The Perfect Downhill

secretsam

So there's a lot of talk about hills and which ones are the best, but all these books miss the real point - you only go up so that you can go down again...

So I was wondering what makes the perfect downhill ride? I had in mind the following key features:
- Easy to get to - it's all very well if it's perfect, but if it's on the Isle of Skye or something then it's a bit inaccessible for the average person
- Good road surface - so avoiding mid-descent horrors
- Good visibility ahead - so you can see what's coming
- Very little traffic
- Long(ish) and/or stupidly fast

And I hereby nominate Kop Hill, near Princes Risborough in Bucks. If you're mad you can get to it up Whiteleaf, which is an evil climb of 1 in 3 with a blind bend on it (and is a truly terrifying descent), but it's a lovely drop, smooth road and there was no traffic yesterday, when I hit an indicated 49.1mph . The only downside is at the bottom there's a T-junction so you have to get on the brakes once it starts to level out.

So - over to you...

Dan_Giant

I live in Norfolk so am not really sure what these hill things people keep going on about.

rogerthecat

Go to the Pyrenees. Not long back from doing the RAID, descending the Col D'Aspin was my personal favourite, however the weather was rubbish when descending the Col du Tourmalet and the Col d'Aubisque, either way nothing comes close over here, the best I have is the descent from Buttertubs Pass

unixnerd

My favourite downhill section is from Dalwhinnie to Laggan. It's not crazily steep and it's very long, plus you normally get a tail wind. Superb scenery and a couple of nice corners that aren't too tight.

briantrumpet

SecretSam wrote:

- Good road surface - so avoiding mid-descent horrors
- Good visibility ahead - so you can see what's coming
- Very little traffic
- Long(ish) and/or stupidly fast

Agree with these, and would add that I like a bit of a roller-coaster hill - varying gradient (so you've got bits where you can put a bit of power down), and a hill that doesn't give away all the height in one go. My local nomination is this modest one near Honiton: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1505841. But recently I was in the Alps, and these two stood out for me: down to La Charce: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1505863 - 5 miles of wide, empty, gorge-y road; and, differently, definitely not giving it all away at once, but 2500ft of more-or-less continuous descent over 15 miles, from Léoncel: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1505856. I think the Malaucène descent from Mont Ventoux would be pretty special too, but it was gusting something silly when I went down, so it was more of a BTM descent when I did it. And Alpe d'Huez simply had too much traffic.

Personally I don't like hills that are too steep, where you feel you will lose control as soon as you take your hands off the brakes: so, in that category, I'd put the crazy Lakeland passes like Wrynose and Hardknott, or the top bit of Honister (going west), and Peak Hill in Sidmouth.

daxplusplus

Any hill that has miles and miles of gradual descent with lazy corners gets my vote - you get to feel like riding at 30mph+ over long distances is normal

angry_bird

Perfect downhill would be offroad. Roads are for riding, or preferably driving, uphill on. Why waste good downhill time going down a road :shock:

If I had to say what I'd like from a road downhill it'd be steep, lots of tight corners and quite a dodgy road surface so you have to think about things a bit as opposed to just rolling down a long smooth road with nowt to do.

saxabar

I'm new to road cycling, but after today my perfect downhill is one with uphills. For example, here in Wales coming off Llanberis pass down to Capel Curig it's not steep (down) but there's five or six miles to get some real speed up with ascents that can be powered up without even noticing.

ShutUpLegs

Angry Bird wrote:

Perfect downhill would be offroad.

Jesus wept

daxplusplus

saxabar wrote:

I.. to get some real speed up with ascents that can be powered up without even noticing.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about - it's like your bionic and flying through the countryside. Love that feeling of speed and effortlessness combined.

woodywmb

Devil's Beef Tub at Moffat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5x3m7Eq ... re=related

Dalveen Pass between Elvanfoot and Thornhill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZn5A1i ... re=related

nickel

briantrumpet wrote:

Personally I don't like hills that are too steep, where you feel you will lose control as soon as you take your hands off the brakes: so, in that category, I'd put the crazy Lakeland passes like Wrynose and Hardknott, or the top bit of Honister (going west), and Peak Hill in Sidmouth.

+1. A nice gradual gradient which allows you to maintain a good speed over a decent distance is much more preferable imo. Rode up Porlock Hill last month and although is hurt like hell I think I'd prefer to ascend it than descend it....

desweller

Angry Bird wrote:

Perfect downhill would be offroad. Roads are for riding, or preferably driving, uphill on. Why waste good downhill time going down a road :shock:

You want to try some of the unmetalled descents in New Zealand; preferably on a loaded tourer that doesn't like to change direction and with near-slick 28c tyres.

That'll loosen your adrenaline gland.

oldwelshman

SecretSam wrote:

So there's a lot of talk about hills and which ones are the best, but all these books miss the real point - you only go up so that you can go down again...

So I was wondering what makes the perfect downhill ride? I had in mind the following key features:
- Easy to get to - it's all very well if it's perfect, but if it's on the Isle of Skye or something then it's a bit inaccessible for the average person
- Good road surface - so avoiding mid-descent horrors
- Good visibility ahead - so you can see what's coming
- Very little traffic
- Long(ish) and/or stupidly fast

And I hereby nominate Kop Hill, near Princes Risborough in Bucks. If you're mad you can get to it up Whiteleaf, which is an evil climb of 1 in 3 with a blind bend on it (and is a truly terrifying descent), but it's a lovely drop, smooth road and there was no traffic yesterday, when I hit an indicated 49.1mph . The only downside is at the bottom there's a T-junction so you have to get on the brakes once it starts to level out.

So - over to you...

Whiteleaf is a good climb but it is no wgere near 1 in 3, or 33%.