Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I've haven't found that pedaling on downhills waste any energy. Even pedaling downhill in an attempt to get the maximum speed possible is far less strenuous than any uphill. Well, I'll take part of that back. I toured in Scotland once and had to pedal downhill in low range off of Tiger Run because there was a gale blowing up the glen. Worst downhill ever! That was a strenuous as coming up the other side.
I'm not arguing against pedaling downhill; indeed you can pedal going downhill and still be resting. I'm arguing for (in general) taking it easy going down hill and using the energy on the uphill.
I pretty much always pedal. And because I have a heavy aerodynamic bike, I do like to get carried away on the downhills sometimes. But putting 10% more energy into a downhill run isn't going to buy you as much time as putting 10% more energy into an uphill.