You are hereFelt good... I know I have another couple of minutes in me
Felt good... I know I have another couple of minutes in me
Started at the Parkway entrance; Felt good and got through most of my 'mental gates' under goal time.
Parkway to the creek; under 2 minutes (1:43)
Top of Heart Break hill; under 5 minutes (4:00)
Top of single trail; under 10 minutes (9:57)
Hydro lab; under 15 minutes.... missed this one... (16:21)
School; under 20 minutes (19:59)
Gold Course; under 30 minutes (29:23)
Back to Parkway; under 40 minutes (38:12)
So now need to start chipping away at some of the gates. I can make up time on the uphill sections... still not fast enough. Also the Gold Course to the finish... by that stage my legs are starting to get weak... so some more fitness and should be able to pull a minuet or so out of this section.
Next Goal... under 35 minutes
Have fun out there
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How about trying a different start point? The downhill is a great place to get some much needed recovery before Heartbreak Hill. I'm thinking that because you started there you've now got nowhere else like that to pick up some much recovery. You also finish with a peddle fest through the sniggle back to the start. If you start your timer at the Hydro, you can use the DH to recover AND you get the fast run down Alambie to finish.
Just my 2ยข
as Phil says, start elsewhere.
I ususally start from where you do on WPW as it is the closest point for me to ride to, but I did once start from the Hydro lab and knocked 2 min of my best time at that point.
You get all that road climb out of the way (from Hydro) while legs are fresh and it's a good warm up to boot. Then your legs are not so tired from bowling club to the big downhill so can pedal a bit faster and as Phil says, it's all downhill to the end.
Works for me as you do half the climb on fresh legs but have enough to still hoof it along the flats at the top and then get to do the climb up to the school after you've recovered on the descent to the lab. Plus it's close to my place
I have been considering cheating to get under 40. By cheating I mean not starting at the parkway entrance, but starting down at the dam.
41:30 is the best so far and I was smashed at the end. Seem to do a lot of 43-ish so maybe this is the trick until I can do it properly.
Did a quick search on Garmin connect for other Manly Dam rides. Found a shared session of someone doing a 33 minute lap starting at the parkway. I'm pretty much equal but lose 5 minutes from the hydro to the golf course....
To be honest even if I started at the Hydro I don't think I'd pull back 5 minutes up the hill.
Back to Cascades and some more hill work for me; 4 Gates goal of 1:05. Aim for Manly Dam is into the top 50 so I think I need to be at about 34 minutes.
All good fun!!!!
Couldnt help myself.... Ive done all of the things you have been talking about. The only thing that works is fitness - more specifically - keeping a good pace on the "untechnical" (i think thats a word..) bits. Areas such as the open fire trails, the roads etc. What i found beneficial was alternating riding the Dam with Terrey Hills as it is a fairly flat constant ride - no slacking off. I saw my time drop under the 40min mark pretty quick. 6 months later it dropped under the 35 mark.
Another good idea is to ride more than 1 lap of the dam - at a "comfortable" pace. ie maybe 45min each.
Another point - the best time i did on my old bike was 32 mins. I invested in a new uber cool bike with a very light wheelset and literally dropped 3 mins off my best time! Overnight!
My final 10 cents worth - just ride. Love it and the times will drop.
All the best.