Author Topic: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square  (Read 337026 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1800 on: 19 April, 2021, 08:41:34 pm »

Did my first 200k DIY since last Feb. Route was slightly quirky to pick up tiles. 55 new tiles, cluster up by 12.

Annoyingly a diversion for road works meant that I missed out on a few more :(

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

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1801 on: 19 April, 2021, 10:26:18 pm »
Note to self - when route planning don't add on a load of road miles on a loop when using the full sus to do some proper MTB tiles. It's hard/tedious/slow work on tarmac.
You can tell I'm out of tile collecting practice when I do dumb things like that. It was so slow going on road, I ran out of daylight. So I had to skip the 4km spur off main loop, which looked it could be a bit technical on satellite imagery and which prompted me to take the MTB in first place, rather than the CX. Duh!
But the other off road sections were definitely better on the Epic than my Crux.
The Tile Collector

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1802 on: 19 April, 2021, 11:12:45 pm »
Note to self - when route planning don't add on a load of road miles on a loop when using the full sus to do some proper MTB tiles. It's hard/tedious/slow work on tarmac.
You can tell I'm out of tile collecting practice when I do dumb things like that. It was so slow going on road, I ran out of daylight. So I had to skip the 4km spur off main loop, which looked it could be a bit technical on satellite imagery and which prompted me to take the MTB in first place, rather than the CX. Duh!
But the other off road sections were definitely better on the Epic than my Crux.

This is a nightmare. I'm in a similar situation, needing to travel some distance by road to get to some offroad tiles... I'm feeling the CX bike will be the best compromise. The MTB will just be too slow on the road.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1803 on: 19 April, 2021, 11:52:12 pm »
Well I normally use the CX, even with 28mm road tyres [though I've now settled on 33mm even for road]  and it's done some really serious off roading in it's time and is really fast on road. Feel like I need something between the CX and the full sus for some riding some tiling loops. Preferably weighing 8.5kg or less, so way more than I can afford at present. I was eyeing up a Diverge in a store the other day the other day, ideal for tiling/bikepacking and my size too. Shame price is too big for the wallet. The 3T Exploro is another bike I quite fancy and even pricier.
The Tile Collector

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1804 on: 19 April, 2021, 11:55:27 pm »
Folding road tyres for the MTB...

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1805 on: 20 April, 2021, 12:02:36 am »
For mixed terrain tilebagging I use my tourer (Bob Jackson World Tourer) with 35mm light gravel tyres (Hutchinson for me). That's a nice compromise.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1806 on: 20 April, 2021, 12:38:12 am »
I should clarify, that when I say I need an MTB for off road sections, I mean seriously difficult stuff to ride on an MTB.
This was done on CX with 28mm road tyres. It would have been more sensible with 33mm tyres [which is now my standard for roads], but still manageable.



Riding up rock gardens isn't much fun on any drop barred bike. And the track got more interesting after that.



The descent the other side was awesome, but very narrow, rather challenging and technical too. More like DH trials riding.  ;D

The Tile Collector

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1807 on: 20 April, 2021, 06:08:43 am »
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1808 on: 20 April, 2021, 07:27:02 am »
^^^ Great piccies.

I hope your wheels have lots of spokes!

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1809 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:43:29 am »
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
Sheep would have struggled with that 'track'. Imagine single track and halve the width and give it a very variable vertical profile with added random rocks.  Track does not necessarily equal easy. I however loved it because I like techy riding.
I do a lot of track free trails too. Amazed I haven't snapped an ankle yet.
The Tile Collector

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1810 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:52:20 am »
^^^ Great piccies.
Ta.

Quote
I hope your wheels have lots of spokes!
Just 24 on those road wheels.  ;D
Still nice and straight, despite my best efforts.  JRA Wheels.
The Tile Collector

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1811 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:56:50 am »
I should clarify, that when I say I need an MTB for off road sections, I mean seriously difficult stuff to ride on an MTB.

I don't have anything like that round my way, but I did run into difficulties on a few sections of the Pilgrims Way. It's a real mixed bag. Parts of it are fine on 25mm tyres, parts of it are quite rough but still rideable. Then there are bits that are seriously rocky but would be OK on a full-sus MTB.

And then there are sections where you find yourself wading through knee-deep mud. Totally unrideable.

All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1812 on: 20 April, 2021, 01:24:46 pm »
All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
Many parts of the Sustrans network are being deprecated as they are not fit for purpose.
Sections of supposed bike routes that become deep mud, need upgrading however. No users appreciate that.
The Tile Collector

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1813 on: 20 April, 2021, 02:57:11 pm »
All considered suitable to be designated part of NCR17. ::-)
Many parts of the Sustrans network are being deprecated as they are not fit for purpose.
Sections of supposed bike routes that become deep mud, need upgrading however. No users appreciate that.
Problem is what Sustrans consider "suitable".

This looks like a lovely quiet country route, right? Well, it is. But for some inexplicable reason it's been deprecated as NCN 254.

It looks like their emphasis is on traffic free routes, not routes suitable for road bikes. And that's fine for the kids - but the sustrans network is not "about it being for everyone", as their CEO says. It's for families out on jollies.

I've long thought that there is a space for a network targeting road cyclists and commuters that avoids busy roads where possible, but fundamentally has a decent surface (fine gravel railway paths may be acceptable with a signed alternative), and takes a direct route.

Sure, there's Strava, but when your GPS gizmos go crackers, at rush hour, it's nice if there are signs to follow, instead of you knowing only one route back home to Oxford, that route being the A34.  :o

telstarbox

  • Loving the lanes
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1814 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:07:22 pm »
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).
2019 🏅 R1000 and B1000

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1815 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:52:52 pm »
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).

Komoot tried to take me down the A14 near Cambridge...

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

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1816 on: 21 April, 2021, 08:35:09 am »
Or as I saw today, a cyclist on the 70mph 3-lane section of the A20. Google Maps offers this as a cycle route but it's really not advisable (the ex A20 is a good parallel alternative).

Komoot tried to take me down the A14 near Cambridge...

J
When I did the Festive 500, the cycleway from Cambridge to St Ives was flooded. I decided to use the old A14/A1307, built as part of the new A14, but they hadn't finished building it between Bar Hill and Swavesey! The legal route was to cycle on the new A14, the same one that was meant to be the A14(M). Needless to say ignoring the road closed signs and a bit of creativity, including contraflowing a slip road for a short distance, felt far safer.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1817 on: 21 April, 2021, 10:44:57 am »
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
The majority of my tiling time now is spend confering with my spirit animal - "If I was a sheep, where would I go from here...."  ;D

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1818 on: 21 April, 2021, 08:28:45 pm »
Some Cowal Way / Dunoon Dirt Dash tiles this week as we are out of LA Lockdown.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1819 on: 21 April, 2021, 08:56:55 pm »
You had a track?  I dreamed of having a track... ;D
The majority of my tiling time now is spend confering with my spirit animal - "If I was a sheep, where would I go from here...."  ;D
At times I think sheep had more sense than to come this way.  ;D
The Tile Collector

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1820 on: 21 April, 2021, 09:27:36 pm »
Three years ago my GPS went for a bit of a wander around while I was having coffee with a couple of mates.  The resulting 5k spike nabbed a few tiles before I even knew what they were.




This means that I have a false positive for one tile that fortunately isn't part of my square or cluster.  I know that I could delete the ride from Strava, edit the spike out then re-upload it but that would lose the comments, photo's etc.  I would just go and grab it properly but it is 70k away, in a lower Covid tier and it is December so I wondered if anyone could think of an easier fix.

I did the decent thing yesterday - used a day of holiday to grab the spurious tile for real.

180k in (mostly) glorious sunshine with just a few spots of rain.  I had my knees out and the twattish tan lines are developing nicely  ::-)

I managed to grab 41 tiles in addition to the important one and bumped my cluster up by 51.  None of the tracks were even remotely comparable with imajez's but 25mm GP4000s on the summer bike weren't exactly ideal:





I also managed to get escorted (nicely) from the massive building site that will probably soon be a new warehouse at DIRFT when the rough 1.8k long bridleway heading west from Yelvertoft just stopped with no signposted diversion.  I really didn't fancy retracing my steps so just headed off into the industrial wasteland to grab a tile  :P

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1821 on: 22 April, 2021, 01:07:11 pm »
None of the tracks were even remotely comparable with imajez's but 25mm GP4000s on the summer bike weren't exactly ideal:


Hard baked mud particularly where horses/cattle have been wandering when wet is awful on almost any bike, let alone 25mm tyres.

I like how you revisited tile out of good conscience.

The Tile Collector

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1822 on: 22 April, 2021, 03:34:56 pm »
This looks like a lovely quiet country route, right? Well, it is. But for some inexplicable reason it's been deprecated as NCN 254.

It looks like their emphasis is on traffic free routes, not routes suitable for road bikes. And that's fine for the kids - but the sustrans network is not "about it being for everyone", as their CEO says. It's for families out on jollies.

I've long thought that there is a space for a network targeting road cyclists and commuters that avoids busy roads where possible, but fundamentally has a decent surface (fine gravel railway paths may be acceptable with a signed alternative), and takes a direct route.

Sure, there's Strava, but when your GPS gizmos go crackers, at rush hour, it's nice if there are signs to follow, instead of you knowing only one route back home to Oxford, that route being the A34.  :o

That is very much the emphasis of the national byway - quiet roads. It shares 10% of its lanes with sustrans, but the rest are on quiet low traffic lanes. I rode a couple near Quainton two weeks ago, and they were lovely. Interesting and quiet.

It is nowhere near as extensive as the NCN though.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1823 on: 22 April, 2021, 09:56:48 pm »
Trying to catch some more odd tiles, and as usual something different to see.  An old Bedford lorry with a tree growing thro the metal work.

Re: VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square
« Reply #1824 on: 22 April, 2021, 10:06:01 pm »
I've got a motorbike in a garden that was doing that, we chopped the undergrowth down to move it but it really needs scrapping.
Miles cycled 2014 = 3551.5 (Target 7300 :()
Miles cycled 2013 = 6141.4
Miles cycled 2012 = 4038.1