Pedestrians?

[soprano]

I make a habit out of going down hills with my hands way up in the drops so I can get the most leverage on the brake levers, and my weight further back on the bike. In other words, I go down the hill anticipating that I might have to pull a quick stop. I also upgraded my brake pads because I have to deal with several steep hills on my commute. When I'm over 25 mph, I take the lane so I have somewhere to swerve if needed.

When I took driver's ed, I was taught that it's a good idea to not outrun your stopping distance. If you can't see over the next hill or around a bend, slow down. Going fast is exciting, but it's not worth having a wreck because you didn't see some obstacle. Riding a bike isn't any different. Save the fast stuff for when you have high-quality blacktop and unlimited visibility. The same rule applies to night driving and riding: don't outrun your headlights.

[OakLeaf]

+1.

Re: "bracing yourself against the handlebars," I'm not really sure what that means, but it seems it would tend to move your weight forward, which is exactly the opposite of what you want to do. (You also want a light touch on the bars to preserve your ability to steer.)

At high speed you want your weight back anyway because you're more stable with your weight over the non-turning wheel. That goes double for under braking: as far back as you can sit.

#1 rule is that even though your front brake provides at least 75% of your braking power, it's a Very Bad Habit to rely on it exclusively. Weight back (to give you rear traction when your weight starts to shift forward and to avoid a rear-wheel skid as well as avoiding a stoppie), hard on the rear brake, gradually squeezing the front brake to a hard application.

- Lucky faceplant survivor, still practicing...

[lph]

On downhills I have a habit of shifting my butt back until I'm actually sitting more on my thighs, my rear just about hangs off the saddle... Looks a bit silly, maybe, but I can tuck down against the wind and still be ready to brake very efficiently. I have my bars fairly low, though.

[Owlie]

If I can't see, I take the lane. Parked cars, corners, hills. Same if I can see, but I know from experience that seeing anything from a car on that stretch is difficult. (There's a hill in my neighborhood like this.)

+1 on what everyone else said about line of sight and speed.

On descents, I scoot way back. Not quite as far as lph, but as far back on the saddle as I can get. I'm trying to avoid the death grip, but that's easier said than done.

[NbyNW]

When I took driver's ed, I was taught that it's a good idea to not outrun your stopping distance. If you can't see over the next hill or around a bend, slow down. Going fast is exciting, but it's not worth having a wreck because you didn't see some obstacle. Riding a bike isn't any different. Save the fast stuff for when you have high-quality blacktop and unlimited visibility. The same rule applies to night driving and riding: don't outrun your headlights.

This. Put another way, your speed vs. stopping distance and line of sight is different on a bike than it is when you are inside the safety cage of a car, wearing a seat belt. If you can't make a safe stop within your line of sight, you are probably going too fast.