Descending Skills

[Dianyla]

My thoughts on descending, though I am far from being an expert:

1. Make sure your tires are properly inflated! You wouldn't want a pinch flat at high speed or an underinflated tire rolling off of the wheel due to side forces.

2. Until you know a particular road well, take it easy. Where I ride many of the good downhills have hidden blind side streets with cars or stop signs where you least expect it.

3. Hands in the drops, elbows close to the body, back flattened, butt slightly in the air so my weight is heavier on the pedals. Foot position discussed below.

4. Do not look down at the computer to see how fast I'm going. Do not stare at the front wheel either. Don't stare anywhere I don't want to go - the bike follows the eyes. During sharper hairpins look through the turn in an arc at your destination, never straight ahead.

5. Feel free to take up the whole lane to prevent a car from trying to pass you on a downhill, you're probably going as fast as they want to go anyway.

6. Don't ride the brakes all the way down - the friction heat from this can glaze your brake pads and overheat them, causing failure. Either feather the brakes lightly, or periodically clamp down firmly for a few seconds and then let up for a few seconds to let the brakes cool again.

7. Switch foot position as necessary for turns - inside foot always high to avoid scraping the pedal and crashing. Outside foot is always down and press your body weight on the outside of the bottom outside foot. E.g. if you're turning to the left, the left foot is high and left knee is pressed on the frame. the right foot is down at the bottom of the pedal stroke and consciously apply body weight to the outside edge of the right foot. I also apply more "butt weight" to the right cheek, as well. Note - you're not shifting your body weight off of the bike, simply pressing harder on the outside edges of the seat and pedals which should transfer down to the tires. I picked up this weight-shifting habit when dirtbiking, and have just carried it through to road riding.

8. Don't crash.


ETA: Make sure you wear protective wraparound eyewear - otherwise you'll be blind from your eyes tearing up. And make sure any backpack/messenger bag you may be wearing is fit snugly onto your body and won't shift at high speed. If it is a long descent and you had to strip off a layer on the ascent, you might want to rest at the top and put that layer back on.