bcpriess

Past the upper 30s I worry about my ability to react/brake. Mph.

bcpriess

Past the upper 30s I worry about my ability to react/brake. Mph.

Tony Marley

On my touring bike, with front and rear panniers, I hit 47 mph on a downhill in Montana and started feeling the frame flex, so I back off. Years later, on a Santana tandem in Colorado, I hit 58 mph and it was a solid ride; I would have taken more, but that was all the descent gave me. Another time in Colorado, I again hit 58 mph on my long-wheelbase recumbent.

drlogik 

Many years ago I lived in Myrtle Beach South Carolina and worked in Georgetown SC about 30 miles away. One day I decided to ride from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach straight up highway 17 with the intent of catching a draft. This was back in the early 1980's.

I was just outside of Georgetown and a semi came up behind me and had to stop at a traffic light. I slid behind the truck and drafted him all the way to Myrtle Beach. We were going the speed limit or 55 to 60 mph the whole way. I made it in about 30 minutes. I had to use my brakes or slide in to the slipstream wake the whole way because the draft behind the truck kept pulling me in. The driver knew I was behind him and played along by starting up slowly so that I could get behind him. It was freaky but exhilarating as he11!

That was some really crazy nutty stuff I did. There's no reason I made it out unscathed. A flat tire would have been catastrophic. I'm a speedaholic what can I say. I've tamed it down since then but those days of reckless abandon are still with me.

My body is older but my mind is still 19 years old. Drafting trucks on a highway is dangerous. I don't advise anyone doing that today.



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02Giant 

On the downhill to the Visitor Center @ RMNP, Ive clocked +50mph.

General Geoff

Touched 51mph on a mile long 10% grade descent. I ride motorcycles so the sensation of speed is not unfamiliar to me; on a human powered road bike, the big difference is (lack of) suspension. At those speeds, you really have to keep your eyes peeled to avoid road imperfections.

On smooth level pavement, I'm happy to maintain 15-16mph

zarbog

Couple of days ago I hit 24 mph going down a step hard pack dirt and loose fine gravel road before I eased on the brakes. That was way scarier than nearing 40 mph on the paved hills around here.

Lemond1985

I dunno, as long as you keep a close eye on the road surface and for road debris, what could happen? An loaded 18 wheeler is not gonna out-brake a bike, so the odds of rear-ending them is negligible. Other than hitting some bad pavement or debris that you don't see in time, I don't see much else that could happen.

I draft trucks all the time from red lights, on the flats, it's fun to see how long I can keep up with them. And when I no longer can, there is usually a line of cars following that I can draft off of a bit. The best part about sharing the road with cars and buses is drafting them, IMO.

Koyote

I don't believe this. Not at all.

mattbur

35mph is about my max and I start easing my brakes. A few years back I tried creeping over that and at almost 40 my butt started clinching. I'm comfortable up to 35mph.

General Geoff

Maybe he was skitching?

Koyote

Nope. Read the post.

General Geoff

I read the post.


It can be done.

Koyote

Uh huh. For 30 miles. On a flat road. Riding his brakes the whole way. Yeah. Right.

By the way, to make 60 mph on even atypically high gearing (for that era) of 54-12 would require a cadence of 170 rpm. Oh, wait, I forgot -- he was riding his brakes.

Sy Reene

As others have alluded to, willingness to go fast/faster/fastest down a hill is heavily influenced by one's own recent knowledge or experience with the stretch of road. Otherwise, unforeseens stretches of gravel, sand, potholes, or whatnot can ruin your whole day.

dennis336

I've reached the low 40's (mph) several times. The conditions tend to be descents that are short, rather steep, straight with good visibility and good road conditions. Even then, I feel like I'm outside my comfort/skill zone and am glad when it's over. Going past the mid-30s I'm just not that comfortable. For me, upper 20s/low 30s going down a long sweeping, not-too-steep descent with good road conditions and good visibility of upcoming turns is just glorious.

A side story ... I was going down a fairly steep descent a couple years back. One that bottomed out and then immediately went back up with a similar, fairly steep profile. I had just reached the bottom when car pulled up behind me. I was worried he might get after me for occupying to close to the middle of the road, or some other thing. But, instead, he leaned over and was so excited, saying "man, I was following you down that hill and my speedometer read 35 mph and I wasn't even gaining on you!!!". He was just so impressed, and really nice and complimentary ... of course, by slowing down to have that brief chat with him, I lost all momentum going back up the next ascent, which was right away. But it was still a nice exchange.

Then, of course, the other day I fell off my bike at a busy intersection because I didn't get un-clipped fast enough. Totally embarrassing and another reason I get nervous at high speeds. Even at a stop, I'm prone to accidents

cyccommute 

Nope. Not in my experience. I’ll hurtle down any road that is downhill. I’ve been on thousands of miles of roads that I’ve never been on before nor will probably ever be back to again. I’m comfortable with how my brakes work, how my bicycle handles and how I see the road. Most people that I’ve seen or talked to about riding down hills aren’t comfortable with any of that. Many of them don’t understand how to brake effectively nor how to corner effectively nor do they look much past their front wheel so they don’t see obstacles until they are right on top of them.

I’ve followed people down mountain passes on organized rides that have no clue about how to corner at speed. One went into corners straight and then did a 90° turn to come out of the corner. I stopped following him as soon as possible to avoid seeing the carnage.

All of those can develop at any time even on roads that I’m extremely familiar with. Rather than ride like you are expecting to crash at any moment, ride like you can control your bike well enough to not crash.

In all honesty, learning how to mountain bike will go a very long ways to giving most people confidence to ride faster and better on pavement. You deal with all the things that give most road riders the heebie jeebies all the time.

Sy Reene

Glad that works for you.. I myself won't go past about 40mph without having at least some knowledge of the road I'm on. Even tour riders can go down and even on roads they've scoped beforehand. Having bike handling skills is a given; having some common sense should be as well IMO.

jeffpoulin

https://vimeo.com/50872582

I love how he starts out in the big ring, but when he gets up to 60mph, he's somehow in the little ring with a cadence of about 100 and still not spinning out!

Lemond1985

No Helmet!

Instant NC-17 Rating.

Camera lovingly pans downward over the bike. I hope that truck driver doesn't carry a bicycle pump.

Bikewolf

I value the memory of a joyful ride. More than the numbers, that only add weight to my wheely companion.

KraneXL

It does if you're straight and level. But these are downhill descents, and nobody does those speeds on a flat surface for long.

On one of my routes, I have a small hill outward bound, but there's also an intersections at the base. Besides, my hybrid spins out at 33 mph.

In any events, its not the speed that's uncomfortable, rather the road conditions and the cars that tailgate or cruise right next to you making it terrifying should you need to make a quick maneuver around a pothole or broken patch in the road.

Despite the laws prohibiting it, motorist seem to love to tailgate cyclist that can maintain traffic speed.

baldilocks

Back in the day, I did 34.5 mph down hill on rollerblades. I suppose I should buy a computer for my bike and find a good hill.

McMitchell

Not that fast since I came around a corner yesterday and discovered a person walking her dog with the leash stretched across most of the road. By the time her husband stopped the dog I had about one foot of pavement to circumvent the dog, leash and woman. I may have been doing 15-20mph at the time.

I wonder how people know how fast they are going? I know there are “apps for that”, looking for a “good one” using GPS on an iPhone.

Koyote

Cycle computers are not exactly new technology. And there are indeed apps for that - Strava being the most popular.