rnorris

Same problem here.... 5 ft. 3 in. and 105 lbs. Can't put a lot of wattage to the ground with a motor that small, even one in good condition. I'm always the last one downhill, on either the road or the trail.

fishymamba

Nope. my hubs are crappy shimano ones that are disintegrating slowly.

Beaker

Let me plug Williams in this thread too. I have system 19s and some Easton EA70s, although having 1cm less rim depth, I feel like my 19s descend faster as the hubs roll so smoothly.

valygrl

Watch out for too-aero wheels, you're gonna catch crosswinds way more than the big folks as well, and the wind will really toss you around. Says me at 110#. I'd rather be slow down the descents b/c I'm light and not-as-aero than slow because I'm aero & catching so much crosswind that I'm terrified & riding the brakes.

valygrl

Adding --- see if you can demo or borrow some aero wheels before you go that way. I can tell the difference between my two wheelsets, and there's not much difference 'on paper.'

fishymamba

Do shops allow you to test wheels?

nutterbutter

i have never had any issues keeping up on descents that dont involve pedaling. Being a jr, gearing along with weight tend to hold me back there, however i have found that as the skinny one, you have a huge aero advantage, and in getting your body supppeeerrr low and compact keeping up on descents like you describe has never been an issue for me, especially when drafting is involved

gregf83 

The critical parts where selections occur.

20% extra W/kg will allow you to ride away from other riders on the hills. Having 20% higher W/CdA isn't as useful as riders can save 30% just by drafting.

kleinboogie

I count on the descents to make up time I know I'll lose on the climb. It's just physics and big guy power. You should probably pull away at the climb and let them catch you on the descent. If you time it right you'll be all together on the flats until you do it again. As a big guy I do the opposite. I try to create distance on the flat/descent and do what Chris Carmichael calls the big fade on the climb. The challenge there is realizing that for some period you're going to be alone. Better to be alone out front on the climb than off the back on the descent. Might help to let the group know it's nothing personal. What helped me getting over the guilt was realizing nobody was going to wait for me on the climb so I'm under no obligation to wait for them on the descent/flats. GL

fogrider

grab a backpack and 25 pounds of books, that should help you fly down the hills!

SlowOlympian

Haha, i hate this problem. mine is compounded by the fact ive only put 1k mi on my bike, still have plenty of base miles to put in! however, even tailing(drafting or not) a chubby guy, i just cant hang on descents. Im 125 and 5'10". im a stick. aero? check! w/kg? check! gravity? ..... Gravity....? wtf? never seen clouds on the ground!!! oh no, im floating again!

So i can SLAMDANCE past the CHUBBY guys uphill, but they SLAMDa...oh wait. they arent even pedaling and theyre faster than me!!! cheaters!

I found out the mystery, the fatties fill their bottles, main vein some EPO, and kick in their electric drive front hub before the descent! thats why theyre faster!

just kidding, but its still not fair. we both work going up the hill. i have to work going down the hill too. my goal before racing? become a clyde!



Oh, and fogrider, backpacks dont help. much less aero in the drops and it pretty much cancels out. what you have to do is break open some batteries, fill your water bottles with lead(get bottle launchers too for more effect) and ride with a camelback. youll get stronger on the climbs, and you'll keep up on the descents with the guys who could almost hang on the climbs!

savvy523

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFpNsZXWgc

maybe? lol

generalkdi

That's fast, the faster I got is 89km/h, and, you know when going down you always want MORE SPEED, but at 89 I was like.. maybe I should brake? Will it just stop? I don't wanna die!

hhnngg1

Meh. I'm 155, but short and stocky (BMI is clearly in the 'overweight' zone but it's mostly muscle), and in 95%+ of cases, guys north of 210lbs have no chance dropping me on hills or flats. You big guys can certainly pull hard on a flat, but it's not enough to drop a guy my size, even at 28+mph if I'm trying to hang onto you. Then we'll hit the climb and all you big guys disappear, never to be seen again.

Fast riding on the flats is over-rated, anyway - I actually get a laugh when I see big guys (210+) try to gap me on a flat in a hammerhead road ride so they might have a chance keeping up on the climb. On these rides, unless you can TT at 25+mph solo for an hour+, you're just burning your matches - we can either keep up with you and have you die quick on the flat, or let you have your fun and unceremoniously dump you less than 2 minutes onto the first real climb.

Now when I see little skinny guys in the pack (like sub 130), I get scared. Those guys will definitely lay down the hurt. Although even with those guys where I have a 25lbs penalty, unless they're Cat1-2, I can usually keep up as well.

urbanknight

Solution: drop them on the climbs so they have to catch you on the descents

The first time you and I went over Angeles Forest Hwy, I was drafting you most of the way down into Sunland. Any time I lost your draft, I was pedaling. One thing people might not realize is that the faster you go, the further behind you your draft is. Cruising at 15 mph, you want to be less than 3' behind your wheel. At 40 mph, you can leave 10' or 20' in front of you, which is hopefully enough for you to shift to the side and avoid colliding should something happen.

fwiw I have since then improved my technique. Gaining 30 lb has also helped (albeit at a huge detriment to my climbing). If you can reduce your frontal surface area (getting deep in the drops, keeping your knees in, keeping your head down) and shift your weight forward (but not to the point that you lose control), you will pick up a few mph easily.

njkayaker

It's a better measurement because it measures physical conditioning and it is the relevant measurement for hill climbing.

Power/CdA would be more complicated because CdA depends on rider position (which riders vary a lot).

pallen

Eat more cheeseburgers. Then come back and complain about get dropped on the climbs

I wish I had your problem. I suck on the climbs.

njkayaker

https://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/art...ng-star-12092/

EdIsMe

This thread makes me feel like I belong in the PCL...

I'm 5'5" and 145lbs...

I really haven't had too much trouble on downhills vs. some bigger members of my cycling group. Granted, downhills here are just the backside of a bridge, maybe 1/8 mile long at best. Fastest I've hit on one of these "downhills" was 44.2mph and that was while tucked and pedaling.

It probably helps that I'm a little more flexible than most of the guys I ride with, and can tuck a little bit smaller I guess.

AllezDada

Personally I'm happy being able to climb better than some of my buddies - them being able to descend a little faster doesn't bother me at all . . .

calamarichris

I prescribe a diet of mainly sweets and fried foods for two months which will make you a more streamlined and aerodynamically efficient rider.

volosong

Funny thread. A lot of rib poking, but all in fun.

I suck on both ends. At 6'3" and 210 lbs., it takes me forever to go up a hill ... and at 60 years old, I'm too frightened to push it going back down like I did when I was in my 20's. At least I still have the flats. Maybe I should stick to TTs?

savvy523

The fastest I did was low 70s can't remember correctly but did you see how controlled they are at 100kph? I can't imagine 89 lol

fishymamba

Thanks Doc! I'll get right to it!

But yeah I am kinda over weight for my size. Kinda pudgy. My upper body is all soft and flabby and my legs are the opposite.

Keith99

I used to be able to make the midweek ride with my local club. One regroup point was at the top of a climb that was not that long, but fairly steep (Mulholland Highway heading North towards Los Virgenes road for the LA locals). It had a long and not all that steep downhill on hte other side.

One frequent rider was a woman ranked about 10th in the U.S. at teh time. I was about 230, she was much smaller, but not tiny. If I was sitting up and all but intentionally catching wind she would hit the same speeds when in a tuck that would have scared me to try.

Of course if we had not regrouped she would have aleady been a half mile of more ahead of me when I started the decent.