Conquering downhill fears

[silver]

I'm somewhat slow on downhills. I had a wreck going downhill that left me with some anxiety.

I do much better when I know the hill. For instance, I know what happens at the end. if the road goes to the right or left. is there gravel on the road? Are there sidestreets or driveways? If I know the hill, I can go fast!!!! If not I need to take it easy. This is my comfort level. And I'm good with that!

[Torrilin]

Yay! Practice is the best thing for getting over a fear. And well, it's *smart* to be scared of going down hills. The trick is to be in control of the fear so it helps you be safe.

I love downhills, but there are several around here that have me scared slow. One features a blind T intersection and a stop sign at the bottom. Another features potholes and a sharp curve with washboard pavement and gravel. A lot of roadway engineers do a bad job with hills, so they're more dangerous than they need to be. And most drivers don't expect me to be moving as fast as I do downhill. Practice makes a big difference on the scary ones.

[teawoman]

I hear ya on this one. I've been riding my new road bike for about a month and a half, and I am sure I go faster on the uphills than the downhills!

I had problems with braking from the hoods at first--LBS tightened up the brakes and now it's much better. I'm starting to be brave and not brake on some shorter hills, but I'm still skeered on many of the steep ones. My bike club chuckles at me a bit for this because I crawwwwwl down the steep hills. They all know to go around me now.

[RoadRaven]

Lisa could be describing me - my hands used to ache before I reached the bottom of hills (only 300-500 metres sometimes) because I was holding the brakes the whole way down.

2 years later and I feel much more of a "downhill demon" like Grog... although my speeds of 20-30km round wide corners and 60+km down straight roads are still nothing like the speeds my partner and eldest sons reach...

Its time, practice and confidence in the steed you are riding.

And in windy or wet conditions I am WAAAAY slower.

Ultimately, its about your comfort level, and thats the speed you should do. And it is great to have a go at something and find you can do it. Well done on achieving something "amazing"