Veloviewer Tile Bagging?

My target for the year was 20x20 which I completed last month. Looking at the map I'm guess I have about 300 miles of riding to improve up to 21 and given the weather I'm struggling with motivation. I'll probably try and work it in with the rapha festive 500 over Christmas.

There's a bunch of local tiles (10 miles away) I've not got yet around the north of Southampton but looking at the map and google street view the roads just look so horrible I can't face it.

This is my cluster

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I know the feeling, upper SE here isn’t a good place to ride I’ve been forcing myself but usually try early Sunday to make it more bearable.

I’m planning the festive 500 so I’ll try add some on that. I’m thinking I might be able to get to 20x20

This is what mines looking like. It the stuff north of Winchester and Borden that I need to improve. But there relatively big out and back rides as it is, before I can start getting a new tiles and there's a couple that are going to require some offroading to get too.

The majority of the riding is lovely around the south downs. I keep thinking about trying to extend into the new forest, but riding through Southampton to get there is horrific. I've not been able to find a route that isn't a de facto motorway packed with HGV going to the docks.

I'm going to reiterate, again!, what a big handicap living on the coast is.

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17x17, the 20 might be possible by the end of the year

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What are views on use of public transport, either returning from an out route or out to then do a loop?

What are views on use of public transport, either returning from an out route or out to then do a loop?

In the context of a pandemic or in general?

Loads of my tiles have been bagged by getting trains to/from places and then doing rides, especially as loads of my tiles have come from riding Audaxes and I haven't ridden to/from every one of those. Can't see anything wrong with it. I had limited time to get out riding on days when MiniGB was at school so I maximised that time by getting a train 20/30 miles away and doing a ride there.

Almost all of my UK rides join up though, the only two that are completely out on their own are the Mersey Roads 24h TT (got within the same tile on the Snowdon and Coast 400) and the Midlander Super Grimpeur 300.

During a pandemic I'd personally consider it non-essential travel and so I wouldn't be using public transport to get to/from the start of rides if those rides were purely for tile bagging purposes.

Yeah more generally. I was thinking the same.
I guess it only matters how you view it yourself ultimately.
I think my opinion is if you don’t ride to it and ride less than an hour it kinda defeats the point.
Looking at my missing ones there are some that are cornered by terrible roads or just not in safely accessed areas. Some of the estuary seems particularly unpleasant.

To get to 20x20 I need to do a 4x4 block that covers Guildford. I can either ride ~40km there over roads I've ridden on loads of times, do a 40km ride and then ride ~40km back. Or I can get a train there (after riding 5km to a suitable station), ride 80km to cover even more tiles, and get a train back (and then ride 5km home).

Also looking at doing some one-way rides to cover more ground. I've ridden up to Cambridge and back from SW London more times than I care to remember, but almost all by the same route. I'd look to do it one-way by different routes (often a wiggly route to make a path two tiles wide) and then get the train back.

I’ve considered the getting a train option and decided against it for now. Not that its an ethical decision, my ethics are very questionable, given my use of a ferry mid ride. All my riding has been from the front door, other than a charity ride which started in Glasgow and ended up back home.

I still haven’t been able to find a way though Southampton to get to the new forest without ending up on a d facto motorway, so I might get the train to avoid that at some point.

I’ve ridden Bournemouth to Portsmouth ferry terminal without anything to hairy. Where are you struggling?

Between Southampton centre and Totton. No idea how you’d do it without using millbrook road which is basically a motor full of hgvs going to the docks.

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Pretty sure there is a cycle way

https://strava.app.link/Zk3iy82DObb

I’ll have a proper look later

Yeah looking at that route I think I can see what I’m doing wrong.

I never follow a gps which is most of the problem but I’ve just got a quad lock for the phone so hopefully that will help.

Ok cool. The forest has some great riding. I quite like north of the A31. I wish there were more crossing points.

What’s the furthest east line across the Thames anyone has achieved? Trying to figure out where realistically to aim for as my furthest point east.

According to https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap it starts to dry up just East of East Tilbury.

(Of course, rideeverytile.com only has the data from people who join the right Strava group, it isn't everyone who does tile bagging.)

But I'm guessing some of those tiles were grabbed by people on the water (canoe/kayak/etc).

My own long term plan is to get every tile within the M25 so that was going to be my target. The furthest East I've got covering the river is only the Woolwich ferry, but then I'm SW London based - I'm only 2 tiles missing from covering the Thames all the way to Marlow.)

Yeah I’m not looking forward to around Rainham

I've always wanted to go having seen so many of their "RAINHAM STEEL" adverts at football grounds over the years which I can only assume are from the Rainham tourist board.

Maybe I'll get a nice pint of Gazprom if I find a nice pub there.

Haha they sponsor a lot of lower level boxing too, I always wondered why...

I’m up for a organised Rainham ride, company has got to make it better right...?

Rainham 1

Rainham 2

South East of Leigh Beck tile in the river is the limit for cycling London max square.

The Master appears!

Some of those west of that look pretty challenging!