Feb 2022)

Second square grab of the year, down passed Warwick to get 9 tiles, which takes me over 6,000. Cluster went up by 13. Think I did around 45 miles before I got the first square.


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## 13 rider (27 Feb 2022)

My second square grab ride as well for me ,only 38 miles to the first square for me . 25 squares in total up to 5125 ,max cluster up 35 to 2610 .Max square up by 1 to 42*42 . Annoyingly my bad route planning completely missed a square in Coventry and today I wanted to tick all Coventry squares off


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## Supersuperleeds (27 Feb 2022)

13 rider said:


> My second square grab ride as well for me ,only 38 miles to the first square for me . 25 squares in total up to 5125 ,max cluster up 35 to 2610 .Max square up by 1 to 42*42 . Annoyingly my bad route planning completely missed a square in Coventry and today I wanted to tick all Coventry squares off



You rode some of the same roads as I did yesterday. Where did you have your cafe stop?


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## 13 rider (27 Feb 2022)

Yes I noticed your ride yesterday . I just grabbed a quick coffee in a garden centre just before Wilcote otherwise non stop


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## 13 rider (6 Mar 2022)

After a few months of concentrating on my Southern edge today ride was targeting the Northern edge .6 squares added completed all Derby squares got 3 squares directly above my max square line and the 3 immediately above them for the future . Need 7 more squares to get another increase on this edge


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## Supersuperleeds (19 Mar 2022)

7 new squares today, First one at 34 miles, last one at 38.5 miles, then another 65 miles home.


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## 13 rider (20 Mar 2022)

Another square grabbing ride ,target bottom left corner around Birmingham Airport to fill in a little cluster . Only 31 miles to first square today . Then home via Coventry to grab the square I missed in feb . 12 squares total 5143 max cluster up 35 to 2651 and max square up 1 to 43*43


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## Tribansman (20 Mar 2022)

13 rider said:


> Another square grabbing ride ,target bottom left corner around Birmingham Airport to fill in a little cluster . Only 31 miles to first square today . Then home via Coventry to grab the square I missed in feb . 12 squares total 5143 max cluster up 35 to 2651 and max square up 1 to 43*43


Very impressive. What do you think's a realistic max square you can get to? After a splurge in 2019 I've been stuck on 31x31 for ages. Prioritised other stuff and a lot of awkward squares I need to gain a few lines on my max square will involve proper MTBing/walking/trespassing so keep putting it off!

Looking at the visited squares I've ridden around my max square, I can see me getting near to what you're on, but then I hit London proper, which fills me with dread


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## 13 rider (21 Mar 2022)

Tribansman said:


> Very impressive. What do you think's a realistic max square you can get to? After a splurge in 2019 I've been stuck on 31x31 for ages. Prioritised other stuff and a lot of awkward squares I need to gain a few lines on my max square will involve proper MTBing/walking/trespassing so keep putting it off!
> 
> Looking at the visited squares I've ridden around my max square, I can see me getting near to what you're on, but then I hit London proper, which fills me with dread



I live in Leicester very central as does @Supersuperleeds and his max square is in the fifties . I think theatrically we could both get well into the 80 or above but that's probably never going to happen with loop rides . On my left hand boarder now is Birmingham in a way City's are easy due to plenty of roads but it's just navigating road major road junctions


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Mar 2022)

53 for me, hopefully 54 soon. 

Peak District is going to slow me down, bloody hills


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## Sallar55 (25 Mar 2022)

4 new squares today South of Strathaven, it's hard going now. Prefer the great outdoors, going to give the big cities a miss, its bad enough going round the housing /industrial estates around your nearest city. Total 31153 and cluster 2231.


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## Supersuperleeds (26 Mar 2022)

Amateur mistake number 1 today. I missed my first square, the Garmin didn't give me a turn for it and I went right by it, I knew roughly were it was so quickly knew I'd missed it.

Amateur mistake number 2; I didn't turn round and go get it once I realised I'd missed it, I can't have been more than half a mile or so away.

My route did come within a couple of miles of it again, so I did divert and go get it, added 4.5 miles to the ride, ended up doing 106.9 miles and my legs felt those extra miles.

Anyway it was worth it as that square extended my max square to 54x54. Bagged 32 new squares today including 3 or 4 that needed rides down bridleways.


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## Sallar55 (26 Mar 2022)

Up on the North Tay estuary, other half prefers the quite stuff




of singletrack farm tracks and back roads. 41 new tiles


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## Sallar55 (27 Mar 2022)

North of Dundee, trying to stay off the main roads 
Back via the greenway, not interested in picking off Dundee, big towns and cities can wait. Think I will have about 80 odd new tiles.


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## steverob (27 Mar 2022)

Sallar55 said:


> North of Dundee, trying to stay off the main roads
> Back via the greenway, not interested in picking off Dundee, big towns and cities can wait. Think I will have about 80 odd new tiles.


Actually picking off tiles in Dundee itself isn't all that bad - you can get the vast majority of them by following the NCN 1 coastal path and the Greenway. Those you can't, can be had with slight detours into suburban roads without having to tackle any busy main roads. I know this because I have relatives in Broughty Ferry and while spending a few days with them a few years back, I hired a bike from a place near Dundee University and managed to cross off a surprising amount of tiles in just a 30 mile ride:


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## Sallar55 (28 Mar 2022)

Hi Steve The greenway is good until you leave the burn, along the houses it become a mess until you hit Camperdown Park due to people parking on the cycleway. Park still has a few trees down on the paths, a lot of trees were lost up in the NE due to the big storm.


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## Spartak (28 Mar 2022)

Thanks guys - I've just found this option on Veloviewer after reading your posts, what a great function. 
Just zoomed in on my North Wales activities...


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## Sallar55 (28 Mar 2022)

A circuit round the perimeter of Dundee, big development going in on North side the countryside is disappearing.


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## Willd (30 Mar 2022)

As I'm a luddite without a smart phone I've not used Velo Viewer, however I had a go using DIY  from GPX files off Mapmyride and a random website I found. Mostly, I've been around here:


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## Dolorous Edd (12 Apr 2022)

I've got a 17x17 max square but am near the coast so am at one edge of it. That means I have to do longer and longer loops from home to get new tiles - 68 miles tomorrow for 2 new tiles. I'm thinking at some point it will be more fun to use assistance to cycle more new areas/get new tiles (e.g. cycle out and train back, or drive then loop), but that feels kind of cheating?


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## 13 rider (12 Apr 2022)

Dolorous Edd said:


> I've got a 17x17 max square but am near the coast so am at one edge of it. That means I have to do longer and longer loops from home to get new tiles - 68 miles tomorrow for 2 new tiles. I'm thinking at some point it will be more fun to use assistance to cycle more new areas/get new tiles (e.g. cycle out and train back, or drive then loop), but that feels kind of cheating?


There are no rules . Just the ones you impose on yourself .A group of us used to cycle out ,train back . Being on the coast makes max square increase difficult to for max cluster


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## Spartak (14 Apr 2022)

I've also come across *citypainter.io *which you link to Strava and it will log your activities on a map.
At present it only uses a few cities but I understand you can 'create your own', although I haven't used that function as Bristol is already included...

https://citypainter.io/dashboard






My April activities so far are in orange...
Whilst using the site you can zoom in, so you can accurately see the roads you've used...


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## Phaeton (14 Apr 2022)

Sallar55 said:


> A circuit round the perimeter of Dundee, big development going in on North side the countryside is disappearing.
> View attachment 637550
> 
> 
> ...


That looks like my kind of riding place


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## Solocle (14 Apr 2022)

Spartak said:


> I've also come across *citypainter.io *which you link to Strava and it will log your activities on a map.
> At present it only uses a few cities but I understand you can 'create your own', although I haven't used that function as Bristol is already included...
> 
> https://citypainter.io/dashboard
> ...




















Of all the cities on that list, I have no coverage in:
Renfrewshire
Aberdeenshire
Torbay
Plymouth

All the others I've at least been through once.


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## Supersuperleeds (15 Apr 2022)

A proper Veloviewer square grabbing ride today. Over 6 miles of bridleway (which turned out to be mainly tarmac ) and 6 dead ends along the way.

102 miles in total which increased my squares by 20, the max cluster by 30 and now need just 3 consecutive squares down Wellingborough way to increase the max square


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## Solocle (15 Apr 2022)

Grabbed 19 new tiles today. No major cluster effects, but it wasn't actually a tile grabbing ride! Just rode down to Salisbury the least hilly way with my dad, and caught the train home.


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## 13 rider (18 Apr 2022)

I had an annoying square completely surrounded just above Nottingham city centre ,I thought bank holiday would be a good time to nab it. So out the door at 7 ,25 miles to the edge of Nottingham over the Trent to nab 4 more squares around Gedling before heading back to just enter that square then back over the Trent at Clifton and home. 71 miles for 5 squares ,total 5148 max cluster up 12 to 2663


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## Spartak (18 Apr 2022)

13 rider said:


> I had an annoying square completely surrounded just above Nottingham city centre ,I thought bank holiday would be a good time to nab it. So out the door at 7 ,25 miles to the edge of Nottingham over the Trent to nab 4 more squares around Gedling before headback to just enter that square then back over the Trent at Clifton and home. 71 miles for 5 squares ,total 5148 max cluster up 12 to 2663



How do you find your Square & Cluster count...?


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## 13 rider (18 Apr 2022)

Spartak said:


> How do you find your Square & Cluster count...?


Its on your summary page on the right hand side . Not sure if you get all the info unless you subscribed £10 a year


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## Solocle (18 Apr 2022)

13 rider said:


> I had an annoying square completely surrounded just above Nottingham city centre ,I thought bank holiday would be a good time to nab it. So out the door at 7 ,25 miles to the edge of Nottingham over the Trent to nab 4 more squares around Gedling before heading back to just enter that square then back over the Trent at Clifton and home. 71 miles for 5 squares ,total 5148 max cluster up 12 to 2663



Been in the same general area today, doing some peak tiling.

Before:




After:




No max cluster effect, obviously, but 72 new tiles, and a much more healthy mini-cluster just begging to be connected. I'll get around to it. Eventually...


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## 13 rider (18 Apr 2022)

Solocle said:


> Been in the same general area today, doing some peak tiling.
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 640752
> ...


I would presume that was quite a lumpy ride ?
I need three Ilkeston squares to increse my northern edge


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## Solocle (19 Apr 2022)

13 rider said:


> I would presume that was quite a lumpy ride ?
> I need three Ilkeston squares to increse my northern edge


Very lumpy indeed, although I did try to plot my route with elevation in mind, it was still +2000m over 110 km.


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## Spartak (19 Apr 2022)

Thanks @13 rider my square total is 2543 & cluster is 406....


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## Spartak (19 Apr 2022)

Recent trip to Belgium 🇧🇪 has added to my tile count.... 👍


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## Solocle (22 Apr 2022)

A tiling walk, 20 km.




Do, or do not. There is no try.


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## Sallar55 (22 Apr 2022)

Down near Winchester, out on the touring bike for some tiles. Lots of private and no entry signs 😭


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## Supersuperleeds (22 Apr 2022)

Sallar55 said:


> Down near Winchester, out on the touring bike for some tiles. * Lots of private and no entry signs* 😭
> View attachment 641306
> 
> 
> ...



They are only a problem if you get caught


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## Supersuperleeds (23 Apr 2022)

Took the train to Fiskerton and rode 100km home with the wind behind me and bagged another 14 squares, some right bloody lumps I had to go up today. Really need to get fitness back, I was blowing like a whale up some of them.


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## Spartak (23 Apr 2022)

Just ran a 10K around the NEC whilst Mrs S. & the Girls are watching Little Mix. 
Managed to bag 3 squares...


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## Sallar55 (23 Apr 2022)

South of Winchester, catching bits of the South downs way.


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## 13 rider (24 Apr 2022)

Spartak said:


> Just ran a 10K around the NEC whilst Mrs S. & the Girls are watching Little Mix.
> Managed to bag 3 squares...
> 
> View attachment 641543


Should have been 4 with a bit of planning . There a free phone app velo veiwer help to locate squares while out and about


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## 13 rider (24 Apr 2022)

Today's imperial ton ride targeted my top left corner just short of the peak District ,2 squares below Ashbourne gained 23 squares total now 5171 max cluster up 29 to 2692 . Need 7 squares between Derby an Ilkeston to increase my max square by 1 if I get the ones directly above them it will increase by 2


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## Spartak (24 Apr 2022)

13 rider said:


> Should have been 4 with a bit of planning . There a free phone app velo veiwer help to locate squares while out and about



Which app ?


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## 13 rider (24 Apr 2022)

Spartak said:


> Which app ?


On my phone it's called "explorer help for velo viewer " . Basically it uses GPS to drop your location on a map then you can overlay the grid . Very useful for tricky squares to confirm you got into the square


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## Solocle (24 Apr 2022)

13 rider said:


> On my phone it's called "explorer help for velo viewer " . Basically it uses GPS to drop your location on a map then you can overlay the grid . Very useful for tricky squares to confirm you got into the square



There's also Osmand Maps which can do similar, but it also stores your veloviewer grid offline. Most importantly, unlike explorer helper, it works on iphone.


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## HLaB (24 Apr 2022)

I added 43 to my max cluster today which now sits at 700 tiles. I had originally been planning to make my 18x18 square bigger but after I plotted my route, I realised there was a road race on nearby and I altered it.


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## Sallar55 (25 Apr 2022)

Missed a few tiles on the weekend trip to Winchester due to you are not welcome signs on farm / estate tracks. 99 new tiles.


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## Solocle (25 Apr 2022)

Sallar55 said:


> Missed a few tiles on the weekend trip to Winchester due to you are not welcome signs on farm / estate tracks. 99 new tiles.
> View attachment 641760
> 
> 
> ...



I presume that's not the hole in the north, as those tiles look very easy to get with the A33.




If you're encountering "keep outs" it may be worth double checking with Ordnance Survey. If it's a RoW, it is a RoW.


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## Sallar55 (25 Apr 2022)

Solocle said:


> I presume that's not the hole in the north, as those tiles look very easy to get with the A33.
> View attachment 641765
> 
> If you're encountering "keep outs" it may be worth double checking with Ordnance Survey. If it's a RoW, it is a RoW.


Problem is up north we have Right to Roam with no restrictions, different rules for access down south 😩 .


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## Solocle (25 Apr 2022)

Sallar55 said:


> Problem is up north we have Right to Roam with no restrictions, different rules for access down south 😩 .



Yeah, although tiling in Scotland comes with its own set of challenges.

It'll be "really fun" to use my LEJOG route as cluster catalysis as I did in the Peak District...




There've only been about 3 tiles so far where I had to go onto private land to get them. Although for another two (together) I got told off by a very aggressive driving landowner for cycling on what I thought was a bridleway, but was actually a footpath...

And one of those 3 was this one:


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## Sallar55 (25 Apr 2022)

Over to Portsmouth for the ferry, 24 tiles.


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## Sallar55 (27 Apr 2022)

Santander to Alceda on the Via Verde, almost linked up Spain north to South.


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## Sallar55 (28 Apr 2022)

Tough one today, about 35 new tiles thro the hills and a section of GR

￼￼ Jun


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## Sallar55 (29 Apr 2022)

Sierra de Barcena Mayor regional Park from Reinso on the dirt, BTT/GR route.


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## Supersuperleeds (30 Apr 2022)

Got the train to Kettering this morning and did a 53 mile loop back to the station. A couple of horrible rutted bridleways and the ride felt like I was either going up or going down, seems to be no flat out that way.

Now got the max square to 55 but now have unridden squares on all sides, so back to just square grabbing for a while.


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## Sallar55 (30 Apr 2022)

Hard work collecting tiles in the Picos, 28 for 1500 m of climbing. Worth it for the views and the roads are perfect no need to have one eye on the road checking for potholes. Little detour for another top.


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## Solocle (1 May 2022)

A little idea for organising my routes:


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## Sallar55 (1 May 2022)

Highest point on the tour so far


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## 13 rider (2 May 2022)

Today's metric ton to the Northern edge of Nottingham saw me collect 12 squares ,total now 5183 ,max cluster up 9 to 2705 .I now need 2 squares near Ilkeston on my northern edge to increase my max square If I can get the 5 on the next line above it will be an increase of 2 up to 45*45


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## Sallar55 (2 May 2022)

Heading west another big top, not much in the way of side tiles.


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## steverob (2 May 2022)

Added 14 new tiles and a increase in my max cluster by 18 on a ride out to the other side of Brackley. Had to go onto a gravel trail for 500 yards at my turnaround spot as there was no other way (I could see) to gain that tile. It did also mean riding on a fairly main road for 4 miles to get to and from there, but luckily traffic was quite low given the bank holiday.


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## Sallar55 (3 May 2022)

Collados and GR first pic does not have a sign 30 tiles today. Big wind from the North have escaped the rain ☔ again this area must be in a rain shadow.


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## Sallar55 (3 May 2022)

Veloviewer app on android, anyone else having problems. The Web version works every time but the app struggles to load tiles. Today was unusual as touring in the mountains its a 1or 2 wide string of tiles, combining road and GR tracks has produced a nice block of tiles.


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## Sallar55 (4 May 2022)

The 2 highest Puertos of the tour to date 1609m




and 1705m. Descended via dirt track 1000 m drop. 22 tiles.


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## Supersuperleeds (7 May 2022)

A ride out to Birmingham saw me get 16 more squares, including the Spaghetti Junction square. Increased the max cluster by 18.

Did 5 miles on the towpath in Birmingham which was brilliant apart from the very aggressive geese who were protecting their goslings.

Now on 6,116 squares and a max cluster of 4,422


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## Solocle (7 May 2022)

What we will do for tiles... a loop around Bristol.










And, yes, if you look closely... 




Legal, though!


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## Sallar55 (8 May 2022)

A few more tiles, scenery and big climbs. A little bit more of the Picos done.


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## Sallar55 (12 May 2022)

Back over to Riano, and back onto tiles done. Old road squiggles so more tiles, about 100 tiles and 5 Puerto for the circuit.


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## Supersuperleeds (12 May 2022)

Filled in a couple of blobs near Sleaford today which gave me 21 new squares and increased the max cluster by 35. Then headed up to Lincoln to get the train back.


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## Spartak (12 May 2022)

Solocle said:


> What we will do for tiles... a loop around Bristol.
> 
> View attachment 643595
> 
> ...



The Avonmouth Bridge.... 
My daily commute... 😉


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## T4tomo (12 May 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> A ride out to Birmingham saw me get 16 more squares, including the Spaghetti Junction square. Increased the max cluster by 18.
> 
> Did 5 miles on the towpath in Birmingham which was brilliant apart from the very aggressive geese who were protecting their goslings.
> 
> Now on 6,116 squares and a max cluster of 4,422


presumably not up the motorway hard shoulder?

Kudos for the amount of squares / cluster you've got, i'm not sure I could be arsed cycling through town / city centres for them though.

That said i do often cycle round the Magic Roundabouts in Hemel, but they aren't as bad as they look on a bike at its sort of necessary if coming back home from some directions.


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## Supersuperleeds (12 May 2022)

T4tomo said:


> presumably not up the motorway hard shoulder?
> 
> Kudos for the amount of squares / cluster you've got, i'm not sure I could be arsed cycling through town / city centres for them though.
> 
> That said i do often cycle round the Magic Roundabouts in Hemel, but they aren't as bad as they look on a bike at its sort of necessary if coming back home from some directions.



There was a subway on the roundabout below it.

I don't mind doing the town / city centres as you are forced to slow down which in turns saves energy for later, also you know there will always be somewhere to grab food and drink if needed.

There are four of us in the Leicester area who ride together (though I think we've only done one ride all together since covid and that wasn't a tile hunting ride) who are all doing tile hunting, which makes it easier.


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## Sallar55 (12 May 2022)

Some tiles are easy and some a pain, glad we were going down thro the bends don't you just love it.


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## Solocle (13 May 2022)

Spartak said:


> The Avonmouth Bridge....
> My daily commute... 😉



Yeah, it was good fun! And very convenient, meant I could do the Clifton Bridge and still tile efficiently.


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## Spartak (13 May 2022)

Solocle said:


> Yeah, it was good fun! And very convenient, meant I could do the Clifton Bridge and still tile efficiently.
> 
> View attachment 644458



It's not so much fun in the winter when the wind is blowing up the estuary and the freezing rain is horizontal... 😬


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## Sallar55 (14 May 2022)

Was going to cycle up but it going to be a thunderstorm ⛈ afternoon bus up then walk disturbed an adder


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## Solocle (15 May 2022)

Another blotch from a spin around the new forest. But tantalisingly close - it's only a 40 km ride to fill out the gap, I'll probably do it in the next few days.


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## Sallar55 (16 May 2022)

A cycle then a walk in the mountains, tile of the day pic on the walk down.


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## Spartak (16 May 2022)

Please could somebody explain the different 'shadings' on Veloviewer ? 






Blue is ridden fairly heavily, pink ridden slightly less and the clear patches obviously never ridden...? 

Also I've downloaded Explorer for Veloviewer how do I upload my data to it ?


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## Solocle (16 May 2022)

Spartak said:


> Please could somebody explain the different 'shadings' on Veloviewer ?
> 
> View attachment 644932
> 
> ...



Blue are clusters. To go blue a square has to be ridden in, and surrounded on all 4 sides by pink squares (corners don't count, though). You can customise them, I made my shades a bit darker. But the darker blue is the biggest cluster.





To be one cluster the squares have to meet edge to edge, not corner to corner.


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## Spartak (16 May 2022)

Solocle said:


> Blue are clusters. To go blue a square has to be ridden in, and surrounded on all 4 sides by pink squares (corners don't count, though). You can customise them, I made my shades a bit darker. But the darker blue is the biggest cluster.
> 
> View attachment 644959
> 
> ...



That makes sense now. Thanks


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## T4tomo (17 May 2022)

I took two slightly alternative routes to cafes at the weekend to pass though two tiles I hadn't ridden in, despite having ridden all around them.

I have now gone from an 8x8 max sq to an 11x11 one. as you can tile I don't really do tile hunting or cluster gathering


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## Sallar55 (17 May 2022)

Today was a record. 4.5 kms through the zigzags for one tile and 220m of climbing, no wonder its not a challenge most Spanish cyclists are interested in.


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## Sallar55 (18 May 2022)

Today's tiles, it's a real veloviewer explorer view only one tarmac road in the pic


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## Sallar55 (19 May 2022)

Reinso to Espinosia, out of the mountains for now. Along South Side of the Embalse De Ebro, still up at 800/900m. A good day as i am over 32000 now.


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## Sallar55 (20 May 2022)

Over to Miranda De Ebro


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## Supersuperleeds (21 May 2022)

Ride out to Skegness today saw me get another 32 squares and move the max cluster up by another 34. Only need 4 squares, all in a diagonal line, to get the max cluster to Skegness


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## Sallar55 (21 May 2022)

Heading up to the hills south of Bilbao


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## Solocle (22 May 2022)

Some audacious route planning, obviously breakable into smaller chunks.





Tiling across the Yorkshire Dales, despite me already having a route there, seems to be an even greater effort. So instead aiming for the Shap gap.




My route isn't quite perfect, but it's a very short walk to nab those two tiles.


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## 13 rider (22 May 2022)

Imperial century ride time so grab some squares while I'm out . Headed to my Southern edge today main target was an annoying square in Rugby I'd just missed on my last pass through . This was my first square just 32 miles to get that one . Then out to Crick via a new housing estate / town Houlston on the best tarmac I've riden in ages to tick of the squares around Jcn 18 of the M1.Then a proper village square grab rode it on one road two dead end roads and left on the other road for 4 squares . In total 28 new squares and max cluster up by 45


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## Sallar55 (22 May 2022)

Back into squares we have done, the Atlantic /Med watershed route. The Club des Cent Cols have randos with 100+ cols all over Europe.


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## Sallar55 (23 May 2022)

Onati to Tolosa, you could cycle all the way through the towns and factory roads without unclipping. The red colour is telling drivers you have priority. The major roads are crossed by underpasses or bridges dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. I might cycle in UK cities if we had a world class bicycle infrastructure just like Spain 🇪🇸.


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## Sallar55 (24 May 2022)

Down the valley then onto the via Verde, the line up into the hills and ends in Pamplona. 30 tiles, criss-crossed an earlier tour.


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## Solocle (25 May 2022)

Plop.
26 mile evening ride from Hinton Admiral train station.
























The only bit of A31 riding I did, hopping this fence onto the slip road. The gravel tracks were turning away from the services.

Explorer score: 4902 -> 4923 (+21)
Max cluster: 1412 -> 1465 (+53)


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## Sallar55 (26 May 2022)

Yesterday


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2022)

Bit the bullet and decided to go fill in my top left hand corner today. I had originally planned to set off from Leicester and finish in Derby and get the train back.

However, with the wind forecast to be northerly, vast majority of the climbing in the first 40 miles, and it allowed me to do an A road (I didn't really want to do it, but it was by far the easiest way to grab some squares) with a tailwind and more importantly downhill, I reversed the route.

Even better, with knowing which train I was going to catch I booked it last night for £2.80, ten quid cheaper than the turn up and pay price. 

I did the 40 miles with all the climbing okay, missed one turn on that damn A road, but didn't want to turn around and go find it, it was literally a jump off the road and onto a track and back onto the road, neither the Garmin or Strava showed any turns as it was that miniscule, even though Strava did let me plot it on the web version.

Anyway, when I get home Veloviewer doesn't give me the square, so I open the ride and reload the activities, for those that don't know, Veloviewer uses reduced gps data unless you open the activity, which it will then use all the data. On reloading the activities it has given me the square, the road coming south must just go into the square, if I'd done my original route I wouldn't have got it 

Results on the door, 42 new squares, max cluster increased by 45 to 4,536 and max square increased by 1 to 56. 

Going to turn my attention back to the east it's much flatter that way


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## 13 rider (28 May 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Bit the bullet and decided to go fill in my top left hand corner today. I had originally planned to set off from Leicester and finish in Derby and get the train back.
> 
> However, with the wind forecast to be northerly, vast majority of the climbing in the first 40 miles, and it allowed me to do an A road (I didn't really want to do it, but it was by far the easiest way to grab some squares) with a tailwind and more importantly downhill, I reversed the route.
> 
> ...


Was that square off the Ashbourne road A515 ? Just above the squares at Cubley . I had that exact thing at the beginning of this month


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2022)

13 rider said:


> Was that square off the Ashbourne road A515 ? Just above the squares at Cubley . I had that exact thing at the beginning of this month



Yes.


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## 13 rider (28 May 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Yes.


I stopped in someone's driveway to check the vv app which said I was in the square but had to open the ride before I was given it


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## Supersuperleeds (28 May 2022)

13 rider said:


> I stopped in someone's driveway to check the vv app which said I was in the square but had to open the ride before I was given it



I stopped in a driveway to check as well


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## Sallar55 (29 May 2022)

Going for another red




line up thro France


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## Spartak (31 May 2022)

A couple of new squares for my 10K run in Belgium yesterday, nice square captured on the right hand side....


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## steverob (31 May 2022)

It's funny, I'm exactly the same - even though I know that gaining tiles has no real bearing when I'm travelling, because I would never be able to link them up to any of my other clusters - I still go out of my way to get as many tiles as possible on that visit just because it looks cool on the map to have a contiguous blob laid down somewhere else!

Was on holiday a few weeks back in Canada - pre-trip I had plotted a route I'd wanted to ride in Montreal that encompassed the Formula 1 circuit and the Olympic Park, all of it on cycleways. However upon closer viewing I noticed that I was just a tiny bit shy of two additional tiles, one of which would have left a hole in my map and I wasn't having that! A little bit of studying the map later and I found a way to get them both with small detours that anyone seeing my ride on Strava would probably wonder why I'd gone off route at that point, but to me it's completely logical.

The two tiles in question are the ones outlined in yellow below:


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Jun 2022)

Out to Peterborough to grab another 21 squares, was impressed with their network of cycle paths.


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## 13 rider (2 Jun 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> Out to Peterborough to grab another 21 squares, was impressed with their network of cycle paths.


Nice and flat as well


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## Supersuperleeds (2 Jun 2022)

13 rider said:


> Nice and flat as well



Pretty much, though I still had to do the climb out of Harringworth. Found a cracking cafe stop between Peterborough and Stamford; The Granary Tearoom, cost me less than £6 for a cracking sausage butty and a pot of tea.


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## tallliman (2 Jun 2022)

I'll keep that in mind, I want to ride to my parents at some point


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## Sallar55 (5 Jun 2022)

Going up thro France, I like one way touring, about half way to the ferry. Total 32707


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## Solocle (6 Jun 2022)

Nabbed Portland this evening.


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## 13 rider (11 Jun 2022)

Today's ride from Leicester to Buxton where I'm on holiday for a week gained me 21 squares total now 5232 just 3 on to my max cluster up to 2732 . I have managed to joint a cluster on squares above Ashbourne from my visit to the peaks


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jun 2022)

19 new squares today. Max cluster now reaches Skegness


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## Sallar55 (14 Jun 2022)

Tour over, up to the ferry and a run along Sword beach. Total up to 33098 tiles.






Total


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## Solocle (15 Jun 2022)

Nabbed a few tiles on Monday evening with a very cheeky spin down the A31.



















Kilometre Zero.
The trick was that it shut behind me!














*Tiles*
This wasn't a high tile count ride, picking up only 6 new tiles, although adding another 9 to my max cluster.




The key point here was efficiency, making sure I got the tiles that were hard to get and might tempt me onto the A31 in normal traffic conditions. I treated it like a 25 mile TT.


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## 13 rider (18 Jun 2022)

My week away in the Peaks rewarded me with 80 new tiles ,total now 5291 . I have successfully joined this new cluster with a cluster from 2020 and filled in a few holes and they are now linked to my main cluster . A couple of tiles around Ashbourne will get my max cluster to Buxton . Unfortunately I wimped out on riding back which would have extended my northern edge due to the forecast rain . Sitting typing this as the rain hits my window thinking I made the correct choice


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## Spartak (19 Jun 2022)

Ran the Chew Valley 10K last Sunday... 






Nice cluster of 8 tiles... 👍


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## 13 rider (24 Jun 2022)

Today's imperial ton gathered me 30 squares total now 5321 ,max cluster up by 29 to 2781 But most importantly a max square jump of 2 to 45*45


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Jul 2022)

120 miles in the heat today might have been a bit much, but I got home safely. 18 new squares, which increased the cluster by 26 and improved the max square to 57. I rather optimistically had a look at what squares I need to get to 60 and gave up after I lost count before I'd got to the bottom of the western side


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## Solocle (12 Jul 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> 120 miles in the heat today might have been a bit much, but I got home safely. 18 new squares, which increased the cluster by 26 and improved the max square to 57. I rather optimistically had a look at what squares I need to get to 60 and gave up after I lost count before I'd got to the bottom of the western side



Route plotting cluster connections. "Only" a 300 km.


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## Sallar55 (12 Jul 2022)

Sundays run, almost a perfect day, 230 kms for 2 tiles🤔 on the peninsula below Tighnabruaich. 2 dead end tracks. And the full route, can't beat the west coast for scenery.


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## steverob (14 Jul 2022)

Added 21 new tiles today on a trip back from Banbury station to home - none added to the main cluster, but this is hopefully one of a series of rides in that area that will eventually end up with a big increase in purple tiles.


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Jul 2022)

Went to Corby Glen for breakfast via Bourne to grab three squares


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## 13 rider (16 Jul 2022)

A week away in Cornwall with the bike saw me gain 15 new squares total now 5336. I've stayed at the same village Holywell bay since I've started riding again in 2014 which is right on the coast so you only have 3 directions to play with . I now have a nice arc covering virtual every square within 16 miles of base making square grabbing rides 50km + . There are few little bits of headlands with no roads left to walk or find a way to ride


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## Supersuperleeds (21 Jul 2022)

Ride out to Uttoxeter and back saw me grab 14 new squares, total now 6.286 and the cluster increased by 7 to 4,660.


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## steverob (24 Jul 2022)

Having taken the train to get some tiles to the north west of my main cluster last week, on my ride yesterday I took the train & tube south east this time to fill in a bit of a gap in my map - almost (but not quite) linking it up with my tile bridge between the Home Counties and London.







40 new tiles in all and coincidentally also 40 added to my main cluster at the same time.

Turns out SW Hertfordshire and the NW London suburbs are a surprisingly lumpy area - there were no notable climbs (just three short sharp lumps) and yet I somehow managed almost 60ft of climbing per mile, which is more than I normally get riding into the Chiltern hills. Legs definitely feeling it this morning, even though I only did 50 miles of riding.


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## 13 rider (24 Jul 2022)

Today's imperial ride saw me target my bottom right corner around the town of Kettering . Added 32 squares total now 5368 ,max cluster up 40 to 2821 . Had 1 tricky square which took 3 attempts to nab couldn't get to Dry Brooke reservoir via the gravels tracks due to multiple locked gates so ended up heading back up the hill on to a Bridle path over rutted bone dry soil which was interesting


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Jul 2022)

13 rider said:


> Today's imperial ride saw me target my bottom left corner around the town of Kettering . Added 32 squares total now 5368 ,max cluster up 40 to 2821 . Had 1 tricky square which took 3 attempts to nab couldn't get to Dry Brooke reservoir via the gravels tracks due to multiple locked gates so ended up heading back up the hill on to a Bridle path over rutted bone dry soil which was interesting



I got that square going over this gate and riding into the square. Not sure how I missed all those keep out signs


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## 13 rider (24 Jul 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I got that square going over this gate and riding into the square. Not sure how I missed all those keep out signs
> 
> View attachment 654156


I was tempted


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## Willd (24 Jul 2022)

Supersuperleeds said:


> I got that square going over this gate and riding into the square. Not sure how I missed all those keep out signs
> 
> View attachment 654156


Probably because they were all out of focus


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## Sallar55 (2 Aug 2022)

Over to Bute at the weekend, gravel bike for picking off the tracks and dead-end roads for another 26 tiles.


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## quilkin (4 Aug 2022)

I'd forgotten about this thread; I've been busy 'finishing off' Cornwall this summer. There are a few small bits of coastal path left but all the middle is done. There were some very tricky tiles in Bodmin Moor.
My max square is now 27x27; Dartmoor (and the sea) effectively stop me from enlarging it, sadly.






Next challenge is to extend my cluster beyond Bath or Bristol


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## Solocle (5 Aug 2022)

quilkin said:


> I'd forgotten about this thread; I've been busy 'finishing off' Cornwall this summer. There are a few small bits of coastal path left but all the middle is done. There were some very tricky tiles in Bodmin Moor.
> My max square is now 27x27; Dartmoor (and the sea) effectively stop me from enlarging it, sadly.
> 
> View attachment 655762
> ...



Blimey, and there was I thinking it would be a challenge to extend towards Land's End!


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## Supersuperleeds (6 Aug 2022)

127 miles today for a record breaking (okay, maybe not) collection of 8 new squares


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## Sallar55 (15 Aug 2022)

Over in Argyll tracks and old roads. Veloview is playing up on phone will not update.


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## Sallar55 (17 Aug 2022)

Up in the Glen's around Comrie 




/attachments/dsc_2817-jpg.657731/?hash=2380f3a99e558bf2ab899209fe0e2eea


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## Spartak (20 Aug 2022)

3 new squares this morning, ran the Llanerchaeron Parkrun in Ceredigion, Wales. 

Lovely route along an old railway line.


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## 13 rider (21 Aug 2022)

Today's imperial ton gained me just 3 squares and a increase of 6 on my max cluster . I had missed a tricky square on my Northern edge on my last ride so that was the target . Found a gravel track off Shipley country park on nabbed it


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## steverob (21 Aug 2022)

Added three new squares and increased my cluster by four, with a trip out to the delightfully named village of Toot Baldon!

Aiming to get some more rides out this direction so I can cross off all the tiles around Oxford (currently missing some to the south of the city) and hopefully extend as far as Abingdon as well.


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## Solocle (21 Aug 2022)

steverob said:


> Added three new squares and increased my cluster by four, with a trip out to the delightfully named village of Toot Baldon!
> 
> Aiming to get some more rides out this direction so I can cross off all the tiles around Oxford (currently missing some to the south of the city) and hopefully extend as far as Abingdon as well.


I still have a hole at Boars Hill. Generally, my wider Oxfordshire tiles look like I've been at them with a shotgun, as I wasn't tile chasing as a student, although the core around Oxford was done just by sheer weight of rides.





Beware those ones just west of Drayton. The A34 is very very tempting, as it easily ticks off all 4 tiles in that section, and acts as a barrier of you don't use it. On a Sunday evening it wasn't horrifying, but nor was it fun.


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## steverob (21 Aug 2022)

Looks like I do already have Boars Hill crossed off due to a ride from September last year, although it is pretty much at the limit of my current main cluster admittedly.

The route marked in green below is the ride I did that got me that tile, whereas the route in light blue out to the east is the one that I did today.





I don't think there's any danger of me going on the A34 or any road of that ilk! I usually look for bridges over or routes under any major highway; maybe if I'm lucky a cycleway that runs alongside it is the closest I'll come.

Admittedly last Sunday I did do a ride on a dual carriageway bypass (that probably gets about a quarter of the traffic that the A34 does) but I only went on that because I was riding it at 6:30am to avoid the heat!


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## Spartak (24 Aug 2022)

Few more squares this morning on a hilly 10K run in the Llanllwchaiarn area.


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## Sallar55 (28 Aug 2022)

Catching some Southern Upland Way tiles.


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## Sallar55 (29 Aug 2022)

Dumfries and Galloway trying to fill in gaps. Today's traffic up in the hills. Total up to 33408.


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## 13 rider (30 Aug 2022)

Something different today.I had volunteered to drop a relative of at Stansted airport this morning ,which meant driving back along the A14 which is basically my southern edge . A plan was hatched and route plotted,put the bike put on the roof off to Stansted back to Maidwell in Northamptonshire park in a quiet lane . Then set of a square grabbing ride with plenty of dead ends to fill a large hole near my bottom left corner . 18 squares total now 5389 ,max cluster up by 33 to 2860


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## tallliman (8 Sep 2022)

Over in Norfolk for a night, ended up with an extra 40 odd tiles. Good going after such a poor year.


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## HLaB (8 Sep 2022)

Part of the reason for my bank holiday ride a few weeks back was to grab tiles and increase my max square. Although I grabbed more tiles (up to 9649 now I was at 9636), I was scuppered by private property on a few so although my max square is repeated five times its still 19x19. I might be able to extend the grid east of where I am as its currently 3/4 or more west side dominated but the east side (the Fens) is so bleak and boring at times


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## Sallar55 (9 Sep 2022)

Up in Glen Affric. Not been along here for years, lots of new signposts and track improvements.


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## Supersuperleeds (11 Sep 2022)

Down Stratford-upon-Avon way to get Lower Quinton for the A-Z Villages photo thread saw me bag 24 new squares including a couple of awkward ones right on the edge of my max square, max cluster has now reached Stratford-upon-Avon


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## ukbabz (12 Sep 2022)

steverob said:


> I don't think there's any danger of me going on the A34 or any road of that ilk! I usually look for bridges over or routes under any major highway; maybe if I'm lucky a cycleway that runs alongside it is the closest I'll come.



It is possible to get the A34 from around the A40, down to Newbury without going on the A34 but some do require a trip on a MTB / Gravel bike.


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## Sallar55 (13 Sep 2022)

Some more Glen tiles, Strathconnon another big Glen with a link to the west


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## 13 rider (16 Sep 2022)

Another week in Cornwall added 10 squares filling in a couple of gaps in my Cornish cluster . I sort of have a semi circle from Holywell bay just below Newquay now making new squares 16 miles away from base


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## Supersuperleeds (16 Sep 2022)

13 rider said:


> View attachment 661249
> 
> Another week in Cornwall added 10 squares filling in a couple of gaps in my Cornish cluster . I sort of have a semi circle from Holywell bay just below Newquay now making new squares 16 miles away from base



Nearly as big as your Leicester cluster


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## Supersuperleeds (24 Sep 2022)

6 new squares today which increased the max cluster by 9.

Only one off road, and then it wasn't that far down the bridleway (you can see the road in the middle of the picture.) Locals must have been having trouble with people off roading with cars as they had put two hay bales to narrow the route and in between were some iron girders. Luckily I saw them and hopped off the bike before hitting them and coming off.


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## Sallar55 (24 Sep 2022)

Five tough tiles on a run today, well worth it for the views. Was lucky no cars on the single-track, stop start on the climbs would be a nightmare.


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## 13 rider (25 Sep 2022)

Today's imperial ton ride targeted my bottom left corner in and around Solihull. Took me 2hrs 42 mins to get to my first square ( it's getting harder ) . 20 new squares total now 5419 max cluster up 19 to 2879 and max square jumped up 1 to 46*46.


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## Solocle (25 Sep 2022)

The total I managed when on T'isle Of Skye.




A loop to Dunvegan would have made for a contiguous line, but I had more fun just with the scenery.




I'd have made Stornoway, but I got rescued from the rain.


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## Sallar55 (25 Sep 2022)

Still have a section of main road and tracks to do. Mull is still busy but the weather is going downhill, should deter the fairweather campervans over the coming winter.


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## Spartak (30 Sep 2022)

Couple of days walking in the Brecon Beacons have given me some new square...


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## HLaB (2 Oct 2022)

I plotted a route quickly last night to bag some tiles. I didn't expect to ride it though and met a mate for 35miles off road. After leaving him I went for a cafe stop and decided since it was a mild and sunny day I'd go for a few more miles before it greyed over and started on that route. It never greyed over. Lol, at first the route was great but when I got near the tiles I wanted it turned into a bit of hike-a-bike. After struggling across a Wild Fen with no clear path I gave up. Somehow though it looks like I got the square I wanted. It seemed impossible to get into the actual nature reserve which was surrounded by a large field drain. So I went round the other side, it looks though that I looped round before I got the final tile I wanted. I did get 4 though which brought my tile up to 20x20 and brought my max cluster up by 8.


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## Sallar55 (3 Oct 2022)

A few more tiles for the end of September along the dead end road from the ferry crossing.


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## steverob (9 Oct 2022)

Inspired by this thread: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/veloviewer-heathrow-airport.287984/ - I decided to go and do it myself and add the perimeter roads around Heathrow to my map. It was on my eventual list anyway and it gave me an excuse to go tile hunting in South Bucks to help fill in some other gaps as well.





39 new tiles in total, with 19 added to the cluster.

Note that the tiles around Heathrow itself don't officially count towards my main cluster yet, as they are only linked on a diagonal, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to fix that in a ride in the not too distant future.


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## Spartak (13 Oct 2022)

4 new tiles this morning on a 5K run around Avignon 🇫🇷...


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## slowridr (14 Oct 2022)

Just discovered this thread after spending a lot of the summer crossing off tiles in the New Forest: up to 10x10 now and not far off 12x12. 

It's probably a really common question but how do you deal with tiles that are 'impossible'? I'm a little hemmed in by the coast and have identified a few areas in the forest where there is no 'official' right of way but there are 'tracks' on the map that are indistinguishable from actual bridleways etc. Is it a case of being easier to ask forgiveness than permission? Clearly I'm not going to climb over gates or into people's gardens but a track is a track, right?


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Oct 2022)

slowridr said:


> Just discovered this thread after spending a lot of the summer crossing off tiles in the New Forest: up to 10x10 now and not far off 12x12.
> 
> It's probably a really common question but how do you deal with tiles that are 'impossible'? I'm a little hemmed in by the coast and have identified a few areas in the forest where there is no 'official' right of way but there are 'tracks' on the map that are indistinguishable from actual bridleways etc. Is it a case of being easier to ask forgiveness than permission? Clearly I'm not going to climb over gates or into people's gardens but a track is a track, right?



I go down anything. Never been caught yet, but I'd just claim I thought I was on a right of way and politely retreat.


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## steverob (14 Oct 2022)

It also depends on how far down said track you need to go in order to claim the tile. At least once I've parked my bike up against a fence, unclipped the GPS device from the handlebars and stuffed it in my pocket, vaulted the fence, walked the 20 or so metres I needed to cross the border, then walked back and rode away again!

Also if there are some really difficult tiles you're not sure about you can always flag them up on here - you never know if someone else might already have crossed them off and can provide advice. Maybe they came at it from a different direction to what you were considering.


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## iandg (14 Oct 2022)

Solocle said:


> The total I managed when on T'isle Of Skye.
> View attachment 662339
> 
> A loop to Dunvegan would have made for a contiguous line, but I had more fun just with the scenery.
> ...



You did the best bit of Tarbert to Stornoway. Tile bagging on Lewis/Harris is a bit naff


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## slowridr (14 Oct 2022)

steverob said:


> It also depends on how far down said track you need to go in order to claim the tile. At least once I've parked my bike up against a fence, unclipped the GPS device from the handlebars and stuffed it in my pocket, vaulted the fence, walked the 20 or so metres I needed to cross the border, then walked back and rode away again!
> 
> Also if there are some really difficult tiles you're not sure about you can always flag them up on here - you never know if someone else might already have crossed them off and can provide advice. Maybe they came at it from a different direction to what you were considering.



For example... 




https://somerley.com/ It's a stately home and wedding venue, where they film The Crown, all private property. The lane in the NE corner past Ellingham Farm to Old Somerley (a small mansion house) might be technically accessible (planning to go and look) but otherwise could be a no-go.


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## Supersuperleeds (14 Oct 2022)

@slowridr

There is an Airsoft place on Ashley Drive, roughly where the circle is. I'd be trying to go up that track as there will be public access at least to the Airsoft place.


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## 13 rider (14 Oct 2022)

Is there a path at the side of the river or canal near ellingham


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## Solocle (14 Oct 2022)

slowridr said:


> For example...
> View attachment 664545
> 
> https://somerley.com/ It's a stately home and wedding venue, where they film The Crown, all private property. The lane in the NE corner past Ellingham Farm to Old Somerley (a small mansion house) might be technically accessible (planning to go and look) but otherwise could be a no-go.



That lane is a no-go, there's no public access to the tile. Although the New Forest Sportive started there in a number of years 

*However*, I have that tile. Just step off the road in the right place and go for a nature break. Job done.


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## Spartak (29 Oct 2022)

Spartak said:


> 4 new tiles this morning on a 5K run around Avignon 🇫🇷...
> 
> View attachment 664379



Just got back from another trip to France / Belguim and some new tiles gained through various rides & walks... 👍


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## Sallar55 (29 Oct 2022)

Cockermouth out to Whitehaven and back. Lanes are awash with hedge trimmings only saw one bike all day.


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## Sallar55 (30 Oct 2022)

Bright start but heavy rain in the afternoon.


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## HLaB (1 Nov 2022)

slowridr said:


> Just discovered this thread after spending a lot of the summer crossing off tiles in the New Forest: up to 10x10 now and not far off 12x12.
> 
> It's probably a really common question but how do you deal with tiles that are 'impossible'? I'm a little hemmed in by the coast and have identified a few areas in the forest where there is no 'official' right of way but there are 'tracks' on the map that are indistinguishable from actual bridleways etc. Is it a case of being easier to ask forgiveness than permission? Clearly I'm not going to climb over gates or into people's gardens but a track is a track, right?



I bought a pedalo.

I didn't really but with tiles that are on private property whilst I am a bit too respectful, after looking at the map/aerial I can usually find a different way to unlock the tile and currently sit at a 20x20 square.


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## Supersuperleeds (12 Nov 2022)

Six new squares today to take the square count to 6,360. Cluster increased by 9 to 4,715


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## 13 rider (13 Nov 2022)

Another targeted imperial ton ,Top right corner today which is Ashbourne in the peaks so it's getting lumpy on my northern edge . 21 new squares total 5440 ,max cluster up 24 to 2903 and another increase in max square to 47*47


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## Supersuperleeds (13 Nov 2022)

13 rider said:


> Another targeted imperial ton ,*Top right corner *today which is Ashbourne in the peaks so it's getting lumpy on my northern edge . 21 new squares total 5440 ,max cluster up 24 to 2903 and another increase in max square to 47*47


Top left?


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## 13 rider (13 Nov 2022)

Oh yeah Top left


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## Spartak (23 Nov 2022)

Nice block of six on today's 10K run, but unfortunately none of them were new.


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## 13 rider (29 Dec 2022)

A targeted ride on my western edge gave me 24 new squares total now 5464 ,max cluster up 23 to 2926


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