Fear of descending

bombdogs

Right, I am 28 and have been cycling for nearly a year now. I don't mind climbing, sprints or anything else for that matter but I absolutely dread descents. I dont know whats up with me, but when I get to the top of a hill, I go into a panic and end up hammering the brakes for all they're worth.
Last week, I shot up the hill on the clunrun and beat everyone else in the big chainring but when it came to descending the otherside I was dropped because I refused to fly down the hill.
What can I do to conquer my fear? I am at my wit's end now. Want to do a few sportives this year and maybe some of the bigegr european ones next year but if i cant get over this fear of descneding then there is no point.
Helllllpppppppp!!!!!

Mog Uk

First question to ask yourself is why do you panic and slam on the brakes ? What is it you are afraid off ?

bombdogs

Coming off at great speed, breaking something, losing most of my skin or worse. I never used to be this bad, but last year I was in a pretty bad crash when three of us crashed after riding over some deisel on a descent. I escaped with a few cuts and was fine to ride home, but the bloke in front of me broke his leg, hip and had his hands sliced to ribbons.
I am not too bad on decents that I know and that are gradual, but ones I have never been down before or that are quite steep scare the bejesus outta me.
I am just wondering if anyone has an ideas how i can get over this fear, as it's really runing the enjoyment of cycling for me and I don't like quitting - ever

terongi

Mog Uk wrote:

First question to ask yourself is why do you panic and slam on the brakes ? What is it you are afraid off ?

Isn't it obvious?

Falling off
Getting hurt
Leaning over the bike too far
Picking the wrong line
Going out of control
Going off the road (off the side of a mountain)
Hitting a car/lorry coming the other way/ out of a side turn/ parked round a bend
Tyre blowout

cee

Do you ski/snowboard etc and do you have the same fears whilst doing that?

I would have thought that trying to build up the speed gradually would let you build confidence (I don't like thinking in terms of reducing something like fear etc. Building something feels to me like it is more positive) as well as building up the skill necessary to go a little faster next time.

Find yourself a nice loop which has a down on it. You sound happy with your uphill gnashing, so time the down and try to knock it down a little each time yo do it. Obviously the more you can vary which hill you fly down the better, but back to basics is what I would probably do.

jump off a little step. then a slightly bigger one etc.

Or.....take your brakes off the bike

fossyant

Practice, as has been said, then push it a bit more next time.

I took a few descents easy on Saturday as my rear wheel was spinning going up the other side - greasy road. Don't over push yourself.

We've all come off, sometimes it's unexpected - I removed a 6 inch patch from my rear some years ago - hit a greasy patch on a perfectly dry and warm day on a descent - off I went.

bombdogs

Thanks Cee,
Some of the blokes in my club know that I am terrified of descents so yesterday they took me (unknowingly, I might add) to the steepest decent they could find and I had no option but to fly down it.
As I came over the crest, I was like 'oh jesus, i dont wanna do this' and tried to slow down as much as I could using the brakes, but in the end i had to let go of them because I didnt wanna lock my wheels or anything.
Ended up flying down at 40mph, but my bike was shaking goign down and then I was once I reached the bottom. Admittedly, I was a bit of a rush but I'd rather gradually conquer my fear than the old dad method of being chucked in at the deep end and seeing if I swim.
Like I said, I don't like anything beating me or stopping me and I am determined not to give up , so any advice would be helpful.

Mog Uk

bombdogs wrote:

Some of the blokes in my club know that I am terrified of descents so yesterday they took me (unknowingly, I might add) to the steepest decent they could find and I had no option but to fly down it.

.

Exactly what I would do, the only way to overcome a fear is to face it full on..... The more you do it, the easier it will become... Relax on the bike and don't tense up, have confidence in your tyres and brakes and the rest will follow naturally....

clanton

Mog Uk wrote:

bombdogs wrote:

Some of the blokes in my club know that I am terrified of descents so yesterday they took me (unknowingly, I might add) to the steepest decent they could find and I had no option but to fly down it.

.

Exactly what I would do, the only way to overcome a fear is to face it full on..... The more you do it, the easier it will become... Relax on the bike and don't tense up, have confidence in your tyres and brakes and the rest will follow naturally....

Not sure I would recommend taking it "full -on" as such but definitely facing it a little bit at a time is the way to go. Doing a downhill over and over and thinking about taking a nice smooth line choice through each corner will help. Initially don't go for speed - go into the corner at a well controlled speed, breaking well before you hit the corner then choose your line, release the brakes and ride SMOOTHLY through it, as relaxed as possible and then line up nicely for the next one. As the corners come easier the speed will follow.
My other half used to be a bit timid on the downhills - yesterday we did a great descent, very steep with some tight corners. I though I would be well ahead of her and sat up near the bottom to wait for her when she shot past with a grin! So the confidence will come, don't force it!

Bassjunkieuk

There was an article on the Bikeradar frontpage about descending, it might be worth giving that a try!

I have yet to go down a truly epic descent, but am welcoming the chance now I have a better bike! My last one used to feel like the back wheel was crabbing to the left on fast descents but I think that was down to it not being perfectly true!

I'm still building up my confidence on the new bike, the riding position is slightly different to my old bike and I've only really been cycling regularly for the last 18 months or so, mainly commuting but I do try and plan routes with hills! I should imagine after a rather large accident it is gonna take some time to get back to old ways but the best thing to do is probably try and forget about what could happen as that will keep your mind on what is happening and hopefully avert another accident! Good luck :-D

Jeff Jones

There are some tips here: http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... lled-14049

Gettng your confidence back after a crash is never easy, but it's quite possible. I tend to be quite cautious on descents that I don't know, or ones that contain blind corners. On others, I'll bomb down as I like the speed.

Basic tips: don't brake while cornering, keep your head up, look where you're going rather than directly in front of you, keep well to the left on blind corners (this has saved me a lot), keep your weight on the back wheel, get sticky tyres for winter.

MichaelW

Some bikes descend better than others. I have made Alipne descents on skittish bikes and it is very "challenging". My own bike used to descend on rails till I had to swap the forks then it revealed a nasty side.
Try and ride some other bikes to see how your performs.
One you have the right tools it is down to you.

oldwelshman

A lot of this is in the mind.
The article refered to in earlier post says there is no natural descender, but IMO that statement is not entirely true.
There are some people who naturally have no fear and others that do have fear of descending and although you can learn techniques such as braking before bend and lining up the corner and cutting the bends, if you cannot overcome the basic fear it does not matter what you learn.
I am either lucky or stupid, or probably both, but have no trouble descending and can go quite fast 8) ( being 12st8!!) .
Sometimes I even feel the back of the bike going away and strangely this can be fun as long as you dont panic Last year on Cymru Gran Fondo I had a puncture on the extra route and due to cold could not change tube so rode last 20 miles with about 25psi, now descending with that in your rear tyre is nerve wracking
This weekend I did reliability trial and on fast descent my headset came loose (again!!) and my bike wanted to go sideways !!
So basically get out on a nice straight descent and let your breaks go to build confidence with high speed before tackiling winding descents at speed again.
Another thing which may sound stupid is that when going over a diesel patch, or sometimes the slimy mud we get, if its too late to avoid it, dont panic try to ride over it as straight as possible but do not break!! I have seen loads coming off doing that.
Obviously if its on a bend your fxxked but coming off at 25mph and 40mph is almost same
Good luck.

ColinJ

oldwelshman wrote:

Last year on Cymru Gran Fondo I had a puncture on the extra route and due to cold could not change tube so rode last 20 miles with about 25psi, now descending with that in your rear tyre is nerve wracking

Definitely don't try that on a MTB - I did on one of the local 25% monsters and managed to peel my rear tyre off the rim on a bend :shock: :shock: :shock: !!! I don't know how I stayed upright that time...

[PS I mean a much lower than usual pressure. 25 psi in a big knobbly tyre would be nowhere near as dodgy as in a skinny road tyre.]

oldwelshman wrote:

... coming off at 25mph and 40mph is almost same

I somehow don't think that is quite true! You'd have about 2.5 times the kinetic energy at the higher speed and a lot of that would be dissipated in grinding away your flesh as you slid to a halt!

Mind you, some of my worst falls have been slow ones straight down onto knees, hips, elbows - ouch! When travelling a bit faster I always seem to bounce more...

oldwelshman

oldwelshman wrote:

... coming off at 25mph and 40mph is almost same

I somehow don't think that is quite true! You'd have about 2.5 times the kinetic energy at the higher speed and a lot of that would be dissipated in grinding away your flesh as you slid to a halt!

Mind you, some of my worst falls have been slow ones straight down onto knees, hips, elbows - ouch! When travelling a bit faster I always seem to bounce more...[/quote]

Exactly.
I fell off on track a few weeks ago on the inner blue doing about 5mph and landed on the wood and ended up with a few nasty burns !!
Crashed once on dieasel in a race when some one broke, we were going down hill about 30mph, had abouts same burns as track!!
Couple of weeks ago came off on flat about 20mph on ice (with 20 others!!) and only had slight injuries.
It depends how you land and the road surface Not that I like coming off of course !!

chill888

I descend huge hills a lot and very poorly.

A few tips that have helped me improve a little

1. Stay very relaxed

2. Keep weight back

3. Press down with outside foot

4. Turn with hips/body not arms

5. Wear a helmet

6. Follow a good descender and watch

7. smile (it helps)

bombdogs

Just want to say a big 'thank you' to everyone who has posted a reply to my topic. You guys have been a really big help. Feel a bit more confident already.

Guessing it's just a case of griting my teeth, relaxing and going for it. Made me think back to when I was a kid and we use to do the canal bank drops on our bmxs.

Now these are really, really, really steep - almost like a ski slope - and I use to have no prob throwing myself off the edge and whizzing down. It was great fun and one time my front spokes actually snapped while i was hurtling down but it didnt stop me trying it a few more times to make sure it was really broke

Gonna take everything on board and, weather permitting this weekend, I'll head out to my local hill (which has three different descents - one very steep and short, the other long & sloping, while the other is long, steep and winding)

Thanks again guys

Bombdogs