magohn

Hi all,
Just got back from 11 miles of rolling hills. For anyone interested in the stats and sounds of a 290lb guy riding uphill for a few miles, you came to the right place
I have a super-annoying habit that you can see in the video - I just cant "let go" when whizzing downhill. I max out (confidence wise) at about 25 miles per hour and then only for a few yards. I then yank on the brakes. I know this is a hinderance because if I ride with others, I can stay with them (slower riders) but on the downhill they will roll along at 30+mph and leave me behind - I just dont have the confidence

Mr Sinister

Nice video. I have a question for you.

You say you don't have the confidence to go 30+, and I've noticed that when you get around 25 (6:44) you hit the breaks (it looks like it to me). My question is about confidence. Is it that you lack confidence in your bike, the roads (pot holes and such), yourself, or any combination of all 3. This is just out of curiosity.

Reason I ask this is I have a tendency to enjoy going fast, and want to push it to 40 and up. Now at times I slow down, cause I may feel something is wrong, even when nothing is wrong with the bike. Guess at times I have a lack of trust in my bicycle.

magohn

Yep, you are exactly right. I panic at higher speeds as I imagine blow-outs/potholes/deer etc. This causes me to stiffen and second guess my safety on the bike. The more tired I become the more I tend to let it roll. Early in my rides I will pull at around 15mph. As the ride progresses I will go to 25mph -as shown.

Stories like this one dont help either and this guy was a pro :

"Belgian Cyclist Weylandt Dies in Crash at Giro d'Italia"

'Weylandt fell during a downhill portion, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the end of the 173-kilometer stage between Reggio nell'Emilia and Rapallo. It wasn't immediately clear how the accident happened."

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1LuQxq7Wa

Mr Sinister

I'm sorry he died, I wish he didn't.

I saw that on Universal sports today. They didn't have any camera on where and when he went down. But they showed one shot of him for about 10 seconds. He was laying on his back, the medic was cutting his shirt open. You could see the blood coming out his nose, and it looked like he was barely breathing through it, or else it was blood flowing out his nose. The blood was kind of bubbling (both nostrils).

A few of the riders have said they thought the course was too dangerous, on some of the downhills. Or at least that's what the commentators keep saying. Narrow roads with high speeds plus a lot of bikes equals trouble.

Mr. Beanz

That dude looked back and drifted to the side and hit a rock wall, flipped over to the other road below. Tragic but that was a bad mistake, not a bike issue.

It almost seems that the hills you ride aren't long enough to allow you to be at 25 long enough to get comfortable. Find along straight section that will alllow you to hang at 25 for 5 minutes. In no time you wil see that it is not all that fast. in my videos, I'm descending at 30 mph with one hand while holding the recorder in the other.

Make sure will descending that you keep your knees in close to the top tube. That will help stabilize you and the bike. Alos gives you a sense of being in command of the bike, much liekriding with no hands, use your groin area to help with the control.

Another thing you need to work on is shifting. You descend then wait till you are near a stop to downshift. If you shifted much sooner, little by little, you'd maintain enough speed to propel yourself up the next short hill without coming to a near stop.

I see you slow to 5 then click click click click click click.

It should be 25, 20, click...........17 click..................14 click...........12 click and you should be over the hill and able to maintain atleast 12 till you head back up to 25 with a revers patter on the shifting. Don't wait till you come toa stop then click. There is an art to shifting and maintaining your speed over a hump in the road.

The way you shift, you only need downtube shifters (several shifts at once). The STI brifers are there and invented for a reason, use them to your advantage (single shift every so often as pressure increases to maintain speed).

As a confidence builder, I inspect my bike before each use. Air both tires properly, look for embedded glass, centered calipers, straight rims, decent tires befor each use!

magohn

Thank you much - I appreciate the feedback. I feel if I could improve in these areas my safety/ride economy would improve. I know the chance of a blowout etc are at a minimum and falling at 20mph is probably akin to falling at 30mph - its just there though in my psyche that I am 290lbs, hurtling down a hill with a piece of foam to protect my brain - seems illogical.

Again, thanks for the tips. I will try and hunt out a long gradual decline to practice on. Even my wife goofs on me when we ride together. She will wait for me at the bottom of hills

I hope I dont have nightmares tonight of hurtling down a hill, one-handed, while holding a camera - Im a long way from being able/wanting to do that...

P.S. Last week I had a blowout (going uphill) on a Spec. Roubaix Tire with less that 300 miles on it - the tire was perfect and then the whole side of the wall exploded - you just never know....

Mr Sinister

This is what I need to learn to do better myself. I have started to get the hang of it, and now find myself staying around 10 MPH when I reach the top of a hill. I used to be about 6 to 8 when I reached the top.

Mr. Beanz

Ahhh! I use Serfas Seca tires wire beads from REI for $24. Might be a little heavier than most race tires but they roll nicley and they are durable. I myself had a terrible experience with Specialized Mondo Pro S-Works ($40 3 years back). One descent and a 4 inch strip of rubber missing after a 20 mile descent. Never again with Specialized unless they are the original Armadillo heavy suckers. Believe it or not, I used them while training up the mtns. Not one flat or one blowout in 5000 miles. Of course it was all training and too many clydes worry about a tire being too heavy to use them. Back then, my training partners were concerned about my heavy tires.

I actually trust my Serfas Secas more than the legendary Conti GP's as the sidewall is thicker. I've also used the Seca as a trainig tire then switch to GP on event day. Got to the point that I don't notice a difference so I don't waste my money on GP's. Training makes a bigger difference in speed so I stay with the more durable tire (IMO) for confidence.

A little confidence builder. On my 700 X 25's Serfas Seca tires. They run a little narrow so I use 25' rather than 23's, seem to be equal in width as the GP 4000 23's.

If I can nearly lay my lie down in the switchbacks at 30-35 with no issues at 250 lbs for 20 miles, you will have no problems on a straightaway at 30 mph for a mintue or two.

The wheels and tires aren't as delicate as many think.

Mr. Beanz

It really helps! Less loss of speed and less shifitng in the long run.

magohn

Sure you weren't riding a motorcycle down that hill Very fast!

Thanks for the tip on tires - I put my original Roubaix tires back on for now but I will need another pair in the near future. As for the extra weight of the tires, I think I can accept a few more ounces and maybe eat one less cheeseburger to make up the difference

freighttraininguphill

Great video! Love the stats! I've got to figure out how to do that on my videos, that is, if people aren't sick of my weekly climbs For those who are, I don't have any new ones to do yet until I lose 20 more pounds and climb Snows Road, so you might get a break from mine for a while (unless I climb Marble Ridge Road again and upload it).

This was your best video yet. Thumbs up!

I'm not a daring descender either. Since I put up that 50 mph descent video in February I haven't gone much over 43 mph. It isn't worth it to me.

magohn

Thanks much

I also am in "weight loss" mode. I feel I have plateau'ing at 288-290lb for a couple of months now. In July I am riding the 2-day, 200 mile STP and REALLY would like to be in the 270's by then. I have cut back on the portion sizes and I am upping my mileage - we will see.

I cant wait for the day when I get down to the lower 200's - Imagine, it will be like tackling the same hills but with a 70lb backpack off my back - Incentive indeed!


Any tips ?

freighttraininguphill

I don't eat as much pasta as I used to before I started losing weight. Once a week, if that. I still eat some junk, but I make sure I eat it in the middle of a ride or before a ride, not before bed. I don't eat as much junk as I did before the weight loss either. My plateau lasted almost a month, then I started losing weight again and started the ticker you see in my signature.

I don't keep any junk food in the house. I try to stick to healthy foods at home, and drink only water.

magohn

Congrats on your weight-loss. Great job!

I need to get more regimented about curbing the evening snacks etc

freighttraininguphill

Thank you

Something I could never figure out is why every other animal out there can eat and go right to sleep without becoming morbidly obese, but the human body is incapable of disposing of excess calories in a more efficient way, like in the toilet