Veloviewer. Who is using it, and what do you get from it?

[yellowjack]

dirtbiker said:

It's gone a bit quiet on this front - people still playing? I follow Yellowjack on Strava so know that he's been up to his usual antics!

We're staying with the in-laws in Dumfries while nurseries are closed in Scotland so I've been trying to build a good cluster here while doing a 50-mile running challenge. Getting there slowly! Got me a gravel bike at the tail end of 2020 which is far better suited to exploring than my Specialized Tarmac with carbon wheels - albeit a bit slower.

"Usual antics" is a bit of a stretch! I haven't been out anywhere near as much as I usually do, and I've kept very local (for me at least) and mainly to my MTB this past few weeks. Today I did 20 miles on my road bike (puncture included) and it was my first road ride in a while.

My mood has been low lately, and the weather hasn't helped in that regard, but even if it were nicer out I'm not sure I'd be able to justify any tiling rides. The nearest unridden tiles are just too far away to get there and back in daylight, so I've been doing laps of Moors Valley Country Park, and riding there and back, or taking my old clunker up to the bakery (less than two miles from home) then taking the longer route back via the sea front. It's cycling, by definition at least, but just not what I enjoy. Now that I'm back on the road bike, though, I may try to fit in a longer trip if the weather is kind any time soon...

[yellowjack]

Hell yes! Back in the (tiling) game...

Knocked my VeloViewer score up to 98.700 today. Then some interloper nicked a KOM from me near my previous home, bumping it down to 98.699 again.

I rode through 75 tiles today, but only 2 of them were new ones. Both just north of Tolpuddle, one was a stiff test up a steep hill.

Current numbers look like this...

Explorer score: 3873 tiles (average of 8.551 miles per tile)
Max square: 28x28
Max Cluster: 2403

The ride on Strava... https://www.strava.com/activities/4919966652

Those two new tiles...


And how things stand right now...

5 mostly off-road tiles at the top left of my Max Square will take me to a 29x29 Square. That will be the limit of expansion north unless I move the square left or right. Left (west) looks more promising. But this riding from home malarkey will need to reduce if I'm to make any real progress. 71 miles to claim 2 tiles? As Covid restrictions ease, I think a few trips west in the car will be in order to make the most of available riding time. but hey? it's nice to be able to post some progress on the thread, even if it's just "baby steps" for now.

[yellowjack]

dirtbiker said:

Good job! Impressive effort all-round!

I've nabbed a couple of elusive tiles near me which has taken my max square up to 10x10 but am finding it tough to carve out the time to do longer rides from home too. There are a couple I reckon I can get within an hour's ride but little one at home and pregnant wife preclude anything much more than that!

I can see how it'd be difficult to justify this silly tile-chasing nonsense with a young family at home. I would never have done this sort of thing back when my kids were small either. Fortunately my youngest is 23 years old now so I'm free of those "shackles" of parental responsibility. And with my wife working but me not, I tend to get quite a few opportunities to get full day rides in. The only issue I have is me, sabotaging my own rides by leaving it until later in the day to get started. I could easily have left home three or four hours earlier yesterday and perhaps done a 100+ miler. Which would have meant getting to a few more tiles too. But after "just checking PH" and "just checking the weather forecast" and "just having one more coffee" and "just putting one more load of laundry through the washing machine" those three extra hours have evaporated and it's all I can do to grab those two Tolpuddle tiles. As it was I was about 45 minutes late getting home, and I arrived just as my son was plating up the pasta and meatballs.

Part of the reason for being late home was an extended chat with a couple who were also out cycling. He was ex Royal Navy and we talked about where we'd come from and where we were headed. He was surprised I'd come from as "far away" as Bournemouth. He shook his head in disbelief when I explained 'VeloViewer tiling' to him. Although when I explained that my main reason for doing it was to pressure myself into exploring unridden parts of the countryside it seemed to make more sense to him.

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

I figure I'm going to be expanding into the New Forest at some point.

I already have a plan for getting my max cluster onto the Isle of Wight, but it does involve taking a swim from Norton Beach. Fortunately, that's considered swimmable, so it's just really a question of finding a point of reference, because I don't have any waterproof GPS gizmos...

Looking at your doodle, if the green 'X' is your target tile, just by swimming out 200 metres into that tile, then turning east for 50 metres before swimming back, if you left from just to the west of the line between those tiles you could also bag the one directly to it's east. If that makes sense. Then you would have a line across to the tile at Bouldnor which appears to have a PROW in it even if the sea front is private...

...although I'm not such a strong swimmer so I might not be too confident about swimming even 400 to 500 metres in the Solent.

Something like this...

...added to that (I noticed after playing in MS Paint) getting the Totland tile (bottom left) by road would also turn the Hurst Castle tile blue.

To be honest I hadn't thought about taking a swim there. Options I'd mused over were the possibility of an open boat ferry from Keyhaven to Yarmouth (summer only, if, indeed, it still runs at all) and keeping the Garmin running. Or possibly rent a SUP or kayak/canoe on the Isle Of Wight side if there's someone running such a business in that part of the island. But so long as the currents aren't too prohibitive, a 500 metre (or so) swim doesn't sound too outrageous...

[yellowjack]

Good to see the thread still active, albeit a bit less so than outside of lockdowns, etc.

I'm planning to get out today and grab some tiles. My road bike has been unavailable for a couple of weeks now since I noticed the rear brake track was bending outward under pressure from the tyre. Which prompted a good look at the rest of the bike and it's creaking and clicking. New wheels have arrived which will also cure the groaning from the freehub. And a new chainset, along with bottom bracket and headset bearings should see to any of the other unwanted noises. Oh, and a new gear cable, tyres, and fresh tubes too. It should, all things being equal, feel like a brand new bike really. I was just casting an eye over PH whlie waiting for my morning walk to upload to Strava to check that all is well with my Garmin watch, then I'm off.

Confession time, though - I'm putting the bike in the car to get to an unexplored area, because I'm getting into the realms of a 100+ mile round trip ride now just to get to unridden tiles. I had intended to 'Ride Every Tile - From Home', but that is just too much to ask alongside having a "real life". Now I'll just satisfy myself with exploring Britain by bike.

[yellowjack]

A shortened ride for me again today.

I don't think I'm much of a 'morning person' anyway, but with my bike in the shop, and all the kit I'd stripped off it spread out in the garage, just getting everything in the same place was the first hurdle. Then I couldn't find my shorts, as I've been in winter tights so far this year. Plus a bit of VeloViewer distraction, checking for "target" tiles. Most of the morning was already gone by the time I picked the bike up, and it was 1240 pm before I got the pedals turning.

As a result I only got about half the tiles I was aiming for. But a couple more loose 'single' tiles swept up now.

This shows the tiles I managed to claim today...


https://www.strava.com/activities/5045651975

VeloViewer Score = 98.711 (up from 98.699)
Explorer Score = 3883 (up from 3873)
Max Square = 28 x 28 (no change)
Max Cluster = 2439 (up from 2403)
10 new tiles from the 57 tiles ridden today

Edited by yellowjack on Wednesday 31st March 23:44

[yellowjack]

Only three new tiles for me yesterday...



...plan changed at Bramley (15 mile point). I'd started later than planned, and sitting at Bramley Level Crossing in the snow I got pretty cold. So instead of heading southwest toward Sherbourne St John to nab a group of five adjacent tiles , I decided to cut my losses and restrict myself to a couple of singles.

These three were elusive for a good while. The Rotherwick tile meant going down a dead-end road beside Tylney Park Golf Club. I also cut through behind Tylney Hall Hotel on a footpath to make doubly sure I got the tile. Then there was the tile in the centre of Basinggradstoke, which I'd avoided in the past because of the roads. Now, though, traffic free cycle lanes and shared use paths have significantly improved the experience over what it was when I lived nearby. Finally, on to Hackwood Park. A private estate with a big house in the middle. Clear "Footpath Only - No cycling" signs at the big gated entrance, so I went around to another gate which I knew would be out of sight, and quieter. Which allowed me to ride enough of the footpath to comfortably claim the tile.

I got caught in two "wintry showers" which were neither snow nor hail. On Strava I joked that it was "snailing" but another Strava user informed me that the correct name for such precipitation is 'Graupel. Every day is a school day!

It was a fun way to waste a few hours on the way back from dropping my eldest son off in Farnborough, and worth taking the bike for.

Strava stuff here... https://www.strava.com/activities/5081422685 ...there are some decent roads out that way, quiet rural lanes and suchlike. I did enjoy the ride but was glad I'd gone "full winter long sleeves and multiple layers". Hard to believe I was in shorts just a few days ago. I also got distracted by some Wandrer Earth exploration in Bramley village, which soaked up some of the time I had available.

[yellowjack]

For those what haven't seen the Tweet, or the innumerable ReTweets, it would seem that we have an explanation for the grounding of the MV Ever Given in the Suez Canal...



...the Master of the Vessel was just after that elusive tile!

Image linked from here... https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108374.17... ...which is the VeloViewer thread on Yet Another Cycling Forum. PHer 'Solocle' of this Parish is already a member on there. Apologies if you've all already seen this picture, but it amused me and I thought I'd share it.

[yellowjack]

Today i didn't ride. I marked my new map instead. OS Landranger Sheet 183, Yeovil and Frome.

Roughly 26 x 27 tiles drawn onto it, and a few tiles already claimed from a couple of rides that took in bits of Longleat, Warminster and Shaftesbury. Hopefully I'll get out for a big ride tomorrow now, to start crossing those tiles off one by one. Not quite finished Sheet 184, Salisbury and the Plain, yet, but the Army/MOD are being rather awkward about my tiling because they keep on using their training areas! I've had this new map a while but it's not a waterproof one so I covered it with Fablon from a 20+ year old roll of it, and marked it up with equally geriatric OHP pens. Not entirely successful, but it'll do what I need it to do.

Edited by yellowjack on Thursday 22 April 16:31

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

Some Gump said:

Oh you're miles ahead of me on total cluster, no worries there! I can get close to you on max square (purely because you're way more hampered than me by having a full on sea next to you) but unless I find >400 tiles down the back of the sofa, no danger here =)

According to conventional tiling wisdom this is what the max feasible square around these parts would roughly look like:

A nice round 50x50, if you can get the watery ones in the Bristol Channel, that is.

I can see the four Porton Down "Impossible Tiles", but I struggle to see how there is only one Salisbury Plain "Impossible Tile". I know the Plain as well as anyone, and while it isn't fenced off at the Imber end, there is a strict 'No Public Access' policy due to the potential for UXO anywhere off the road to/through Imber Village. And there are tiles within the Larkhill Artillery Impact Area that have no PROWs through them whether they are firing or not. I mean, I made a sneaky 200 metre incursion beyond the red flag to nab one extra tile last week, because there were no sentries out. But the Range Wardens and Training Area Safety Officers now have drones to help them spot trespassers on the ranges. I intend to try to get some of them, but I will not put myself in danger or get myself into legal bother simply to build a bigger square on VeloViewer.



I've got two tiles needed to move to a 29 x 29 Max Square, squeezed between Porton Down and the south coast. But those two tiles need either a mad dash down the A303 or a MTB to get up to the Great Ridge woods. So I've started on OS LandRanger 1:50,000 scale sheet number 183 Yeovil And Frome now. Today I filled in a 7 tile group south of Shaftesbury during a 2-hour time limited ride, and I'm hoping to get a long ride in tomorrow to mop up another isolated three tile group south of Longleat, and to tidy up the slightly ragged edge of my cluster from Frome down to Gillingham.

Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 27th April 00:07

[yellowjack]

Yesterday's ride...


https://www.strava.com/activities/5204502046

...and how it fits with the north western limit of my Max Cluster...



None of the 60 new tiles count toward my Max Cluster yet, due to that three-tile gap just south of the Longleat Estate.

Yesterday's stats...

75.44 miles ridden, in 7 hours and 7 minutes moving time (9 hours 48 minutes elapsed), with 6,250 feet climbed.

VeloViewer Score: up from 98.726 to 98.727
Explorer Score: up by 60 tiles to 4077
Max Square: No change at 28 x 28
Max Cluster: No change at 2682
61 tiles ridden, and 60 of them were new ones.

I'd planned to ride a century, but a later start than intended, a road closure, and having to find an alternative parking spot due to the Longleat Estate locking the car park at Shear Water (still!) meant an extra hour travelling to the (hastily revised) start point. And that, too had to change. Hence why I didn't manage to fill in those "problem" tiles which are preventing this new cluster from merging with my Max Cluster. It's all good stuff though. Good miles, if a little hillier than I'm used to, and really lovely countryside stuffed with pretty villages and interesting buildings and historical features. And a couple more nice places mentally bookmarked to take my wife to when we're out and about. Lovely!

[yellowjack]

A fairly short ride for me today. Went to my road bike, still in the boot of my car, and "thumb checked" the tyres. The rear was flat, even though it had got me back to my car OK on the last ride. I decided to throw that bike in the garage, and drag my old Cannondale out again, because slinging a spare set of pedals onto the 'Dale seemed like a quicker solution than fixing a puncture.

So, with a bike more suitable for Byways and Bridleways available, I headed out to grab those two pesky tiles that were blocking expansion of my Max Square. 12 new tiles ridden, and an empty block of tiles filled in, and success!






I'm now up to the limit of this particular Max Square, at 29 x 29. It's "squashed" between four 'Impossible Tiles' at Porton Down (not even I'm going to risk arrest for a VeloViewer tile ) in the north, and the coastline in the south. Time now to decide which direction to go to concentrate on building a base for a "new" Max Square...

VeloViewer Stats and stuff...

VeloViewer Score: no change at 98.727
Explorer Score: up from 4077 to 4089
Max Square: Yay! Progress! Up from 28 x 28 to 29 x 29. Finally...
Max Cluster: 18 new tiles taking me up to 2700
Eddington Score: no change at 72 miles

Edited by yellowjack on Thursday 29th April 22:36

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

Tried for this blasted tile again.



Grrr.

Here's my effort, for what it's worth... https://www.strava.com/activities/3569237412 ...I entered the area up by the rifle range, off Holme Lane, took a bridleway south for a bit, then headed west to the tank range boundary fence, did a bit of hike-a-bike through fields of Gorse, mainly, but nettles too (it would have saved my legs no end to have jumped the fence onto the range perimeter road right at this point). Then I went over the fence near the quarry, I think, and cut back across farm land that is technically within the range boundary, but had livestock grazing on it, and being dusk I took a punt on not being seen by any farmer/landowner types. That gate in you photo, I think I came out of that. Or over it, perhaps. I can't exactly remember now.

Edited by yellowjack on Saturday 1st May 21:00

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

Well...

It's a freakin' massive hole, isn't it? Much bigger a quarry than I expected to find there. But does this photo mean you managed to get that tile now? I hope so. There are many, many tiles I have absolutely no interest in ever returning to, and this tile is one of them. absolutely no joy to be had cycling there.

Similar to my Lepe Beach tile the other day. Totally unrideable without a Fat Bike due to loose sand and a deep shingle layer, it's a mile to walk out and back. But there's an impressive area of remnants of D-Day preparations to see, so (for me at least) it was worth going the once. But It might well be one better visited as part of a walk or (dare I mention it on a cycling forum) a run. But to balance things out I've found some great bits of road and traffic free cycling paths which I'd love to visit again and again, to the point where I'd happily give 'Tiling' the heave-ho once in a while to go over the same ground again. The old railway line between Frome and Radstock is the latest gem, for instance. Along with the Dorset Trailway out of Blandford, and the on-road NCN route from Wimborne to Blandford. one day I hope to stitch a good long low traffic/traffic free route together up to maybe Bath or even Bristol...

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

Then I was actually on NCN 25 yesterday, as it's basically the direct route to my parents... but very quickly got a puncture, and took to the A350 then the A357. Then I got a second puncture after Stur Newton, and was basically buggered. Bloody GP5000s! So I've now got some GP 4 Seasons, and I've cranked up yet again from 28 mm to 32 mm. Does that count as a fat bike?

Hmmmm? Tyres.

I've got to buy a new one today in fact. A pair of GP 4 Seasons went on last year. The rear one got slashed by something in the road near Buckler's Hard/Beaulieu quite early in it's life. So I "put a boot in" and cracked on. But it has caused me so much arseache recently that it's got to be replaced I think. The "proper" tyre boot was no good. Possibly through age, but it wouldn't stay put. Then a piece cut from a drink bottle creased so that it caused a ridge that wore a hole in the tube. Then that was replaced with a smaller piece of plastic in the hope that it wouldn't crease, but that one split, and the tear had a sharp edge so... yup, that wore a hole in the tube too. I got home alright twice, only to find the tyre flat in the garage a couple of days later. Cheapo tubes from Decathlon don't seem to like vulcanising solution so they don't patch very well. So my experience with this GP 4 Season tyre hasn't been great. But I'm going to sling another one on there this time, and write the damage off to bad luck and road debris. My thought process is that some 'sharps' are enough to get through any amount of protection in a pneumatic tyre. An I'm absolutely certain that 'tubeless' wouldn't have saved me from that tyre slash either. It's galling to have to replace a tyre with only 1,000 miles on it, but in the end I'm going to spend out more on tubes than the cost of a new tyre if I keep on trying to "boot" this one.

[yellowjack]

19 tiles ridden today. 13 new ones, all inside the yellow line.

I'd intended on a two and a half hour ride, but a lot of driving up and down random little lanes wasted an hour of that. Very hilly too, but it was always going to be an uphill finish when I started the ride at the old RAF Bulbarrow GEE hyperbolic navigation radar station, right up on Bulbarrow Hill.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5269316125

Not sure where to focus next really. Fill in those gaps? Tackle Portland and the rest of the Dorset coast? Take a MTB back to Salisbury Plain to try to get the Danger Area tiles in and around Imber? Switch fire back to Hampshire and fill that hole between Basingstoke and Andover? Concentrate on the remainder of south Hampshire between Portsmouth and Petersfield?

One thing is for sure, It's only getting more difficult to ride from home AND claim new tiles. It's still possible in both directions, but I'm more tempted to drive to these areas now.

Max Square is still limited to 29 x 29 by Porton Down and the south coast, but there is room to expand either side of those four irritating 'Impossible Tiles'. But it's definitely going to mean buying at least two new OS maps to get it done right first time - today I was using a print of a screenshot from VeloViewer but it's hard to follow at such a small size, so I left a couple of tiles out of my route, tiles I'll now have to go over "old ground" again to claim, whichever order I ride them in.

ETA:

VeloViewer Score: 98.731 (up from 98.729)
Explorer Score: 4158 (up from 4145)
Max Square: 29 x 29 (no change)
Max Cluster: 2748 (up from 2738)
Eddington Score: 73 (no change)

Edited by yellowjack on Sunday 9th May 22:25

[yellowjack]

Back on the 9th May 2021 I posted this update...


Now I'm posting my update, as at 21st June 2021...



...there's been a bit of progress in the top left corner. I'm still at a 29 x 29 Max Square, but there are now "options" I can now use to extend to a 33 x 33. I'm looking to complete Dorset as my next "main effort" now, rather than targeting an increase to Max Square.

The northern edge is no longer defined by the Porton Down (impossible) tiles, but the MOD and their Danger areas are still interfering. I've hit the edge of the Imber Live Fire Training Area, and the bottom (southern) edge of the Larkhill Artillery Range too. Clearly (from the Ride Every Tile heatmap) some people have managed to get onto the Imber training area, but it's certainly not 'Kosher' according to the Military Lands Statutory Instruments for the area. Of course, I'll go up and try to nab those tiles if I can, but priority now is to work my way west through Dorset to the Devon border. Beyond that? No idea, but probably looking east to fill in a few holes, and work on that big empty space around Whitchurch.

There's not been much progress this past week, as I've been away with my wife for a few days, and it's mostly been walks. Hopefully the weather (which has been rotten this past week) will break and I can get a decent duration ride in before this week is over. At some point I'm hoping to be able to announce and increase to my Max Square too.


(apologies for the slightly different colours, map settings, and zoom level though...)

Edited by yellowjack on Monday 21st June 23:19

[yellowjack]

J886ATV said:

@Yellowjack

Advice please - how did you crack this square? (Sandhurst Military Academy). I think there are some trails at the north, or did you ride through a checkpoint?

I have a few around Sandhurst / Crowthorne that I'll be doing on a Road Bike to aid my westerly expansion

I've got two activities that picked up the north east corner of that square...

PHer's Swinley Day Out, 2015: https://www.strava.com/activities/245978780

Another ride with a fellow PHer, 2016: https://www.strava.com/activities/716666628

...and both took me through the Officer's Married Quarters area behind RMA Sandhurst (King's Ride is the road name, turn off the A30 at the Romans Estate Agents/Martins VW dealership traffic lights) and on into the Barossa training area. Obviously I can't guarantee that access is still available, but it was back then in 2015/2016. I wasn't in to VeloViewer tiling back then so getting that tile was just from normal riding about the place, and I'm 99% certain there was no climbing over gates or fences involved...


ETA:

smack said:

As it happens that is on my hitlist too. I figured you can get to it on the road via Dawney Road, as it is visible on Streetview, so accessible.

Did you ride up the A322 to get the tiles to the NE? As there is no hard shoulder on that road, and the volume of fast traffic I have avoided that one so far, but then I get the dumb idea to do it late at night..... Although riding the MTB up there is the sane solution.

Dawnay Road is quite possibly the ideal solution, especially if you want to get it by road bike. The MOD married quarters estates aren't generally 'access controlled' these days unless they are fully 'behind the wire'. From the A30 take King's Ride, left onto Matthews Road, then another left onto Dawnay Road and head South West until you reach the last houses on the right... https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3470562,-0.7519518... ...the "back gate" into RMA Sandhurst is the road straight ahead in that Google maps link, and that'll be the end of the line for you, but it's well inside the tile. As I said, though, I never had to plan access to that tile because by the time I became aware of VeloViewer Tiling it was already "in the bag" from MTB trips to Swinley Forest.


As for the A322 question, @smack, yes I rode the A322 many times. Often on a MTB to get into Swinley. But there is also the option of the "old road" which is now a bridleway between Broadmoor Farm and The Devil's Highway which passes underneath the A322. But I'd definitely advise a MTB for that route. There's also a bridleway or footpath parallel to the A322 between Owlsmoor and the new Broadmoor Roundabout, to the east of the road. The southbound Strava segment is here... https://www.strava.com/segments/9154031?filter=ove... ...but while it might be traffic free it would probably be wise to take a machete with you at this time of year. There is a work around for most things really, but I'm reluctant to take risks either with MOD ranges or at things like oil refineries and commercial ports.

Edited by yellowjack on Wednesday 7th July 14:58

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

Reminds me of this little stint on the A34

I've got a choice to make now. There are couple of tiles around the A34, near Beacon Hill just south of Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey!). No roads in them, and PROWs that barely get inside the tiles. I've either got to ride the A34 for a bit, or take a MTB (or perhaps my old Cannondale "gravel" bike) and push out onto 'Wayfarers Walk' both east and west where I also need tiles with little in the way of paved roads.I don't fancy the A34 much simply because it isn't any fun to ride on such roads.

I did manage to shrink a block of tiles northeast of Andover on my last ride though...



But because of that, I got distracted away from completing Dorset! Although it brought me closer to completing Hampshire. Confused? Follow me on Strava - I flit from one area to another so readily I'll make your head spin...

I should probably pick one direction in which to expand my Max Square and concentrate on it, but I enjoy the differences in the character of the countryside and rural architecture of the various counties, and it's nice to explore one to have a break from another every once in a while.

[yellowjack]

Solocle said:

IME the A34 Oxford-Abingdon Soutbound was fine early on a Sunday Morning (7am). Not particularly interesting, but not fearing for your life either.

Hmmmm? I accept what you're saying, but on that last ride I rode up a farm track/byway right up to the edge of the A34, a couple of miles/tiles north of Bullington Cross. I was cautiously optimistic that there might be a route across it, or underneath it maybe. But no such luck and it was a bit of a st show really, and with no real junctions to speak of between there and the tiles I need there's no likelihood of traffic getting less dense on the section I'd need to ride. So it's likely to be a "no" from me and I'll stick to bridleways and restricted byways for those tiles. I'm reluctant enough to even drive on the A34 to be honest. There really is something deeply unpleasant about that particular road to me, more so than any other route I can think of. No logical reason for it, but it just doesn't appeal at all...