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Post by Radchenister on Oct 2, 2013 20:26:02 GMT
Yep @toonsi, I've been at similar motorbike incidents, won't go into them here.
Perhaps we'll pick this thread up again in the spring!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 21:53:54 GMT
I think the fastest i've been down a hill is about 35 and i was bricking it at that so 60 sounds absolutely mental, must be some buzz though.
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Post by Radchenister on Oct 2, 2013 22:05:40 GMT
I think robertsims is exaggerating a bit, his self preservation valve will be kicking in nicely and telling him to ease off, just when some of my dodgy ex speed freak skills are kicking in and they mess with his psyche at the opportune moment as I push the envelope into uncomfortable zones for non superbikers - to balance all this though on our trips, he taps away up long 6% inclines at a far better pace than I feel comfortable with and has to ease off to wait for me - swings and roundabouts. It's good to watch your colleagues and learn from them - swap a few skills and aim to get more rounded as a rider.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 22:11:52 GMT
I find it is all about confidence and taking corners smooth. Once you have committed do brake or do anything silly. Road bike are exceptionally grippy in the dry. I had one scary bit which was a left hand on a roundabout at the end of a descent. Didn't realise it had a negative banking (the road was sloping away from me) I took it way fast and really thought the tyres couldn't hold. They, thankfully, did. I credit this to not jerking or braking while doing that corner. Basically go as fast as you want to. Slow if you are unsure, there is no point crashing over a Strava segment etc. and use your common sense.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 22:27:23 GMT
I think robertsims is exaggerating a bit, his self preservation valve will be kicking in nicely and telling him to ease off, just when some of my dodgy ex speed freak skills are kicking in and they mess with his psyche at the opportune moment as I push the envelope into uncomfortable zones for non superbikers - to balance all this though on our trips, he taps away up long 6% inclines at a far better pace than I feel comfortable with and has to ease off to wait for me - swings and roundabouts. It's good to watch your colleagues and learn from them - swap a few skills and aim to get more rounded as a rider. Totally agree with you, i'm still at the beginner stages so it's good to get out with the other scottish lads they've seen me well so far.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 22:40:01 GMT
I've got up to 56mph dropping off Buttertubs Pass heading north but try not take to crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
I few things I consider are:
1.Gravel on country lanes can be deadly on fast downhill bends and it tends to collect in the middle of the lanes. If you cross it to take a tight corner you might come a cropper. My mate hit some gravel on a steep downhill near Nenthead on the C2C and ended up in a field having flown over a stone wall. Lucky for him he had sufficient altitude to get over (rather than through) the wall.
2. Another risk is misjudging speed on fast downhills with tight bends. It is quite hard to loose that excess speed once you are into a tight turn at speed.
3. If I approach a bend in the road that I cannot see around and the road is narrow, I will slow down enough to ensure that I can deal with any oncoming traffic. You need room to manoeuvre.
4. As witnessed many times on the professional circuit this year, caution is needed on wet roads especially country lanes full of mud and leaves, white paint and metal grids.
5. I came a cropper last winter on a fast downhill. The road was nice and dry but it was very cold. I bombed it down the hill and going around the corner at the bottom was confronted with sheet ice right across the road. It was run off from a field. No chance of avoiding it or braking in time and made like a human torpedo. The bike shot off down the road in front of me.
6. Sheep. Totally unpredictable. I paid a visit to a middle aged lady last year while doing a fire safety visit. She had a photo on the wall of hubby sat on his bike on Ventoux. He looked a fit fella and I remarked on it. She said he had been a keen cyclist but came a cropper on a downhill stretch dropping off the Trough of Bowland in Lancashire. A sheep ran out on him and he hit a stone wall which killed him.
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Post by phred1812 on Oct 3, 2013 7:48:45 GMT
This thread got me thinking. I rarely go over 30 mph. The thought of hitting the tarmac and/or loose gravel wearing a single layer of lycra doesn't bear thinking about. I always have the probably illogical thought that the carbon forks could snap if I hit a pothole too hard. I had a look back at recent Strava reports and I did hit 42.2 mph coming off Hay Tor after the ToB. The road was (theoretically) closed to motor traffic but there were a lot of other bikes and pedestrians to contend with.
I haven't been for a couple of years but I reckon I ski faster than I go downhill on a bike. It somehow seems safer - closer to the ground, plenty of padded clothing and snow is a lot softer than gravel. Having a pair of 200cm Blizzards (as worn by my hero Franz "the Kaiser" Klammer helps. Hard to turn but rock solid at speed.
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Post by Steph on Oct 3, 2013 8:28:51 GMT
The fastest Runtastic has said I've gone is nearly 40mph, but I'm not sure I believe that. The fastest I know I've been is about 32mph. I don't really aim to go fast downhill, especially not at the moment. Although most the hills I go down are nice and straight. I'm really bad at cornering at any kind of speed, even before I fell off, I just don't have confidence in that area yet. I get into the drops, cover the brakes and pedal until I can't keep up, but I'm never in the highest gear, still on the middle ring at the front. I'd love to go fast, don't have a problem with that. Pretty big fear of the stopping suddenly if something goes wrong though. Got badly enough damaged as it was when I came off at walking speed, don't even want to think what would happen to me and the bike if I came off at 30+mph
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Post by Radchenister on Oct 3, 2013 9:59:56 GMT
This thread got me thinking. I rarely go over 30 mph. The thought of hitting the tarmac and/or loose gravel wearing a single layer of lycra doesn't bear thinking about. I always have the probably illogical thought that the carbon forks could snap if I hit a pothole too hard. I had a look back at recent Strava reports and I did hit 42.2 mph coming off Hay Tor after the ToB. The road was (theoretically) closed to motor traffic but there were a lot of other bikes and pedestrians to contend with. I haven't been for a couple of years but I reckon I ski faster than I go downhill on a bike. It somehow seems safer - closer to the ground, plenty of padded clothing and snow is a lot softer than gravel. Having a pair of 200cm Blizzards (as worn by my hero Franz "the Kaiser" Klammer helps. Hard to turn but rock solid at speed. Snow is a bit more forgiving, ice perhaps not, hitting rocks and shaley banks probably more comparable to going off a corner (ahem, not that I've done that too much lol ) - I've been faster on skis than the Triban, when clocked with Radar in the Dolomites (a younger racier Rad in Tignes below). Re forks and damage, you could break things if the pothole is substantial, wheels and forks, even frame welds - ride round them or hop them (if you can do this) . I think the tyre letting go in a bend due to friction limit being found (for whatever reason) is the major risk v not wishing to find that limit, taking bends too fast and running wide and going off - each the either end of too much speed and wrong set up for the corner; I've reigned just one overly fast corner trajectory back into line so far by leaning the bike more than I felt comfortable with (done on a dry warm day with good grip on the grounds of superbike riding methods, where you force the lean and use the body weight to get the thing better set for the tighter trajectory and it should get round if the grip is good) and the flex in the frame and front wheel is not something I found pleasant at all; this is why keeping smooth is most important on bicycles, particularly flexy ones. Whoops, wasn't going to get into this, don't try this in the damp and miserable .
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Post by acd1055 on Oct 3, 2013 10:48:32 GMT
Not my strength either - Radchenister is best I know at descending, on local steep decent Strava segment he averages about 60mph - yes I did mean averages 60! Over to you rad! Learn to ride a superbike properly on road and track for about 10 years and then transfer the techniques (carefully, as they're similar but not exactly the same) lol !!! Thats what I've done.. decents and bends come naturally to me as does looking at the road ahead to avoid any oil spills, pot holes etc
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Post by phred1812 on Oct 3, 2013 10:53:45 GMT
Happy days! How about a skiing thread then? The weather here is looking better for the weekend but the ski season is not far off, not that Ive got any plans. Winter Olympics in Sochi of all places. Not renowned for snowfall.
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Post by Radchenister on Oct 3, 2013 10:56:57 GMT
I've gone off it since the recession pretty much doubled (/ nay now perhaps trebled) the price of it and having two kids at skiing age; kit is sat in my mate's place in Sainte Foy slowly turning retro !
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Post by phred1812 on Oct 3, 2013 11:37:18 GMT
I've gone off it since the recession pretty much doubled (/ nay now perhaps trebled) the price of it and having two kids at skiing age; kit is sat in my mate's place in Sainte Foy slowly turning retro ! I know what you mean Rad. Before kids, school fees etc etc I was fortunate to work for a travel company and managed several weeks year. My state of the art skis were bought in 1980. We managed a few trips when the kids were small but it just got too expensive especially as kit fashion changes so fast. My son who by coincidence also now works for a travel company, won a "freebie" for a week for two in Kitzbuhel two years ago. He didn't want them so the missus and I went instead. I must admit I was rather bricking it as I was so long since I had skiied but it turned out really well and the old legs still had a bit left in them. If I went now it would be even better because you use a lot of the same muscles to ride a bike as you do on skis. In fact ski pros ride in the summer to keep in shape.
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Post by Radchenister on Oct 3, 2013 11:48:44 GMT
We last went for 2 weeks over Christmas in 2008, we were in the resort for summer 2 years ago and looked at the same holiday plus the prices in the very same shops we would usually shop in and it was just astronomic in cost; the place my buddy has costed out for a family of four works out at the price of new small family car now. My son can ski but hasn't been since he was an ankle biter now, would need to get the daughter going as well. The mrs and I used to go up to 4 times a season back in the good old days - I fear unless the world changes again it's a thing of the past for us.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2013 13:51:09 GMT
Don't you have to have kids called Oscar and Penelope to go skiing.
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