‘Love your memoirs I have been BCQ ing since May 2018 Amazing! Currently completed 333 questions out of 402, certainly addictive, last year 3.500 miles covered over 5 months This year starting in the Highlands of Scotland, incorporating Isle of Man and back toward The West Country About 2.000 miles reaching north Devon. Tour cut short. Evicted from home, 2 months to pack up ‘Plan to head off Again to complete Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and East Anglia to complete the Quest❤ Bike touring is the best adventure of life I could tour forever😋🧚♀️ You will love The BCQ🧚♀️
That is some impressive questing! But I can imagine it does get pretty addictive once you get started. Sounds like you have some great plans though. I agree about the touring life. There is nothing quite like it, for those that like it ;) Good luck with finishing the list, report back when you've ticked them all off!
Great video Jethro! Im sure most of us feel that angst you were describing in the first couple of minutes of the video, I certainly do. It was like you were reading my mind. I think your mapping project is a great idea and I think I will do the same. Thanks mate. Happy trails
Anyone with a taste for adventure must feel it sometimes. I'm glad you like the mapping idea, it seems to be well received so I'm gonna revisit in a year and get people to share their progress maps - we can make an art project of it ;)
I will soon I'm sure. At the moment I'm confined to day rides and the odd overnighter until my holiday allowance refills in Jan. Still searching for that perfect get-rich-quick scheme so I can retire permanently to the bike 😉
@@JethroJessop ahh yes I certainly know what you mean my friend, times are hard indeed. Iv been a bit chicken lately with the weather.. and lazy, very very lazy. Not good, not good at all, lol.. Next on my to do is 'the Gap' again, up near pen-y-fan. It's absolutely epic. Ticks many boxes. If you'd like a companion I'd be your man .Keep the vids coming Jethro, always a great joy to watch. God bless, mark
@@welshbikepackingadventures I think I have looked at that one before and liked the idea of it. We shall see, I dunno if I'll be up any mountains in the next couple of months but you never know!
I'm very pleased you liked it. Start tracking all your adventures and in a years time everyone here can share their maps as a kind of art project. It would be great to see a whole load of different shapes scrawled on different parts of the world.
Train to Skipton and 40 miles home down the Canal. The train opens up all kinds of options beyond my locality. It can be cheap too if I use my railcard and pick the right journey.
As ever your musings and mulling are spot on, we are also fans of the train assist ride, being of a certain age and having a 🏴concession rail card means we can mix it up a bit more!
It should be the ultimate way to travel. If only it wasn't so hard to take bikes on trains in this country! When I am king of the world the bike/train symbiosis will be high on my agenda!
@@JethroJessop ScotRail are pretty good, but GWR and LNER … depends on the crew, but space for bikes on new GWR rolling stock is a joke, literally a cupboard, big enough for a child’s bike!
@@christopherflint2074 yeah I know all about GWR and a fair few others. I've experienced the joy of trying to book a bike on a long journey that uses multiple train operators. It makes angry and sad in equal measures but as I say, when I'm king of the world...
@@JethroJessop ha ha, I think my day has just been taken over with planning my first ride once the snow has gone. Need to fill in all the missing streets, in my town!
Ha, glad you enjoyed it. The last bit was probably the least planned of the whole video - I was getting tired by then. Maybe I should do exhausted ad-libbing more often ;)
@@JethroJessop Yes, maybe you should! May your wheels in 2023 find you trails through woods of unparalleled natural beauty lit by the golden warmth of a mid summer's morning. HNY Jethro.
Interesting thought .. as ever Apposite too as I’ve just prevaricated my way through the normal “map/earth/streetview” combinations around me for a similar reason. Take care
Our lottery here in The States was just two Billion $. Immediate payment cash option was 1B $. I thought for sure I was the sole winner but seem to have been mistaken. I really wanted to tighten you up with some cash. Maybe next time. Always a pleasure watching your musings. BBB want's to know when the spoons are coming back.
Ah man, i was relying on that big win. Ah well, I'll keep struggling along till next time. I've got back into whittling recently but have only got a few finished which will probably go as Christmas presents I'm afraid. Hopefully in Jan I'll get some more up on the store. Im gonna try and branch out to bowls as well but postage to the US might be a bit bonkers for those - it's bad enough for a spoon!
What a lovely day and ride so close to home! I'm looking forward to when I can just ride a nice, scenic, lush byway within an hour of my house... now I have to drive 2-3 hours to get out of the desert. Thanks for the insight as always, Jethro! Ride with GPS shows your personal Heatmap like that.
I've not dug deep into RWGPS. It seems like a great tool and I really like the planning aspect of it. I'm pretty entrenched in strava now and probably too lazy to shift to anything new ;)
That's such a cool idea. Thanks very much. I'm also caught waiting to go on the next big thing and this could just be looking for til I strap on the panniers again. JP
I was looking at drawing on paper maps to record where I walk and ride but this is so much better, thank you. I just need to wipe off two years of daily 1 mile commute to and from work off Strava 🙄
Yeah that could slow the load time down 😉 I dunno if there is a way to tag certain rides then filter which show up on the map? I have got to the point now where I only record routes that are going to add to the master plan. Like all collections, it is wonderfully pointless 😉
Great video, Jethro. Wow, I've finally found somebody else that gets the same kick out of doing this as I do. I'm sure loads of people would love to collect their rides in some way but don't know how to. I've been using Google Earth for years to plan, log and collect rides. A little known feature of it is that you can use the measurement tool (desktop version) to draw routes wherever you want then save them and show them all at once. After a ride I manually draw in anywhere new that I've been. After 8 years it's starting to look pretty crazy. It's a lot more time consuming than just uploading the route but it means I get to relive the ride and see where I went from above. I also get a huge kick out of adding something a bit extra to my ever growing map, and just like you it's forced me to explore some fantastic routes I might have otherwise not explored. I was cycling around Reading a couple of months ago. As I'm from Yorkshire, it's given me a nice little chaotic island of red lines unconnected to my main collection. I don't know why, but somehow that's even more satisfying than if they were connected :)
Sounds like you know exactly what I'm getting at! I also love it when I go somewhere away from home and get to add those little blobs of lines. I have a couple in Prague which are my most remote but also lots of little closer to home day rides and there is a little voice in my head that won't be happy until they are all connected. I have a lot of rides ahead of me still 😉 I can actually see the appeal of manually drawing in your routes as well. I spend a lot of time on RideWithGPS planning routes by hand in minute detail
@@JethroJessop Nothing for me abroad yet, but steadily getting a lot of little unconnected blobs all over the country. I find half the fun is planning rides that will eventually join them all up. I usually sling my bike in the back of the car if I'm driving anywhere, just to get a mark on the map somewhere unusual. Got a few motorway service area carparks :)
@@EpicUpCycling Yeah, I often plan the ultimate tour that would join all my different blobs. It would be a monster! During lockdown I started tracking walks as well and that helped me fill in the local area and tick of lots of footpaths and little alleyways in town that aren't great for bikes.
@@JethroJessop I've added walks as well, but in a different colour. Hoping to get a kayak some day and start adding canals and rivers :) I've also been going around the country slowly photoing the Sustrans millenium sign posts that are on most of the numbered cycle routes. Not many people seem to know what they are. I've found about 150 of the 1000 of them. I think I found about 7 around the Reading area. They are something else that have made me look for new routes.
@@EpicUpCycling ah yeah, I've spotted a few of them around but never really paid them much attention I'll admit. I also have kayaking on the mind. I really want to try bikerafting but I fear i don't live in the best part of the world for it. One day though!
Absolutely, paper maps are beautiful things and I only use digital versions out of laziness really. I did look at getting all the paper OS maps for my Badger Divide ride but it worked out really expensive and I would have needed a dedicated map bag ;)
That mapping site is brilliant. I've only been recording rides since 2011 but it was great to see everywhere I've been. International too (a few French holidays). I'm so glad I bothered to export all my rides from Endomondo and import them into Strava when they killed off Endomondo. Thing is... there's a lot of places I haven't yet ridden. This will certainly encourage me to colour-in the map a bit more.
It's weirdly satisfying to watch the map fill in and zoom out as the international routes load. I just wish I'd been recording my routes all my life as there are a few notable holes in my collection from my pre strava (even pre smart phone) days.
Hi JJ, great to see you out and about again! Great idea of mapping your routes, I'll need to start mapping mine...although it could be addictive! ATB 🙂👍
Do it. I may become a little bit of a compulsion but its pretty healthy as compulsions go I think. And it really will help you find some great stuff close to home. I look forward to seeing you filled in map in the future :)
I do a bucket list every summer...and I was able to accomplish all but 1 last season. Long day rides (centuries, etc.), each with new roads/trails. Having done month-long rides, these are cheaper, more flexible, but ALMOST as daunting and ALMOST as invigorating. Huzzah! and what a great idea, to log them on maps.
Having a record of past rides can be a really good motivation for future ones I find. Plus I'm just a bit of geek and I like maps and charts and graphs ;)
It's easy to find a route you like and stick to it but there is something really nice about looking down a trail and not knowing what is round the corner. Even if it's only something "insignificant" like a tree you've never seen before.
@@JethroJessop I find an OS map a good start point. Although I’m always worried about bridle path “confrontation “ with horse riders arguing the “bicycles on bridal ways” like I’ve had in the past.
@@DIY-DaddyO I love the OS maps. They are a piece of art, each and every one. I've just gravitated to the OSM cycle map as it free and covers other countries as well. I've never had any bother with horse riders beyond a few frosty stares but I'm pretty sure you can be confident in having just as much right to be on a bridleway as them.
@@DIY-DaddyO i always assume that everyone knows about it but it actually seems to have gone under a lot of folks radars. OpenCycleMap.org Its fantastic, I use it for everything. RideWithGPS lets you use it in their route planning tool and Gaia Maps leta you cache the tiles on your phone. Only thing it isn't great for is elevation but I use it as my primary map choice always.
What a lovely part of the country Jethro. Great idea ref route planning ;-) You've certainly inspired me! I hope to get away before year end, I might train out - cycle back from somewhere i've not been before just for s#!ts and giggles......
Nothing like putting your tyres across some new dirt! Trains and bike should be the perfect playmates but unfortunately in this country trying to take a bike on a train over any real distance is like pulling teeth. They don't make it easy which is very sad.
@@purelyacademic I'll tell you my shirt story... After much procrastinating due to the price I finally got myself a nice icebreaker bodyfit base layer a year or so ago and it was an epiphany. The comfiest thing I had ever worn and I soon realised I needed more of them but couldn't really justify it so I set a search on ebay and now I just keep an eye out for any that come up. Even in really good nick they go for half what they are new. I got one with a moth hole in it - but otherwise mint - for £6! I think the one in the video is a 200 but I don't fuss about the rating or anything and I've got half a dozen now. I pretty much wear them all the time. I'm after some legging at the moment but they don't seem to come up so often.
@@purelyacademic Nice. They are fantastic bits of gear - but not the cheapest! I have a funny relationship with gear. I love it but don't have much to say about it often - there are many folk out there more experienced than me. I did think I should start looking into TH-cam Shorts and doing little mini reviews that are just my opinion on something small like a base layer. But I dunno if anyone actually watches Shorts so I'm still undecided
Enjoyable musings. Very much interested in trying the longer rides (multi-day), however I find it hard/daunting to plan for as there are so many variables, most of all the weather. Next year though 👍
The variables usually turn out to not be as challenging as you expect. Weather is the perfect example. It always seems worse when you look at our from inside but in fact the only really unpleasant weather is driving rain. Everything else can be dealt with or at least endured. As long as you can be confident in being warm and dry in the tent at night then everything else is doable. This is also why I tend to pack on the heavy side. I like to know that at any moment i could just call it a day, pitch my tent and have enough food, water and fuel to see me through a few days. There is also alot to be said for starting small. Local overnighters are a great way to work out the details.
one reason i use a 20in folder which can also go on buses. I was ticking off nature reserves until bird flu. Now its things like local trigs, steam railways, even the pubs marked on maps 1.25000. I also ordered an os map with my house in the middle, which means the edge of the map [here be dragons] is no more than 10k away and going down every marked route. I will also go around roads in towns and cities [often with their own town trails] but its not so much the sights its the people you meet and the stories they tell you. That makes it. Not the miles but 'What stories will i hear today?'. The fellowship of the road.
Absolutely agree. I like ticking off items on maps and lists but it's really just a trigger to get me out to them in the first place. OS maps are, in my opinion, the best maps in the world and I'd love to do all my tracking on them but its not practical until I make my fortune and can finally build my map room 😉 My brother has the entire end wall of his kitchen wallpapered with a huge OS map of his area. It is fantastic!
You could sign up to "the British cycle quest" it's well worth doing Moosh. Especially when you've not been allowed to leave the country for a few years. Gives you an incentive to get out on the bicycle. And you can get a medal or 2 whilst you do it.
I'd never even heard of the BCQ. Just been reading up on it and it sounds right up my street! Thanks for the tip. I tried Geocaching for a bit as a similar goal but found them too close together and not that bike friendly. This looks much better
@@JethroJessop yes it's good fun and I have randomly bumped into others that are doing it, that really gets the conversation going. "That's a good question", "why did they move that one?" "North Yorkshire moors is tough", "nice bakery near that one, does lasagne pies" ," shame about London and the odd larger city " (unless you can get in and out easily) and gets you to some random places. And I make the route up as I go along, Find a base, dump the tent and panniers and do some unloaded riding..It would never have even crossed my mind to do a week or so on the Isle of Man. I find it like a giant dod to dot book. But you can join them up how you want.
@@damianhill6704 I completely agree with everything you said but I have to focus on one particular point... Lasagne Pies? I think I need that experience in my life, that sounds amazing!
@@JethroJessop I've looked up in my diary. The best lasagne pie I've had so far was from a Charles McHardy butchers in Laurencekirk (nearest BCQs are 61/3, 61/4 and 62/6.) If you look the place up on Google maps. You will see a photo I posted on their page. I also found a bakery in Innerleithen and Peebles that did Lasagne pies. But not to that standard. The BCQ has always been an excuse to try as many bakeries as possible in as many places as possible. I usually go for scotch eggs.... But sometimes some new local cuisine appears.
@@damianhill6704 i bloody love an unexpected bakery! I'm looking at the pic of you pie now and it's making me think about lunch. What a concept, can't believe I've never come across this before!
Lack of holiday, inclement weather and just other things getting on the way. I can only apologise 😉 I do actually have two videos shot that I've not been able to edit due to technical issues as well. It's just been one of those times. I am still here though and there will be more videos coming soon. I hope you will hang around for them and I appreciate your patience.
@@JethroJessopwell I'm glad that there's more in the pipeline and I hope your technical issues are sorted soon.....I first saw one of your videos probably a year ago...the pennine bridleway series....and again yesterday and I've binged aload of your vids...I'm watching your 2019 tour...and I just love your carefree attitude..... anyway I'm waffling Happy holidays!!!
@@josg3444 carefree waffling is where I'm happiest so I'm glad you enjoy it. I really hope to get at least one longer ride in this year. I miss those long days in the saddle and being lost in a beautiful place. Fingers crossed!
Ray beat me to it but yeah, Surly Moloko. Really good, the sweep is spot on for me and they are very comfy for long rides. I hardly even use the additional hand position to be honest - only at the end of long days usually when you want to just lean into it and blast the last few miles.
I watched the Post Road video. Great scenery, but the way that video is made is not for me. I find it over processed, too far from reality, it's the "magic" world of YT videos, a fiction really.
I was thinking this ass well. I'd love to know the logistics of making such a film - did the camera operator ride with them? Go ahead in a vehicle? Did they scout the route first? How much footage was shot to condense down into that little film? It is definitely a fantasy but I still enjoy these little blasts of beautiful cinematography and drone shots. They make a nice counterpoint to my own videos 😉
I can relate to all of this a lot. So many adventures that are inspiring, yet so little we can do with our days off in the year. I have a few tips & additions, for anyone looking for more websites & tools like the one you linked. Very soon after I got my roadbike in 2020, I started using veloviewer, a very similar service also collecting your strava activities and showing some more stats, e.g. it challenges you to build the biggest possible connected square of tiles in a predefined grid which spans the whole earth. A great little helper when planning to explore some tiles I have not visited yet. There's even a hashtag #tilehunting for this where you'll find some people e.g. on twitter sharing their rides & walks on their explorations. I also started to take the train to get to my rides - such a nice feeling to explore new areas around the place i live. You can even use routeplanning tools like bikerouter.de and add overlays of your visited tiles too, e.g. via vv.fork.pl which generates overlay images for you. Another great site to check out is statshunters.com, which also visualizes your max square, cluster, collected tiles etc. Two more services focussing on routes not traveled: wandrer.earth tracks the roads you travelled and displays a huge map and tracks the % of paths you explored in a specific region or city. it also offers a great chrome extension which overlays your traveled routes on many map viewers like komoot or bikerouter.de . squadrats.com has the same concept of filling a grid (just like veloviewer), but offers a finer grid if your unexplored tiles start to get hard to reach because you have to travel so far to get to the edge of your square. These "squadratinhos" are a veloviewer tile (~1.5km x 1.5km) devided in to 64 smaller tiles. Once you open the map on that site, you'll notice a lot of gaps in your close surroundings which you can still explore without traveling far. Happy tilehunting!
Wow, i have have to check all these out! Thank you for all the tips, these all sound right up my street. It is amazing how the desire to fill in a map pushes you to explore and change your routes. Or it does for a certain type of person at least 😉 I'm visiting friends this weekend but I'll be digging in to a these links once I'm back. Thanks again for great comment!
The idea of taking a train out of town, to start a ride is genius! I need to start doing this. Thank you!
It depends on your local train service but if it's an option then it opens up so much more area to day rides.
@@JethroJessop I live in Łódź (Lodz), Poland and the municipal railways have developed considerably in recent years, so yay!
@@MarcinPetruszka Nice. Just found you on a map and looks like you are basically in the middle so the whole country is yours to explore :)
This is an excellent idea to get me out of that ‘old route rut’ Thanks for sharing
Glad it appeals. Sounds like a few folk like the idea so let's all fill in a map and then we can share progress in a year's time!
Always interesting listening to your views and thoughts.
Glad you think so. I always enjoy spouting this nonsens so having any listeners at all is fantastic 😉
@@JethroJessop it’s not nonsense. Each video is full of knowledge n wisdom.
@@theexplorer6813 you are very kind. I try my best but I'm never certain if I'm hitting my marks or not
‘Love your memoirs
I have been BCQ ing since May 2018
Amazing!
Currently completed 333 questions out of 402, certainly addictive, last year 3.500 miles covered over 5 months
This year starting in the Highlands of Scotland, incorporating Isle of Man and back toward The West Country
About 2.000 miles reaching north Devon. Tour cut short. Evicted from home, 2 months to pack up
‘Plan to head off Again to complete Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and East Anglia to complete the Quest❤
Bike touring is the best adventure of life
I could tour forever😋🧚♀️
You will love The BCQ🧚♀️
That is some impressive questing! But I can imagine it does get pretty addictive once you get started.
Sounds like you have some great plans though. I agree about the touring life. There is nothing quite like it, for those that like it ;)
Good luck with finishing the list, report back when you've ticked them all off!
Great video Jethro! Im sure most of us feel that angst you were describing in the first couple of minutes of the video, I certainly do. It was like you were reading my mind. I think your mapping project is a great idea and I think I will do the same. Thanks mate. Happy trails
Anyone with a taste for adventure must feel it sometimes.
I'm glad you like the mapping idea, it seems to be well received so I'm gonna revisit in a year and get people to share their progress maps - we can make an art project of it ;)
Wonderful landscape and words thanks❗️
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you
I just follow your navigationings… That’s usually how I plan my rides 😎🤓
Surely you mean... "That's usually how I end up surrounded by stinging nettles and knee deep in a swamp" ;)
Explore more! Love it. Very satisfying map.
I knew you would appreciate it. A fellow map pervert :)
Great job
Thanks 😀
There he is! Great to see you back out there darling. Come back to Wales, we miss you ! God bless 🙏
I will soon I'm sure. At the moment I'm confined to day rides and the odd overnighter until my holiday allowance refills in Jan.
Still searching for that perfect get-rich-quick scheme so I can retire permanently to the bike 😉
@@JethroJessop ahh yes I certainly know what you mean my friend, times are hard indeed. Iv been a bit chicken lately with the weather.. and lazy, very very lazy. Not good, not good at all, lol.. Next on my to do is 'the Gap' again, up near pen-y-fan. It's absolutely epic. Ticks many boxes. If you'd like a companion I'd be your man .Keep the vids coming Jethro, always a great joy to watch. God bless, mark
@@welshbikepackingadventures I think I have looked at that one before and liked the idea of it.
We shall see, I dunno if I'll be up any mountains in the next couple of months but you never know!
Loved that tracking thing Brilliant app. Another class video thank you mr Jessop
I'm very pleased you liked it. Start tracking all your adventures and in a years time everyone here can share their maps as a kind of art project. It would be great to see a whole load of different shapes scrawled on different parts of the world.
Train to Skipton and 40 miles home down the Canal. The train opens up all kinds of options beyond my locality. It can be cheap too if I use my railcard and pick the right journey.
Yeah I'm a huge fan of trains. Sadly, having taken trains in other countries how bad ours are.
Still a great way to get out to parts unknown though!
Another enjoyable & inspiring vid
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 😀
I thought you were a lot younger.. Fitness pays off 👍
A mix of fairly decent lifestyle and not having children will keep looking young well into middle age 😉
I watched that same film was brilliant
It made me want to go back to Scandinavia. I never got that far north when I was there and I'd like to see it.
One day!
As ever your musings and mulling are spot on, we are also fans of the train assist ride, being of a certain age and having a 🏴concession rail card means we can mix it up a bit more!
It should be the ultimate way to travel. If only it wasn't so hard to take bikes on trains in this country!
When I am king of the world the bike/train symbiosis will be high on my agenda!
@@JethroJessop ScotRail are pretty good, but GWR and LNER … depends on the crew, but space for bikes on new GWR rolling stock is a joke, literally a cupboard, big enough for a child’s bike!
@@christopherflint2074 yeah I know all about GWR and a fair few others. I've experienced the joy of trying to book a bike on a long journey that uses multiple train operators.
It makes angry and sad in equal measures but as I say, when I'm king of the world...
Yeh ! Another video from the cycling thespian and I am First here too.
Congrats on the quick uptake, nice to know you are so eager 😀
I hope it was an enjoyable one.
Another great vid - thanks,
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching 😀
What a fantastic app, Just loaded the last 2 years worth of rides. Love this idea!! Thanks for sharing
Glad you like it. It's a pretty basic app but does what I want it too.
Happy collecting, i hope you find many new trails off the back of this 🙂
@@JethroJessop ha ha, I think my day has just been taken over with planning my first ride once the snow has gone. Need to fill in all the missing streets, in my town!
@@Brackers64 it becomes quite addictive. I'd be up for moving house just to get a new area to start filling 😉
Sorry I missed this one and what a corker. Sounds like a very good way to live some of your dreams. Like your closing speech worthy of a Golden Globe.
Ha, glad you enjoyed it. The last bit was probably the least planned of the whole video - I was getting tired by then. Maybe I should do exhausted ad-libbing more often ;)
@@JethroJessop Yes, maybe you should! May your wheels in 2023 find you trails through woods of unparalleled natural beauty lit by the golden warmth of a mid summer's morning. HNY Jethro.
@@alexmorgan3435 i like the sound of that. The same to you!
Interesting thought .. as ever
Apposite too as I’ve just prevaricated my way through the normal “map/earth/streetview” combinations around me for a similar reason.
Take care
I can waste days looking at maps of all sorts. I've always loved them ever since I was kid planning walks with my dad on paper OS maps
Our lottery here in The States was just two Billion $. Immediate payment cash option was 1B $. I thought for sure I was the sole winner but seem to have been mistaken. I really wanted to tighten you up with some cash. Maybe next time. Always a pleasure watching your musings. BBB want's to know when the spoons are coming back.
Ah man, i was relying on that big win. Ah well, I'll keep struggling along till next time.
I've got back into whittling recently but have only got a few finished which will probably go as Christmas presents I'm afraid.
Hopefully in Jan I'll get some more up on the store.
Im gonna try and branch out to bowls as well but postage to the US might be a bit bonkers for those - it's bad enough for a spoon!
Thank-you for the videos, Jethro. Happy New Year.
My absolute pleasure. Thank you for watching and Happy New Year to you too!
What a lovely day and ride so close to home! I'm looking forward to when I can just ride a nice, scenic, lush byway within an hour of my house... now I have to drive 2-3 hours to get out of the desert. Thanks for the insight as always, Jethro! Ride with GPS shows your personal Heatmap like that.
I've not dug deep into RWGPS. It seems like a great tool and I really like the planning aspect of it. I'm pretty entrenched in strava now and probably too lazy to shift to anything new ;)
That's such a cool idea. Thanks very much. I'm also caught waiting to go on the next big thing and this could just be looking for til I strap on the panniers again. JP
It is weirdly addictive and actually is very good at showing you a new side of places you though you knew completely
thanks Jessop . inspirational . you really are appreciated
Very kind of you to say. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I was looking at drawing on paper maps to record where I walk and ride but this is so much better, thank you. I just need to wipe off two years of daily 1 mile commute to and from work off Strava 🙄
Yeah that could slow the load time down 😉
I dunno if there is a way to tag certain rides then filter which show up on the map?
I have got to the point now where I only record routes that are going to add to the master plan. Like all collections, it is wonderfully pointless 😉
Great video, Jethro. Wow, I've finally found somebody else that gets the same kick out of doing this as I do. I'm sure loads of people would love to collect their rides in some way but don't know how to. I've been using Google Earth for years to plan, log and collect rides. A little known feature of it is that you can use the measurement tool (desktop version) to draw routes wherever you want then save them and show them all at once. After a ride I manually draw in anywhere new that I've been. After 8 years it's starting to look pretty crazy. It's a lot more time consuming than just uploading the route but it means I get to relive the ride and see where I went from above. I also get a huge kick out of adding something a bit extra to my ever growing map, and just like you it's forced me to explore some fantastic routes I might have otherwise not explored.
I was cycling around Reading a couple of months ago. As I'm from Yorkshire, it's given me a nice little chaotic island of red lines unconnected to my main collection. I don't know why, but somehow that's even more satisfying than if they were connected :)
Sounds like you know exactly what I'm getting at!
I also love it when I go somewhere away from home and get to add those little blobs of lines. I have a couple in Prague which are my most remote but also lots of little closer to home day rides and there is a little voice in my head that won't be happy until they are all connected.
I have a lot of rides ahead of me still 😉
I can actually see the appeal of manually drawing in your routes as well. I spend a lot of time on RideWithGPS planning routes by hand in minute detail
@@JethroJessop Nothing for me abroad yet, but steadily getting a lot of little unconnected blobs all over the country. I find half the fun is planning rides that will eventually join them all up. I usually sling my bike in the back of the car if I'm driving anywhere, just to get a mark on the map somewhere unusual. Got a few motorway service area carparks :)
@@EpicUpCycling Yeah, I often plan the ultimate tour that would join all my different blobs. It would be a monster!
During lockdown I started tracking walks as well and that helped me fill in the local area and tick of lots of footpaths and little alleyways in town that aren't great for bikes.
@@JethroJessop I've added walks as well, but in a different colour. Hoping to get a kayak some day and start adding canals and rivers :)
I've also been going around the country slowly photoing the Sustrans millenium sign posts that are on most of the numbered cycle routes. Not many people seem to know what they are. I've found about 150 of the 1000 of them. I think I found about 7 around the Reading area. They are something else that have made me look for new routes.
@@EpicUpCycling ah yeah, I've spotted a few of them around but never really paid them much attention I'll admit.
I also have kayaking on the mind. I really want to try bikerafting but I fear i don't live in the best part of the world for it. One day though!
Have you tried Velo Viewer? Try to collect all those annoying squares, great fun.
I hadn't but I'm signed up now. Looks like a data geek's dream!
Thank you for this great idea! Maybe it works with an old-fashioned paper map too ...
Absolutely, paper maps are beautiful things and I only use digital versions out of laziness really.
I did look at getting all the paper OS maps for my Badger Divide ride but it worked out really expensive and I would have needed a dedicated map bag ;)
That mapping site is brilliant. I've only been recording rides since 2011 but it was great to see everywhere I've been. International too (a few French holidays).
I'm so glad I bothered to export all my rides from Endomondo and import them into Strava when they killed off Endomondo.
Thing is... there's a lot of places I haven't yet ridden. This will certainly encourage me to colour-in the map a bit more.
It's weirdly satisfying to watch the map fill in and zoom out as the international routes load.
I just wish I'd been recording my routes all my life as there are a few notable holes in my collection from my pre strava (even pre smart phone) days.
Hi JJ, great to see you out and about again! Great idea of mapping your routes, I'll need to start mapping mine...although it could be addictive! ATB 🙂👍
Do it. I may become a little bit of a compulsion but its pretty healthy as compulsions go I think. And it really will help you find some great stuff close to home.
I look forward to seeing you filled in map in the future :)
beautiful thank you for the trick :P sir i will use it to explore around!
You are very welcome. I hope it takes you on some grand adventures :)
I do a bucket list every summer...and I was able to accomplish all but 1 last season. Long day rides (centuries, etc.), each with new roads/trails. Having done month-long rides, these are cheaper, more flexible, but ALMOST as daunting and ALMOST as invigorating. Huzzah! and what a great idea, to log them on maps.
Having a record of past rides can be a really good motivation for future ones I find.
Plus I'm just a bit of geek and I like maps and charts and graphs ;)
I only go on the same Sustrans route. Time I had me an adventure.
It's easy to find a route you like and stick to it but there is something really nice about looking down a trail and not knowing what is round the corner. Even if it's only something "insignificant" like a tree you've never seen before.
@@JethroJessop I find an OS map a good start point. Although I’m always worried about bridle path “confrontation “ with horse riders arguing the “bicycles on bridal ways” like I’ve had in the past.
@@DIY-DaddyO I love the OS maps. They are a piece of art, each and every one.
I've just gravitated to the OSM cycle map as it free and covers other countries as well.
I've never had any bother with horse riders beyond a few frosty stares but I'm pretty sure you can be confident in having just as much right to be on a bridleway as them.
@@JethroJessop OSM cycle map you say???? And another door to a wondrous world was opened…
@@DIY-DaddyO i always assume that everyone knows about it but it actually seems to have gone under a lot of folks radars.
OpenCycleMap.org
Its fantastic, I use it for everything. RideWithGPS lets you use it in their route planning tool and Gaia Maps leta you cache the tiles on your phone.
Only thing it isn't great for is elevation but I use it as my primary map choice always.
What a lovely part of the country Jethro. Great idea ref route planning ;-) You've certainly inspired me! I hope to get away before year end, I might train out - cycle back from somewhere i've not been before just for s#!ts and giggles......
Nothing like putting your tyres across some new dirt!
Trains and bike should be the perfect playmates but unfortunately in this country trying to take a bike on a train over any real distance is like pulling teeth. They don't make it easy which is very sad.
Still the best...
I try 😉
Now you're famous, everybody wants to know who's shirts you wear!
So please can you do a review of the Icebreaker top you had on?
Or just tell me...
@@purelyacademic I'll tell you my shirt story...
After much procrastinating due to the price I finally got myself a nice icebreaker bodyfit base layer a year or so ago and it was an epiphany. The comfiest thing I had ever worn and I soon realised I needed more of them but couldn't really justify it so I set a search on ebay and now I just keep an eye out for any that come up.
Even in really good nick they go for half what they are new. I got one with a moth hole in it - but otherwise mint - for £6!
I think the one in the video is a 200 but I don't fuss about the rating or anything and I've got half a dozen now. I pretty much wear them all the time.
I'm after some legging at the moment but they don't seem to come up so often.
Just bought the same, but a new one in green with half zip collar...135 euros...from Icebreaker direct.
You should do more kit reviews...please!
@@purelyacademic Nice. They are fantastic bits of gear - but not the cheapest!
I have a funny relationship with gear. I love it but don't have much to say about it often - there are many folk out there more experienced than me.
I did think I should start looking into TH-cam Shorts and doing little mini reviews that are just my opinion on something small like a base layer.
But I dunno if anyone actually watches Shorts so I'm still undecided
Enjoyable musings. Very much interested in trying the longer rides (multi-day), however I find it hard/daunting to plan for as there are so many variables, most of all the weather. Next year though 👍
The variables usually turn out to not be as challenging as you expect.
Weather is the perfect example. It always seems worse when you look at our from inside but in fact the only really unpleasant weather is driving rain. Everything else can be dealt with or at least endured.
As long as you can be confident in being warm and dry in the tent at night then everything else is doable.
This is also why I tend to pack on the heavy side. I like to know that at any moment i could just call it a day, pitch my tent and have enough food, water and fuel to see me through a few days.
There is also alot to be said for starting small. Local overnighters are a great way to work out the details.
one reason i use a 20in folder which can also go on buses. I was ticking off nature reserves until bird flu. Now its things like local trigs, steam railways, even the pubs marked on maps 1.25000. I also ordered an os map with my house in the middle, which means the edge of the map [here be dragons] is no more than 10k away and going down every marked route. I will also go around roads in towns and cities [often with their own town trails] but its not so much the sights its the people you meet and the stories they tell you. That makes it. Not the miles but 'What stories will i hear today?'. The fellowship of the road.
Absolutely agree. I like ticking off items on maps and lists but it's really just a trigger to get me out to them in the first place.
OS maps are, in my opinion, the best maps in the world and I'd love to do all my tracking on them but its not practical until I make my fortune and can finally build my map room 😉
My brother has the entire end wall of his kitchen wallpapered with a huge OS map of his area. It is fantastic!
You could sign up to "the British cycle quest" it's well worth doing Moosh. Especially when you've not been allowed to leave the country for a few years. Gives you an incentive to get out on the bicycle. And you can get a medal or 2 whilst you do it.
I'd never even heard of the BCQ. Just been reading up on it and it sounds right up my street! Thanks for the tip.
I tried Geocaching for a bit as a similar goal but found them too close together and not that bike friendly. This looks much better
@@JethroJessop yes it's good fun and I have randomly bumped into others that are doing it, that really gets the conversation going. "That's a good question", "why did they move that one?" "North Yorkshire moors is tough", "nice bakery near that one, does lasagne pies" ," shame about London and the odd larger city " (unless you can get in and out easily) and gets you to some random places. And I make the route up as I go along, Find a base, dump the tent and panniers and do some unloaded riding..It would never have even crossed my mind to do a week or so on the Isle of Man.
I find it like a giant dod to dot book. But you can join them up how you want.
@@damianhill6704 I completely agree with everything you said but I have to focus on one particular point... Lasagne Pies?
I think I need that experience in my life, that sounds amazing!
@@JethroJessop I've looked up in my diary. The best lasagne pie I've had so far was from a Charles McHardy butchers in Laurencekirk (nearest BCQs are 61/3, 61/4 and 62/6.) If you look the place up on Google maps. You will see a photo I posted on their page.
I also found a bakery in Innerleithen and Peebles that did Lasagne pies. But not to that standard. The BCQ has always been an excuse to try as many bakeries as possible in as many places as possible. I usually go for scotch eggs.... But sometimes some new local cuisine appears.
@@damianhill6704 i bloody love an unexpected bakery!
I'm looking at the pic of you pie now and it's making me think about lunch.
What a concept, can't believe I've never come across this before!
I was wondering why there were no new uploads...lack of holidays
Lack of holiday, inclement weather and just other things getting on the way.
I can only apologise 😉
I do actually have two videos shot that I've not been able to edit due to technical issues as well.
It's just been one of those times.
I am still here though and there will be more videos coming soon. I hope you will hang around for them and I appreciate your patience.
@@JethroJessopwell I'm glad that there's more in the pipeline and I hope your technical issues are sorted soon.....I first saw one of your videos probably a year ago...the pennine bridleway series....and again yesterday and I've binged aload of your vids...I'm watching your 2019 tour...and I just love your carefree attitude..... anyway I'm waffling
Happy holidays!!!
@@josg3444 carefree waffling is where I'm happiest so I'm glad you enjoy it.
I really hope to get at least one longer ride in this year. I miss those long days in the saddle and being lost in a beautiful place.
Fingers crossed!
What are your handlebars? Way cool.
Surly moloko ....I have them too, they're great really comfortable 😄
Ray beat me to it but yeah, Surly Moloko. Really good, the sweep is spot on for me and they are very comfy for long rides. I hardly even use the additional hand position to be honest - only at the end of long days usually when you want to just lean into it and blast the last few miles.
Best way to cure a hangover is to hang over a bike! Recipe from Roland.
A tried and tested classic!
been recording my rides since 1979.. on paper
Its the classic solution, can't beat it!
I watched the Post Road video. Great scenery, but the way that video is made is not for me. I find it over processed, too far from reality, it's the "magic" world of YT videos, a fiction really.
I was thinking this ass well. I'd love to know the logistics of making such a film - did the camera operator ride with them? Go ahead in a vehicle? Did they scout the route first? How much footage was shot to condense down into that little film?
It is definitely a fantasy but I still enjoy these little blasts of beautiful cinematography and drone shots. They make a nice counterpoint to my own videos 😉
I can relate to all of this a lot. So many adventures that are inspiring, yet so little we can do with our days off in the year.
I have a few tips & additions, for anyone looking for more websites & tools like the one you linked.
Very soon after I got my roadbike in 2020, I started using veloviewer, a very similar service also collecting your strava activities and showing some more stats, e.g. it challenges you to build the biggest possible connected square of tiles in a predefined grid which spans the whole earth. A great little helper when planning to explore some tiles I have not visited yet. There's even a hashtag #tilehunting for this where you'll find some people e.g. on twitter sharing their rides & walks on their explorations. I also started to take the train to get to my rides - such a nice feeling to explore new areas around the place i live. You can even use routeplanning tools like bikerouter.de and add overlays of your visited tiles too, e.g. via vv.fork.pl which generates overlay images for you.
Another great site to check out is statshunters.com, which also visualizes your max square, cluster, collected tiles etc.
Two more services focussing on routes not traveled: wandrer.earth tracks the roads you travelled and displays a huge map and tracks the % of paths you explored in a specific region or city. it also offers a great chrome extension which overlays your traveled routes on many map viewers like komoot or bikerouter.de .
squadrats.com has the same concept of filling a grid (just like veloviewer), but offers a finer grid if your unexplored tiles start to get hard to reach because you have to travel so far to get to the edge of your square. These "squadratinhos" are a veloviewer tile (~1.5km x 1.5km) devided in to 64 smaller tiles. Once you open the map on that site, you'll notice a lot of gaps in your close surroundings which you can still explore without traveling far.
Happy tilehunting!
Wow, i have have to check all these out!
Thank you for all the tips, these all sound right up my street.
It is amazing how the desire to fill in a map pushes you to explore and change your routes. Or it does for a certain type of person at least 😉
I'm visiting friends this weekend but I'll be digging in to a these links once I'm back.
Thanks again for great comment!