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How to get faster downhill?
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 2009-08-01 11:07 PM |
Extreme Veteran  317  Chelmsford, MA |  Subject: How to get faster downhill?Now that I have a power meter I have all these fun numbers to play with. Looking at today's ride I hit a new personal speed record of 41.25 mph on a nice downhill I know. Looking at the numbers I'm not sure how I could possibly go any faster. I was in top gear and my cadence was 126 rpm, I was aero, putting out 800 watts for a brief 4 second interval before the hill flattened. How can one possibly get faster? Was I limited by the slope/length of the hill in this case? I can't imagine having too much of a higher cadence as I'd fear becoming wobbly. |
| 2009-08-01 11:12 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Expert 658  | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? Don't brake, learn how to corner faster. |
| 2009-08-02 2:21 AM in reply to: #2321949 |
Bob 2194 Binghamton, NY | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? At 41 mph I believe you may have been slowing yourself down by pedaling. After about 34 or 35 mph it's faster to stop pedaling and get more aero to go faster. Just my $.02 |
| 2009-08-02 3:25 AM in reply to: #2321949 |
| Master 2460 | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? Seriously, you'd have to probably find a longer, steeper downhill to go 50+. At that speed, even on a standard, you're hitting over 140rpm (guesstimating) to even get a tiny bit of speed. Aero heps a lot. I hit 50+ on a big long hill here that's over 2 miles long and is wide with no turns and great visibility. 50 is easy to do on that - I'll bet I'm under 150 watts on it. Still, this whole downhill bit is over-rated. You can be a lousy downhiller, brake like crazy the entire way down, and as long as you're powerful on climbs and straightaways, you'll still be FOP on the bike. I found that just by riding more hills, I got a lot better at both climbing and fast descending. I didn't have to do anything crazy or risky to go faster downhill, just rode more until comfortable. I started near the back of the pack on my group rides on downhill bombs due to fear, but now I'm definitely way out in front without even taking risks. Downhilling is over-rated though. Work on the climbing and steady high power output on flats. Edited by agarose2000 2009-08-02 3:26 AM |
| 2009-08-02 5:56 AM in reply to: #2322014 |
Extreme Veteran 317 Chelmsford, MA | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? agarose2000 - 2009-08-02 4:25 AM Seriously, you'd have to probably find a longer, steeper downhill to go 50+. At that speed, even on a standard, you're hitting over 140rpm (guesstimating) to even get a tiny bit of speed. Aero heps a lot. I hit 50+ on a big long hill here that's over 2 miles long and is wide with no turns and great visibility. 50 is easy to do on that - I'll bet I'm under 150 watts on it. Still, this whole downhill bit is over-rated. You can be a lousy downhiller, brake like crazy the entire way down, and as long as you're powerful on climbs and straightaways, you'll still be FOP on the bike. I found that just by riding more hills, I got a lot better at both climbing and fast descending. I didn't have to do anything crazy or risky to go faster downhill, just rode more until comfortable. I started near the back of the pack on my group rides on downhill bombs due to fear, but now I'm definitely way out in front without even taking risks. Downhilling is over-rated though. Work on the climbing and steady high power output on flats. Oh, I'm not doing this for race day (although desecending is a place where people lose time). I'm primarily interested in this because going fast downhill is f-u-n FUN!  |
| 2009-08-02 8:19 AM in reply to: #2321949 |
Master 1610 Kirkland, WA | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? work on going faster on the flats, as those are much more abundent than downhills  |
| 2009-08-02 9:28 AM in reply to: #2321949 |
Master 1927 Guilford, CT | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? You could maybe change your gearing, but I'm not sure that would help too much at those speeds and I'm not sure what you are running right now. My big gear is a 53/11, but I don't think I'd ever want anything more than that...I generally stop pedaling after about 35 or 36 mph too. One thing you could do is make sure you are bursting over the crest and getting up to speed. That is something I've been focusing on as I'm nearing the end of hills so I can take bigger advantage of the downhill and be going as fast as possible when it starts know that you'll have a little time for recovery... |
| 2009-08-02 9:31 AM in reply to: #2321949 |
Expert 1603 Westchester, NY | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? Show off. ;-) |
| 2009-08-02 2:40 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Extreme Veteran 657 | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? Pick a steeper hill. I seem to hit a wall around 43 looking back at my downhill speeds on my Edge 305. It's pretty much a factor of how aerodynamic you are, the conditions of the road, how straight your wheels are, which way the wind is blowing. I've posted a picture of the Canyon south of Claude Texas. About 6 weeks ago I hit 50.8 according to my GPS. Believe me, I wasn't looking at the speedometer at that time. Here's the screen shot.  |
| 2009-08-02 3:30 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? When I get to about 35 coast and make yourself small and recover. I love going fast as well...best way to go faster is go down bigger hills Many folks ride hills poorly and hammer to much up and don't push enough cresting the hill. Learn to use your PM wisely and you will get your VI down closer to 1.0 knowing you are making the course "flat" by the way your ride. Today's race, folks fly up me on the up hills, then coast going over and down the other side, where I kept my power flatter or more even and once I get to top/crest of hill keep pushing the watts and pass them all back and I didn't "burn so many matches" like they did frying their legs going up hill. Training and racing with power is a blast..enjoy! |
| 2009-08-02 3:44 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Expert 1170 Southern Pines, NC | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? If you're cranking out 800 watts on a downhill, you're wasting energy. The number of matches you're burning is very high for a small speed gain once you're at 40mph or so. Basically, if I'm in my 53x11 and my cadence goes much above 105 or so, it's coasting time. That's true in road races too, but my God--in Triathlon the only time you should let yourself go that high is accelerating out of a tight turn or something--it's pretty close to a complete waste of energy. |
| 2009-08-02 3:44 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Expert 1170 Southern Pines, NC | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? BTW, what kind of power meter are you using? |
| 2009-08-02 5:28 PM in reply to: #2321949 |
Champion 7595 Columbia, South Carolina | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? I agree with the others -- bigger hill. I've gone just above 50mph by coasting. Early speed on the hill is not that important if the hill is long if your only goal is to go as fast as possible at some point or other* -- you'll hit terminal velocity before long anyway. Being aero is quite important. It doesn't hurt to be heavy either. * But of course most of us want to maximize our avg speed down the hill, and to do that, it helps a lot to do a little pedaling at the top. But as Dr Pete and others said, it pretty quickly becomes very little benefit for a lot of effort on really big downhills. |
| 2009-08-03 6:45 AM in reply to: #2322494 |
Extreme Veteran 317 Chelmsford, MA | Subject: RE: How to get faster downhill? DrPete - 2009-08-02 4:44 PMBTW, what kind of power meter are you using? PowerTap Elite+ I guess I need a longer hill or to lengthen the "effective length" of the hill by getting up to speed faster at the top. Like I said before, this isn't really for training purposes, I just like going fast downhill. I guess I need to head north to New Hampshire to find some larger hills. My part of New England is famous for beautiful downhills that end with a stop sign or a sharp curve so you can never truly enjoy them. Edited by Beej 2009-08-03 6:46 AM |
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