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Ride VeloViewer tiling in Japan

joewein said:
114 km per new tile on my latest (sort of) tiling ride. Is that a negative record?
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I've recorded 114.8km/tile (172.3 km for 1.5 tiles), as noted here. But that was premeditated rather than incidental tiling. I'm not sure which is 'better'.

I wonder why the Old Koshukaido is located so high up in the mountains and not lower down in the valley
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Could it be something to do with bridges and tunnels, or the lack thereof way back when?
 
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joewein said:
I wonder why the Old Koshukaido is located so high up in the mountains and not lower down in the valley as Chuo expressway and Rt20 (Koshukaido) are located.
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The Chuo Expressway isn't in the valley with R20 in this section, it's with the Old Koshukaido up in the hills. (The Chuo expressway largely sticks with Pref Route 30)

With modern technology it's fairly straightforward to build a road into the side of a hill. The thinking is that particular part of the river (between Uenohara and Torisawa) was deemed to be more difficult to build a robust route on as it would be prone to landslides due to the steep banks into the river in sections so the more reliable option was to go through the hills to the north.
 
Took a two day tiling trip. Did the Chichibu route on Day 1. Once off the Route 140 it was one of the nicest rides I've done. All paved, no cars, beautiful fall day. Doesn't get better than that. Took the Chichibu line to Kumagaya and stayed in a business hotel there. Got an early start on Day 2...a purely tiling day. Took the train from Kumagaya to my start point then enjoyed the flat farmland from Fukaya-Hanazono to Mamada, adding some tiles to the top of my max, but it remains stuck at 35x35. 110 new tiles added.

 
Saturday was my first tiling ride - indeed my first ride - for a while.

www.strava.com

Exploring Kusaki—Nemotosawa (+7T MaxSquare 52*52) - Half Fast Mike J.'s 30.7 km bike ride

　 🎷🐛 22.92 new kilometers -- From Wandrer.earth
www.strava.com www.strava.com

Only 7 tiles, but bumped my Max Square to 52*52. It's all 'nibbling away at the mountains' now, as I replied to a Stravr commentr.

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Lake Kusaki is formed by Kusaki Dam, on the Watarase River. Gunma route 122 alongside goes to Nikkō, and is a popular route for motorcyclists on the weekend. Didn't need to spend much time on that road on this ride, but eventually I'll need it all, plus all the bits on either side.

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I crossed the dam, and in a few minutes I was back in rindōland. This is my habitat.

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On another ride in this area in August I'd spotted the entrance to a hiking trail that I'd have to do at some point; a very steep rock with chains and an "experts only!" [commented in this TCC post] admonition that worried me a bit. Subsequent obsessive map research suggested that I should be able to circumvent the rocks by going a longer distance around, but with no indication of how much of the route might be bikeable.

The first bit was no problem.

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But a little further on I found the end of what used to be the road - with helpful pink ribbons to say 'hikers this way'.

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The rindō, curtailed so rudely by a long-ago landslide, was quite a way up the steep valley side, while the trail I needed was alongside the river. I've noted that rivers tend to be at the bottom of valleys - curiously consistent that. Fortunately there was a zigzag path down. The trail was well-marked. It criss-crossed the river several times, with several rather sketchy bridges - I took my chances and crossed via the rocks.

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It was wonderfully pretty and peaceful, but slow going - I took more than an hour to travel 1 km to my tiles and back to the bike.

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This little cascade was so pretty.

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With mission accomplished, I headed back toward the lake - by a different route to snag more tiles. I had much grander plans prepared, but it had taken longer than expected to drive to the start point and the sun was getting low and I was tired from the cycling and hiking and lack of fitness so I rolled back to my van and headed to Tim's for some more renovation work.

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Not sure when I'll be back to continue my northward expansion. Wife says she wants to use the van for the next few weekends, after which it will probably be too cold to be fun. Although there is a train line up this valley, it's a massive trip to get there from my place.
 
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Half-Fast Mike said:
Saturday was my first tiling ride - indeed my first ride - for a while.

www.strava.com

Exploring Kusaki—Nemotosawa (+7T MaxSquare 52*52) - Half Fast Mike J.'s 30.7 km bike ride

　 🎷🐛 22.92 new kilometers -- From Wandrer.earth
www.strava.com www.strava.com

Only 7 tiles, but bumped my Max Square to 52*52. It's all 'nibbling away at the mountains' now, as I replied to a Strava commenter.
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Not sure I'll ever get up that far for tiling but it is good to know what to expect should I ever try it. Thanks for the info.

Half-Fast Mike said:
Not sure when I'll be back to continue my northward expansion. Wife says she wants to use the van for the next few weekends, after which it will probably be too cold to be fun. Although there is a train line up this valley, it's a massive trip to get there from my place.
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Now that you're at 52x52, you should take a rest (...and give me a chance to catch up 🤷🏻 ).
 
Chuck said:
Not sure I'll ever get up that far for tiling but it is good to know what to expect should I ever try it. Thanks for the info.



Now that you're at 52x52, you should take a rest (...and give me a chance to catch up 🤷🏻 ).
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Why rest, 52x52 is not even a round number? Now, 35x35 on the other hand... ;)
 
Half-Fast Mike said:
Some precision tiling there, @Chuck. Nice work.
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Half-Fast Mike said:
Come and catch me...
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You need a longggggggg vacation from tiling, Mike. I'm worried you may burn out. Please rest and take care of yourself. :ninja:

These rides I've been doing lately in Ibaraki and Saitama have been really nice. The little detours I need to take for a tile tend to be full of surprises like old shrines, gravestones, centuries old stone markers, little villages, old farmhouses, etc. Feels like I get a window on Japan as it was 100 years ago. Without tiling, I'd sail past these places just trying to go from A to B. Probably the best thing about tiling (although I could have done without Kusakabe).
 
Chuck said:
You need a longggggggg vacation from tiling, Mike. I'm worried you may burn out. Please rest and take care of yourself. :ninja:
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LOL. You may be right. I didn't do my due diligence, i.e., check with @joewein. As a result, my adventure today was far less productive than planned.

I set off really early in the van. Too early in fact. I got to the parking lot at 07:00 but it didn't open until 09:00. #Doh1. I was able to stealth park at the nearby Family Mart, and bought a can of coffee in token payment. I would have bought coffee anyway, but feeling slightly guilty I got a ¥114 one instead of my usual ¥100 brand.

Then I was on on my way to pick up a lonely tile. I recalled @joewein describing the road as being in 'post-apocalyptic' condition when he got the same tile by the same 'road'.

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Actually @joewein uses that expression quite a bit.

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Anyway it was pretty bad. I was able to ride back down most of it, and only fell over once. #Doh2

Main part of the plan was to ride to the end of the Hayatogawa-rindō and then hike four short out-and-back routes to collect four of @Chuck's 'golden tiles' in Tanzawa plus see the Hayato Great Waterfall for the first time. So I was packing hiking poles, lots of food and water, and extra clothes.

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This was not to be. The golden tiles remain undisturbed. It was plain sailing for a while, and I was enjoying the early morning sunshine, riding the rindō past the "international trout fishing area" (it's unclear what is international about it).

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However

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The whole road surface gone for 30 or 35 metres.

If anyone posted about this, I either missed it completely or it didn't register as something I needed to check later. #Doh3

This was still a long way from the end of the road. I could theoretically get past by 'walking the plank' alongside the guard rail with heavy bike as a counterbalance. If someone had told me "It can't be done" I might have tried; I'm rather stubborn like that and one day it may be the death of me. But assessing the situation there and then: clearly one wrong step would lead to cold, wet, painful things, and perhaps worse.

So I turned around and admit defeat for now.

The river is right there on the other side of the wall. It would only be a couple of days' work with a digger to dump a load of rocks and gravel over the wall into this hole so that folk can pass. Come on, Kanagawa-ken... get it together. (I'm absolutely sure that the rindō department and the rivers department are the best of enemies.)

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As consolation I looped around Miyagase Lake on my way back to the car. (The road to Yabitsu is closed again for more repairs, so no point going that way.) With my hiking plans abandoned it was still really early, and only a couple of minutes past 09:00 when i got to the dam. The guy was still pushing the gate open. ("Walk your bike across the dam - please and thank you!")

So just the aforementioned single lonely tile collected today.

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Chuck said:
@Half-Fast Mike I see you have encountered one of my "Golden Tile Protection Measures" (GTPMs). The plot thickens.
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Please tell me how you dug a hole so deep and wide. Asking for a friend ;)
 
Chuck said:
I didn't. My wife did that. (She's very protective of my Golden Tiles.)
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That's alright. As spouses you can't be forced to testify against each other :)
 
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