Oh my goodness, I am seriously going to have to read all the new info in this thread and work on my route and time. I am still on 19 minutes and 23 seconds. Will I ever get to 15 mins?
I have tried leaping from the mountain to the dry bed, but it has only ever worked once. All other attempts were futile. What I want and need, is a quick escape from the ruins. Aaaaall that way for one balloon, and then a heck of a trek to get back to the road.

If you ever find that one I sure would like to know about it. I have tried everything I can think of, there is a shortcut to get up the ramp on entering but not going back out that I can find. Funny, as you ride in it looks like it would be easy to jump down but it won't work for me.
Funny you find the jump to the dry lake bed difficult, as long as you don't jump too soon it is quite easy. Try to land on the rock and it should work for you. It is important to keep your steering straight or you won't be heading for the balloon.
The jump next to Duckling lake down I find is impossable. Some have done it and posted pictures to help but I can't make it work In reality I don't know how it would help my run anyway.
Anuyway read all of this thread and the 26.5 min. thread and you will find lots of tips to speed up your journey. We aren't at 15 yet but DiDi is awful close. Too bad summer is coming as we won't wee as much of our friends here as usual

Yes, tomorrow I am leaving for several days and won't see you until at least Monday.

Jvv, you might be a little old for that jump by Duckling Lake anyway. I made that one twice and I think I will add that to my signature.

erybodys gotta be good at something

Lately you seem to be forgetting the first letters of your first word.....

Takes time for the fingers to catch up with the brain

Hi everyone! I've been "lurking" on this site for a while, and you all seem so willing to share that it didn't seem fair not to jump in and thank you. I'm using DiDi's route (pretty much) and make plans on the great maps left on the site by Methusalem. I enjoy the banter between all the regulars. I got my Wii for Christmas, and I'm on my 110th day. My first cycling ride was a disaster: bumping into walls, overcorrecting ...LOL! I've come a long way from then to now, with all the assistance you have provided on this forum, gotten my balloon-popping time down to 19:35. I'm almost 59, and sort of in the "fit but fat" category: not obese, but overweight, no major medical problems yet, and I'm losing about a pound a month. While I'm very pleased with myself, I am just amazed by the times some of you are posting: very exciting to think that I might continue to improve and not plateau.

jvv said: "On the other hand if you are heading toward the castle and are talking about the path on the left side of the rock that ends, I go straight until over the edge and plunge in the lake to be reincarnated further up the path heading toward the castle." jvv, I wanted to ask if you know why I have no success dropping into Duckling Lake coming around the left of the rock towards the castle, after popping the first balloon. When I try it I seem to rematerialize on the side of the rock near the windmills, as if I'm about to start again! While it's convenient to press button "B" and begin again, I'd like to keep on going instead!

Thanks,
Sparky

Sparky, I suspect you are going into the Lake too soon. At the end of the path stay up on the rock and go over the top of the ridge, I don't think it matters how close you are to the water you are, then plunge into the water a few metres after the top ridge. Try going further if you still have problems. The only problem I have there is sometimes hitting the rock at the end of the path and suddenly turning into the water on the left.
Sometimes when I finish my route I just go somewhere on the island and experiment by hurling myself over the edges etc to see what will happen. That's how we find many of these shortcuts. I believe Methusalem has found some logic to the locations where they work but I don't, guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. Good luck and maybe we'll see you out in front of the pack like DiDi who I am still trying to catch.

Thanks, jvv. Can't wait to try it out! I too try different things from different places at the end of my run. I keep hoping I can discover something new and useful, and repay all of you for sharing.

Hi Sparky, nice to have you join in the chat. I'm half way home from a trip, far from my wii, and getting slower every day I am sure.

Methusalem once said the island seems to be divided up on a grid, and I think that at some of the grid points there may be jump offs to a good landing. At least that is true up across from Duckling Lake, the world's hardest jump off point. I don't know how many people have tried it out; would like to hear of any successes.

If you go off on one side of the success point you end up starting over in one location, and if you go off on the other side, just inches from the first point, you start over somewhere else. So if we could find the grid points, we could see how that works out. I think I appointed jvv one time to find them all, but he just wants to catch Didi.

The only way to find the points is to jump off the cliffs every few inches and see where you start over. It could take a few months. That is why jvv should do it; he is semiretired and the snow shoveling should be lessening quite a bit for now.