Working on my square is obviously not working out very well. It's not very square! So coming to Whitley Bay with my trail shoes I thought I'd try and work on my spiders web instead. But with an actual activated square (in blue) at the end pf the tentacle. Don't think I actually own one of them yet.

So went out with a plan to activate at least 9 squares. They'd need to be 3x3 to earn a blue in the centre as all adjacent squares around an activated blue one need to have been ridden/walked. Knees are hurting but this is what I managed Alhamdulillah.


As can be seen i failed in my mission but hols end tomorrow so I might be able to get some light walking done and earn a out 2 blues.


This is what my velo spiders web looks like so another dot of blue in the right might be pretty.


Plan is to then use the roadie and make a pretty blue line (he wishes and hopes) by going to and fro. This place is well pretty (ie. really really pretty).

Thats all folks...

Went out yesterday evening on another 3 hours of square hunting - only up to 8x8 but only a square off 9x9 and a ride off 10x10. It's quite addictive this lark

A bumper week of 183 miles including 3 glorious rides up on the Marlborough and Berkshire downs and a healthy increase to 55x55

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:09 pm A bumper week of 183 miles including 3 glorious rides up on the Marlborough and Berkshire downs and a healthy increase to 55x55

Wow. Well done Steve... are you in the top ten for biggest square yet?

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:24 pm
Wow. Well done Steve... are you in the top ten for biggest square yet?

Only on Bearbones, which of course is the only metric which matters for some reason I don’t show up on ride every tile which could be because you don’t even get a look in until your 51x!

Not that it matters,while it’s a little addictive, square hunting is a great motivator. I ride more often and nearly every ride is somewhere new. Also you get to do some really silly things,wading across rivers up to your plumbing for instance today I hoped a fence and thrashed through a wood dragging my bike, swung by the Reading festival, rode through a flooded underpass, overtook a car down hill and generally had I good time. Earlier in the week I was up on the downs, miles of gravel tracks, beautiful weather and I had all to myself..

I got up to 50x50 yesterday riding around Sutton Coldfield and the edge of Walsall - I do sometimes query my life choices!

A couple of rides can get me a bigger score but I am a little hamstrung to the North at Welbeck Abbey. There are three squares near the abbey which has no access. Big signs about cameras everywhere. Someone went on an organised run around the grounds and got two of the squares. The third could probably done in a hoodie and facemask at night as not far off a bridleway into the track. Maybe next year for an assault up there.

All these people with their neat square squares, and mine looks more like a jellyfish with stray tentacles hanging all over the place.



On my last trip to Guildford I did manage to link my Surrey Hills cluster with the main cluster. The square is stuck on 17x17 but I only need three squares for 18x18 and then another six for 19x19. Then I think it would be another 11 to get up to 20x20... so 20 squares for 20 squared

Going for a ride to fill a hole sounds so wrong yet so right.

The Imber ranges on Salisbury Plain were open yesterday. I stopped for a look around the church and graveyard. Should have thought to check where the tile boundaries were, shouldn't I!

arkay wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 9:28 am The Imber ranges on Salisbury Plain were open yesterday. I stopped for a look around the church and graveyard. Should have thought to check where the tile boundaries were, shouldn't I!

Been there, done that (well, it turns out I hadn't been there )

With one thing and another, I haven't bagged any new tiles for exactly a year, yesterday.
My sciatica is clearing up, so I aim to resume activities soon, and expand from 26x26 to 30x30, within a handful of rides

arkay wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 4:27 pm All these people with their neat square squares, and mine looks more like a jellyfish with stray tentacles hanging all over the place.

LOL. You should see mine!

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 10:01 am

arkay wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 4:27 pm All these people with their neat square squares, and mine looks more like a jellyfish with stray tentacles hanging all over the place.

LOL. You should see mine!

We're getting into Rorschach territory, now (pun intended)

belugabob wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:15 am
Been there, done that (well, it turns out I hadn't been there )

Even more annoyingly, looking at my photos I reckon I did actually just sneak into that tile, as I was definitely south of the church. But I left my bag with the GPS a little way down the hill, and if it's not on Strava it didn't happen!

Getting back into the groove - a friend noticed that I had a day off and suggested that we go for a bike ride.
I plotted a route that bagged 24 tiles, and off we went.
Unfortunately, a road closure meant that we only bagged 22, but it was a great route, and a very pleasant way to spend a Friday afternoon.
No increase in my max square, but it has set a good foundation for filling a rather larger area to the east of my max square.

https://veloviewer.com/athlete/261519/a ... =0,0,5,6,9

Got out again, today, and bagged another 33 tiles.
Only increased my square from 26x26 to 27x27, but has set a good foundation, for jumping to 29x29 with one more ride, and 30x30 (or more) with 1 ride after that.

Today's route was along some excellent Sussex roads, with the characteristic ups & downs, quaint villages, country pubs and great cafes.

And the sun was out, too

Well at least youse lot have a chance of getting a square!

I don't really go hunting tiles but do go out sometimes with a friend who's keen to get tiles. 3371 tiles in total, but my squares and clusters are pants.

You need a bigger boat

Moder-dye wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:51 pm Screenshot_20210913-144603_1.png

Well at least youse lot have a chance of getting a square!

I don't really go hunting tiles but do go out sometimes with a friend who's keen to get tiles. 3371 tiles in total, but my squares and clusters are pants.

You're not supposed to wear pants, under your kilt

finally got out and increased my max square and got some new tiles!!

Explorer score: 1904 tiles, average of 6.082 km per tile
Max square 20x20
Max Cluster: 567
plenty of oportunities to grow the cluster, just getting the time to do the longer rides that are needed is the problem!

Just back from a nice (but, unfortunately, bike free) week in Devon, and having a quiet week at home, before returning to work.
Having still got enough fuel for the first few days of commuting, I thought I'd not waste it, so jumped on the train, and set of for a bit of tile-bagging.
A very pleasant time was had, cycling around the retirement communities of West Sussex (around, not through, as they're mostly private estates)
A couple of visits to the beach and a jaunt through the unusual seaside settlement near Pagham, bagged a few awkward squares.
Cheese and onion butties provided the sustenance, and the sun came out.

Upped my max square from 29*29 to 30*30, with the scene set for a jump up, with a few well planned rides.

Headwinds were brutal, though

Anyone here noticed anything odd with there VV explorer score of late? My squares dropped from 50x50 to 33x33 when I looked yesterday on two different devices. Not sure if I have altered a setting or if Ben has updated something like he did a few years ago when a similar drop in my squares happened.
I could email Ben but thought I would trouble you lot first.

Hmm, no I've still got my expected 56x56 square.
Hope you get it sorted.

Blackhound wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:19 pm Anyone here noticed anything odd with there VV explorer score of late? My squares dropped from 50x50 to 33x33 when I looked yesterday on two different devices. Not sure if I have altered a setting or if Ben has updated something like he did a few years ago when a similar drop in my squares happened.
I could email Ben but thought I would trouble you lot first.

You've not applied a filter at some point - by date maybe? Up there at the top there are the Year, Types and Gear boxes