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Uncomfortable in descending position.

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Uncomfortable in descending position.

Old 01-19-09, 09:21 PM
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Uncomfortable in descending position.

On a particular technical hill descent, my shoulders/back/biceps start to get super sore really quick. I get in an aero position - butt back on the saddle, hands on the drops/fingers on the levers. The descent is too technical to not have my hands on the levers the whole time, ready to brake (at least at my skill level), due to the fact that just about every turn is blind and most of the turns are pretty sharp, plus the few cars and other cyclist on the road.

I have a feeling that I shouldn't keep my hands on the levers the whole time, but on a technical descent where I have to brake often, the second where I have to move my hands to the levers leaves me vulnerable.

What am I doing wrong?



edit: I should note, I feel fine on less technical descents.
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Old 01-19-09, 09:22 PM
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anxiety = muscle tension


lose all fear of death and the soreness will vanish


then you will become:


Last edited by dysFTP; 01-19-09 at 09:49 PM.
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Old 01-19-09, 09:35 PM
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or, you could raise the bars.

BF blasphemy, I know.
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Old 01-19-09, 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by arexjay
What am I doing wrong?
Brake hard before the turns, then let go. If you want to leave your fingers on the levers, do so, but don't put any pressure on them. Keep the braking fingers relaxed until it's time to brake.
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Old 01-19-09, 10:23 PM
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Originally Posted by ericm979
Brake hard before the turns, then let go. If you want to leave your fingers on the levers, do so, but don't put any pressure on them. Keep the braking fingers relaxed until it's time to brake.
+1 Ditch your speed before the turn. Then accelerate through it.
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Old 01-19-09, 10:47 PM
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Originally Posted by ericm979
Brake hard before the turns, then let go. If you want to leave your fingers on the levers, do so, but don't put any pressure on them. Keep the braking fingers relaxed until it's time to brake.
That's what I've been doing (or trying to), but it's difficult to relax your fingers while they're poised/resting on the levers, waiting to brake. I'm going to try to take my hands of the levers after I brake next time and see how that goes.
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Old 01-19-09, 11:07 PM
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how long have you been riding?
some things just take time to acclimate.
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Old 01-19-09, 11:12 PM
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Have you tried to "loosen up"? i.e. avoiding the death grip on the bars, and also raising yourself out of the saddle a little to let the bike absorb more of the bumps?
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Old 01-19-09, 11:54 PM
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do some core work
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Old 01-20-09, 07:08 AM
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All good suggestions above. I'd add ride in the drops more to get comfortable with the position.
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Old 01-20-09, 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by arexjay
but it's difficult to relax your fingers while they're poised/resting on the levers
It shouldn't be. It's not for me, but I have 30 years of motorcycling where I "cover" the brake (and clutch for off road riding) so I am very used to it. It may take some practice and conscious thought. Try practicing when riding along on flat ground. Your fingers should be just resting on the lever, not putting any pressure on it. Grip the bars with the other fingers. I normally use one finger for each brake. Two for the front brake if I have been doing a lot of twisty road descending and my index finger is getting tired.

Some people "drag" their brakes on descents. Holding the brakes on for a long time like that will make your hands tired. That's why I suggested to brake hard only when you need to. It's easier on the brakes as well, as it leaves more time for the rims to cool down.

If you are uncomfortable descending in the drops then that might have something to do with it. Having too long a reach to the bars and then reaching for levers could tire your hands more out quickly. If you have small hands then you may benefit from adjusting the reach on your levers to make them easier to reach. Sram levers have adjusters and you can buy shims from Specialized for Shimano levers. Make sure that the brake levers are in a good position on the bars. Sometimes people move them up on the curve too far to get the hoods to a comfortable position but then that leaves the brake levers at a bad angle where they are hard to reach from the drops and give little leverage when braking from the hoods. If that's the case then you may need to compromise a bit, or even go for a different brand of brake lever to get a hood shape that works for you.
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Old 01-20-09, 08:36 PM
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Picture of set up and maybe you on it (at least hands, arms, neck), esp in the positions you find difficult to hold.

If you're having that much difficulty holding a position, it's probably not right. Yeah, I get really tired on technical descents but that's after 20 minutes of descending down switchbacks that I really don't remember too well, and I'm good for another 10 or 15 minutes before I'm done. For 5 or 10 minutes pretty much any position on my bike is fine.

However, if you're doing 20-30 minute descents regularly, then you probably need to compromise your position to accommodate the stress of such riding. For such descents (the only time I run into them is coming down Palomar in CA) I'll try using an 80 degree stem (7 deg rise) to raise my bars a touch. Normally I use a 73 deg stem (0 deg rise).

cdr
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Old 01-20-09, 09:28 PM
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Originally Posted by ericm979
It shouldn't be. It's not for me, but I have 30 years of motorcycling where I "cover" the brake (and clutch for off road riding) so I am very used to it. It may take some practice and conscious thought. Try practicing when riding along on flat ground. Your fingers should be just resting on the lever, not putting any pressure on it. Grip the bars with the other fingers. I normally use one finger for each brake. Two for the front brake if I have been doing a lot of twisty road descending and my index finger is getting tired.
+1 I got back into road bikes mid 07 after ahem, 15-20yrs, and got my first bike with STI in Jan 08. I have no problem resting my first two fingers on the levers with no pressure from the hoods or drops.
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Old 01-20-09, 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by ericm979
It shouldn't be. It's not for me, but I have 30 years of motorcycling where I "cover" the brake (and clutch for off road riding) so I am very used to it. It may take some practice and conscious thought. Try practicing when riding along on flat ground. Your fingers should be just resting on the lever, not putting any pressure on it. Grip the bars with the other fingers. I normally use one finger for each brake. Two for the front brake if I have been doing a lot of twisty road descending and my index finger is getting tired.
Because I love examples...



And here I am a few minutes later...



I love that descent. Still one of my all time favorites.
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Old 01-20-09, 10:11 PM
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just out of curisity where do you live?


edit: joe binder?
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Old 01-20-09, 10:31 PM
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I live in San Carlos (right now, winter break) and San Francisco (school). I'm talking about the Old La Honda and King's Mountain descents.

I gave the above finger/hand changes a shot today, and I'm pretty sure it's a combination of my short fingers and levers maybe being a touch too high. Also, I've got SRAM Rival on my bike, so I'm going to try to adjust the reach.

Thanks for everyone's help.
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