Before we get started, did everyone enjoy attempting “The First of April” medal yesterday? If not, you’ve been very foolish and will have to wait until next year. Well, that’s us onto April already. Seems like only three months since I took ChoccyMuffin (my wife, Cathryn) to zone KirkCockpen for her GhostMinute medal on New Years Eve. And what great fun that was. Tomorrow, another new round starts, round #142, and I’m wondering if I should set myself a target for the round, for the next 28 days.
But what to do? One option still hanging there in the background is the 2500 Unique medal but that requires almost 1200 further uniques, so probably not on the cards as it requires a lot of travel further afield and into Edinburgh. Another possibility is the Diversiest medal, taking 1000 different round unique zones. A possible. Then there’s the Greed 350, holding control of 350 zones at the one time. A real challenge, I think, especially when there are other turfers in the area. Next, another medal challenge, El Staminatore, taking 200 zones in 24 hours. Probably better left for warmer months and longer daylight hours. All very interesting.
But there’s one other challenge I have in mind and that is to attain Rank 48 – Turf Overlord, which requires 4,000,000 points. At the moment I’m sitting at around 3,556,700 points, leaving another 443,300 to collect in round #142. The best points score I’ve managed in the past was around 370,700 points, so this might just be possible, though round #142 is a short round at 28 days. I would need to average around 16,000 points each day. Which, very roughly, equates to taking around 80 good value zones each day. A lot of turfing but not impossible. My biggest limiting factor is a dodgy back, so we shall see how things go.
Today was a nice and easy cycle around Newtongrange, grabbing around 26 zones in around 90 minutes, though that included stopping at Mutts Cycles for 30 minutes to talk bikes and a very refreshing cup of tea. Not much to report other than the usual GPS/signal issues at Squirrelly and Cockpen*, both requiring the GPS to be stopped and restarted. Seems that the majority of the Cockpen zone area encompasses private gardens and housing with only few meters of the zone area actually accessible on the footpath. Moving the zone a few meters to the north-east would make a huge difference.
So, the plan for tomorrow. A nice chilled Sunday morning until zero-hour at 11.00 am, then it’s points, points, points. I’ll simply try and take as many zones as I can with the aim of that 16,000 target each day. Starting with my local areas of Bonnyrigg, Rosewell, Dalkeith, Newtongrange and Gorebridge, then further out as required. And if all goes well perhaps I’ll round up the 443,300 points required to 500,000 just for added fun. Will also be keeping an eye on how many zones I’m holding. With some luck that Greed 350 medal might just come into play.
…24 Hours Later…
Some missions are sometimes over-ambitious. I got off to a good start at 11.00 am this morning, just after the new round started, and thought I was doing well. Yes, I’d managed 70 zones in little over 3 hours on the bike and 16,000 points. However, 3,500 of those points are neutral bonues, almost a quarter of the total and neutrals don’t hang around long. Which means I’ll need to do at least 4 hours turfing on the bike to get my daily 16,000. I think I’ve bitten off more than I can manage and my original thinking yesterday was far too optimistic. I think a change of plan is called for. Back to normal turfing, I think.
* Issue logged for zone Cockpen on 02-04-22.
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