Help descending please

[slowmotion]

I have found all the advice really useful. I got back from Richmond Park ninety minutes ago having descended my favourite hill 0.8mph faster than ever before. The idea of looking where you want to go seems to work well. I wouldn't try it on the drops though. My fingertips can barely touch the brakes, let alone operate them.

 

[DooDah]

Unless you're racing then the best descent is one that you want to do again. So keep in your comfort zone & that means riding down at 5mph on the brakes then do that. Once you start to go beyond your comfort zone you're going to make mistakes & at high speed mistakes have a high likelihood of being very painful. If you want to extend your comfort zone in terms of descending then you might want to look at tutored track motorcycle riding.

The above is the best advice. I am no great descender, but I have become better. I descend within my comfort zone, particularly on new roads to me. If you do the same descents, then you get more confident over time.

 

[Fab Foodie]

All you need to know from one of the great bicycle gurus ....

http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/descending.html

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Unless you're racing then the best descent is one that you want to do again. So keep in your comfort zone & that means riding down at 5mph on the brakes then do that. Once you start to go beyond your comfort zone you're going to make mistakes & at high speed mistakes have a high likelihood of being very painful. If you want to extend your comfort zone in terms of descending then you might want to look at tutored track motorcycle riding.

What @GrasB said: there's really no hurry, so pick a speed you feel comfortable doing.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Downhills are nature's rest periods between uphills. Make the most of them. Get your breath back. No point rushing to the start of the next hill, it'll come along soon enough.

Stay safe. We rode past the aftermath of an off on a steep downhill with poor surface yesterday. No assistance was required from us, and ambulance was on its way.

 

[sidevalve]

Not really my thing but the old advice still works [and yes sorry it really does seem boring] "THINK AHEAD". The problem is that you are on a public road not a track or closed off section and other people have the right to use the same space as you [including kids, cars, horses, tractors, trucks etc etc]. If you know [and I do mean know] the road and can SEE it's clear [no not just think it's clear] then a lot of the "fear" simply evaporates. Well it did for me on the odd time I remember "going for it" down some nice hills.

 

[Matthames]

The golden rule for descending is to relax. Your bike is not going to handle terribly well if you are hanging onto it with a kung foo death grip and all your muscles tensed up. Also remember that your bike will probably handle cornering better than you think it can.

Also given the speed you are going, it is a good idea to learn about the vanishing point. This is the point where the kerb on both sides of the road appear to intersect. If it moves towards you, you slow down; if it moves away from you, then you can allow yourself to speed up. When going through a corner look at your exit point and everything should just follow through. Also make sure you have scrubbed off your speed before going into the turn, if you believe you have gone into the corner too hot, then use a gentle application of the back brake only and lean harder.

Finally, if at the end of the decent there is a climb, then ease off, going all out downhill will use up your energy reserves you need for the climb and you will just end up blowing up halfway up the hill. On my commute I have a nice decent, however at the other end of the decent I have a nasty climb. If I go flat out down the hill, I have little in the tank left for the climb, If I just free wheel down it I can just power up the other side.

 

[Mandragora]

I'm all for 'go at a speed you're comfortable with'. Mind you, I cycle for fun, and want just to relax and enjoy it - I am fit enough to be able to tackle the uphills with reasonable gusto, and on the rare occasions when I cycle with anyone else (other than my cycle nut-job friends) I more than keep up with them because I'm better than them on the uphill stretches, so a few seconds they gain by hurtling downhill is pretty quickly compensated for. I did try gunning it on the downhills a bit quicker a few weeks back, then discovered the misery of gravel, and also how very narrow our lanes are when you're going downhill at speed and a car comes from the other direction hurtling even faster and on the wrong side of the road. Luckily for me, those two lessons were on different days, but that windscreen loomed mighty large as the corner sped towards me and I've gone back to using the brakes if I want to and sooner rather than later so that I am in control of the descent.

 

[DaveReading]

The most important thing to remember in descending is not to grab bystanders' newspapers and stuff them down the front of your jersey.