The way down should hurt as much or more than the way up. Photo: Jared Gruber
The human mind is designed to forget how much things suck. That is a fact. If women had the capacity to retain meaningful data on how horrible things can be, there would be exactly zero families on the planet with more than one child. This has nothing to do with how wonderful children are; it has to do with how birthing a child is the most painful thing one can do in this life and live to tell the tale. Or so I’m told. But women happily bear a second or even a third child; with each labor a fresh-faced surprise at how much the birthing process blows on a visceral level.
On the other hand, we are very good at remembering how great things can be. Like sex. Which is an ironic counterpoint to the above paragraph. I swear I didn’t plan that. (I don’t “plan” any of my writing. I do this for fun.)
I ostensibly observe at this stage in the article-writing-process that maybe I should start planning some of my writing. Because this is going nowhere.
I am vocally quiet about my uneasiness with Strava from the perspective that it causes us to focus on doing good times on segments of our rides which is in conflict with the discipline required to Train Properly. That said, Strava can be a lot of fun in the sense that it provides a kind of passive-active competitive nature to Cycling. To that point, I have been riding with the group out of Hedrick Cycles in Greenwood, Seattle recently; the owner, Carson, is on a rampage to collect the KOM‘s on the local circuits.
KOM is an oxymoron because none of these targets are climbs; he is chasing after the descents.
Seattle has a lot of good descents hidden around, even within the metropolitan area. Mostly because it is a very hilly area to the extent that I can’t find a satisfactory “flat” route to spin on for a recovery day. Which means I’ve learned to “recover” on climbs. Which feels a little bit like bragging. You’re welcome.
As a non-GPS-using rider, I have been very happy to help Carson in his endeavor to bag some tags on the local descents as lead-out monkey and I have to admit it is one hell of a cortisol fix. The descents aren’t even about the KOM anymore, the whole group just attacks one another over and over again all the way down the descent until we reach a stalemate and we start to work together, burning ourselves out and rolling off the front like a worn-out banana peel.
Based on the opening paragraph of this article, I understand that the following claim is unprovable: these descents have put me further into the hurt locker than many climbs I’ve done, barring Haleakala.
Which brings to bear an important reminder: descents are not for recovery. They should hurt every bit as much as the climb, if not more. And if you misjudge a corner, it will hurt a lot more than the climb, possibly for a bit of a while because road rash sucks.
Ride hard on the way up; ride harder over the top, and ride like you stole something on the way down. That is all.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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kick it route* down
@RobSandy
This is no place for rational thought and common sense...
Needs no introduction........
@MangoDave
Long-time follower of this site. This is why I love it. Carry on...
Frank we don't want to see you as a statistic. This world would go to hell in the proverbial flowered handlebar basket. And if you haven't checked out the strava lawsuits for descending data, keep perspective. I love watching pros descend, but am a confirmed slacker descender, myself.
I try not to strava myself against others, just against myself. And I mostly drive to making sure I am getting the required miles in, for my own mental well being. Not tracking HR or Watts, is my push away.
And then you aligned sex with babies.......with babies first.....and never mentioned the 18+ years after the fateful moment of fun, not on a bike!
@azryder
It's your whole concept behind "moment of fun" that has me concerned there.......
@Teocalli
I've been riding with my brake cables the continental way (right=rear/left=front) for a few years now. It was strange at first but second nature to me now. I didn't do it out of any desire to precondition my brain for riding on the continent, but because when restoring my de Rosa it was just the way they had to be. The curve on the cables are gentler, and thus function and look better. Well, at least I think so!
I honestly don't have a Scooby doo why we in certain parts of the world have them the other way around at all. It doesn't seem to make any sense. Anyone got knowledge on this? Oli?
@DVMR
Could be a personal ergonomic thing?
Years ago I use to have the Right-Rear/Left-Front until breaking my left wrist in two separate A over T's, and was not able to brake well using LH on front. So switched over sides. Front cable sweep a bit tight, but used to it.
Was just about to tear down a descent today (in an effort to steal the KOM from a friend). It's a short descent, but pretty steep, averaging about -11% and straightish. The speed limit is 45 mph, and I knew I'd be up over 50.
And then I caught up with traffic. Some asshat was DRIVING down the hill at 30. Not only did I have to stop pedaling and coast, but had to sit upright and feather the brakes for more than half the way down.
@DVMR
I don't really know why, but when I started in the 70s most right-handed riders worldwide were right-rear/left-front. The opposite was known as "Italian-style" for reasons unknown, but generally (but not always wtf?) utilised by the Mosers and Saronnis of the peloton.
There was some nebulous justification in that one was supposed to have the strong hand on the rear and the weaker on the front to help prevent over-the-bars accidents in sudden stops, but with the brakes of the day I think this would have been hard to do anyway.
When I got my first bike it came right-rear so that's what I used, and as I gradually became aware of proper racing bike set-up I set mine from photos of Eddy Merckx, getting the loops out of the top of the lever just so and perfectly even, and I've never bothered trying it the other way...this has made for some interesting times test riding client's machines or borrowing other people's bikes, but luckily only one ever OTB.