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You could have popped in, except I was bagging 18 tiles riding the long way to my in-laws - got to experience the delights of West Bromwich and Handsworth amongst others. That completed two horizontals, just need to bag 2 walking tiles on the East of my Square to make a Square increase.
lazybloke
Priest of the cult of Chris Rea
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
Yeah, it's Jerusalem!
There was quite a light show while at a food festival last night.
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Just started this. I have years of Strava data and looked at the tiles for the first time earlier this week. At that point I think I had a square of 7. Now it's 13. Ride 1 was 33 miles of about 50% off-road bridleways on the gravel bike netting 6 on bridleways. Ride 2 was 55 miles through and round Oxford on road bike to tidy up some (15) that I hadn't picked up naturally.
Bit more tidying up in each direction should see some fairly decent expansion
Bit more tidying up in each direction should see some fairly decent expansion
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Hi @alex_cycles welcome to the madhouse. I'm a relatively recent joiner. It can get addictive and I find it really helps my motivation for doing my long Zone 2 rides. Our squares will soon overlap, if they don't already.
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Exactly that. A silly little target to make you get out for those longer training rides and introduce another layer of fun. I've not managed to get out for any new "100 climbs" recently, but this is a bit closer to home
Got three more "low hanging fruit" planned this morning which should push the square to 15. (One of them is a bit of a "cheeky" farm track incursion 
)Mission accomplished
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alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
That square between Marsh Gibbon and Grendon Underwood was one of my targets today. The gate was open and I took the gravel bike expecting it to be a nasty farm track. It was
I'll be looking out for the other one soonish
steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
Whereas I foolishly did it on a road bike! Admittedly one with 32mm tyres, so it wasn't as bad as it would have been on my old bike.That square between Marsh Gibbon and Grendon Underwood was one of my targets today. The gate was open and I took the gravel bike expecting it to be a nasty farm track. It was
The other local ones you might need a gravel bike for are these tiles, one of which I have got, the other I haven't yet:
On the road between Calvert and Boltolph Claydon, turn off onto a very sketchy, potholed farm track to get one tile (highlighted), then three quarters of the way down that trail, turn again onto a dirt path (this is the bit I didn't do) through some woods to get the second one.
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HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
After my group ride this morning I went out to that area again and grabbed another 3 tiles which added 17tiles to my max cluster and opens up another avenue to increase my max square.
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Haha. I think I'll be going gravel for quite a few as I like riding the bridleways for a different kind of challenge (and a full body workout). Westcott Venture Park looks like I'll have to go for a walk though. (Or arrange to "visit" one of the companies based there
- but walking is preferable to getting other people's co-operation). What I'm loving about this is it's making me look closely at the maps and discovering potential routes I didn't know existed. There's so few squares around here with no kind of permissive byway of some kind, it's excellent.
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steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
Wescott is another one on my to-do list. I've heard of some people who applied to be let in, but only a few were successful. I suppose it depends on who answers your request and what mood they're in that day.Westcott Venture Park looks like I'll have to go for a walk though. (Or arrange to "visit" one of the companies based there
I think I'll probably end up going for a walk down the footpath that runs down the far side of the park going towards Wotton Underwood, but it's a matter of finding some time and then working out a way to get out there.
