Author Topic: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square  (Read 338978 times)

Kim

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Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #575 on: 16 February, 2019, 10:59:15 pm »
Plan for this weekend is the vast, unknowable, windswept mystery that is... the Isle of Sheppey.

How long do we give telstarbox, before sending out a search party taking off and nuking the site from orbit?

FTFY...

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #576 on: 16 February, 2019, 11:00:13 pm »
Crazy weather here this week, I've done 2 rides now in shorts, one in shorts + jersey.

Now I know it's been warm, and the Dutch have a reputation for social liberalism, but even so...

(The weather here has been similarly pleasant, but alas, I've not been able to get out, and next week is half term and I'm on the entertainment committee...)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #577 on: 16 February, 2019, 11:08:40 pm »
Crazy weather here this week, I've done 2 rides now in shorts, one in shorts + jersey.

Now I know it's been warm, and the Dutch have a reputation for social liberalism, but even so...

(The weather here has been similarly pleasant, but alas, I've not been able to get out, and next week is half term and I'm on the entertainment committee...)

Oh, now I reread that, I realise a slight issue of ambiguity... For clarity:

yesterdays ride: shorts + jersey; todays ride: shorts + jersey + arm warmers...

I wonder how people would react to me cycling in sports bra + shorts...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #578 on: 17 February, 2019, 05:20:20 pm »
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.



Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #579 on: 18 February, 2019, 01:44:37 pm »
The joy of being sandwiched between the North Peak District and Southern Pennines means that not all squares are accessible by bike.
Making the most of the summer conditions I had a walk up to Dean Head Hill to pick up a square.



Focusing more on increasing my cluster score this year, which is now up to 966

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #580 on: 18 February, 2019, 01:54:47 pm »
Wye Wednesday 200 this week. I've tweaked the route slightly to bag a few tiles along the way. Plus I'm planning to ride to the start to pick up a few more. This will entail setting off at about 3.30am and riding not far short of 300km, which feels positively Abrahamesque for a Wednesday in late February.

Still, it will be worth it - if my calculations are correct, the net result will be to extend my max cluster westwards as far as Gravesend and southwards almost to Dungeness (annoyingly, there's one rogue tile that is just a little bit too much of a detour to justify adding it to Wednesday's ride).
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #581 on: 18 February, 2019, 02:27:08 pm »
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.



Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.
That picture looks familiar.  Is that the bridleway between Morley and Stanley?
Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #582 on: 18 February, 2019, 02:36:02 pm »
I've not managed to bag a single new tile at all so far this year.  I've done plenty of riding, but it's mostly been commuting during the week and brevets that I've done before at the weekends.

I'm planning a square bagging assault on the north Nottinghamshire area.  I just need to find a suitable day to go ride it.  This is the current planned route - it's currently 180km - I might add 20km to it somewhere to make it a DIY gps.  This won't affect my max square however but the cluster should see a big increase.

Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #583 on: 18 February, 2019, 05:24:21 pm »
I finally got round to having a go at the tiles north of Derby with a 140k ride in pleasant February sunshine - if a little breezy at times.

28mm slicks and close fitting mudguards isn't a great combination on muddy bridleways but I just about got away with it.



Only ten tiles but it bumped my max cluster by 53 to 1736 and I now have 4 off 34*34 squares.

It looks like an assault on the northern bits of the Nottingham urban sprawl will probably be my next move.
That picture looks familiar.  Is that the bridleway between Morley and Stanley?

That's the one.  A lovely little lane->track->bridleway->ford.  It is what tile chasing is all about.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #584 on: 20 February, 2019, 12:59:52 pm »
I've not managed to bag a single new tile at all so far this year.  I've done plenty of riding, but it's mostly been commuting during the week and brevets that I've done before at the weekends.

I'm planning a square bagging assault on the north Nottinghamshire area.  I just need to find a suitable day to go ride it.  This is the current planned route - it's currently 180km - I might add 20km to it somewhere to make it a DIY gps.  This won't affect my max square however but the cluster should see a big increase.



I probably missed this somewhere in the preceding 500 replies but...how do you get a proposed route overlaid on your existing tile haul in Veloviewer ?

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #585 on: 20 February, 2019, 01:03:10 pm »

Dunno how it's done in that screen shot, but the veloviewer chrome plugin allows you to overlay your veloviewer tiles into the strava route planner, so you can plan that way.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #586 on: 20 February, 2019, 01:09:46 pm »
That screen grab was from the veloviewer site. 
Click on the routes tab and filter by (e.g.) name to select one or more of your strava routes.   The route is then shown along with your explorer squares. 



Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #587 on: 20 February, 2019, 01:13:46 pm »
I often do it that way as a lot of my route planning is done at lunchtimes at work and my work pc only has 'company approved software' installed - which doesn't include chrome unfortunately. 
Eddington: 114 Miles

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #588 on: 20 February, 2019, 05:41:15 pm »
That screen grab was from the veloviewer site. 
Click on the routes tab and filter by (e.g.) name to select one or more of your strava routes.   The route is then shown along with your explorer squares.

Thanks for that - I was opening the route in Veloviewer from the route tab rather than viewing it in the route tab.

QG's version works fine for me too - at home!

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #589 on: 20 February, 2019, 10:41:51 pm »
Wye Wednesday 200 this week. I've tweaked the route slightly to bag a few tiles along the way. Plus I'm planning to ride to the start to pick up a few more.

35 new tiles bagged, for an increase on my max cluster from 461 to 579.  :thumbsup:

Now I'm just one ride away from extending my max cluster all the way from Margate to Teddington.

eta:
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #590 on: 21 February, 2019, 04:50:16 pm »


Well that was bonkers. Brompton off-road in sand dunes... Realising the headset is loose didn't help. Brompton are surprisingly viable cyclo-cross bikes... At least from the carrying up a sand dune on your shoulder point of view.

Did 22km in total, in 2 hours... It's expanded my square to 17x17, taking me all the way to the North sea. But to go any further north is going to require a kayak, and I'd still be limited by the IJsselmeer, so today's ride was kinda pointless, but it was fun, so who cares. If nothing else it's 11 extra tiles and it'll help towards the cluster...



J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #591 on: 24 February, 2019, 06:44:34 pm »
A wee pootle with some comedy off-roading netted 20 new tiles, increased the max cluster by 51 to 583 and the max square to 14 (there are 8 max squares).


vv_190224 by The Pingus, on Flickr


quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #592 on: 24 February, 2019, 06:53:43 pm »

Todays ride I bagged a tile that had alluded me on a number of rides. It's my absolute limit for northern square improvement, it's done wonders for my cluster. So far this year I've improved my cluster by 134, my tile count by 227, and my square from 13x13 to 17x17.

Target for the year is a cluster of 1000.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #593 on: 25 February, 2019, 07:44:51 pm »
I made the most of the lovely weekend weather with plenty of tiling.

On Saturday I set off a bit later than planned to 'do' NE Nottingham.  25k to Trent Bridge then a meandering route along the Trent as far as Lowdham.  A few rural lanes through Lambley then diving back into the suburbs to zig and zag through a total of 32 tiles and just over 100k.  Max square bumped up from 34 to 35.

On Sunday I had planned to do the Velo Club Long Eaton Reliability Ride.  I have DIY'd their long route (120k) up to 200k in previous years (when it wasn't snowed off) but this year I fancied their 'ERIC' route.  20k to the start of a 160k ride just had to be done!  The Eric also went places in the Peak District that I haven't been to before and with a few tweaks could pick up a load of extra tiles and also link up my 'home' cluster with a load of Peak District tiles  :)

When I set off at 0715 it was proper foggy.  Got to the RR start, signed on and was given a number to attach to my bike  :o  What's that all about ?  Set off in the first group at 0815 and had a good, swift ride out along the Trent/Dove Valley to Hatton where we turned North and headed for the hills as the sun broke through.  I left the official route at Alkmonkton to start harvesting a few tiles.  This put me on the A515 which wasn't too bad at that time on a Sunday morning and needs must...

I rejoined the RR route in Ashbourne and rode with some of the later starters on the climb to Longcliffe.  When they turned left at Grangemill I went straight on , up a lane that ended up in a cart track past a scramble bike meeting.  The summer bike was not impressed!

A brief return to the Eric route was followed by another lumpy detour through Birchover to grab some tempting tiles.

I refuelled in Bakewell and with two relatively short, flat diversions headed, somewhat nervously, for the Froggatt climb.  The climb itself was my sort of gradient and I could just pick a gear and get on with it.  A strung out group of Bolsover riders went past me then kindly waited for me at the top and adopted me on the run down to Owler Bar before we turned South to head for home.  I vaguely recognised some of the roads from pre-Strava MTBing.

I was mostly following the Eric route but with the occasional short spur.  I was losing track of where I was and decided that an arcade game style 'ping' would be good encouragement as new tile boundaries were crossed.  It seemed strange to arrive in Crich without a big climb but the descent towards Ambergate was as wasteful as ever on the brakes.

This was where the first of my two key tiles was to link my clusters.  The problem was that it involved riding 1k out of the Derwent valley up Holly Lane.  It was a bottom gear slog looking for the dry tarmac when out of the saddle and added weaving when safe.  Having bagged the tile I then turned round and hung onto the brakes all the way down to where I had been 15 minutes earlier.  The Reliability Ride finish was shutting at 1630 and I reckoned I was still OK timewise but hadn't allowed for the Belper tile.  The route that I had planned took me up Long Row in Belper which turned out to be a cobbled climb that made that one in Alston look like a billiard table.  Riding up it required concentration to pick a decent line and avoid the twattish 4*4 driver coming down it but coming down it was thoroughly unpleasant.

A quick check on the time made me realise that it was now most unlikely that I would get to the finish early enough to claim my certificate but I managed to resist the temptation to call in at the Holly Bush in Makeney to check out the pies (and beer).  I arrived at a deserted finish with 200k on the clock 15 minutes after they had closed but I had had other priorities.

I got home just before 1800 after 220k, had a beer, uploaded the ride to Strava, put my DIY claim in, then fired up Veloviewer to find that I had grabbed 26 new tiles and had managed to bump my max cluster up from 1771 to 1940.

I also had a wonderful day out in the Peak District on my bike  :)

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #594 on: 26 February, 2019, 05:19:22 pm »
100km and 1500m of climbing got me from a 17x17 square up to a 20x20 today. Brilliant route, lots of walking and at least a dozen gates to climb over, shame it's my last ride in County Durham for a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2176787261


quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #595 on: 26 February, 2019, 06:48:10 pm »

I've had a route in my wahoo for a 60km from one metro line to another, bagging a couple of dozen tiles along the way. Last week I discovered that the second metro line is closing, meaning I would either have to add 20km to the ride, or I'd have to get the ride in sooner. So with 15°C, and next to no wind, out I went. Had my first flat of the year, got an electric shock from leaning the wheel against an electric fence, had some boggy off roading, and found some beautiful roads. All in all, feeling a lot better for having ridden my bike. 27 new tiles, cluster up to 453.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #596 on: 26 February, 2019, 07:14:07 pm »
100km and 1500m of climbing got me from a 17x17 square up to a 20x20 today. Brilliant route, lots of walking and at least a dozen gates to climb over, shame it's my last ride in County Durham for a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2176787261



Make the most of it buddy: you're starting from scratch in Canadia. :-D

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #597 on: 26 February, 2019, 09:10:24 pm »
A day in the Wolds with Graeme, and my cluster is up to 3112. Square still on 37x37 (those Pennines squares I need are hard yakka).


Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #598 on: 26 February, 2019, 10:07:08 pm »
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #599 on: 26 February, 2019, 10:12:36 pm »
Competition is stiff in the 3000-4000 cluster range at the moment.

As discussed with Deano today: I hope to be cycling into my 80s... this is a loooong game. :)