Veloviewer IOW challenge day 5

 After yesterday, when I was sure I was going to have finished by the end of my ride- only to find there was a single, rogue square still holding out I wasn't sure if I could be bothered to hack all the way back out there and get it. 

Then I looked at the weather. Clear this morning, and then with encroaching rain and wind over the next 2 days until I head back up to Glossop. Who am I kidding? Of COURSE I'm going to go and get that square. Lights and wahoo went on charge, wheels were changed and kit was got ready for the morning. A new route that went specifically to Garston Down was planned, and everything was ready. 

Up, coffee and out for before 8- this was a sub-50k smash and grab, so hopefully back by elevenses. Out of the village by a *different* route today (gasp). Starting as I meant to go on, down the hill to the old railway line across the marshes and out to Brading. Then across the quiet lanes at the back of Alverston and Adgestone and then onto the cycle trail westward. The red squirrel trail... I don't know if ALL the cycle trails around here are called the Red Squirrel trail- but there you go. 

It's good under tyre- but there are a few lumps and bumps, especially at speed. Again, it is an old railway line- mainly tarmacked. I can understand why a lot of the bikes around here are more mountain bikey than road bikey. If you're on a cycle trail it isn't guaranteed to be bump free. Nor are the roads, to be fair. 

Along the way I had a minor navigational issue as the GPX decided it was simply going to stop at one point. I suspect it had something to do with the out and back nature of the ride, and the GPS simply got confused. The GPX was reloaded- and it did the same things again.... annoying as it is the bit Im about to get to that is the part I don't really know.... Cycle about 300 metres further, reload, and this time the confusion cleared up and we were back on route again. 

Cheery hellos to all the dog walkers and horse riders- making sure not to disrupt the horses at all... the last thing anyone needs is a spooked horse, and eventually I reached the point where the loop of the lollypop loops- as it were. Rightwards and up along a road that eventually turned into Nunnery lane- which I was on a few days ago, dumping me out at Carisbrooke castle, then down and past the fords mentioned on day 2. Up and left, and along the road from yesterday towards Bowcombe, and then onto the clay/chalk double track that was the bit of offroad yesterday- which, with 2.1 RaceKings today, was a whole lot less of an issue. 

Turns out, more grip is a bit of a confidence booster here!

Halfway along the bridleway there is a 90 degree turn away from yesterdays route that takes you along and up equally muddy and clay-y bridleways. Then- there is a short 30 metre section of steep mud and roots that would be eminently rideable downhill- but definitely not up. And so for the first time in this cycling endevour, I was forced to get off and walk. 

The copse was not long, and at the top was a very big long field of a hill. Mostly mud and grass- and at a steady 10% ascent. Oh well- time to just pedal. It was a fair old slog to get to the top (and was congratulated by a couple of dog walkers on the way). By now- this is pretty much Garston Down. At least- I HOPE it is Garston down. 

The barn

Ah- Correction- now I'm looking at it- its Dukem Down and Dukem Copse- which is the west side of the down (the east side is Garston). So I hacked along the bridleway until I got to the old barn that I remember from umpteen hikes as a much younger person and stopped to take a photo of the "view" and was about to plunge down the hill- when I saw a sign saying "keep out- private land". 

No entry!

Better check the OS map then. And yes.... the OS map corroborated this... for the first time Komoot had failed me in my route finding. Gah! Still. Looking at the map, there was a Bridleway a little further back along the down which went where I needed it to go. (The reason for not coming up that way was because the contour lines were *very* close together, and along with the mud and grass, it simply wasn't going to be a cyclable way up).

So, a swift about turn, back about 400 metres to the bridleway sign, and down off the hill. Yes, it was steep. Yes it was muddy. Yes it was also chalky. With aspects of clay. And stream. Seems like I saved the best til last. 

Off and down into Little Gatcombe and Gatcombe, back to Blackwater and then, back the way I came. 

It struck me on the way back that there are vanishingly few signs that display the indication of a hill being 10% gradient. I initially thought that it must have been because not a lot of the hills are actually all that steep- so I started paying more attention to the gradient field on my wahoo on the way home. 

It would appear that the reason for there not being more 10% signs on the island is because if they put in a sign *every* time the road hit 10% you'd have one on every incline. There are bits of the island that hit about 20%, and nary a sign to tell you. To be honest, with the amount of "careful! red squirrel crossing" and "cows on road" signs, if you included a load of 10% (or greater) signs, you'd have a never ending procession of signs across the island. 

Basically, if you're here with a bike, simply assume that every hill or incline that you go up (or down), it's probably going to hit 10% or more. It's a good rule to follow. 

So- I did indeed get home for just gone 10am, well in time for elevenses and pre-lunch tree-pruning duties. The tile was indeed got- so tomorrow I can happily stay in bed for a little longer! 

Hopefully this link works: Does this work?! which should enable you to see everything I did over the last few days. (another excellent feature of veloviewer). I've had a lot of fun. 

Boom! Done!

So- finally- what kit worked? Well. Everything. Brief rundown:

Fairlight Secan - with 700c for road and 650 for offroad. (GP5000 and RaceKing tyres respectively)

Wahoo tickr HR monitor and Element Bolt for nav. 

Komoot for route planning

Northwave Goretex arctic shoes (a size large to accommodate more socks!)

High5 gels, tangfastics and clif bars

SKS Blumels mudguards

Castelli Gabba jacket (yes- the original one)

Exposure joystick and TraceR lights, with alpkit Tau's on front and back. (and a fibre flare)

Endura reflective overshoes on the road day (over giro shoes). 

Oakley Split Jackets. I can't believe they don't make them anymore!

there you go. Done and dusted. Time for Lunch!

Veloviewer Challenge Day 4

 Just to be clear: this is not an offical thing. It's just me keeping myself amused on a bike over the Christmas holidays. 

Today was a roadride, and the sun came out in style. A lovely day and I set off North out of the village (I ALWAYS go north... it seems that my automatic action is to try to do an anti-clockwise circuit of the island... no idea why... but it always backloads the day with climbs. As I'm about to find out). 

St. Helens, Nettlestone, Bullen Corner, Smallbrook, Firestone copse and Wooton all disappear in a blur. Then its onto getting some new squares through Staplers and down into Newport where I stop for a brief moment to get a picture next to the Quay Arts gallery. 

Quay Arts Centre

Then north on the very nice and well tarmacked Red Squirrel trail towards Cowes. It's a lovely trail, but got a little boring after a while. 

Red Squirrel Trail

Then some squiggles around and about to get some tiles, a main road, and a quiet road that got me to Parkhurst forest. Some of these trails are VERY squidgy, and some of them are pretty solid. How to tell the difference? Well, I looked on the Open Cycle map and took a punt that the trails that were marked as "cycle trails" would be more solid than not. 

The bikeable bit of Parkhurst

And it turned out ok. Glad I wasn't on anything less than 32's though. It was a bit lumpy and bumpy, but very do-able. Out of the forest and past a couple of bemused mountain bikers- and a last down a decent road towards the main road out of Newport... and a turn West along the main road out towards Ningwood and Cranmore. 

Cranmore roads

Cranmore! My word, what a place. Well... certainly a place where my average speed took a bit of a nose dive. A short bimble around the "roads" of Cranmore to get some more tiles, and a quick photo, and then a blast back to Ningwood, a right and some lovely quiet and well tarmacked roads that took me windingly back to Carisbrooke. 

At Carisbrooke there was a bit of a faff around the trading estate- not because I needed to visit Argos, but because there was a tile that was needed that one of the roads just glinted the edge of. 

On the way to Bowcombe

Then a plunge out of Carisbrooke and over to Bowcombe- grab another tile, and then a sneaky blat across a chalky double track across the fields to Gatcombe. Not the best terrain for the Secan in road mode, but it coped admirably. 

Oh yeah. This is why we have road tyres on...

Chalky. It's ok if you pretend you have grip.

Gatcombe, and Snowdrop lane- and a MASSIVE buzzard flying down the road, and then south through Chillingham and Billingham- (expecting the next place to be Allingham- I was sorely disappointed that it was actually Kingstone). Turning West and out to Brighstone in order to turn onto the Military road and TT my way Eastwards with as much of a tailwind as possible to get another 2 tiles, before doglegging into and out of Chale- same reason- before the climb to Niton. 

Where, of *course* there was an icecream van, doing a roaring trade! 

Niton- and then down to the Undercliff, where I haven't been in a lot of years- and I wasn't sure if I could get through after the 2014 landslip. 

Good news... yes you can on a bike, and the road is lovely and smooth (at the time of writing). It's quiet and is certainly worth a look. 

The bit on the Undercliff where there was a landslip

Through St.Lawrence, Ventnor and down into Bonchurch where the back loading of the climbs REALLY makes things apparent. I was down to chain eating Tangfastics by this stage on the brutal climbs back up to the main road, and then across, above Luccombe and into Shanklin and Sandown where, on a whim, I decided to see what was going on along the seafront. LOTS of people. That's what. Average speed took another massive hit as I chilled out and wove my way through the Boxing day revellers. The cafes were making a killing, that's for sure. 

Then a final dash for home through Yaverland and Bembridge. Beautiful weather throughout. 

Home!

 

On uploading the ride, hoping that it was all done and dusted.... what do you know. A SINGLE flipping square- just by Bowcombe and Gatcombe. Flipping Garstons Down. 

Dammit!

That Square......

Veloview IOW tile Challenge, Day 3

 Ah yes. Christmas day. It seemed like it might be an idea to go out for a swift half hour jaunt to Ryde to grab a single tile at the end of the pier (I know... its not the island, it juts off the island, but it would be nice to get it). Then things transpired that there might be a little more time than that in the early afternoon, seeing as Christmas dinner would be in the evening - a slightly extended (though not crazy long) ride might be in order. 

Your standard sign around here

What would be a bonus was that I was heading out just after midday. With any luck everyone else on the island would be sitting down and tucking into Christmas dinner of some sort. Only being out for a couple of hours at most would mean that I should be back as the post-prandial "compulsory family enjoyment" of massed dog walks etc. would be beginning- and- I'd be home before the traditional communal drink driving from one family home to another commeced. 

Road wheels on- 700c, 32 wide GP5000s, ready for anything that the roads were to throw at me. I even remembered to change the spare tubes in the seat pack from 650's to 700s. You never know.... A quick plan of a route on Komoot (I know the roads around here- but not THAT well), and bang, out of the door. Within short order I was on Ryde pier, heading out to get the tile that is right at the very end of the pier, and then back in again. 

Ryde Pier

Next stop was Wooton, and Little Canada. There is a little circular "road" that kind of takes in 2 tiles. Komoot wasn't entirely happy with me choosing this as a route, and it because obvious as the "road" turned into something very much akin to "Isle of Wight gravel". Massive pot holes, streams, puddles, kind of like a bridleway really. The tyres coped with it admirably, though I was fairly amused by the whole thing. Kind of road.... kind of not. 

Aha! a "road"

Back onto the main road and across to Firestone Copse and Havenstreet, going south towards Newchurch, gaining a new tile on the waypast Rowlands wood. Further south, and keeping a decent average speed up, I joined a road that I was on yesterday- but at a much greater speed! 

Still very few cars about, and I swooshed down into Shanklin, across Sandown and down to the front, getting another few tiles and a nice view of the pier, before heading home via Yaverland and Bembridge. Not a huge ride- just under 2 hours, but it was good to get out on the bike, get some tiles, and save me going to some random places tomorrow (with rubbish roads)...

Sandown pier ("a despicable hovel" according to Mark Steel goes Local - in Ventnor!)

So this is what it was looking like prior to the ride....

 

And this is after. So 6 more tiles. - Yes there are only 5 arrows here- I forgot to arrow the one near havenstreet. It's pretty obvious where it is when you compare the 2 maps.

So now I have to replan tomorrow! Komoot, here we come.

Veloviewer tiles- day 2

 Christmas Eve. 24th Dec. Officially the first day of the Rapha500, so it would be rude not to go for a cycle. I had a bit of a plan today. Having cycled around the island a few times before, this was going to be a variation on a "gravel" ride I've seen somewhere. It was adapted to go through as many new tiles on the island as I could do, while making it a sensible and coherent ride. (It took a decent amount of planning...)

Some of the bridleways I was going to be going along and over are somewhat etched into my memory from childhood. Images of massive and muddy hills, impassible clay and mud paths and all kinds of things like that. This made actually getting out and doing it a bit of a mission. Apprehension was high, especially as it was really breezy yesterday- and it would have been misery with a headwind for the first half. It's wierd what your head does to you. 

It rained all night, and so the ground- already soft- would be sodden. A good thing that the 650bs were shod with Continental RaceKings. I took the Byways off before I came down... they are a summer tyre, really, especially if the "gravel" sections of the island were going to be as bad as I thought. 

Setting off at first light, it might be about 6 hours before getting home. Multiple lighting options were put on the bike, and all were used at some point. (not because anything ran out, but rather, because I didn't want anything to run out). 

A quick bash out of St. Helens and over to Bullen corner. It should have been fairly straight forward- and it was until I came across a rather inconvenient horizontal tree across a minor road/bridleway within the first 10 mins. Still, it gave a good opportunity to take a photo of what was, at that point, a nice, shiny bike. 

After an exciting climb through the tree, onto the roads up into Ryde where I took a "short cut" that turned out to be, well, not. Back onto the road and then a right turn by the golf course and onto the bridleway- tarmacked- across to Quarr abbey. Now- if all bridleways were like this- ah- no need for anything like nobbly tyres. Apart from a load of washed leaves, it was a fairly pleasant ride across to Fishbourne. 

Out onto the road and then a short section prior to a right turn and again, some fairly easy going bridleway. The secret, it seems, is if there is a house at the end of the bridleway, it's fairly well paved. If not... well- we're about to find out. 

First there is a fairly useful amount of paved surface, and then a fun downhill section through Dunnage Copse where the bridleway degenerates into a mud/clay bath with not a lot of anything else apart from deteriorating grass on either side. In the middle is- yes, the obligatory stream. Again, thank goodness for the Race Kings which provide at least some level of grip down here.

Then into Havenstreet and a hard right into Wakershill copse- a delighful Gravel/mtb flavoured bridleway that is relatively wide. Though I do seem to remember a section that resembled a thin path that *would* have been covered in leaves, except that a track down the middle of the bridleway had been washed clean by a stream that had run down it... well, I say that the middle was washed clean. It was also washed clean away. Getting up there was quite fun, but at least the bottom of the path was relatively solid, despite having to negotiate multiple little steps. Was that here? I can't remember... but it was not the *only* path like this...

Out to the wide roaded section that lobs you onto the Downend road where an e-biker overtook me on the uphill. Only for me to then reel him in significantly on the flat section, until a sharp right hander took me down Burnt house lane- a real pleasure of a back road, so long as you don't come across any traffic- and I didn't until right at the end. Down to the road, across and up into Shide, before finding that the road system is very different to how I remember it (one way systems!) but fortunately my route very quickly takes me out of there and under Carisbrooke castle. 

A swift down and up (and over two fords, which luckily have very well maintained cyclable bridges) and up and up and up through Clatterford until a very sharp left turn onto... yes... a bridleway about a bike width wide, with the middle washed away. A challenge to get up initially, but it gave way to some pretty decent riding up Bowcombe down and eventually across to Brighstone down. 

This is the section that I looked over on the computer the day before and thought "dyou know... I don't want to cycle up that steep hill- its going to be minging. I'll switch the westwight loop around the other way and go down it instead". How precient of me. The trail was hard under tyre for a decent amount of time before I hit the top of the hill and it gave way to a descent of mud, loam, tree roots, clay and deep, deep leaves. On a steep hill. Going up this would certainly have been nigh on impossible in these conditions- and going down it was challenging enough. Technically there was another track off to the right, but I didn't go there, prefering to keep on the actual bridleway, which then gave way to a lumpy and slippy field. It wouldn't have been impossible in the other direction but it would have been a right slog!

A nice bridleway, and then onto a main road for a short time, before a swift left turn onto what could be one of my favourite roads ever. Especially in this direction. Down past Tapnell farm, the road is single track really, but beautifully tarmacked, fields as far as you can see (try to ignore the smell of cabbages... it is a bit Pratchettesque in that department)- ah- amazing riding. 

Then down Wilmingham road, turn right opposite a fruit farm and onto a bridleway that could quite easily have been a footpath. Very thin, mud everywhere- an absolute clag fest. Not somewhere you would want to bike unless you had some decent tyres. And good experience on a bike. A bit of a fight ensued to get up and over this- and from the end of it, a right left onto a bridleway that you could have been forgiven for thinking was a B-road. 

Within 100m you go from something that is nigh impossible to ride on, to a humungous wide, flat, pisted path. It's insane. 

I don't just mean it from a cycling perspective. Imagine you are on a mobility scooter and you're on the nice path, and think- oooh, there's a bridleway just across the way, it is technically the same class as the one I'm on, I'll go and check it out. Absolute no go. I'm coming to the thought that we should have classification systems for bridleways like we do for roads. Just think of the carnage if your motorways, a-roads, b-roads and unclassified were all on maps and just classed as "road". It'd be insane. 

I digress. 

South and into the outskirts of Yarmouth and then a significant amount of road to get me to Alum Bay (via a couple of tiles) and then out to the Needles Battery and the Coastguard houses. 

The Tour of Britain was meant to be finishing here this year, but was cancelled due to the Queen passing away. Shame, it would have been amazing to see the expressions of the riders as they passed the house on the corner with all the crazy gnomes in the garden. Ah well. 

 

At the top, I thought I'd see what was going on with the track on the south side of the down... It's a square that has not yet been covered and it looks like there is only a footpath there. And yes. There is a lovely path, fairly manicured, and in WAY better condition that a number of bridleways that I've been subjected to thus far with a lovely sign on it saying "NO BIKES". Sigh.

 

So back the way I came then. 

Mostly road and a bit of amusement on bridleways until Freshwater hove into view, and the prospect of a triple whammy of hills. Freshwater golf course (Afton/Compton down). Mottistone down and Limerstone Down. (and Northcourt Down afterward as a bonus). These three downs are a great way across the area, but there is a fair amount of up and down on what can be slightly sketchy ground. It's mostly chalk, with some grass, and, you guessed it- mud. The last time I went across all of these in a row was on a trans-wight run (trying to relive the trans-wight challenge of my Scout days- but this time in the daytime- and on foot). I've never cycled on these tracks before and so the ascents were playing on my mind a bit. 

Still, there is little else to do except get on and pedal- making sure that you're well fed. In all honesty, the ascents- yes- were a bit challenging, mainly due to what was under the tyres paired with the gradient and the tiredness, but it wasn't as desperate as expected. However, by this time my bike was utterly covered in crud and gear shifting was getting somewhat sub-optimal, so there were definitely points where it was the bike that I was fighting against, not just the conditions. 

Across the top of Limerstone I managed to fall off twice in quick succession- into 2 MASSIVE puddles. It was one of those classic - the puddle is too deep, so go up and around it on the verge. Not concentrating, I toppled rightwards on the first one and barely unclipped in time- going shin deep into a puddle that was already a fair way below me- and half the bike got a dunking. A bit of swearing and I got out, and onto the bike, ready for the next one, about 20 yards down the way, for EXACTLY the same thing to happen, except now my hands went in and 3/4 of the bike- upside down. Great, so my haribo is now soaked in grimy puddle water, my gloves are soaked in the same stuff... at least the gels are self contained and the water bottles have some kind of mouthpiece guard on them. We'll see how ill I get from this. 

After straightening out the handlebars (yes, it was that bad), and sorting out the mudguards so that they didn't scrape the sides of the tyres, I set off again down to the road- where it was a bit more sheltered to stop and re-sort the mudguards prior to heading up Northcourt down- another of those Bridleways you could literally mistake for a B-road- until you turn right and go down a crazed mud slope through a field that you are wondering if it actually is a footpath or not- and being very thankful that you aren't going UP it. 

Through a field- that really feels like you are picking up a lot of field in your tyres, onto a road where most of said field gets flung back at you, through Kingstone and down to Chale and onto a road for a fair amount of distance to get to Godshill. No- not really gravel, but this section gets me two more tiles that are fairly out of the way- so utterly necessary, 

North through Budbridge and the small trail that I could have sworn was a footpath- where I nearly fell into a river. (ah- memories of family walks here as well)- an absolute mudfest, made more exciting this time by the sheer amount of horse crap and churned mud- up to Horringford, and then a barnstorming (maybe not- I was on nobblies) ride on an A road throuh Apse Heath (again- for tile necessity) and into Lake and Sandown (ditto) before heading up through Yaverland, Brading and back to St. Helens across the marshes. 

Back in just under 6 hours. just over 100k, 2000m of ascent and a marvellous tour of the best the Isle of Wight has to offer in terms of "British Gravel". 

Hilarious.

So there you have it- an extra 38 tiles got. This was before....

And this is after.

All Good Fun. 

As you know- I like stuff that works- and I'm not sponsored by anyone. Anything I use is because I've paid for it and rely on it. 

Bike: Fairlight Secan. Tyres: Conti Race Kings. Lights: Exposure Joystick and TraceR, with Alpkit backups. Nav: planned on Komoot and exported to Wahoo bolt. Shoes: Northwave Arctic GTX. Gloves: Endura FS260 mitts under Spatzwear long fingered winter gloves. Food: High5 gels, a couple of Aldi titans and a bag of Tangfastics. 

Job's a good'un .

Veloviewer tiles- day 1

 Considering it was the 23rd when I started, (and I was baking a Stollen), there wasn't a whole lot of time to get outo for a massive ride.... and also, even if I did, the distance wouldn't be counted for the Rapha500 (If I was doing it, of course). 

It would have been rude to let a day go by without getting out and grabbing a couple of tiles, so it wasn't until the afternoon that I was able to head out for a bit of a bimble. There were a couple of tiles relatively close to home that would be good to get: over at Lane End, and at the top of Culver. Both, rather conveniently along the Coastal path, and within running distance of home. 

I took pretty much standard long distance running kit- all the stuff I would take in the hills, because- well, why not? Also, I'm not going for any records, so I might as well practice carrying the stuff. 

All fairly standard, run round to Bembridge, then along and down to the seafront and along towards the Lifeboat station. There we go- that's definitely the first tile sorted. Now just a simple run up to Culver.

Bembridge Lifeboad station. Yes, The sea is on an angle.

 

Underfoot was everything from tarmac to slipper clay, so it was nice to have some grip (albeit tired grip) in the form of some old VJ irocs. Up toward Culver I came across the section of path where I *really* badly twisted my ankle back in 2005/6. So badly that I had to call Dad to fetch me home. This was probably the incident that caused me to have no posterior ligament in my right ankle- and it was certainly the incident that led my right ankle to click every step I took when running for about a decade. Fun times. 

Yup. This is where it happened.

Up to the top of Culver and a tour right around the edge fence, just to be sure I got the tile- and then down.... I took a path that went right the way out to another fence- and then took a dogleg back. Once I got to the fence, I looked at the map and realised that the land was actually one of the very few pieces of open access land on the island, and I could simply have cut out about a kilometre of running and just run across the field. 

Silly....

But it wasn't until I got home and uploaded the run that the very end of that dogleg got me another tile! Hah! If I'd have been sneaky (intelligent) and cut off the distance, the tile would not have been got. Bonus tile! 

You can *just* see where that dog leg reaches into the tile with Yaverland!

Then back across to Centurions corner, over the marshes where Brading harbour once was in the times of the Romans (you really can see where what was once the harbour has very much silted up), and then back to home. 

Lovely little run out. 

Veloviewer - Isle of Wight challenge

You may or may not have heard of Veloviewer. It’s a data aggregation platform that allows you to slice your strava data in a million different ways. 

Here is an aggregation of data looking at annual distance accumulation since 2011. You can see here, my distance is somewhat down on a couple of other years... I think this is a little off though, as it counts Zwift Kilometres (because Ive selected "everything") which seem less hard to accumulate than real ones....

A better understanding of my training comparisons over the years can be seen here:

 Where you can see that my actual time exercising (or at least, time recorded on a watch/bike computer) is way off where it was for many previous years- and only above 3 others in the past decade. The reduced time is mainly due to the fact I was somewhat pre-occupied with an MSc. this year- but  it is also a good explanation for not feeling quite as fit as I have done in the past.... it isn't to do with advancing age- it's to do with the act of less training. 

This analysis isn't why we're here though....

I love Veloviewer for many reasons, but THIS one was not really that much of an attraction until recently.

Tracks in the UK- where have I run/biked?

The Explorer tiles, basically dividing the world up into squares that you have either visited, or not. There are a few things you can track, such as how many unique squares you visited this year, or compared to last year, your total squares, the biggest square you’ve yet completed. It all gets a bit geeky to be honest.

As you can see- travel through a square- it changes colour...

Previously I’ve been much more interested in height gain and distance etc, but since getting through this last 15 months of academia I know I’m not in any real shape to start challenging previous times, and even imagining that I can is unlikely to motivate me to get out on the bike or into the hills.

Over Christmas I’m back home for a few days. There is of course the old Rapha 500 which I've completed the year I was in Mallorca with Hux.... I’ve biked around the island a couple of times previously and I don’t really want to do the same thing again -   which is probably the easiest way of gaining distance. 

However. I had a "better" idea.

The Isle of Wight is a very finite space. It only has a certain number of explorer squares on it.
I wonder how much of it I can get coloured in over the time I’m back home. Running and riding only.
I’ll stick it all on strava if you’re interested and will put up a blog with a final pic when I get back.

So here is a screenshot of what we have at the moment... I might post updates on insta... I guess it depends on weather and family duties... Happy Christmas!