descending limits

[John Tolhurst]

The downhill speed bragging got me thinking about technical aspects of descending quickly.

My top ten pointers, in no particular order

1. Eye lines and bike lines. keep your eyes out in the distance, apart from being aware of the corner apex, so that you can have long smooth lines through the corners.
2. Don't keep your eyes out in distance because you need to read road surface. Bumps disrupt tire contact so if you are leaned over you can come down. Sand, leaves, stones, all spell disaster.
3. Relaxed body form so that your control inputs are accurate and well timed.
4. Knees in, elbows in, make yourself into a bird-like shape. Birds pull their feet in under feathers. (That could be a lie, but it supports the story line.)
5. Minimise the fruit. Funniest thing to me is a low racer with a real laid back seat, with lots of mirrors, bells, horns and other stuff. Buy a Ferrari, then disconnect a couple of spark plugs eh?
6. Then there was the trike rider who had a habit of transporting rocks down his favourite hill. Fill your bottles at the top.
7. How good are your brakes? Actually, how good is your front brake? If you squeeze it on real hard, can you get a stoppie out of it?
8. Do you know this road well, have you learnt it potholes, sand drifts, blind corners and driveway exits?
9. What rubber do you run? The cornering abililty between tires varies with the quality of the rubber?
10. What is your emotional state? Post relationship breakdown is probably not the best time to explor your descending limits.

Be safe and enjoy. I reckon if you've climbed the darn thing you got the right to have a blast coming back down.

 

[MrSteve]

Dumb Things I've Mysteriously Survived:

Ducking stuff, literally ducking:

-The perfect line through one particular bend in the road would put my head in the same space that a telephone pole occupied. I'd duck the telephone pole in the apex, miss it and sweep on through the corner. Grinning.

Which brings me to a nice ride on the Pacific Coast Highway, one perfect day, when I was carving through one blind turn.
I ducked to miss the side-view mirror on the bus barreling down the middle of the road.
All of that ducking practice came in handy that day!
I've since learned to be a little bit more cautious, when entering blind bends in the road.

Other things that I've met on the other side of blind curves:
-Farm tractors. Those things are slow. Big, wide and slow.
-Peletons. Gangs of bicyclists, engaged in conversation, tend to occupy the whole width of the road.
Even bicyclists do not expect to meet bicycles coming at them: bikes are quiet, compared to cars.
-A loose bull.
-Lots of cars, trucks, buses and stuff.
-Rocks, tree limbs and other miscellaneous debris. Many things can change, from one minute to the next, on your favourite road!
In other words, you may think you know your road from having traveled it earlier in the day: you don't.
That was then and this is now....

The point?
What Mr. Tolhurst said: make sure that your brakes work, work well and that you can make them work well.
What I've learned: don't hit things.

---
P.S.:

When my bike is descending too quickly for my peace-of-mind, I like to sit up.
This turns my body into a parachute, which limits my top speed;
it also lets me see farther, which is an advantage when you're speeding.

-Steve

 

[Eric Winn]

This was in a Mini (original

This was in a Mini (original not the Beemer clone) in the Costwold area of the UK - big storm blew in suddenly with huge wind gusts and sent a metal rubbish bin lid flying like a giant had heaved it as a discus right into the left front fender just below the headlight leaving a very unpleasant crease-like dent.

Normally you wouldn't be out on a bike in that kind of weather but like I said, it blew in fast!

-Eric

 

[psychling]

First rule of descending

Control.

Second rule: Control.

Etc.

Out here there is a 12.2 mile continuous descent (4% - 10%) from Prescott to Skull Valley, AZ, on Iron Springs Road. Fortunately, this road is very straight with very slight bends well spotted at a distance. The Spring winds make this stretch of road treacherous. Crosswinds at 48 mph will put you down and make an ugly smear on the road.

Just to the east of this descent, and over the Bradshaw mountains, is something a mite more complicated. The White Spars. AZ 89. Part of the RAAM route that Maria Parker will ascend from the south in June.

From the north (mile post 310) end there is a 5 mile 4.5% climb to 6100 ft. Then there is a 7 mile series of steep ascents, steep descents and 40 degree - 190 degree curves and switchbacks. Three options: stay on the road; fly off a cliff; drive yourself into a solid granite rockface.

Finally, starting at mile post 298 there is a continuous 9 mile descent, 3 miles of which involve more steep and 70 degree switchbacks. The remaining 6 miles is 4% - 7% in open prairie with stiff winds from all directions at all times of the year.

Motorcycles flock to the `Spars' in the season. Some are commuters and it is clear that they are used to the road and are simply getting to or from the job. Most, however, are utter fools. Evidence for this is noted by the 2 dozen or so crosses ("road shrines") on either side of the road.

Last Saturday I had a mechanical problem (high gear set screw cracked in half - couldn't shift) thar required me to coast down from mile post 298 to 296 (where there is a saloon, the Burro Inn, and the only cell phone coverage for dozens of miles). Waiting for the rescue vehicle (my always reliable and generous wife) I sat on the deck of the saloon. It was still early (I started at 3am) and the owner and his daughter were in the process of getting the saloon ready to open.

Looking like a lycra encased peacock I sort'a wanted to explain why I was sitting on their deck. We struck up a really nice conversation (he's `Ray' and she's `Holly').

The topic of motorcycles, road shrines and stump-stupidity came up. Lots to talk about, of course.

So, here's the point to this post. Control.

Five years ago a motorcyclist with more horsepower than brains was screaming around a 20 mph left hand blind switchback at 40 mph. He was `in his lane' hugging the yellow double line in the middle of the road. Coming from the opposite direction was mom and her 9 year old daughter on the way to the dentist in Prescott. Mom was `in her lane' just a few inches to the right of the yellow double line.

Physics. The motorcyclist's head was `over' the couble yellow line. His wheels were `under' the double yellow line.

He was decapitated. I guess there's a reason they call it a `brain bucket.'

One of the more interesting fatalities on the Spars.

That being said, sometimes there is nothing a bicyclist can do when a motorcyclist with a death wish needs expression:

http://www.news.com.au/world-news/three-riders-walk-away-from-horror-la-bike-crash/story-fndir2ev-1226631605146

The point: control.