Now that the selection has been made, a slight modification to my original list:

Rovaniemi 150 (gulp!)
Lakeland Loop 200
HT550 (double gulp!)
Cairngorms Loop (rollover from last year)
Cambrian Trail
Borders 350

Also looking at the Pennine Bridleway but as more of a touring route with Cath than an ITT.

Need to get my head back together post RTA, but assuming I do...

A Mere 200km, BCM 600km, The 3 Coasts 600km, Pendle 600km, London - Edinburgh - London 1400km, and Blackpool - Glasgow - Blackpool 600km audaxes, plus Bearbones.

This year has been rubbish. First, a hernia op, then overtraining + meds left me ruined, and topped off with a RTA that's left me with no front teeth, a shattered jaw requiring a bone graft and impants, and PTSD. I can't wait to see the back of 2016. Despite putting in 18000km on two wheels, it has sucked. Click through if you like gore.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8dORL ... 31-h974-no

My plans involve recceing the Coast to Coast trip in May. Involving visits to places of interest between here and Bilbao. The pic is a 12th century village that we rode through on Sunday.

There's also a series of races locally which are about 40-50km so those should keep me busy.
We take delivery of a new camper in the Spring so trips further afield such as up to Ainsa to ride Zona Zero are planned.
Turin Nice is a probable for Sept and theGran Fondo Quebrantahuesos in June looks interesting as well

try again.

Don't really make plans, but do have 3 mini projects on the go in the pursuit of exploring.

Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire
14/75 at the moment. Plenty to go at locally which is a good/bad thing. Mytholm Steeps nearly broke me at the weekend....

Segment Searching
A geek friend has managed to download all of the Strava segments within 10 miles of my house. About 1,300 to go at which aids exploring locally, and finding cheeky stuff.

VV Explorer Score
Currently at 16x16, but getting blocked in by one square in the South Pennies and one square in the North Peak which have no tracks running through them. Hoping for a big freeze so I can start the required Deathmarch.
Still a bit to go to catch Blackhound/KevC & Dyffers up

I got Helen pissed on Friday and she is now doing CX'ish LeJOG with me in September 2017.

My plan is to just enjoy it all next year with no pressure and have a year living it all vicariously through Helen's achievements.

Visit all the Welsh bothies, WRT, maybe Pennine bridleway. I've wanted to paddle the Great Glen canoe trail for some years now - perhaps in 2017. BAM for another year

Also maybe start smoking, eating lots of junk food, plenty of fizzy drinks and lots of sweets, all so I don't have to get too old and lose my marbles like my mum (age 92) has. I think it was Kingsley Amiss who said " There's no pleasure worth giving up to gain two more years in a geriatric home in Clacton"

Chew wrote:Don't really make plans, but do have 3 mini projects on the go in the pursuit of exploring.

VV Explorer Score
Currently at 16x16, but getting blocked in by one square in the South Pennies and one square in the North Peak which have no tracks running through them. Hoping for a big freeze so I can start the required Deathmarch.
Still a bit to go to catch Blackhound/KevC & Dyffers up

What's a VV explorer?

voodoo_simon wrote:What's a VV explorer?

The Veloviewer Explorer Square is the biggest number of contiguous NxN OS map squares you have ridden in, so 2x2, 3x3, etc. Veloviewer get their data from Strava so you need to log your rides there*
http://veloviewer.com/

*shamelessly stolen from Bobs posting elsewhere

Veloviewer Explorer - basically the size of an X by X set of contiguous OS grid squares

My plan is to just enjoy it all next year with no pressure and have a year living it all vicariously through Helen's achievements.

That's a good plan Dave and dare I say, one you'll likely get more enjoyment from than flogging yourself to death in the quest for personal attainment.

whitestone wrote:Veloviewer Explorer - basically the size of an X by X set of contiguous OS grid squares

I've just started messing with that. I've already made a few local routes and found things that I had no idea were near me.

Dave Barter wrote:I got Helen pissed on Friday and she is now doing CX'ish LeJOG with me in September 2017.

My plan is to just enjoy it all next year with no pressure and have a year living it all vicariously through Helen's achievements.

You are welcome to stop over again on route Dave if you fancy, as long as it's not in the 1st week of the month

Most kind John and this time I will not bring a publisher and many large boxes of books

Chew wrote: VV Explorer Score
Currently at 16x16, but getting blocked in by one square in the South Pennies and one square in the North Peak which have no tracks running through them. Hoping for a big freeze so I can start the required Deathmarch.
Still a bit to go to catch Blackhound/KevC & Dyffers up

That's a good effort. I'm on 12x12 but am maybe 3 or 4 squares off 13x13. After that, things start getting a lot rougher, with a fair amount of bog trotting as the option in the other direction involves swimming.

....for this year to be better than the last.....

signed up so far...

Lakeland200 #jennride
SSEC2107
SSUK2017

a bit of MTBO

Hopefully the WRT and BB200 if things pan out.

Now will I need a new bike? Will it be time to test my brazing skills again??

Oh and dare I put my hand up for a bivvy a month!

AlasdairMc wrote:That's a good effort. I'm on 12x12 but am maybe 3 or 4 squares off 13x13. After that, things start getting a lot rougher, with a fair amount of bog trotting as the option in the other direction involves swimming.

That's the issue I have, everything South of me is just water, so North it is.

I wonder if taking my bike on a boat counts...

Doesn't have to involve a bike. Walking, running, swimming, paddling, sliding all count.

I wish this had been around when I lived in Edinburgh as it's obviously easier to get a high score when in a city. I'm currently on 12x12 but only need 2 squares for 14x14 and a handful more for 16x16. After that it becomes increasingly difficult as it involves the wide trackless plateaus and glens of the Monadhliath.


FWIW it's not based on OS squares. It's based on Google Maps at (IIRC) zoom level 12.

I'm on 8x8 but three squares will get me to 13x13. Something like a further twenty squares will get me to 20x20. After that it's a bit of bog trotting and some cheeky (unless I log some walks )

I could fill in a few blanks in mid Wales and make a MASSIVE section. Maybe I should add that to my 2017 plans.

I'm new to this bikepacking thing, so I'll go with 'do some bikepacking'.

Wishlist:
IronMan UK (Bolton) - already entered, so that's the first half of the year wiped out.
The Cairngorm Loop - For sanity restoration after above.
As many Bivvi nights and bikepacking trips as I can get in, as a break from 'training' (hah).

Utter wishlist:
The Tour of Mont Blanc route on bikepacking.com looks amazing.

Maybe this should be in the Fatfighting thread, but I'm putting it here.
Eat less, ride more. Having done around 1/4 of the mileage in 2016 that I did in 2012 - my last full year of commuting by bike I need more miles. Or hours, whichever you prefer.

I like the look of the Veloviewer squares thing - just signed up - I'm on 8x8 at the moment with a few gaps locally that I ride past but not through. Half a dozen or so squares will get me to 12x12 maybe, we shall see. I'll carry on with this.

Does anyone here know how to call up older rides from Garmin Connect? I joined Strava a while back but there's maybe two years worth of rides that it won't access - alot of commutes that I'm not bothered about, but a couple of tours that I would like to include.

Oh, plans - WRT for sure; Winter event church thing booked. HONC maybe. A decent tour as I've not managed that for a couple of years. More miles, more VV squares.

Chew wrote:

voodoo_simon wrote:What's a VV explorer?

The Veloviewer Explorer Square is the biggest number of contiguous NxN OS map squares you have ridden in, so 2x2, 3x3, etc. Veloviewer get their data from Strava so you need to log your rides there*
http://veloviewer.com/

*shamelessly stolen from Bobs posting elsewhere

I think I get it now! How do you work out each grid size?

Just joined VV and it's using only 25 ride data from 2015, so only getting 3x3! Would be interested in expanding this though if it means more exploring

Cracked it!

Simon - the 25 ride limit is the "free taster" if you will, you need to purchase a subscription to get all your ride history used - succumbed this week . As Colin says, the squares are based on Google map tiles not OS grid squares as I originally thought - there's a slight difference.