How Fast do You Descend?

[Binky]

I'll happily admit I'm not the greatest descender, I take view I'd rather live to ride another day. If road is clear and straight I'll go as fast as I can before needing to brake for bend etc. I'll easily exceed 45mph on a lot of rides. What I'm twitchy at is the fast descents around hairpins etc. My forte is more going up than down.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

In my youth as fast as the bike would go, but over the years I became more cautious and by the finish of my riding days it was 30mph tops.

 

[cyberknight]

I'll happily admit I'm not the greatest descender, I take view I'd rather live to ride another day. If road is clear and straight I'll go as fast as I can before needing to brake for bend etc. I'll easily exceed 45mph on a lot of rides. What I'm twitchy at is the fast descents around hairpins etc. My forte is more going up than down.

im good at steeper inclines where i can generally use my legs to power up hills out of the saddle , my body type just is not as good at at sitting and spinning on long drags as i just go slower . i can power with a lower cadence than the twiddlers instead .

 

[Paulus]

My mate Lennie once went down some of the straighter bits of Mont Ventoux at 60mph because he had been told not to brake too much or the heat of his wheel rims might cause a blow out. He was never entirely certain whether that could actually happen until it did happen to a club mate of mine some years later. (Burned his fingers too when changing the tyre, just for good measure). Forever afterwards I named that clubmate "Shotgun Rob" as all of us who witnessed it thought initially that some idiot had discharged a gun on the other side of a hedge we were resting by at the time. Personally, I once got just over 43mph on one single occasion and chickened out. Being really tall, I have a very high centre of balance and it was starting to feel extremely unsafe. I rarely exceed 30mph by much on a descent these days.

I got up to 56mph coming down the Ventoux towards Malaucene, what an adrenaline rush.

 

[si_c]

I've been over 60mph a couple of times on a descent, but not recently, mostly because I haven't been on hills steep and long enough to reach that sort of speed over the past couple of years.

Mostly it comes down to confidence and that comes from the bike. I find my Domane much more confidence inspiring, and so go faster, than my 4S despite the latter having "racier" geometry.

 

[HLaB]

The highest I've hit is on the 2nd time down the String Road on Arran (a C+ Forum Ride) when I was confident that the road was in a good condition and I knew where I could push.

I've become a bit of a wuss with anything too steep or technical or windy but I actually managed to break 40mph this year down here; drafting a few mates at a distance and sling shotting past them. Its pretty non technical, gradual (with a long time to decelerate) and the 13mph south wind seemed to disappear.

 

[Salad Dodger]

I descend slowly. But, then again, I ride slowly on the flat, and slowly up hill, even with the ebike on maximum power!
Slow and steady suits me just fine.....

 

[classic33]

Fast enough to set the two cameras off coming down from J24(M62). It's a 50mph dual carriageway, with a two mile dowhill section into Elland.

Got to a point when there were no longer any cars passing me in the outer lane. Upon having a look behind there's two lanes of traffic behind me. Then the approaching the second camera, another check shows a police car pulling alongside and keeping pace in the outer lane.

I was on the lightly loaded Brox at the time.

Hit 64mph and increasing on the A58 into Littleborough near the bottom. "Draughting" a coach almost a 100 yards ahead is the only reason I can think of for going faster when I should have been slowing.

 

[stephec]

I once did 54mph down Winnats Pass into Castleton, filled my pants when I saw the cattle grid at the bottom though.

Not the kind of thing I'm ever likely to repeat.

 

[Donger]

I once did 54mph down Winnats Pass into Castleton, filled my pants when I saw the cattle grid at the bottom though.

Not the kind of thing I'm ever likely to repeat.

I've only ever descended that road once, and my brakes were definitely at risk of glowing red by the time I got into Castleton. Campervans being overtaken by frustrated motorists in the opposite direction added more than a frisson of excitement. I should add that I weighed the same as Jonah Lomu at the time, giving me about the same stopping distance as an oil tanker.

 

[gbb]

On a road bike you can stop a shimmy with a knee against top tube.

Yeah, tried one knee, clamping top tube with both knees, really trying to relax.my grip on the hoods..still used to get it.
Two bikes, a Raleigh Clubman with quite a rake on the forks was the first time so I assumed the bike. Then on my Ribble Sportive...which tbf, the forks were not well regarded in reviews but...
So I did consider it the bikes, but realistically...me

 

[sungod]

Yeah, tried one knee, clamping top tube with both knees, really trying to relax.my grip on the hoods..still used to get it.
Two bikes, a Raleigh Clubman with quite a rake on the forks was the first time so I assumed the bike. Then on my Ribble Sportive...which tbf, the forks were not well regarded in reviews but...
So I did consider it the bikes, but realistically...me

the original fork on mine was a columbus minimal, looked pretty but way too flexy/twisty, actually understeered on hard corners and contributed to some wobbly descents, replaced with enve road fork and no more issues

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I once did 54mph down Winnats Pass into Castleton

Only ever ascended Winnats a few times. Didn’t hit 54 mph 😂

 

[fossyant]

Look, as someone who has broken his spine at 13mph, and more recently a broken pelvis and hip socket, at maybe 10 mph, speed isn't always the problem. Didn't even scratch my lid in those two.