We close out the 6 Days of the Giro with our sixth and final installment.
A body at rest, stays at rest. A body in motion, stays in motion. Things get a bit more ambiguous when it comes to a body on a bicycle tearing down a twisty mountain descent at speed, particularly in the rain. But it is here, on the boundary between clarity and ambiguity, where things get interesting.
Cornering feels a bit like you’re stealing from Physics, as if you’re getting away with something. Momentum, as fundamental as it is, doesn’t know what’s good for us and stubbornly wants to carry us on its merry path. The faster we go, the bigger its influence becomes and the harder we push against it, balancing on the knife’s edge between our body’s lean and the bike’s pull. For those skilled in this craft, the bicycle and rider carve through the bend in perfect harmony.
I’m not particularly good at cornering, which is to say I’m not particularly good at descending. Its a shame, too, because given my size I’m not very good at climbing, either. The way to get better is to practice, and not to give Rule #64 too much thought. You will crash if you want to get better, but you mustn’t lose your nerve. A nervous descender is a bad descender and everyone knows where to find bad descenders.
The riders getting the most practice in this discipline must surely be les grimpeurs for it seems they would be riding down all those mountains they’re riding up. The surprising truth is that this does not always appear to be the case; one need look no farther than Andy Schleck to find evidence of that particular postulate. Furthermore, one would think that a professional, who by the very nature of their occupation is quite used to finding themselves on the tarmac, would be most able to come off and not lose their nerve. This, also, doest not always appear to be the case.
The Giro, known for its narrow mountain roads, is won as much on the descents as it is on the climbs. Who can forget the 1988 Giro, which was won on the descent of the Gavia, not its climb. Or the 2002 and 2005 editions when Il Falco used every millimeter of road as he swept through the hairpin bends to distance his rivals. This year, Brad Wiggins had already put himself on the back foot on GC when he came off on a slow bend and spent the rest of the stage riding like his tires were made of glass. On the same stage, Nibali attacked and came off on a high speed corner before jumping back on his machine and rejoining the leaders moments later. The difference is a question of not only skill, but fearlessness.
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What I think is really cool is what the heat of the battle does for you. Since I've passed the half century mark my balls have gotten considerably smaller - especially when it comes to high speed descents. If I'm on a training ride and the speed creeps over 65kph I start getting on the binders because I see no need to go that fast for no reason. But then I go to a race and look at my Garmin post race and see 87kph and I don't even recall thinking I was going fast. I was just consumed with chasing back on to all the bastards that dropped me on the climb.
@frank
Sure, that's why you see the MotoGP guys weighting the inside peg and dragging the knee; it lets them keep it more upright with larger contact patches on the road.
So when you say "push as hard as you can on your inside hand," you must mean weighting your inside hand, right? As in pushing it down, as opposed to pushing it forward and down, which would be the cycling equivalent of counter-steering, which would not make any sense to me. (But I'm always happy to be educated.)
And btw, I applaud your approach to blind corners.
@Steampunk That is skill and craziness in equal measure.
@snoov
Standby for the Cogal @snoov. I'm not the greatest at descending at all but I always get a speed wobble descending off Cairn O Mount, usually approaching 75kph if my wireless computer can actually record that speed reliably. VDO proving to be disappointing at high speed. I find pressing the inner thigh against the top tube helps along with increasing the tuck slightly. A motivator for keeping it in check is always meeting traffic as I flow round the corners.
Its similarly challenging on the continent as I'm busy looking for a line and on the 'wrong' side of the road. One moments lapse in concentration could prove messy. Practice does help along with decent tyres and a healthy respect for not damaging the bike or walking home.... I keep a picture in my head of lying in 6" of stank water a ditch not able to reach the phone in my back pocket because the collar bone has gone and I've smashed the screen anyway. Shaves a few kph off.
Still bloody good fun though.
@frank
Yep: I was going to post that, but feared it might be "predictable" coming from me...
@PeakInTwoYears
Not really. I may be doing it wrong, but I mostly use pressure like I would when downhill skiing fast. If I'm wanting to turn right, I lean the bike some to the right and apply pressure to my left pedal, as if it was the inside edge of my "outboard" ski.
Like Frank, I'm faster on decent's that I'm familiar with, but will uncork it usually regardless. The only thing that freaks me out much is pea gravel on the road and leafs. Wet doesn't bother me too much either.
@scaler911
That makes total sense to me. I'm going to stop worrying about my hands and just focus on weighting the outside pedal and finding the fore-and-aft sweet spot for my center of gravity. I remember enjoying descending very much, but I haven't yet re-experienced much of that feeling of "flow."
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I only recently realized the inside hand/outside foot pressure technique makes things much, much easier. My corner has gotten significantly better since I've focussed on those two things.
And not having much of an off-road background means that a few years of CX riding/racing has really helped me out too. Not only in the skills but the confidence.
@PeakInTwoYears
Back in the 90's, I learned that cornering thru 90deg corners in crits, it made sense to keep the bike more upright pressing on the opposite drop from the direction of the turn, sorta "steering" the bike thru the corner, rather than leaning the bike and coasting thru it. That allowed you to pedal without skipping your pedal of the pavement causing you to crash, or coasting, causing you to lose a couple places through each corner. But that was before compact framesets and super low profile pedals (like Speedplays). Now it seems you can pedal and lean in most corners that are 90deg or less, especially if you've chosen a good line into the apex.
@frank after that corner...
@frank That video of Spartacus is a straight clinic on descending. it should be mandatory watching for everyone getting a bike.