terrified of hills

[OakLeaf]

OK, now that we've got form covered how do I get rid of the fear of squirrels or groundhogs darting out into the road?

It's really all the same as it is in cars or motorcycles. You're forgiven since I remember what you said about what you learned in driver's ed

1. See with your whole eyes. Scan the shoulders, woods and grassy margins well ahead of you for critters that might be inclined to dart out.

2. Don't go faster than your visibility and reaction time allow you to do safely. You don't need to be bombing around at 100% all the time. "Save it for the track" is as true on a bicycle as it is on any other wheeled vehicle.

3. Do the drills velogirl's described, and/or other drills of your choice, to improve your handling skills so that your stopping/swerving distance decreases, and you can then go faster within the limits of #2.


The only groundhog I've ever run over on the m/c is one that was sunning itself on the center line - belly up I swear - DH and I both saw it and both assumed it was dead. He went by and woke it up, whereupon it ran directly under my front wheel. Fortunately I was straight up and down and didn't even slide. But that has resulted in another "rule of the road" for me -

Never assume anything is dead until you see its guts.

[smilingcat]

totally agree with oakleaf about not going so fast that you can't stop within your view. I like the fridge and the truck comment.

And yes always look where you are going not where your wheel is contacting the ground. At high speed I may be looking 100 to 300feet ahead of me.

The infamous death ride have straight downhill section where if you wanted, you could go over 60MPH (100+km/hr). And there were cattle guards. Thankfully, most of the metal cattle guards have been replaced with a "painted" cattle guard. Cattle guards are metal grates with slots in the direction of travel. Great to catch your wheels. So keep a sharp look out when going fast and NEVER, like oakleaf says, go so fast that you can't stop in time.

and to velogirl,

I guess I never thought about it in terms of pointing your core. I guess this is the same thing as "throwing my weight into the turn", my head is always facing toward the direction I want to go... and thank you for reminding me about weight over the bike in the turn.

I go slow around the turns these days. No need to push or test the limits of what the bike and I can do. Also I really lost my "edge" after the accident.

smilingcat

[Tokie]

I have years and years (20+) of wanting to cry at the top of hills because I hated descending soooo much. At cycling camp this Nov, one of the coaches took me down some really bumpy steep switchbacky descents nice and slow. She too used to be terrified of descending, and her tips have changed my life! Mind you, I have heard a bazillion times and know how to counter steer, move my body weight and legs, etc. What helped me is what I call "Slow, low and let it go". Feather your brakes on descents - and, as Dotsie told me, if you get going too fast when your confidence improves, "you can always slam on the brakes.". Don't brake during the turns, braking with the front brake will pull your front wheel out of carving the turn into a vertical pulling straight up and out of carving the turn which feels - and is- not safe. So as you approach that curve or switchback - feather,feather,feather your brakes - get to a nice SLOW speed that you feel kind of safe at. Next - GET LOW ! Down in the drops with those elbows bent - very bent! I used to avoid this posture because I thought it made you descend faster and I would lose control. Now I know it greatly enhances steering control and it feels SOOO much safer. And lastly, when you get to the beginning of the scary turn really slow and low in your drops - let it go! Let yourself carve through the turn! Once you get the hang of it, you can start going a bit faster, bit by bit. Dotsie called it "taking baby steps" and I have to remind myself that just because I can go sort of faster down familiar descents, if I try to push that expectation on unfamiliar descents, I will scare myself again, and feel like a failure. So watch what you are doing with those arms,that low elbow bent aero looking position in the drops may just change your life! Good Luck! I forgot to mention, as others have also said - look through the turns to where you want your bike to go, not just the few feet in front of your bike.This helps you relax and focus on getting through the turn and what's ahead!

[Geonz]

I have years and years (20+) of wanting to cry at the top of hills because I hated descending soooo much. At cycling camp this Nov, one of the coaches took me down some really bumpy steep switchbacky descents nice and slow. She too used to be terrified of descending, and her tips have changed my life! Mind you, I have heard a bazillion times and know how to counter steer, move my body weight and legs, etc. What helped me is what I call "Slow, low and let it go". Feather your brakes on descents - and, as Dotsie told me, if you get going too fast when your confidence improves, "you can always slam on the brakes.". Don't brake during the turns, braking with the front brake will pull your front wheel out of carving the turn into a vertical pulling straight up and out of carving the turn which feels - and is- not safe. So as you approach that curve or switchback - feather,feather,feather your brakes - get to a nice SLOW speed that you feel kind of safe at. Next - GET LOW ! Down in the drops with those elbows bent - very bent! I used to avoid this posture because I thought it made you descend faster and I would lose control. Now I know it greatly enhances steering control and it feels SOOO much safer. And lastly, when you get to the beginning of the scary turn really slow and low in your drops - let it go! Let yourself carve through the turn! Once you get the hang of it, you can start going a bit faster, bit by bit. Dotsie called it "taking baby steps" and I have to remind myself that just because I can go sort of faster down familiar descents, if I try to push that expectation on unfamiliar descents, I will scare myself again, and feel like a failure. So watch what you are doing with those arms,that low elbow bent aero looking position in the drops may just change your life! Good Luck! I forgot to mention, as others have also said - look through the turns to where you want your bike to go, not just the few feet in front of your bike.This helps you relax and focus on getting through the turn and what's ahead!

When I was reading the tips from the folks who were talking about taking turns racing and when to brake, I was thinking "but that's not addressing the issue." I know when I'm weenie-ing, I'm not in anything like their form or posture and honestly, I'm not going anything like that fast. It's a completely different animal.
I go down steep hills a couple times a year so mostly I don't even worry about it... but I hate 'em. But I, too, have had a little bit of success trying to put myself *into* the turn, albeit slow-movingly, instead of as if my bicycle were a wild bag of laundry with handles and I was just trying not to get dragged away by it.