going down a hill on road bike

[HLaB]

Im a demon descender if its a straight dry road with good visibility, if not I'm a descending wuss. Go the speed you feel comfortable with and adapt to the conditions.

 

[Kestevan]

This bugged me, so i just did the maths. 30mph is (ignoring air resistance) equivalent to a 9 metre drop, assuming you hit something travelling at that speed. 50mph is a 25metre drop. Sure, both are going to fark you up, but you might easily survive the 9 metre drop. 25 metres, and they will be bringing a body bag.

Just googled, and apparently you are mostly likely to survive a fall with velocity of 12m/s if you don't hit your head. That's 27mph. So there is a lot of difference between 30 and 50mph, if you care about being alive.

Doesn't quite pan out like this. In a fall all the energy is pretty much expended in a very short time. The difference in falling from 9m and 25m onto a solid surface is probably best described as "splat!".

Come off a bike, and you'll dissipate that energy more slowly as you slide along the tarmac (assuming youdont hit anything solid like a wall or lamppost). Hence you can come off at relatively high speed and only have minor injuries.

However the real bummer in this case is that tarmac is hard and rough and skin is soft... a 30mph slide is going to chew you up pretty bad, and 50mph is going to be much worse hence why motorcyclists like leather and kevlar.

This fact has on occasion gone through my mind when descending at 50mph + clad only in a single layer of lycra and a dodgy plastic hat...... still do it though

 

[Absinthe Minded]

He corners like a GP rider. Amazing.

 

[Karlt]

Any chance of a Streetview link to the road? My inclination on these is to pedal until I start spinning out and then go aero. Brakes only needed if there's a bend at the bottom. Not always, of course - https://goo.gl/maps/GmMvay7iBSn has me on the brakes because of mud and the tight bend and bridge at the bottom. This one https://goo.gl/maps/yuAzscQjZd72 on the other hand has seen me hit 46mph before scrubbing off speed for the bend at the bottom.

It's all depending.

 

[Karlt]

I should add - one of the joys of road cycling as opposed to MTBing is the many, many times you can go as fast downhill as gravity and your legs will let you without having to negotiate trees, roots, rocks and loose surfaces. This might be personal because I'm not massively co-ordinated and find a lot of MTB skills very difficult, whereas on the road bike it's mostly choosing a line and not letting go.

 

[sidevalve]

Why do you need to pull over if there are cars behind? Just take a more assertive road position, don't need to encourage overtakes at speed

This is a 60mph road. Why do you want to block it to other road users and force them to travel at your pace ?
If you were zooming down a hill and a car got in your way at 12 mph [ and intentionally stayed in the way] would you be happy - if so then fine. If not then maybe a rethink. No, cars don't 'own the road - but neither do you.

 

[Kajjal]

I should add - one of the joys of road cycling as opposed to MTBing is the many, many times you can go as fast downhill as gravity and your legs will let you without having to negotiate trees, roots, rocks and loose surfaces. This might be personal because I'm not massively co-ordinated and find a lot of MTB skills very difficult, whereas on the road bike it's mostly choosing a line and not letting go.

The mountain bikers will be hunting you down to burn you for that comment

I don't do this speed any more but my fastest on road is about 50 mph and off road by accident mid 40's mph. As i got older self preservation kicked in. Just ride the speed you are happy with.

 

[vickster]

This is a 60mph road. Why do you want to block it to other road users and force them to travel at your pace ?
If you were zooming down a hill and a car got in your way at 12 mph [ and intentionally stayed in the way] would you be happy - if so then fine. If not then maybe a rethink. No, cars don't 'own the road - but neither do you.

You don't have to be in primary if the road is wide, just not in the gutter. The OP said the side of the road is littered with debris

I also drive and are happy to wait behind a cyclist riding safely. Especially having been knocked off and quite badly injured thanks to a car overtaking to closely. And that car was only going around 25mph...

 

[Kajjal]

Why do you need to pull over if there are cars behind? Just take a more assertive road position, don't need to encourage overtakes at speed

In some circumstances this is very good advice but taking it too far puts the rider in alot of danger by annoying car drivers and has the opposite effect, take no risks. Round my way some of the roads are hilly with blind corners and dips making it very hard to pass a cyclist. On these roads i just hop off the road to let drivers past if i am causing a tailback.

 

[vickster]

In some circumstances this is very good advice but taking it too far puts the rider in alot of danger by annoying car drivers and has the opposite effect, take no risks. Round my way some of the roads are hilly with blind corners and dips making it very hard to pass a cyclist. On these roads i just hop off the road to let drivers past if i am causing a tailback.

Yes as I've said. I too have pulled over

 

[Milkfloat]

This is a 60mph road. Why do you want to block it to other road users and force them to travel at your pace ?
If you were zooming down a hill and a car got in your way at 12 mph [ and intentionally stayed in the way] would you be happy - if so then fine. If not then maybe a rethink. No, cars don't 'own the road - but neither do you.

I would just overtake the car when safe to do so, as I would expect the car to overtake me when safe to do so. If the road is incredibly narrow and I was holding him up for a long time then I probably would pull over, that is unlikely on a downhill stretch.

 

[jefmcg]

In some circumstances this is very good advice but taking it too far puts the rider in alot of danger by annoying car drivers and has the opposite effect, take no risks. Round my way some of the roads are hilly with blind corners and dips making it very hard to pass a cyclist. On these roads i just hop off the road to let drivers past if i am causing a tailback.

Uphill, I'd absolutely agree with you, but if you are going downhill as fast as you deem safe, and as close to the gutter as you dare, and there is a stream of cars behind you, I don't really see what you can do. To stop, you'd need to slow down dramatically, which could be both more annoying and more dangerous. Under those circumstances, I'd glance over my shoulder more than once to let them know I am aware, and wait for the conditions to change so I can pull over safely, clearly indicating my intentions once I have found a safe exit.

 

[Absinthe Minded]

This is a 60mph road. Why do you want to block it to other road users and force them to travel at your pace ?

Because its safer? What does it matter that other road users get held up for a little while?

 

[the snail]

This is a 60mph road. Why do you want to block it to other road users and force them to travel at your pace ?

Lots of times I've been overtaken by cars at the start of a descent, then held up by them as they crawl down. They never pull over and let me past.

 

[slowmotion]

Just go as fast as you are happy with. On a really good day, get reckless.