kbarch

Either you normally ride at a pretty low cadence, or else you pedal EXTREMELY fast when you do that.
I don't do it in order to slow down. It's just something I do when I want to avoid freewheeling or coasting.

pdedes

you get better control by feathering front or rear brakes as needed to shift your weight distribution. i'll sometimes drag brake the rear while pedalling through a tricky set of corners.

Drew Eckhardt 

I think peak power happens in the same place but it's lower which makes sense because it's about muscle fiber recruitment - you need all yours involved to hit your peak.

Going over peaks in Golden Cheetah I found that I don't break 700W below 100 RPM and my power peaks for 5, 10, 15 seconds all seem to be around 120 RPM. At 130 RPM my legs still work that well, and although I can spin 140 the numbers aren't up there.

kbarch

Absolutely, and more often I'll do that, too, but I like to avoid throwing away energy warming up rims if I can.

Bandera

Isn't that just loafing, screwing around, dawdling or outright plootering about?
Miss Marple mastered that technique ambling though the village on her '52 AW Sports on the way to the parsonage for tea quite some decades ago.

She was an admirable club time trialist running an 83" fixed in her day for the 25 mile event but no one could avoid freewheeling or coasting quite like Miss Marple "back when".

-Bandera

pdedes

being in a tall gear exiting a corner is a sure way to get shelled in a race or spirited group ride.

lyrictenor1

I think this is the issue: With an automobile, when one downshifts, the motor's RPM rises to match the wheelspeed of the car. Engine braking happens with downshifting with an automobile and not a cyclist because: 1. (obviously) roadbikes use freewheels/freehubs 2. when shifting into a lower gear and lifting off the throttle, the wheels are still spinning the crankshaft, but since no fuel and spark (not sure about the spark) are not being fed into the cylinder, the pistons are compressing the air in there and the increased resistance that the pistons face eventually slows down the crankshaft, which then slows down the wheels. Since a cyclist's legs don't have to deal with increased resistance when downshifting (due to freewheeling and the lack of an increasing resistant force), then it should make sense as to why it seems that a bicycle and an automobile work dissimilarly in this situation.

spdracr39

If you want to slow down stop pedalling. If you are compelled to pedal just soft pedal in the same gear don't shift at all.

caloso

Or get a fixed gear. Backpedal to your heart's content.

blarnie

This is awesome. Someone found a new way to how you Americans say, "get your cheese curdled"!

blamester

Whats so difficult for you guys to understand?
He feathered the brakes and pedalled against them as he was coming to a stop.
And that felt right for him at the time.
Thats all there is to it. No need to make out like he is a fool.

gregf83 

I suppose it could feel fine but it's pointless, particularly when he's shifting up as well. The discussion of increased control and engine braking added further confusion.

kbarch

OK, sorry about the confused analogy, but I can't help but think: legs = engine. By "engine braking" here, I meant slowing down without neutralizing or loosening the connections between the engine (ones legs) and the road under the drive wheel, which happens to be a necessary condition of proper engine braking. I should have also emphasized that this was just a brief sort of finessing, combined with other responses to a need to slow down or stop when pedaling at the high end of cadence abilities.

lyrictenor1

Did you read my post in #32 ?

350htrr

My bike has a real "engine brake". All I have to do is put it in re-gen mode and it slows down the bike quite well...

kbarch

Yes, thanks. Having been a motorcyclist, and my last two cars having been standards, I know. We also know that if you ride the clutch, it doesn't work - one can freewheel in a motor vehicle, too. Of course, on a bicycle it's normal, but it's not a good idea to ride a car that way - "ride," because you can only steer, not drive, when you're in neutral.

The faster you're going, the more dangerous it becomes to "ride" a car. So this gets me to thinking that the faster one is going as a bicyclist, the more worthwhile it might be to consider "driving" the bike.

caloso

I think the term you're looking for is "soft pedaling."

Bandera

Congratulations: You are digging this hole ever deeper into a realm of analogy surpassing sheer utter nonsense.
Good work!

-Bandera

Leukybear 

Brake pads are cheaper then engine/ tranny parts in either scenario mechanical or bodily.

kbarch

Maybe. But I wanted to avoid using that expression because it seems it doesn't matter if there's still some freewheeling going on while soft pedaling.

prathmann

That may be true, but they all tend to be cheap compared to surgical and/or funeral costs which might be incurred in mountainous terrain when engine braking is not employed and brakes overheat or the brake fluid boils. There's a reason for those emergency exit lanes with deep sand and barriers to slow vehicles that have lost braking power on mountain roads.

Leukybear 

Well of course, I was speaking in a general sense without going into specifics.
That's pretty much a sunk cost if you choose to live in such an area though.

I once forgot to engine brake going down the sierra nevada once. I died.
Now my ghost looms these forums.

Bandera

The OP lives in NYC, and he rides a bicycle.
He can always hit a pedestrian to slow down if "engine braking" fails , no need for deep sand barriers in Central Park.

-Bandera

kbarch

Brakes are an accessory, a necessary evil at best. Maybe I should get a fixie.
Just kidding - I love my brakes, I love my freewheel, and I use them lots. My knees are especially fond of them.

Bandera

Better yet, in all seriousness, take advantage of the fact you have a local velodrome.
There is no better way to learn the proper techniques of cycling than in the controlled environment of the track with experienced coaches at hand.

Show up, rent a bike and take part in the "new rider's" program.
All theories about pedaling technique, handling and drafting evaporate on the reality of the banking, real skills useful on the road replace idle conjecture.

-Bandera