Going fast downhill, any tips to make it less scary?

Painey
Painey Posts: 23
edited November 2013 in Road beginners
Bought my first road bike last week and was wondering if there's any basic tips experienced riders could give me for riding fast downhill, without it all ending in a trip to the hospital?

I'm a bit of a speed freak so one of the reasons I bought the road bike was to see how fast I could go on it. Another was to do something different to the mountain biking I usually do. So whilst I can ride the mtb fast downhill, the road bike is massively different and a lot more intimidating!!

I live just outside Brighton so with the South Downs on my doorstep there's some big hills to ride up/down. I've ridden the mountain bike at 90kmh but was hoping to take the road bike even quicker. Apart from hold on tightly is there anything in particular I should be doing??

Really appreciate any advice. Cheers - Chris
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Comments

  • The most important thing I've found is get used to descending in the drops. Other than that it still scares the crap out of me! :D
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    You are a speed freak, but you want to make it less scary?

    Surely, more scary is better for a speed freak?

    Don't hold on tightly is the best advice I can give, relax, read the road as far ahead as possible and work on technique for cornering and braking. Like all skills, it takes time.

    And if you want to go really fast - leave the UK.
  • …. and if it gets really scary you can always close your eyes…..
    A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it

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  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    I'm not the one to reply to this!
  • Painey
    Painey Posts: 23
    Well when I say make it less scary, I guess I mean less likely to end in another trip to A & E. High speeds are great fun, it's coming to a sudden unplanned stop that worries me :D

    Joking aside, I got up to about 40 on my first ride at the weekend and just felt so much more aware of the speed I was going. The slick tyres and wet roads play on my mind a bit too. Kind of feel like I'm never too far away from the front wheel washing out on me. I'm guessing in such conditions it's a case of moderation on the controls, no sudden sharp steering or braking?
  • The only way to make it less scary is to do plenty of it, and as your confidence and skill grow your speed will increase-dont try and go faster than you feel in control of in any conditions it's a recipe for disaster
    "It never gets easier, you just go faster"
  • If all you want to do is go fast then find a long steady downhill section. Personally I would prefer to find a hill with lots of bends that make you get the bike leaning over, much more fun than all out speed. Just remember that the most important thing is to stay relaxed on the bike else you may bring on a dreaded speed wobble... Winter may not be the best time to learn how to go fast though. Remember to look ahead, know what the road is going to do, what traffic is coming and on corners look where you want to go, not where you are.
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    Had a couple of speed wobble brown pants moments. Now I just scrape my feet along the road till the sparks fly and there is a nice trench in the Tarmac...
  • rpherts
    rpherts Posts: 207
    Might not be the best time of year to find out, given the general road conditions.
  • Relax, light grip in the drops, if you need to break, do it gently, weight back over saddle, for more stability and to avoid the speed wobbles, push one or both knees against the top tube.

    I had my first and very scary speed wobble in the summer and the last point helped me a lot.

    It will take a while but just practice and it will get better.
    Kuota Kharma Race [Dry/Sunny]
    Raleigh Airlite 100 [Wet/Horrible]
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    bails1310 wrote:
    Relax, light grip in the drops, if you need to break, do it gently, weight back over saddle, for more stability and to avoid the speed wobbles, push one or both knees against the top tube.

    I had my first and very scary speed wobble in the summer and the last point helped me a lot.

    It will take a while but just practice and it will get better.

    Good advice here ^

    also as has been said pick your time of year to go fast, winter and wet not sure a good idea, ditto on poor road surfaces or heavy traffic :wink:

    and enjoy it
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
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  • if you like downhill on an mtb, road bikes are a doddle. use the same techniques as you do on the mtb. I recommend anyone who wants to improve skills on a road bike do so on an mtb.

    the main difference though is the actually brakes, so I've got disks on my road bike.
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • A combo of above - leave the country! Alps provide some epic smooth long sighted descents to hone your skills and give confidence. Dont do it in the winter in this country with cow sh*t on the roads.

    My other tip is bike set up. Heading downhill fast is the time to have confidence that your tyres are at correct pressure, brake pads are good and the cables are good. Going down hill fast is not the time to think shit, did I do up my QR skewers properly? Am i about to blow out, smash a spoke or as I had after I hit a pothole coming to a T junction - my handlebars slipped down in the stem mount (obviously not torqued enought) que the hoods suddenly pointing down me unable to get to my brakes and drifting out onto a 60MPH main road!!

    In terms of bike set up, a longer stem (obviously bike fit providing) will help keep the bike straight and true and provides extra confidence but thats an extreme move!
  • farrina
    farrina Posts: 360
    dnwhite88 wrote:
    The only way to make it less scary is to do plenty of it, and as your confidence and skill grow your speed will increase-dont try and go faster than you feel in control of in any conditions it's a recipe for disaster
    Would agree 100% with this. It is a common mistake that beginners make trying to keep up with their more experienced fellow cyclists and can end in tears.

    There is also the handling of the bike, differing road surfaces and conditions to consider, along with the hazards of other road users (failing to appreciate your speed) to consider.
    Regards
    Alan
  • Painey
    Painey Posts: 23
    Some great replies on here so thanks for taking the time to post them. Went out last night and have to say that muddy/wet country roads don't inspire confidence when running slicks.

    Things I'm going to try to carry over from mountain biking are a decent touch on the brakes and shifting of weight when going round corners fast, something I like to do when the surface allows.

    I'd love to get to the Alps at some point, especially as a mate of mine runs a restaurant in Alpe D'Huez and says I can stay for free! Really fancy fitting in the Megavalanche race and then climbing the 21 hairpins in the same week.
  • I love long fast downhills on a gentle slope, you can get up a good amount of speed. The ones I don't like are really steep downhills, I feel like if I leave go of the brakes the bike is immediately getting away from me, so I end up crawling down riding the brakes in terror :D.

    One of the best decents I've done is from the Monnaber tunnel down to Soller on Mallorca (it's an HC climb going up), it was not too steep that it was scary but really long and really fast :D - at least fast by my standards!

    However going down here: http://goo.gl/maps/iHlPI on a sportive I've never been quite so scared! I even stopped at one point to gain my composure!
  • pdstsp
    pdstsp Posts: 1,264
    This is well worth a read, and I found the the diagram about 3/4 of the way down very helpful. http://www.flammerouge.je/factsheets/descend.htm
  • I would just add that traffic is something to be aware of when descending at speed on a busy road.

    Iv found that some drivers dont realise that on a bike you can get up to speeds of 40mph + and will try and overtake just as you are building up speed.

    I will always take the middle of the road which also gives you space either side if there is a bit of a wobble
    Cannondale Caad8
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  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    If you're wanting to hit high speeds, do it on roads that you are familiar with or at least where you have decent line of sight, if you don't know what is around the next bend then you should be able to deal with whatever you might find - this usually involves scrubbing off a bitmore speed unfortunately. Personally, it isn't worth gambling that there won't be a pothole / parked car / pile of wet leaves etc.

    Even on a long straight smooth stretch of tarmac, there's always a risk that you'll puncture, in which case do you really want to be travelling at 60mph with only a set of lycras between you and the tarmac? Worth thinking about - life is all about taking risks, but speed for speed's sake isn't something I'm into where bikes are concerned.
  • Painey
    Painey Posts: 23
    This may be a silly question but realistically what is likely to happen if you get a puncture at 60mph? There's a long steep part of the road on Devil's Dyke outside Brighton where I'd say speeds close to this are possible. It's certainly a route I was planning on taking in at some point.

    I run my mountain bike tubeless so don't ever get punctures.
  • Painey wrote:
    This may be a silly question but realistically what is likely to happen if you get a puncture at 60mph? There's a long steep part of the road on Devil's Dyke outside Brighton where I'd say speeds close to this are possible. It's certainly a route I was planning on taking in at some point.

    I run my mountain bike tubeless so don't ever get punctures.

    Really depends on a lot of things. If you are going in a straight line and have plenty of room to stop you can probably bring it to a safe stop if either of the tyres blow. I had a flint take out my front tyre going about 30mph going downhill and I managed to bring it to a stop safely on the back brake. I was luck though in that there was plenty of room and no corners near.

    Realistically if you rapidly lose the front and you have some heavy braking or a bend coming up then you are going down. It should probably be pointed out that most punctures are slow enough that safety isnt too much of a problem. The only time tires go down really fast is if you have a blowout or hit something pretty substantial. You can avoid blowouts but not overusing your rim brakes (and overheating the inner tube) and by regularly inspecting the tyre for bulges.
  • Practice descending properly and safely rather than ‘going down a hill really fast’.
  • mlgt
    mlgt Posts: 366
    Practice will give more confidence, but read the road as you would normally for any danger.

    Potholes are great this time of the year to be covered in water and the reflection from the sun makes it invisible until its too late...
    N2 - SW1

    Canyon Endurace 9.0
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    I'd concur with what others have said - this isn't the time of year to be trying to go fast down hills, especially if you have only just started road cycling. Spend the time practicing to descend smoothly and learning to anticipate and spot hazards; then you can have fun descending on dry, familiar roads in the spring. I've been behind someone who came off after developing a wobble whilst descending a poorly surfaced road at over 40mph and the results weren't pretty.
  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    thegibdog wrote:
    I've been behind someone who came off after developing a wobble whilst descending poorly at over 40mph and the results weren't pretty.

    FTFY

    Get some MTB practice so you can predict, avoid, navigate and recover from the (relatively small) knocks you'll encounter on our pooly maintained backroads. Your arms are the front suspension, your legs the rear. Running your tyres in the 80-90psi range can also help stop the bumps turning to wobbles without compromising uphill speed.
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    The worst blowouts i've had have been pinching tubes which in both cases caused the tyre to come of the rim, the first time after repairing a puncture in winter and inflating with a co2 canister resulting in an epic failure just seconds after a hitting the bottom of a seriously steep descent.

    I almost shat myself at what could have happened, needless to say i'm a lot more careful now :?

    the second time again after an even steeper descent on my ultra lightweight and tight wheelset, almost stacking it into the road, had there been on coming traffic i'd be jam now.

    what i've learnt from this is really take care fitting your tubes and check tyre pressures for the conditions, i've been lucky.
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    FTFY
    I didn't realise that you were there. :roll:
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    As others have said, you can control a blow out at speed if it happens on a fairly straight road. I hit a pothole at around 35mph a couple of weeks ago and the front tyre rapidly deflated, fortunately there were no corners coming up so I just gently applied rear brake androlled in to the side of the road. Last time I was in the Alps I got a slow front puncture at the top of the Glandon descent (fast, very technical) - first I knew was when handling felt a bit sketchy on a right hand hairpin. I backed off a bit but when I got the next hairpin I must have lost more air as I realised I couldn't turn at the speed I was going without losing the front end - made a snap decision to straighten up, scrub off as much speed as I could and I ended up in a field at the side of the road. If you know that descent, and some of the dropoffs, you'd appreciate how lucky I was! I would class myself as a cautious descender since then, although that isn't necessarily the same as slow!
  • shipley
    shipley Posts: 549
    I like the descent off Bury Hill just above Arundel. Take the A29 northbound towards Pulborough. Once you do it a few times you will get the best lines, there are no potholes currently and because it's a 3 lane road (1 downhill and 2 uphill) you can take the whole lane and cars will not be able to overtake.

    There is a corner halfway down which is a great challenge and a lovely run off descent at the end for a mile or so. If you get the right line, you can hit 58mph which I love....I would leave it until the spring or summer to try for a top speed as there are a lot of variables in terms of conditions from now until then.
  • Cupras
    Cupras Posts: 145
    I am a pussy going down hill.