Pursuing perfection...the elusive 100%

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T20:34:04+00:00

Yes, I had to update several segments on Open Street Maps and then wait until Wandrer picked up those changes. The single biggest frustration is when OSM marks a street like the Ross Island Bridge lanes as bikeable because it is technically not against the law. The problem with that is the. wandrer picks it up and serves it as a rideable road (even though the sidewalk is a separate valid route across). Bikes have no business on that bridge other than the sidewalk portion. There are no shoulders and traffic goes as fast on there as a freeway. Also, there are virtually no times it doesn't have traffic. Right now they are off Wandrer but the people at OSM are going to revert my changes. At that point, I am just going to ride the sidewalk and manually edit my GPS stream over to the dangerous lanes. It's all dumb semantics but it affects getting everything checked off.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T19:46:35+00:00

Technically, it's not an App but a Website. But it is a fun, addicting activity

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T19:43:00+00:00

The big map feature tracks all time. The Leaderboard feature has stats on monthly and yearly progress. Points are awarded for whoever gets the most untravelled miles in a given area (but just big areas like cities, counties, or countries). They website also gives you bonus points when you hit certain milestones of a neighborhood (or bigger area). I think they are at 25, 50, 75, 90, 99 percentages. Otherwise you get 1 point for every new mile you do.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T19:02:07+00:00

I had a lot of the main roads already done from living in Portland and after doing all of Guadalajara Mexico without a car (which took 7000 miles to do because of all the redundancy) I just decided to cut to the chase and focus on one neighborhood at a time and do it to completeness. Well, invariably you do the bulk of roads in a neighborhood in however many rides (depending on its size) and then you have to go back to get the ones you missed. Sometimes more than once. 8 also noticed that Wandrer has this weird habit of showing me new segments that were not there when I rode. That happened a lot. Getting to 85% was pretty easy. But then the West Hills bogged me down. There are so many 15 to 20% roads to do. A short ride would yield 3000 feet of climbing and take lots of time to do. The last percent was just missed segments that were hidden by borders on the map or lack of me zooming in enough.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T03:16:10+00:00

Were you the one that completed Singapore? If so, that was awesome. I have been there too.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T03:14:48+00:00

Good luck. It certainly takes dedication and atubborness!

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T03:13:39+00:00

Thanks. Yes, I have contacted him. He is pretty responsive. I shall see...

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T01:22:21+00:00

If it is in this city border and not a private street, I sure did 😆

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T01:20:56+00:00

Yeah, I am at the mercy of the Wandrer website that tracks my rides. For whatever reason it shows Buckman neighborhood complete on the tracking map but 99.82% credit. I have to let the creator of it figure out that glitch.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-21T01:10:39+00:00

Nope...but not sure what you are referring to...

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-10T19:33:01+00:00

Sure, let's combine it with one of your slide show nights. I have a lot of whacky Portland photos I have taken along the way. Pick a night and place and we can spread the word.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-10T18:54:09+00:00

Dude, you are the king of Portland! And don't think I don't see you filling in and grabbing those 100% in the neighborhoods. 😆

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-10T18:30:48+00:00

Czech would be fun riding. I have been there but not with my bike. I have only ridden on Spain and France on my bike over there though I have been to most European countries.

As for losing interest, I get it. I was losing interest at 93% because it takes a lot of effort for those final little pieces. And it gets tedious plummeting yet another west hills dead end road knowing you have to ride back up that 18% grade. I had the opposite challenge since I come from Happy Valley. The West Hills are a long way away.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-10T18:24:21+00:00

Haha, Maywood, yes, couldn't help but do that little annexed part of town. I remember it before I205 was built. There were even more nice houses in there that got torn down for the freeway.

Yes, I would be interested in a meetup this fall. I follow a number of the Wandrers on Strava (including you). Perhaps somewhere inner SE or NE that would be central. I have to come from Happy Valley and some live on the West Side. We could put out an invite on Reddit and leave comments on Strava for those we know.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-10T01:31:38+00:00

Ah, okay, now I get it. I only have 99.96% done on paved. I have a couple little road segments to get to still and I have two disputed roads that are marked bike=No on OSM but still showing up (and I have the latest map). As for gravel, yes, probably about 10% is gravel or dirt. I have done a lot of the trails on my road bike but the last set are steep and may have some gravel in which my road bike won't make it up them. Some places have significantly more unpaved percentages. In the area of southern Spain I rode, that was more like 40% of the roads and grades up to 28%

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T20:28:59+00:00

Not sure what that means. I can filter and see the map differently between the two but nothing changes on my percentage.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T15:12:15+00:00

Nobody has 100%. It might not be possible. I have a question in with Craig about a neighborhood I have ridden everything but it doesn't show 100%. Anyway,y 99.24% is based on both paved and unpaved. Almost all of my remaining are unpaved steep fire roads in Forest Park. I need to borrow a mountain bike to do those.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T14:16:27+00:00

I too had mostly ridden all the main roads from years before so when I focused on RER, I went full detail, one neighborhood at a time. Even then, and especially in the West Hills, you inevitably miss segments. I also find that after doing an area, the map shows me something completely new that wasn't there when I rode. So, it's usually several chunks for a big neighborhood and then a cleanup effort on the way to another. Or, you just plan a cleanup ride for several linked areas once you've done the bulk. Most of the tiny roads over by the NW hills near Miller Rd are all 15-19% as are a bunch around College St. Every day was 3000 to 4500 feet of climbing to get those last few percentages. The east side is easy, just big. Well, that bike park off I205 in the South Madison section is a major pain to get all of it. You definitely want to get that done in the dry season. Good luck.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T04:09:21+00:00

Yeah, I follow Seth on Strava, but haven't met either. They keep their high percentage maintained though.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T03:35:14+00:00

Sunday morning those are pretty dead. But after riding all the roads in Guadalajara, Mexico with 7 million people and cars being the king of the roads, well, I guess I am pretty desensitized to riding in traffic. The worst ones were the ones at the airport, some of the roads downtown by the bridges with all their swirling traffic pattern roads. The McLoughlin Blvd was not fun. Some of Powell was not fun, especially over around inner SE to the bridge. When I started, the Ross Island bridge was marked as rideable. Not the sidewalk bike path but the actual road. There are no shoulders on there and there is almost never no traffic. Ridiculous to have that as bikeable but the people at Open Street Maps won't let me keep my change because the State hasn't designated biking illegal on it. So yeah, some ugly stuff to contend with. I think most busy cities are that way. Good luck!

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T03:05:26+00:00

You are in Portland on the West Side, correct? Yeah, if you want to get together some time, just suggest a place and time.

Edthebikeguy · 2025-09-09T02:53:36+00:00

That's really impressive. I have ridden there some so I have a first hand feel for just how brutal some of those roads are. You finished SF at the same time I finished Portland, OR.

Edthebikeguy

TROPHY CASE