Categories: Look ProSix Days OfUnforgettable Rides

Descendeur

Photo Pedale.Forchetta

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.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Nate says:

May 15 2013 at 2:59 pm

My understanding is that bicycle turns are also initiated by counterstearing, but that the effect is so subtle that it is pretty much automatic. Then again, I don't ride motos, so I don't have that basis of comparison.
PeakInTwoYears says:

May 15 2013 at 3:00 pm

@roger

I agree with most of that but not all. I was in the habit of both weighting the inside peg and using the outside thigh on the tank. Nick Ienatch, in Sport Riding Techniques, describes the rationale for doing both: basically, that both assist with counter-steering. I got to the point that I was comfortable steering with just those two inputs on mildly twisty roads.

With regard to knee "dragging," I agree--and I assure you I was not leaning the bike that much (because I couldn't afford track days, which was the only context in which I would have ridden that hard).
Jouni says:

May 15 2013 at 3:05 pm

The fastest I've ever gone on a descent was 102kph, if I can (could) believe my long-deceased Avocet 30. This was on the road stage of the Tour d'Olean, in New York state circa mid 90s.

The thought of going that fast on my bike now scares the shit out of me; hence, I am a shit descender, and the wheel to be avoided.

Thanks for bringing back that memory of my racing days.
piwakawaka says:

May 15 2013 at 3:06 pm

I found this useful

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2010/04/descending-tips/

I have tried leaning the bike and sitting more upright, odd but effective.
SimonH says:

May 15 2013 at 3:12 pm

Great article and very timely participate I completed a hilly imperial century last weekend and whilst I'm too fat to climb I found I could make up the deficit when the gradient pointed downwards.

Nothing gets my head buzzing more than a fast decent tempting myself to leave he brakes alone and bask in the free(ish) velocity afforded by Sir Isaac Newton. This is of course until I crash badly and then require facial reconstructI've surgery.

To not make the most of the descents is to throw away the amazing payoff for all the hulking away on the bars whilst chewing the stem on the way up.

I'm sure that more often than not I can hear myself screaming on the way down.

Going as fast as humanly possible fucking rules, until it all goes wrong. Very quickly.
wiscot says:

May 15 2013 at 3:17 pm

My issue is, here in SE WI it takes less than 30 seconds to descend any hill we have. Most are dead straight too.I was in Dubuque last year and rode up one of the bluffs. Coming down was pretty terrifying - I just wasn't used to the speed and a few corners. For those with nice descents, consider yourselves lucky!
Chris says:

May 15 2013 at 3:28 pm

@Nate I'd say you're probably right in that there is some countersteer but it's minuscule.

Round here it's too flat to spend any time descending and when I do it tends to be a fairly subconscious process (a good thing too given the complete lack of spare oxygen kicking around in my blood stream).

I tend to worry more about the approach to the corner than what goes on in the corner - if you get the former right the latter follows on smoothly, fuck it up and there's little you can do once you're in. When I was younger and braver (or dafter) I spent a summer holiday working as a MC courier in London, one of the lads lent me a police motorcycle instructors handbook that had a section on the converging or vanishing point that helps you judge your speed in relation to the approaching corner; if it's coming towards you, you're going too fast; stationary, you've got it just right and going away, you're too slow. It's great for improving your ability to read a corner. All the stuff about exiting corners is less applicable but it's real worth to a cyclist is as an indicator of how tight a corner is in relation to your speed and giving you warnings of decreasing radius. If you think you've got your entry speed right and then find out that the radius decreases (corner gets tighter) when your already deep into it, you could be in trouble. With VP, you'll get more warning.

It's one of the most useful things I've learnt in terms of riding and driving.
frank says:

May 15 2013 at 4:15 pm

@PeakInTwoYears

Bike have a different problem, one of not having enough friction in the tires. When I started racing and learned quickly that what you want is to lean as hard as you can on your outside foot and push as hard as you can on your inside hand. That pushes the tires into the road and gives you grip.

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.)

Not forward, as it seems to me that would be to the greater benefit of momentum and serve its purposes, not ours, which is getting around the bend safely.

And btw, I applaud your approach to blind corners.

I am in love with speed and cornering. My dad bought me a R100RS before my 16th birthday, right before I started racing bikes. When he saw me cornering and descending, he sold the bike, saying I would have a longer life that way. Broke my heart.

I suspect he was also right. By the time I was 17 I had been in the ER several times on account of my cornering confidence.

At this point, I've paid enough such visits to hospitals to learn that descending is a thrill that is not outweighed by a few weeks or months off the bike.

I still like to go fast when I feel the odds are in my favor.

@Tobin

I always find it amazing what goes through my mind as I descend at really high speeds. "Which portion of the ditch I should fly towards if I flat? Keep pedaling till your spun out! If Ihit the deck, how far I will slide before the pavement eats through my jersey? Can I break 100km's per hour? How do I correct a speed wobble? 90 km's an hour doesn't seem this fast in a car! I wonder where I can stop for coffee..."

I love descending for the sheer thrill of riding the line between reckless abandon and shitting your bibs with fear.

Dude, that's like thinking about how much longer the climb is, or Wile E Coyote looking down. Fucking focus on the descent. As soon as you get a flat or break your forks, your plan is going out the window anyway. Mike Tyson has a quote about this thats relevant that I'm not willing to look up.
frank says:

May 15 2013 at 4:23 pm

@Nate

The important things aside from weighting the outside pedal and pushing down with the inside bar are (1) get in the drops to get low; (2) brake before the turn; and (3) start wide, and hit the apex so you can take the right line on the exit. The reason (2) is important is that your tires only have so much traction. That traction can go to accelerating, braking, or cornering. So ideally you get the braking done before the corner. Another way to focus on this is the idea is not to enter the turn with as much speed as you can carry, but exiting the turn with as much speed as you can carry.

I make a point, by the way, to descend in the drops - much safer. Your weight is lower, you have better access to the brakes, and you are less likely to lose your grip when you hit a blind bump. Jen's crash in the Tour a few years back was, in my opinion, avoidable just by riding the drops. (Not embedding this vid as it is a bummer to watch.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxNzgTlqdEg
sthilzy says:

May 15 2013 at 5:02 pm

TDF 2011, stage 19 ITT, Cadel belting down descent on TT bike getting airborne!