The worlds biggest cycling puzzle
From early 2022 - Never silly enough to do it again till now
The worlds biggest puzzle
Welcome to Active Jigsaw mapping, the art where you never cross over a ride you have done before but try to ride along the edges of previous rides. Then you put all of your efforts on a map to make a jigsaw. Yes I am doing this whilst cycling but you can do this whilst running and walking. Just work out a new jigsaw piece, go around the boundary, record it and make a map.
One thing that I noticed when riding around Sydney is that people love walking and running around loops. There is the hugely popular Iron Cove 7km, Nepean River at 8km and good old Centennial Park at 4km and then lots of smaller loops around football parks and small council parks. I even saw a group of people walking around a basketball court. Loops attract more people than up and back paths.
Looking at my map of Sydney and whilst it included loops where they are available, it mostly shows how you might traverse from one place to another. Another interesting take on cycle routes is the diverse Bicycle NSW map which comprises of routes sent in by cycling groups and members, many of these are loops.
So I decided to make a map of loops where there was no overlaps because I find them confusing. The idea for a Jigsaw map dawned on me. Shared boundaries, loops and no overlaps are the rules. I never wrote this up as there always seemed to be another loop on the edge. Well now I have
12,000 Sq Kms makes for a Big Puzzle
The Sydney Jigsaw map got really big with 40 loops mostly longer than 30km in length. It certainly was interesting riding and building it and there are a few more rides to do on the periphery of the city.
Click here for map or here for all rides in RideWithGPS
An easy way for most people to make a map will be a RideWithGPS ride collection. For most people this would actually involve less tech than a google my maps, just record and add to a collection. If your ride includes oddities like the final ride to the station or the visit to the cafe in the shopping centre. Just leave them, 100% accuracy is not really important, especially on a large map
Notes: One aspect that is happening with this jigsaw map is the trails are a mixed bag of riding conditions including a good percentage of roads. I suggest you ride these trails on a Sunday or Saturday morning when the traffic is light. The map will discuss the likely conditions in the legend. Take care. Ride easy. You ride at your own risk.
Go make a giant jigsaw and make sure you are active whilst doing it !
Postscript
I am now rebuilding the CycleSydney map in rides, the Jigsaw was good training for that. Read more on that here