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Ride VeloViewer tiling in Japan

Did the ride from Otsuki, up 139 to the tunnel then back down 18 to Uenohara. Also, did THE Tsuru toge. Beautiful weather.... finally!

For those with inquiring minds and the Veloviewer tiling bug, the hike up the mountain to collect the tile (just off 139) is about 1.5 km but isn't well marked at the start. If you do it, cross the river, head up to the old partially abandoned house and go up the steps just to the left of the house, then head right and up. Once you get through the weeds, the trail is easier to find, but there are no markings (that I could find) at the beginning.

Great weather, great scenery, great day on the bike. (added bonus... all planned tiles were bagged)

 
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Next up....


I'll be at Hatsukari station at 7:50 if anyone wishes to join. Also, please let me know if you're joining by 8:00 pm tonight so I know to contact you if there are any changes. Otherwise, have a nice weekend. Weather looks great.
 
Next up....


I'll be at Hatsukari station at 7:50 if anyone wishes to join. Also, please let me know if you're joining by 8:00 pm tonight so I know to contact you if there are any changes. Otherwise, have a nice weekend. Weather looks great.
I'm champing at the bit to do something like this, but can't make it tomorrow.
Have an awesome time!
 
Fun ride yesterday. Scenery couldn't have been better with leaves beginning to turn, roads were good, and enjoyed the ride with a fellow 'tilista' @Half-Fast Mike .

The ride up to the toge was long and it's getting a bit chilly at the top. The descent down from the toge also good road with just one large hole in the road, easily gone around either on foot or bike, and a couple gravel spots (I think you could do this on 28s but would recommend 32s or wider). The road down was covered in leaves with small rocks scattered and hidden underneath. For chickens like me, I descended with caution. For intrepid descenders like Mike, the concept of hitting a hidden rock at high speed was not a thing, so off he went. Pretty amazing. The descent was a cold one and I was glad I brought my down jacket. Could have used some full finger gloves though. Winter is coming. Guess it's time to dress for it.

We reached 139 and attempted to collect a couple tiles toward Matsuhime-toge. Unfortunately, TEPCO had the tunnel gated off with a seriously tall gate with spikes at the top. Not to be deterred easily, we attempted the path at the side of the tunnel. Also seriously gated off. Nuts! Tiles denied! (Just what is TEPCO hiding up there?)

Next, back on 139, we went up and over our final climb of the day on the way to Kosuge. It was relatively short but steep. My legs were questioning my judgement at this point. Thank God I had a low gear on my Surly that lets me spin up the grade, albeit slowly. Mike seems to be relatively unaffected by gravity and kindly waited for me at the top.

Finally, we headed down 411 toward Oku-Tama with a short detour to pick up a tile or two. Fortunately, this detour required little climbing and I scored 3 tiles in 15 minutes. That done, Mike showed me a nice little detour along a hike/bike path that parallels the river and ends up in Oku-Tama. Well worth the detour. Nice path and much nicer scenery along the way.

The trains back were crowded with returning hikers and bikers. MontBell bike bags definitely seem to be popular. Saw lots of them yesterday.

Vielen Dank for the ride, Mike. Great day out on the bike with a fellow tiler.

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On the way up, several of these characters hanging out at someone's house.
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Cloudy morning.
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Pics never do justice to how beautiful the scenery really is, but it was really great up there.
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Yours truly.
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Mike and Mt. Fuji.

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The hole.
 
I bagged 8 tiles yesterday after the Tsuru ride with Akira, Peter and Andrei. We met up at Takao station at 8:30, with me leaving Setagaya around 6:15. I didn't originally plan it as a tiling ride, in fact I had no firm idea how I would ride home from Tsuru toge. I could descend to Otsuki with Peter and Akira and then somehow ride back via Rt35/Akiyama (I rode Otsuki to Uenohara on Rt20/Koshukaido once and that was enough). Or I could turn towards Okutama and down to Ome, like two weeks ago.

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We turned off Rt20 as early as possible, taking a small hilly route above and near Chuo expressway. At the Daily Yamasaki in Uenohara we met a cyclist on a recumbent bike.

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The pace was a little more relaxed than on the Tsuru loop two weeks ago, which to me made it more fun. We took a scenic detour following the river instead of Rt18 before Tsuru toge. A little before Kosuge we discussed further plans. Andrei decided to head back directly via Okutama, while the rest of us had lunch at the Kosuge Michi no Eki (nice pizza!). From there Peter and Akira headed through the Rt139 tunnel down to Otsuki to catch a JR Chuo line train, while I headed for Okutama, with some tiling on the way.

I had not prepared any canned tiling route. All I had was Google My Maps on my phones with a KML from VeloViewer showing my virgin tiles as empty squares superimposed onto Google Maps. There was one square I could get near Mitake simply by taking Rt45 on the south side of the river instead of the main road on the north side that I usually always take to Ome. All other tiles involved some detours, mostly with some climbing.

Several tiles were to be found on or near Rt411/Daibosatsu line. So after the bridge after the restaurants by the lake near the Boob turn-around T-junction I made a left turn and headed west, back into Yamanashi. The road passed through the south-west corner of a tile, so I could get those three tiles easily, but the fourth tile of the intersection was mostly across the lake with no road access, only its corner touching the lake shore below the road.

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So I scrambled down the garbage-strewn forest, with old partially collapsed rock walls hinting at former use as terraced farm land. I came across a relatively large flat piece, where a farmhouse may have stood before. I hiked all the way down to the water and back and forth as much as seemed safe, to make sure the coordinates fully registered. Then back up again and back on the bike.

After Okutama town center I turned from the main Rt411 onto Rt184 and from there up a steep slope to cross into another tile. I was surprised about the size of a village that I found high up there, making use of any semi-flat pieces of land. There is a lot of these hilly areas that you never get to see if you just follow the roads at the bottom of the valley floor.

Before Kori and at Kawai I turned left to head up a valley and touch a tile. Not much climbing was needed for these. Then I crossed the river and used Rt45 to bag the last tile.

There was another tile near Rt193 before Ome that I had meant to get last weekend but had to skip due to a navigation problem. Again this time I didn't have enough daylight for it.

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After dinner in Ome I cycled back to Setagaya, with a few extra km near the house because I was already over 190 km and a ride over 200 km will help my Eddington number (which now stands at 112 for miles).

 
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@joewein - Nice photos.

"So I scrambled down the garbage-strewn forest, ... I hiked all the way down to the water and back and forth as much as seemed safe, to make sure the coordinates fully registered."

This is how 'Tile-fever' starts... first symptom, 'just a bit' of scrambling to get a tile.

"There is a lot of these hilly areas that you never get to see if you just follow the roads at the bottom of the valley floor."

Agreed. I've really enjoyed discovering these places since I got into tiling. Not sure I'd ever have taken those detours without the motivation (crazy as it may sound) of getting a tile.
 
This is up for tomorrow. If anyone wants to tag along, I'll be at Otsuki station at 7:42. Let me know if you plan to join by 8:00 pm tonight so I know to contact you if, for some unforeseen reason I decide to cancel.
I plan to be there (another Saturday early train full of hikers... uggg)

But Shirley...

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...Shirley?

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Because tiles.
 
This is up for tomorrow. If anyone wants to tag along, I'll be at Otsuki station at 7:42. Let me know if you plan to join by 8:00 pm tonight so I know to contact you if, for some unforeseen reason I decide to cancel.



I'll plan on joining you then if it's still on!
 
All I had was Google My Maps on my phones with a KML from VeloViewer showing my virgin tiles as empty squares superimposed onto Google Maps.
Nice photos, and I didn't know you can do the above. It's a fine weapon for the avid tile hunter!

I've got my max square up to 10x10 with one off 11x11 and a handful off 12x12. When winter comes, I might bust out the snowshoes and nab some tricky ones that would be bushwhacking in dense forest otherwise. Good to hear the lengths other people go to.

I found a missing chunk of grip on my spd shoes the other day, so it may be worth remembering that some shoes aren't designed for walking far on rough gravel or hiking paths to score a tile. Wear the strongest ones you've got if that's what you're going to do.
 
Nice photos, and I didn't know you can do the above. It's a fine weapon for the avid tile hunter!

I've been using Google My Maps (which I believe is only available for Android but not for IOS), but the regular Google Maps app can also display My Maps data.

To create a map showing the tiles yet to visit:
- export the VV tile map as a KML file on your PC or Mac.
- go to https://www.google.com/maps/d/
- click "+ CREATE A NEW MAP"
- click "Import" under the untitled data layer
- drag and drop the download KML into the window that opens
- save the new map under a descriptive name such as "Max Cluster - 2019-11-16"

To view the newly created map in the Google Maps app:
- tap the "three horizontal lines" icon
- tap "Your places"
- scroll right in the top line until you see "Maps" and select it
- tap the map you want

Voila! You can see the tiles and the blue spot where you are relative to them!
 
I've been using Google My Maps (which I believe is only available for Android but not for IOS), but the regular Google Maps app can also display My Maps data.
maps.me does this with KML files too, and you can have the whole map downloaded offline. (I think maybe offline maps are available for Google Maps too - I've not tried recently.)
 
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