Descending skills

I am generally a fairly decent descender (although i say this while off the bike with broken ribs and fractured elbow due to falling off on a fairly gentle downhill!) and while technique plays a big part once you know the basics then so much is about confidence and that is harder to get than getting the basics of technique right. When feeling confident you will naturally be much more relaxed on the bike, so not holding the bars too tight, not braking too harshly at the wrong place, not over correcting slight mistakes in line choice and things that happen when not feeling at your best. It is a great feeling having the confidence and getting it right, it is what mountain bikers would refer to as flow you just feel at one with your bike and it feels so easy and leads to a virtous cycle - often the easier and more comfortable it feels the easier it is. But the same descent, the same skill level but not feeling confident then it can be a bit of a nightmare and the lack of confidence leads to things feeling jittery.

I wouldnt beat yourself up about it too much the ones that overtook you might know the descent very well whereas it is new to you. They'll have to put alot more work in to beat you up the hill, you just need to go down the hill a few more times to know the bends a bit better and things will improve

"Someone once told me, races are won on the up hills not the down. Not sure how much truth there is in it, but seems pretty plausible to me in terms of time in the saddle."

You need to watch more pro cycling mate. Riders who get dropped on climbs can close huge gaps downhill, puttting them back in contention. Just ask Paolo Salvodelli, who didn't win too much but was a demon. Also, a lot of good riders who could have won more either crashed on downhills or got caught:
- Zulle climbed well, dropped Indurain but was a poor descender so was only ever a Tour contender, not a winner
- Julich fell and crashed out of the tour on a downhill the year after he got 3rd
- Beloki, say no more, it ended his career

Cornering can be learned but giving into speed on a bike is the same thing as pointing your skis straight down a hill and tucking -> you have to be able to take the speed and not panic or get knotted up in your stomach. Treat every corner like a F1 driver and start way wide and turn in towards the apex which makes your angle of turn wider hence less tight which should allow you to carry more speed. This takes lots of practice to get right. Tricks like not looking in front of you but as far left or right at the limit of what you can see as the road appears from around the bend helps. This also naturally makes your body lean more which is a side benefit.

Braking is key: brake late, brake together equally front and rear before the turn, but as you turn in, let go the rear brake (this is very important!) and if you're concerned, feather the front brake. This is backwards for people who MTB but your rear wheel will wash out if you do rear-only braking mid-corner.

As you finish the corner, aim for the outside of the lane, as far as you dare go to keep your turn radius as wide as possible.

Your ears are your guide to what's around the hairpin you can't see - expect the worse. In Mallorca I've had sheep standing in the middle of the road. It's best if you can follow 75-100 feet behind a car, because you'll see it's brake lights go on hard if it meets a bus or something it cannot pass. Don't get too close to cars b/c a) they can brake a lot quicker than we can, b) as you get better, you'll generally catch them and they'll hold you up. In one etape descent there was a Velo Mag VIP car which was in my way and I was a bit too chicken to pass it b/c the road was so busy I opted to stop and answer nature's call. I continued un-impeeded and still re-caught the car before the bottom of the descent.

If your tyres are too hard this makes cornering more sketchy. If you're bigger, think of practicing on 25mm tyres, the contact patch is a lot greater than 23s. Finally, if you like soft compounds, PR3 Grips and the new front and rear specific PR3 Optimums have soft compounds.

There's lots more to say about body positioning on the bike, and whether to have your knee in or out but frankly that's the easy stuff to remember.

if the rear starts to go it could be saved ,if the front goes youre down.

I came off a few months ago when I locked the back (before I started to turn), the bit at the bottom of the hill near the corner turned out to be covered in an oily gritty film with bugger all grip.

I'll admit to be a rubbish descender unless it's fairly straight on a road know. Only one that scares me up here is Cairngorm. Not only is it damn steep but there's a tight hairpin at one point. I tend to slow down well in advance in case I get there and can't reduce speed quickly enough. I'm sure it's different on better roads but there's too many potholes, frostheave, grit, etc on the roads up here and the prospect of coming off the bike at 45mph with nothing but some thin lycra on isn't funny. That said I do need to up my game a bit and practice more.

I was going north down Slochd summit once at about 45 having a great time as I know the roads OK and it's pretty straight. Got into the valley at the bottom to find a big crosswind running and got the fright of my life.

Rule 85:

All descents shall be undertaken at speeds commonly regarded as “ludicrous” or “insane” by those less talented. In addition all corners will be traversed in an outside-inside-outside trajectory, with the outer leg extended and the inner leg canted appropriately (but not too far as to replicate a motorcycle racer, for you are not one), to assist in balance and creation of an appealing aesthetic. Brakes are generally not to be employed, but if absolutely necessary, only just prior to the corner.

Press hard on the outside pedal, don't brake when cornering, and have big balls.


S'all you need to do.



Oh, and avoid braking as much as you can.

Just don't overthink it. After all, you're going quite fast.

Everyone scrubs of speed mid corner - we all occasionally mis-read a corner or entry speed.

You jsut don't want to consciously ride your bike like a rally car - i.e. properly braking whislt turning in.

Pressing on the outside pedal for whatever reason really works to get you going round fast - as long as you have the balls to give it a good go.

Ultimately, the main difference at an amateur level between decending fast or not is how little or much you brake.

I know people who brake for corners I wouldn't - I decend faster than they do.

I have just got back from Mallorca, also my first experience of longer climbs. I was riding with an experienced cyclist, who had been to Mallorca several times and is an ex-elite racer. He just told me to relax, look up and have confidence in the bike. We didn't go mad and I always felt safe and we were descending much faster than anyone around us. I was amazed just how fast you could actually go round a corner when you didn't panic and just let the bike roll through the corners.

That said I did find the descent of the Col de Soller almost painful, so many tight hairpins so close together.

I think there is a nack to it, picking the right lines, but you can over-analyse. Just relaxing helped so much.

Doh - yep. That's the single most important piece of advice out there.

You go where you're looking. Simple as that. As you move your head your shoulders naturally follow, which obviously effects steering input - even slight movemnets make a difference.

So look ROUND the corner. Not just into the apex of it.

Something I learned from mountain biking. You don't use your hands to steer you use your hips. The bike will go where your centre of mass is pointing so point your hips in the direction you want to turn, press down on the bars on the side you want to turn to and the turn will happen naturally.