Why so slow?

samhedges

I've been out riding as a group a few times in the last week and I've noticed that I'm a lot slower on descents than the others, even on straights when I don't brake and pedal as fast as possible in the highest gear.

Some things I've put it down to in my head is firstly, our weights. Although I'm fairly tall, I weigh about 10 stone, making me the lightest in the group by about 2 stone. Could it be that their extra weight is making them faster? What with gravitational pull being proportional to mass blada blada.

Secondly, could it be that I just have a slower freewheel? I ride a Giant Defy 4 and they ride Carreras, could their bikes just be faster downhill or am I just being stupid?

Finally, could it be to do with my gearing, maybe my highest gear is lower than theirs?

jgsi

A lot depends on the descents.. tight narrow B road jobbies.. well going fast when you dont know what's around the next blind corner..?
On wider better sighted downhills... still slower ?. maybe you just need to loosen up and go with the flow of the best lines around each corner.. thats a learning thing.

MrChuck

All other things being equal the heavier boys will be quicker if you're just coasting down a hill. Assuming everything's in good order (tyres aren't flat, you're all on the drops etc.) the quality of your bikes shouldn't come into it. If you're spinning out and they've got bigger gears that'll make a difference too, but even if you're just coasting if they're getting in a couple of extra strokes when you start going down and attacking it a bit more that'll make a bit of a difference too.

night_porter

Assuming you are pedalling the same and you are not braking more then 3 things are potentially against you.

1) if they weigh more than you they will be able to descend quicker than you

2) if you are the tallest you will have more wind resistance than them

3) I have a Carrera and a Giant Defy and the Giant is definately a lighter bike so their heavier bikes are helping them downhill

If you can zip up hills faster than them then just get there quicker and start your descent earlier, if not then they are just fitter than you and you need more practice.

Monty Dog

At 60kg, I weight even less and I have to work hard on descents, particularly at the start to get my speed up - once up to speed though I can stay tucked-in and get the benefit of streamlining the bigger riders.

samhedges

Cheers guys! Better start going to the chippy more often then