Fear of going fast downhill

[rockja]

Hi,

I am preparing for a 200+ K ride to take place in June 2014.
I used to ride years ago in my youth and never had any fear of riding like he wind. Now that I am much older, had been away from cycling for around 20 years, I really have a fear and start braking like mad.

I will appreciate any techniques that may help remedy this fear.

Julia

[Helene2013]

I have the same fear. I can't wait to read the help to get past this.

I see a hill (down) and one going right back up and I loose all my momentum because I brake way too much instead of using that energy to get up that coming hill.

Mentally, it is hard to not think a "what if I lose control going too fast". I never was like this in my younger days.

[smittykitty]

That fear it what keeps us alive Of course, it is helpful to not slow down too much, so let the advice begin.

[TigerMom]

I believe in riding as fast as you feel safe. After all, no one knows when a tube will pop on the way down. Live to ride another day is very important.

At the same time, my max downhill road speed used to be 25mph. Now it's 40mph (assuming wide smooth roads and no curves in the road).

[Catrin]

I suspect it is only a temporary fear since you've been away from cycling for so long, and, of course, as adults we KNOW what can happen. That puts things in a different perspective.

Ride as fast as you feel safe and things will improve as you gain more confidence on the bike. Fear isn't a bad thing and as SmittyKitty pointed out does serve a purpose. I've only been riding a couple of years (just turned 54) and going downhill was terrifying to me when I started. It still does if the pavement isn't in decent shape OR if it is a very steep downhill. Focus on relaxing, keep your shoulders out of your ears (if you do that), and keep looking down the road and what comes next so you can anticipate shifting. This will, hopefully, prevent you from focusing too much on your speed. Don't use your speed to guide your braking but the terrain, conditions, and of course, your gut.

This helped me, others will be able to add to it.

[thekarens]

I think Catrin hit the nail on the head. Recently I participated in the Texas Time Trials and there's a boatload of hills in that one. Well, hills as far as we flatlanders are concerned. Anyway, I noticed I was riding the brakes a lot downhill and it was causing me a lot of problems making it up the next hill. Anyway, to make a long story short it was because the chipseal was shaking my bike so bad I was having a hard time seeing. When I got to smooth downhills I was perfectly fine with not braking. Having said that the fastest I've gone is 35.

Totally anecdotal, but there was a lady in our club that broke her collarbone not even going 10 mph, so you can get just as injured going fast or slow.