Afraid of Speed

[li10up]

Oh, Pooks I hope you will work on getting over your fear. One of the greatest joys you can experience on a bike is tucking into an aero position and letting gravity do all the work. IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!30+ mph on a downhill will make you smile from ear to ear. You almost feel like you can fly. You'll love it.

[pooks]

Thanks for all the advice -- encouragement and tough love. I need every bit of it!

I'm doing much better on stops, etc., but of course I haven't been practicing them going fast. Duh. Back to the practice routine!

[rivergrl]

I can understand the fear. It's all about what you are comfortable with.
I'm comfortable at 16-18. At 23 and over I start to feel a bit out of control, but sometimes it's about going faster in the right gears as well. The tighter it feel, the faster I go, the more secure I feel.

[pooks]

My computer would serve to make me go faster (now that I've had that advice) -- except that for some reason today it wasn't telling me the speed. Oh well!

I'm going to return it and get one with GPS but haven't gotten around to it.

Today's ride was great, though -- and since I don't know how slow I was going, it was fun. Heh. I've figured out which hill I can go down safely without having to stop at the bottom, though, so that's good. I'll work on that speed thing!

[Bikingmomof3]

You have received wonderful advice and some I plan to ue as well. I am only offering encouragement. I personally love going fast. I will practice the same route over and over again, just to build up my speed. Once you start working on it, you will get hooked.

[Kano]

Jennifer mentions going the same route again and again to build speed. I gotta agree with that! I find that the more familiar I am with a road, the easier it is to go faster. It also helps when I can see for a long distance ahead of me -- someone mentioned keeping your eyes looking on down the road rather than fairly close to you, and she's right. It really does help! Like was also mentioned -- riding on a curve-y down hill stretch is harder too, since you can't see what is around the bend, but oh, on straight shots, where you can see for like a half mile, wow it's like flying!

The exception I've found to looking far far ahead of me while riding: going up hill. If I can't see how much hill is left, it doesn't seem so hard to climb.

Something totally different that I'm wondering about -- I have found that 7 miles an hour or so is really HARD to do! It makes me very wobbly when I'm riding at slower speeds, and it's challenging to keep my speed down that low, unless I'm using my really hard gears or climbing a hill, or there's one heckuva wind pushing at me! May I suggest finding a nice flat open area where you can see everything and trying a bit faster ride to see if you feel more stable, like I do? Gear down to some of the easier ones, not the grannies that are too easy and your legs get out of control, but something pretty easy to spin them fast like the ladies here talk about. You might find that you're much happier when you're going faster!

(I sure understand about a spooky feeling stopping when you're going down hill -- I'm trying, but that front brake scares me a lot!)

Karen in Boise

[7rider]

Gotta agree with SadieKate.
I have a friend who, well, when mountainbiking, used to call out "Pedal, pedal, pedal" and "Speed is your friend."
Speed puts the scary stuff behind you quicker, and on the downhill makes the next uphill easier.
You don't have to bomb down a hill doing a billion miles an hour, but as you get more comfy with the bike and how it behaves on the road, you'll get more comfortable expanding your limits.
Good luck and ...most importantly...have fun!

[Geonz]

For me it can be a little like "being afraid of the ball" when you're trying to catch it. If you're in "fear" mode, you are looking for one thing to pay attention to, because it might hurt you... and pulling attention away from riding smoothly *forward* and being in the process of riding and anticipating. My few attempts at anything like mountain biking have been pretty silly because often you need to speed up to anticipate instead of slowing down.

[RoadRaven]

When I first started I wouldn't go over 20kph on the straightest bit of downhill road...

Two years later, I take gentle curves and bends on the road at around 35-40kph, and on straight long stretches I pedal madly til I get over 50kph and then tuck right down and coast at times up to 65-70kph - my fastest speed down hill is about 73kph

Its about gaining confidence in yourself, and in your bike... its about that 'relationship' developing between the two of you and you knowing what the two of you can achieve together.

Going fast isn't for everyone, and I have probably reached my limit (my eldsest sons and my partner take my 30kph corners at over 50)

Just allow yourself time to feel how downhills are and if you feel ok, you will go faster - if you don't like speed, that is cool too.

You and your ride should be about you enjoying your ride - its that simple.

Ride hard - but have fun