ODjunk

With some stellar weather on on the front range today, I let my friends drag me out on my first ride today - up lookout mountain. I'm a serious puss going uphill on the mountain bike, so I expected my experiences on a road bike to be the same. Not so - to my surprise, i cruzed up the 4 miles/2000' of gain with plenty of enery to spare. I got to the top in 39 minutes, which i'm told is decent for a rookie. I know i've got a long way to go, but the uphill was a good push for my riding confidence.

The downhill was a whole nother matter. God damn!!! We droped down the backside for (what seemed to me) a seriously fast decent. Between the ocasional rock/crack in the road, high winds, cars flying by, and my total rookie'ness I was certain that I was going to eat asphalt or ***** myslef. I only got up to 41mph, but that was way fast enough for me.

How do you guys get used to these decents? I guess more experience or somthing, but damn that was scary.

hairyleg

yeah, you need practice. 41 mph is only a fast sprint speed. I so want to go to Colorado and ride, I love mountain passes and going on hills/mountains. Just be sure of what you're doing----ride them a lot and you'll get the hang of it.
But wait, what was your max speed before this? Maybe you had a big jump and that's what scared you. (like, you had only been 30 before, so 41 would be rough)
Keep it up, descents are so much fun!

manual_overide

hehe, i hit close to 60 going down a 35mph hill in the city a couple of years ago Cincy's hills are relativley short, but boy are they steep! Parked cars, traffic threatening to pull out in front of me... yeah it was stupid and i've never done it since, but it was really fun

ODjunk

Uhhh, I hit about 20 in a parking lot before this ride. I guess I should attribute my fear to lack of experience (since I've had zero until today), but another factor was that i built my bike (mostly campy on a jamis comet frame) myself, and I've never done that before either. I was waiting for my saddle to fall off or my wheels to go rolling away. I did have a shop look it over before hitting the road, so i guess it should be good to go.

thanks for the encouragement/advice. I'm stoaked to (hopfully) get the hang of this road stuff.

SirScott

Sweet... I rode Lookout yesterday, actually. I take it you went down the Frontage road along 70? The winds through there can be awful... sometimes it's best to just go down the way you come up through Golden.

And yes, you'll get used to the speed in no time.

HigherGround

Follow more experienced descenders, and try to copy their technique: the lines they choose, how they lean, etc. Also, stay relaxed. Being really tense and keeping a death grip on the bars will interfere with descending smoothly, and being smooth is critical for getting down quickly. Oh yeah - and leave some extra space for safety in case the "roll model" you're following makes a mistake and you have to take evasive action!

roadgator

hurray for lookout mnt. i miss riding that one from back this summer. as for descending, use the whole lane so you can take better lines and cary more speed. this should let you get up fast enough that cars wont want to pass you, and if they do try just hold our ground in the middle of the lane and make them go around you.

Dchiefransom

A road bike on a fast descent feels different than an MTB, so just do a lot more descents on the road bike, and you will get used to the feeling.

MHR

Great job on your first ride there - Colorado offers a ton of fun challenging rides. Lookout Mountain is pretty much in my backyard, I train there a ton "cycling" and "running". On the weekends in summer I ride from my home up Lookout around I-70 to Evergreen and desend down into Morrison which is a great 11-mile cruise down. Then along I-70 back into Golden...A pretty good loop.

If you really like climbing Winter Park to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park and back to Winter Park is my favorite ride I do in summer.

ovoleg

I broke 50mph once, i was scared ****less

Highest I can break around my area is around 40mph, anything past that I need a HUGE downhill and need to be pushing like a madman initially.

You'll get the hang of it, good luck and keep on riding!

snowyfox

I have yet to purchase a road bike, (february hopefully ), but there are a few hills around my area and i have reached a max speed of 38 on a MTB, I couldn't go any faster due to my bikes gearing, ( 42-12 ) but hopefully with a new road bike on the way that will all change...

mrkott3r

i love downhill. I dont have a speedo on my bike but i guess I've hit around 60-70kph before. Its fun but that is about the fastest I can go, not enough steep hills.

I guess it kinda depends on how old you are too. Being 18, I dont speed scared. But I do probably take more/stupid risks that are unneccessary. Thankfully I haven't come off yet
I'm not intending to start a flame war either

Grasschopper

Fastest I have been is about 52 MPH and that sure seems pretty damn fast to me. 41 is pretty doable and like the other's have said it just takes some practice and you will want to push for more. At those speeds the lines you can take and the hold of the tires really gets critical. Crappy tires, untrue wheels, poor bearings, loose headsets, misaligned frames will all start to show their heads big time once you get over 40 MPH so if it was really sketchy maybe you have an issue in one of these areas.

fifao

Hmmm....yes. Practice. A tip: never, ever ever jam your brake. Your probably smart enough to know this, but it can end up in a very painful situation! I have been 49 mph down a 2 mile hill in NY, the first time I had gone so fast, previously my max speed was 38. It was sort of scary the first time, but I did the hill 5 times over two days, and I got the hang of it. And another thing, aerodynamics make up a huge part of what your speed will be. I achieved 49 with my legs tucked in, and my head level with my handlears. It takes some concentration to think of all these things at once, but if you do them properly, you will go FAST!

patentcad

Don't let anyone kid you, 41mph is PLENTY fast on a bicycle. Fastest I've ever gone is 50 mph, and the last time I hit 40 was last week on the most screamin' descent around here. To hit speeds faster than that you need LONG descents - like the ones in Colorado. Just relax and learn how to let the bike roll - it can and it will. If the roads are dry and the traffic situation is safe there's not much to worry about. Besides if you DO hit anything at that speed you'll never know it.

Squint

I don't think I've gone much over 40 around here and that was on High Grade Rd. The fastest I've gone was on Monitor Pass which has long, straight sections of consistent steep grade.

The climbs in CO are high and long but not that steep or straight.

I did see the aftermath of someone who didn't make that one tricky turn on High Grade. I heard he only broke his collarbone so he was lucky.

SDRider

Coming down Torrey Pines on Sunday I hit 37mph. Other than being cold I wished I could go faster. I've hit 47.3mph going down a hill near my house that I ride fairly regularly, it's steeper than Torrey Pines but not nearly as long.

You get used to it. As you ride more you'll gain more confidence on the bike and those high speeds won't seem so scary anymore.

Phatman

I agree with this 1000 percent. having a good decender in front about 100 yards can make a ton if difference, since you see the right lines to take, how much you need brake, etc. I did some riding on the blue-ridge parkway, which wasnt that steep. however, the roads that you take to get there are incredibly steep, as in 55mph decents. having a "native guide" was a huge help.

geo_10

It's flat here in the midwest so I can't relate, but I can tell you that in my youth 100MPH on a CBR-F4 seemed slow until I thought about how bad it would hurt to fall

geo_10

As a follow up - about 1 week later I sold the motorcycle and got a wife. I had to grow up sometime.

timmhaan

the problem i have with fast descents is the air in my eyes. they seem to go into a cycle of pooling up with mosture and then drying out. this makes my sight blurry for a few seconds, then normal, then blurry. that scares me a bit since i can't really see too well, so i always end up chickening out and slowing down. i guess a set of goggles would help to reduce that.

whitemax

I keep seeing Beloki in the '03 tour every time I get up around 45 mph. The possibility of a tire blowout or a spoke breaking scares the daylights out of me. My fastest is 47 mph; things get pretty quick right around that speed. You won't crash but once going down some of the descents here in the Blue Ridge Mtns. of N.C. Seriously though, as mentioned above, you will gain confidence with more experience. Just don't try to go too fast before you are ready. This is an easy thing to do and has led to more than one crash. Be safe, ride long and prosper!

telenick

Welcome to Colorado.

Squint

It also helps to do the same descents repeatedly and learn how much you can push things. On unfamiliar descents, you might hold back too much. But you also need to learn how to descend on unfamiliar descents because if you race, it's not always going to be on familiar turf.

I like climbing up the descent and then going down the same way. That way you have an idea of the current conditions. No surprise gravel that wasn't there last weekend, etc.

funrover 

LOL..... Getting used to fast downs can be scary....... I am still learning on my road bike.... I am much more comfortable on dirt and wide tires....