Originally Posted by
Ygduf
what's hilarious is that if any of us were in a TdF level peloton in a descent we'd wet our pants.
I watched Andy Schleck scream down Sierra Rd at 40mph weaving through people walking, riding, walking dogs, etc. after the ToC. And he's a "bad" descender.
Unfortunately there really isn't anywhere on the east coast of the US that remotely resembles descending in the Alps. Even the Maritime Alps above Monaco, Menton, Nice. There was a training ride where we'd head off from the " La Promenade des Anglais " in Nice, head east towards Eze, head up the old route for the Col D'eze TT and continue on up towards Roquebrune and up again towards Le Gorbio Peille.
Basically it's a route that rises up to 900 meters in about 1.6 km heading inland as the crow flies. This way is actually the reverse route, easier then riding from Menton straight inland up into the Col De La Madone.
As far as descending, it's all switchbacks with vertiginous drops on the downside and sharp rocks cliffs on the inside. Let's put it this way for a 2.5 hour loop, it's 20 minutes to descend back to sea level @ Monaco. the rest is all about climbing up to 900 meters. Probably because I ski raced I always loved descending on switchback mountain roads,treating it like running a GS or actually a super GS. If you are not hitting 75-80KPH descending then you are really not letting it go. It's all about picking your line and not handling the bike as you would a motorcycle. Two very completely different approaches. One with a low center of gravity and the ability to power out of a turn, the other with a relatively high center of gravity but also the ability to counter steer and drift both front and rear since it's such a small contact patch. I'll have to find some of the pictures of this loop and post them. ( They were not taken with an I-phone or even my canon 40D digital ).
One of the great things about that area is that you often get to join a group ride where some of the Pro's living locally will be on the ride also. Descending behind riders who do this day in and day out is really the best way to see the correct lines to take and make it thru.