Decending and cornering

The P said:

Greetings all. I must have lost some nerve since when I was young.

These days the most I feel comfortable riding down hills is around 45-50kph.
I find this strange given I'll quite happily fly along on the flats over
this speed.

Also, my cornering has gine backwards...I'm woosy both on the flats and down
hill. For example, coming down the 1/20, the most I'll get up to is 45kph,
and the harper corners I do at 35kph. I seem to be scared of my front wheel
sliding out from under me.

I assume during races I can follow someone else's wheel through a corner and
I'll be fine.

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

P

Try to use the proper line when cornering, you might feel more in control then.
Basically, start wide, hit the apex, in the middle of the corner, then go wide at the exit so to speak. I am a motorbike rider and I kind of do that on all corner, fast or slow, you have more margins that way, at any given speed.

The P said:

Also, my cornering has gine backwards...I'm woosy both on the flats and down
hill. For example, coming down the 1/20, the most I'll get up to is 45kph,
and the harper corners I do at 35kph. I seem to be scared of my front wheel
sliding out from under me.

Some of those corners are slippery and off-camber. It's a tricky
descent and one that a lot of cyclists have come a cropper on! Your
fear is not without basis - especially as the 1:20 is famous for
having wet clay on several of the blind corners, cars on the
wrong side of the road etc.

Quoted message said:

I assume during races I can follow someone else's wheel through a corner and
I'll be fine.

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

Look where you want to go, not where you think you're going to end up!

Carl Brewer said:

The P said:

Also, my cornering has gine backwards...I'm woosy both on the flats and down
hill. For example, coming down the 1/20, the most I'll get up to is 45kph,
and the harper corners I do at 35kph. I seem to be scared of my front wheel
sliding out from under me.

Some of those corners are slippery and off-camber. It's a tricky
descent and one that a lot of cyclists have come a cropper on! Your
fear is not without basis - especially as the 1:20 is famous for
having wet clay on several of the blind corners, cars on the
wrong side of the road etc.

Quoted message said:

I assume during races I can follow someone else's wheel through a corner and
I'll be fine.

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

Look where you want to go, not where you think you're going to end up!

I reckon that's about the best advice there is. And practice. With more
practice you'll gain confidence and speed.

And make sure your bike fits you properly.

Mt Donna Buang is a good practice run. Last time I rode there my avg
speed on the descent was 58km/h over about 20 minutes. Of course, the
bugger is you have to get to the top before you can come down again 🙂

Otherwise, go on a BR and you'll get some good descents too.

--
Nick

"The P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings all. I must have lost some nerve since when I was young.

These days the most I feel comfortable riding down hills is around
45-50kph. I find this strange given I'll quite happily fly along on the
flats over this speed.

Also, my cornering has gine backwards...I'm woosy both on the flats and
down hill. For example, coming down the 1/20, the most I'll get up to is
45kph, and the harper corners I do at 35kph. I seem to be scared of my
front wheel sliding out from under me.

I assume during races I can follow someone else's wheel through a corner
and I'll be fine.

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

P

The 1/20 scares the hell outa me on the descent. I find riding down the
other side of the mountain much easier (head up to olinda, keep going past
mt dandy hotel and descend down to montrose).
I rekon 45 is pretty fast for 1/20, remember that you're riding open roads
which are in use by cars/busses/other bikes. Also the road may have oil on
it etc and coming off on a corner is going to land you in the ditch or even
worse, down the side of the hill into the trees or in the path of an
oncoming vehicle..

Generaly for cornering, brake before the corner, go wide in, hit the apex
and look for the exit of the corner and aim for that. generally not
something ya can really do to full effect when only using 1/2 the road🙁

"Carl Brewer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The P said:

Also, my cornering has gine backwards...I'm woosy both on the flats and
down
hill. For example, coming down the 1/20, the most I'll get up to is
45kph,
and the harper corners I do at 35kph. I seem to be scared of my front
wheel
sliding out from under me.

Some of those corners are slippery and off-camber. It's a tricky
descent and one that a lot of cyclists have come a cropper on! Your
fear is not without basis - especially as the 1:20 is famous for
having wet clay on several of the blind corners, cars on the
wrong side of the road etc.

Quoted message said:

I assume during races I can follow someone else's wheel through a corner
and
I'll be fine.

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

Look where you want to go, not where you think you're going to end up!

Haha, that reminds me of yesterday's ride - around half way down the 1/20, a
white car was a tyre width over the dbl white lines.

I seem to have more balls when racing at speed also.

quote='Carl Brewer'Carl Brewer said:

Look where you want to go, not where you think you're going to end up!

[/QUOTE]

there's a reason for that. it turns your shoulders.

the motorbike riders here'll know countersteering, which is admittedly easier to grasp on a mb as youre fighting against the weight of all that metal.
basically turn your shoulder forward/into corner but your hips away from the corner. this perversely sits your weight to the inside of said corner. to make it een harder to follow, your tryin to press with your outside foot as hards as practical on the outside pedal.

oh and that feeling of your front tyre wanting to slip out from under you,
easily fixed by moving your outside shoulder forward and down as if your pressin the bars down with it (which you are)

There's a lefthander in the first km or so of the 1/20 descent which has no sign and has almost caught me out a couple of times (well, i have only ridden it twice now 😄) and the sharp righthander with the nice stonewall for you to contemplate. i spooked myself by touching the paint, hesitating and then ending up skirting along in the gravel whilst Gags alongside asked "you OK?" .Not a nice feeling at 50kph (being in the gravel, not mate asking silly questions 🙄 )

The P said:

Does anyone have any decending or cornering tips? I'm guessing the main
answer weill be practice, practice and practice.

Take a wide line that 'straightens out' the corner

Stay balanced on your bike through the corner. Some may advocate keeping the
body uporight and leaning the bike, or vice versa, but there's no real
advantage in this.

Put your outside pedal down and 'weight' it (stand your weight on it) and
feel the bike turn better.

Look around the corner, where you intend to travel. It's amazing how your
steering will follow your eyes.

Cheers
Peter