Originally Posted by
Lemond1985
Where the danger lies in descents, for me, is not how fast I'm going, but in how well I set up for turns and anticipate the road ahead. Because if you set up for a blind turn poorly and suddenly find yourself committed to a line that's headed straight into an oncoming logging truck, your speed is the least of your worries.
I think you need a certain amount of confidence, and the willingness to take occasional reasonable risks in order to maintain that confidence, survive, and live to ride another day. Otherwise, I think you can become too skittish, and that's every bit as dangerous as overconfidence, IMO. Maybe even more so.
Exactly. Confidence, being smooth, and knowing what you're doing is key. I don't find I know less about cycling as I age, so I descend even better than I used to. Plus my fitter just made me buy a lower set of aero bars. I tried them out on the flat about a week ago and noticed that I was more cramped, my thighs thumping my rib cage a little and thought about getting back to him about that. But then I looked down at my Garmin and it said 24. I'm not complaining after all. Anyway, I still hit 50 from time to time. Set a
PR on a descent yesterday with those new bars.