Downhill...slow

ahstueyman

Hi All,

Coming from a mtb background ive generally loved flying as fast as possible donwhill, but with the help of 2.20 inch tyres and disc brakes, also without the fear or a car behind me.

On my road bike I had a crash a few weeks back, it was wet and when braking the back wheel locked and slid out from under me and I went down like a sack of *sugar*. This has kind of knocked my confidence now and on some hills I just find myself braking constantly as to not have to brake too hard and risk losing control like before.

I suppose essentially what Im asking is how do others find hills, do i just man up but feel like im potentially out of control of the bike or just stay in control as much as possible but feel like if I was in a sportive for example id have others flying past me.

Also my arms really start to tire after some long descents which i generally ride in the drops, any advice as to how to keep my arms more relaxed??

andrewjoseph

relax, ride at a speed you are comfortable with, do all the same as you do on an mtb, weight back of saddle, on outside foot on bends/corners.

brake in a straight line when upright to scrub off speed, let it roll through the bend.

i find staying in the drops better on steep downhills, I have more fine control of the brakes and can feather them better.

your confidence will improve. the other thing to do is get back out on the mtb, do some decent rough downhills to help you realise downhill on the road is a doddle compared to mtb. ;-)

Pross

Just out of interest how do disc brakes help you fly down a hill as fast as possible? I find mine slow me down

Pross

To respond to you question though. Slow yourself to the pace you want prior to taking bends rather than when you are on them. Feather your braking rather than just grabbing the levers and pulling them as hard as possible and use your body position to help slow you down(sit higher and further back). I find it much easier descending at speed on the road than doing any technical off road descents - it's just what you are used to and comfortable with.

thecrofter

I'm stealing this sage advice from Bompington. Generally what happens is your confidence will return and you will get faster and more confident.......until you very suddenly and dramatically lose your confidence and the whole process starts again. It's just the way it is.

ahstueyman

Pross wrote:

Just out of interest how do disc brakes help you fly down a hill as fast as possible? I find mine slow me down

I suppose what I meant by this was the trust I had in my hydraulic disc brakes, that a slight pull on them before bend would slow me to the pace I needed....I dont however yet have this trust in my brakes on my road bike, similarly the tires!

Thanks for the advice...it seems I am doing the right things, feathering brakes and shifting weight to outside foot and back etc, just a matter of confidence and time, I suppose essentially what I find hardest (whilst most comfortable) is being in the drops, its just very different to the slack riding position on my old 4x bike!

g00se

A good tip, if you're not sure of corner speeds etc, is to follow cycle in a group and follow a rider through a decent and corner. When I started group riding, I realised I was (as you said) 'sugar' a decending and cornering compared to the more experienced riders - I was braking too much and taking the wrong line. It still took me a while to get the confidence to speed up but having a few riders do through the decent and bend before me gave me the opportunity to study how they were doing it.

Kolraz

As others mentioned, roll through the corners, its often more dangerous to brake and can lead to locking out your wheel as with this incident.

It is also worth mentioning the importance of your front brake on a road bike. While pulling hard on the front brake at any sort of speed on a MTB might send you flying over the handlebars like a sack of spuds, on a road bike the front brake is really important for scrubbing off speed quickly before the corner, just make sure to keep your weight back over the rear wheel.

I used to be really nervous on descents but recently I find myself braking only when necessary which in turn means you carry a lot more momentum and speed down the hills. Hope this helps.

nathancom

Your confidence will come back faster if you specifically practice cornering at speed, both wide corners leaning with the bike and tight corners remaining upright to counterbalance the bike.