VeloViewer Explorer Score and Max Square

[carlosferreiro]

This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

[paddyirish]

This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!

[Graeme]

This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

I've moved home twice purely to extend the cluster I can ride, and looking at moving again in a couple of years. I didn't know this was against the rules.
 

[Jeff E]

Of course there aren’t any Written Rules……….     The original Tilers all seem to have ridden from their homes, and that made sense to me when I started.    I have only ever ridden for the pleasure of cycling and exploring new areas, and when younger, really enjoyed 3-600s.    I only became fully aware of Tiling during Lockdown, and enjoyed increasing my square up to 47x47 before the combination of illness and old age made it hard to improve.

  I can fully understand the mindset of those that like to be competitive.  And there is NOTHING wrong with that (I always got extra satisfaction from being the first one back on Audaxes).   But to me, Cycling (as a Runner then as a Walker in my case) is all about the Journey of visiting New places.   

 Driving etc to far away places to experience well organised Audaxes along really well thought out routes creates the best memories, but nothing beats the added experience of cycling to and from the Start/Destination.  It all just depends on how much time you have available.    I therefore apologise, to those who may be time-poor, who should still be applauded for making full use of their own available time to explore

[carlosferreiro]

This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!

I did think through an open world zwift-a-like where you could explore onwards forever, maybe with some terrain being harder to ride/navigate etc to get that tile.
I guess ideally you'd want a 1:1 real world geography and include needing to find food and places to sleep.... 

[quixoticgeek]

The trouble with driving to ride is that if you project the concept to the extreme you get people stopping in a layby, walking round their car and driving to the next tile.  It's a ridiculous extreme I've not seen done but it's what is at the bottom of the drive to ride slippery slope.  How far towards that point you are prepared to go is entirely up to the individual.

I know someone who's done that. The tile is in the middle of a military camp and the only options are walk down the layby. Or cycle through the military camp (to which is illegal, tho at least 1 forumite has done so).

I've taken the train to do rides. A lot. I wouldn't ride as much if I didn't. And as you can't easily include only certain rides in veloviewer, it all counts.

J

[lissotriton]

I've taken the train to do rides. A lot. I wouldn't ride as much if I didn't. And as you can't easily include only certain rides in veloviewer, it all counts.

Veloviewer can filter by name/description. So could add a tag for anything starting from home.
Or StatsHunters can filter by start location.

[Ivo]

This debate sounds so German for me....

[quixoticgeek]

This debate sounds so German for me....

Only including rides that start in, finish in, or otherwise visit Germany puts island dwellers at a very distinct disadvantage...

Incidentally I assume the only including rides that start and finish at home, does that also apply to canoe trips to get the waterborne tiles ?

J

[Solocle]

This "ride from your home" idea is just a slippery slope! People can move houses! All rides should have to start within 50m of where you were born!

Hell, you shouldn't even leave your home. Only rides on zwift should count!

On the plus side makes them motorway tiles much easier 

[Pingu]

A walk in Glen Tanar increased the max cluster by 3 to 2144.

[Flâneur]

A walk in Glen Tanar increased the max cluster by 3 to 2144.

Right behind you Pingu on 2142...

[Rod Marton]

Success! My target this year was to get the cluster to over 2000, but I thought this would be unreachable when I had a major injury in July and spent a couple of months unable to ride. However some determined riding over the last month has seen me add over 200 tiles to the cluster, and I've now reached 2040. A little way to go to catch Pingu and Flaneur, but I certainly could do so if I manage to connect my satellite cluster at Hay on Wye to the main cluster. Although knowing the roads and terrain around there, that isn't likely to happen until the summer.

Rather less success on the square, which has increased over the year all the way from 31x31 to 32x32. Main reason for this is the presence of the Almost Inaccessible Tile on the nearest edge, so I've been concentrating on the cluster rather than the square. Though even this is going to get difficult from now on, as distances are increasing.

[Hofnar]

Managed to link up my secondary "holiday cluster" with the main cluster getting it from just shy of 3K to a bit over 4K à hospital stay on the edge of my cluster did help quit a bit with the gap filling too near the end of the year.

Some gap filling and a well planned summer holiday in the mountains upped the square from 33 to 42, close to adding a couple extra but might aim for 50x50 next  but that will have to wait for winter. Bit stuck with a military camp on the edge where I missed the only limited acess day of the year.

[smileydave]

Christmas Mk2 at my father-in-law's provided the opportunity to extend the 45 mile direct route, and pick up 39 new tiles and extend the cluster by 55 to 2122.
A break in the weather meant that there was no lashing rain (just a few light showers before dawn), but just the vicious headwind, which was (mercifully?) consistent, rather than terrifyingly gusty. Slow going, therefore, but once my overambitious breakfast (6 weetabix, slightly stale, pint of tea) had gone down, not too terrible. I had the rather unwise idea to cross the Thames at Duxford ford. "Do not cross in high water" the sign said, but without any indication of how to judge the height. My feet were wet anyway, from a flooded footpath earlier, so I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out into the current. Four paces later, and with the water over my knees, I gamely turned around. There was, I knew, a footpath to a bridge I could follow, so that's what I did. It was fine, if a little muddy until it was flooded. I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out once more. It, too, was fine. The next flooded bit was fine too. Then they began to become less fine. One was distinctly sketchy - I climbed up the bank and walked along the field margin. I began to lose count of the flooded portions. At one point the crown of a freshly fallen tree blocked the path entirely. Unwilling to return without a fight I snapped branches off until I'd made enough of a gap to post the bike through sideways, with only cosmetic damage to a shifter...
All of these shenanigans slowed me down somewhat, and a quick map check revealed that smileywife and smileyboys were imminent, so I cut off the planned loop to get the 8 tiles to the northwest of Standlake. Still got there before they did, and only knocked about 7km off the route in total, so I should have just stuck it out. Would have added a further 21 tiles to the cluster with that as well. Ah, well, there's always next time. Nevertheless, it was a good adventure.
(and, unrelated, the next day we spotted an audaxer on the Cumnor Road. I was more excited by this than my wife was. I didn't think it was likely to be an audax, but turns out it was the Festive 500 ride from Bristol to Cambridge and back)

[paddyirish]

My VV infographic for 2023.  I completed Fife mainland and also explored around Dundee while my eldest had weekly 90 minute climbing lessons.  A few more tiles added Crieff and Bathgate to my main cluster and I also have a minicluster in Norfolk of about 165 around my in-laws' place.  No very long rides but a lot of walking and the odd paddleboard trip. 



On NYE I had a final attempt to get over 5000 tiles in 2023, but came up against unforecast black ice and ended with a nice bruise on my leg as I hit the handlebars on my way down.  The cluster now looks like this



My tile total is 4990, my cluster 1844 and my square 20x20.

Planning on a few longer rides in 2024 to get the tile count up- not sure whether cluster will rise much but would be nice to get it over 2000.

[CarlF]

That's impressive paddyirish.
Looks like it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to add Glasgow to that Cluster, working your way up to Aberdeen might be a more worthy challenge .

Have you got all of Clackmannanshire and Kinrossshire as well as all of Fife?

[paddyirish]

That's impressive paddyirish.
Looks like it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to add Glasgow to that Cluster, working your way up to Aberdeen might be a more worthy challenge .

Have you got all of Clackmannanshire and Kinrossshire as well as all of Fife?

I'd guess yes to Kinrossshire, but no to Clacks - there are a few Ochils tiles south of the watershed that I may have to get.  I have one to get in City of Edinburgh (behind a 8ft tall fence, so will need to access by sea). and am pretty sure I have City of Dundee complete now)

In terms of goals I ultimately want to extend my cluster in multiple directions.
1) Coast to Coast- thinking of tiling across to Arrochar
2) To Glasgow and beyond to the Firth of Clyde
3) To Berwick on Tweed
4) To Inverness via the A9 corridor
5) To Aberdeen
6) To Carlisle
7) To Mallaig
To Iona- that would be epic - I'd have to cluster across the Sound of Mull at Lochaline.

Achieving a few of those in 2024 would be fun!

[carlosferreiro]

Nice goals Paddyirish.
I'm looking at going the other direction, venturing down through Fife and a Forth loop maybe, depending how "holiday" trips work out this year.

You'd have no bother with a coastal-ish corridor up to Aberdeen, it'd be practical in a single out and back if you were willing to do the usual zigzags as needed.
I've only had a few quick looks but haven't seen the A9 corridor to be so easy, unless you are looking at some real hill walking added in there too.

For me I have lots of things rough routed, but not sure what will end up getting done in which order. And also depending, I might just chip away at some, rather than do a full part in one go....

1) NE coastal corridor extended round to Inverness
2) Aberdeen to Inverness via Aviemore
3) Dava and Speyside Way corridors
4) Fife coastal and Forth loop, getting Stirling linked into the cluster

[paddyirish]

Similar Carlos, your's look great- Shetland must be approaching peak possibility. If you have any questions on Fife, feel free to PM me.  Lots of coastal tiles that only become accessible at low tide too!

I think the A9 requires a lot of hillwalking around Drumochter- that will be pleasurable enough for me, in most cases at least

[carlosferreiro]

Yeah, most of the tiles left on Shetland are long out and back walks over rough moor to a single tile at some random point, so I'm not feeling so enthused.
Joining the north isles would be cool but is a logistics/small boat bit of work.

My first definite trip "south" is for the Aberfeldy "Grand Old Dukes" gravel in May, so current plan is a 2 day tootle of Stirling-Glenrothes-Dundee on the way home, so that will make a first mark for the Fife tiles. If my pal comes to meet me we'll more likely do the Pilgrims trail that time.

[Flâneur]

I have one to get in City of Edinburgh (behind a 8ft tall fence, so will need to access by sea)

If it's the one in NW Granton, I got in from Heron Place one Saturday when the builders weren't around a few years back. Of course, if you are taking to the water, you can easily also get the water based tile between there and Cramond Island as well, which is one that's been bugging me...

[Solocle]

Christmas Mk2 at my father-in-law's provided the opportunity to extend the 45 mile direct route, and pick up 39 new tiles and extend the cluster by 55 to 2122.
A break in the weather meant that there was no lashing rain (just a few light showers before dawn), but just the vicious headwind, which was (mercifully?) consistent, rather than terrifyingly gusty. Slow going, therefore, but once my overambitious breakfast (6 weetabix, slightly stale, pint of tea) had gone down, not too terrible. I had the rather unwise idea to cross the Thames at Duxford ford. "Do not cross in high water" the sign said, but without any indication of how to judge the height. My feet were wet anyway, from a flooded footpath earlier, so I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out into the current. Four paces later, and with the water over my knees, I gamely turned around. There was, I knew, a footpath to a bridge I could follow, so that's what I did. It was fine, if a little muddy until it was flooded. I gamely shouldered the bike and strode out once more. It, too, was fine. The next flooded bit was fine too. Then they began to become less fine. One was distinctly sketchy - I climbed up the bank and walked along the field margin. I began to lose count of the flooded portions. At one point the crown of a freshly fallen tree blocked the path entirely. Unwilling to return without a fight I snapped branches off until I'd made enough of a gap to post the bike through sideways, with only cosmetic damage to a shifter...
All of these shenanigans slowed me down somewhat, and a quick map check revealed that smileywife and smileyboys were imminent, so I cut off the planned loop to get the 8 tiles to the northwest of Standlake. Still got there before they did, and only knocked about 7km off the route in total, so I should have just stuck it out. Would have added a further 21 tiles to the cluster with that as well. Ah, well, there's always next time. Nevertheless, it was a good adventure.
(and, unrelated, the next day we spotted an audaxer on the Cumnor Road. I was more excited by this than my wife was. I didn't think it was likely to be an audax, but turns out it was the Festive 500 ride from Bristol to Cambridge and back)

That reminds me of my massive cluster expansion ride in the same area, although it was much more scattered gap filling:

[Solocle]

MTB excursion featuring the Roman Portway and flanking the North side of Porton Down Danger Area.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Have finally given into the temptation, so am just starting to fill in the gaps in rides that criss-cross the country from years of Audax, club runs, trips to my caravan in Selsey and commutes.  It has already enticed me down a few dead ends that I've left behind.  There are a few squares like the one in Hackwood Park that will have to wait until April or May when the gravel tracks have dried out and are no longer knee deep in water - so I expect that my max square won't get much bigger than 12x12 until then.