Anyone tried the Westlink M7 ride?

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just wondering is there anyone try the M7 Ride here? if we wanna rate this route for it's difficulty when compare to the Gong Ride, how difficult would you rate the M7 out of 10?

I just went there today and got sun burnt .... should have putting on some sun screen for the spring sun ... :o

just wondering is there anyone try the M7 Ride here? if we wanna rate this route for it's difficulty when compare to the Gong Ride, how difficult would you rate the M7 out of 10?

I just went there today and got sun burnt .... should have putting on some sun screen for the spring sun ... :o
Depends on your frame of reference. If doing the whole M7 bike path (return trip) is a 5, then I would rate the Gong ride as probably a 7 or 7.5. M7 shoulder is probably a 4-4.5 relative to the path, although I don't ride that often enough to give a fair comparison.

The 'hills' on the M7 aren't as steep as the ones on the gong ride, particularly the climbs out of the Royal National Park.

I would imagine that neither ride is particularly demanding for most regular cyclists, although that does depend on your level of fitness to start with. In any case, most people who finish the whole Gong ride do so within 5-6 hours.

If you're really fit/keen/fast, you could do it in as little as 2h30 - 3h. I'm sure there are some who are even faster (although that's most definitely not me).

Last year was a 4h10 effort for me - not my best time, but not my worst either.

HTH,

n

Heres another post on M7

http://bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=268

Heres another post on M7

http://bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=268
Thanks mate

just gone through the link.

Say if I really wanna know the difficulty for the M7 cycle path when comparing to the Gong Ride route, how hard or how much easier is it?

Coz I never join the Gong Ride before but I am planning to do it this year and I am now practicing on the M7, just wanna make sure I have enough practice for the climbing.

So is the M7 a good practice for Gong Ride, or do I need more climbing training?

The route has a small number of smaller hills followed by a very big down hill, then more smaller hills, until you drop down again past stanwell park for another series for small hills. None of the hills could be described as killers, but they could wear you down.

Where do you live Piero? On a Sunday morning you could follow the route to Stanwell Tops, loop back out of the park kinda past Hellinsberg and then back along the princess home

The route has a small number of smaller hills followed by a very big down hill, then more smaller hills, until you drop down again past stanwell park for another series for small hills. None of the hills could be described as killers, but they could wear you down.

Where do you live Piero? On a Sunday morning you could follow the route to Stanwell Tops, loop back out of the park kinda past Hellinsberg and then back along the princess home
I am living in Kingsford, so basically I am starting from Preston and then riding up to the top of M7.

Where are you living? btw, gotta practice hard for Gong Ride ... challenge for me as a newbie

I live in Ashfield.

Been in Kingsford you could ride part of the actual Gong ride as practice. On Sundays there are lots of riders going up General Homes driver heading towards Waterfall.

The Gong is not that tuff... but you'd need to ride regularly to complete it comfortably

There is alot of shade down there and views are great.

I have yet to do the M7 still... one day... hopefully

The tuffest ride I've done to date would have to be the 3 Gorges ride... Hornsby-GalstonGorge-Arcadia-WisemanFerry-PieinSky-BobbinHead-return... I would rate that a 10... then Gong ride would be a 7-8

You have got all day to complete the gong. Someone from my work did it in 7 and a half hours.

You have got all day to complete the gong. Someone from my work did it in 7 and a half hours.
hahaha, you mean it??!?!?!! 7 1/2 hours!?!?!?

I hope I won't make a new record for that :p

Some of us were a little quicker than that

Some of us were a little quicker than that
so you must be joining the 90km ride, right?

I register for the 56km this year, coz I am still new and wanna try it out first

so you must be joining the 90km ride, right?

I register for the 56km this year, coz I am still new and wanna try it out first90km really isn't that tough - if you start to feel like you're wearing out, just slow down. It ain't a race, and there will be plenty of riders who take their time to go the distance. Back yourself and have a good ride =)

The first year I did it (a few years back now), I'd only cycled regularly for 8 months, and still managed to finish it with a resolving viral upper respiratory tract infection. Really started feeling it at about 60km, and even had to walk some of the hills becuase my lungs couldn't keep up (there is NO shame in walking some of the hills if you need to). Took about 6h of riding all up with plenty of stops. Riding with the resolving URTI really hit my immune system hard, and r00ted me over the next four weeks, but alas, it was worth it.

Maybe you could try the Sydney Spring Cycle the fortnight before it to see how you handle the 50km distance? The Spring cycle route is a little easier, but it will give you an idea of how hard can/want to go. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised:

http://sydneyspringcycle.com.au/index.html (http://sydneyspringcycle.com.au/index.html)



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n

so you must be joining the 90km ride, right?

I register for the 56km this year, coz I am still new and wanna try it out firstI'm riding to the event, the ride itself and then riding home. Should be something like 190 - 200k.

I'm riding to the event, the ride itself and then riding home. Should be something like 190 - 200k.
Youur keen. Its about the same ride distance for me, including the trip home. Bugger that! Babe, bring the Ute!! :D

Youur keen. Its about the same ride distance for me, including the trip home. Bugger that! Babe, bring the Ute!! :DShould be no problem with you LeojVS, considering you were going to ride to Nelson Bay.

Catch the train to Redfern, ride down to St Peters for the start, ride to Wollongong, then ride that road that takes you to Campbelltown to get home

I finally did half the M7 Westlink last night as a training run for the gongride. Did 37km in about 1hr15.

I started at the Norwest Blvd end and rode to the Lighthorse interchange and back.

Firstly, it was a pleasant night, not too much wind, comfortable temperature.

Unfortuantely, we got lost at the start because the signs had been swung around and headed down a dead end.

Anyway, once we got going, it was fine. The track is really smooth and wide. Great condition apart from a few blown street bulb light. You really are protected from traffic and you don't really need lights, altho it would make sense to have then so are you seen. A few sharp turns too keep you on your toes and break up any montony.

It was very lightly trafficked being 9pm at night. A few walkers and about 5 cyclist all up.

I would definitely do it all again, probably at night or on a overcast day. There is nowhere to stop for a rest and very little shade.

Couldn't tell you about the scenery because it was so dark.

Night riding on such a track really puts you in the zone because you just tune out and hammer.

No need to carry heavy lights because you are so protected.

Do they run the lights all night on the bike path? I have ridden during the day but I find it too exposed, sun etc.. thinking about doing some late night runs.

Yes, they run the lights at night, and the lighting is quite acceptable. Still would, use lights to improve visibility though. Also there are a few sections with the lights vandalised or not working; generally no longer than 50m stretches at a time.

As an answer to a previous post on this thread, I thought the Gong ride and the M7 ride are of a similar degree of difficulty in respect to the hills present and distance (80-90km). If the 3 Gorges ride was an 8/10, then M7 and the gong ride would be about 4/10 (assuming little wind).