Today at lunch I was telling a friend about how I used to regularly hit 60mph on a long downhill stretch of road. He said, "not possible unless it's a super bike and you are Lance Armstrong".
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The Tour de France riders do/did, indeed, hit downhill speeds in excess of 60mph. Allegedly, one topped out at over 74mph (true?).
I don't believe a word of it. TdF racers are definitely not heavier than I and my downhill friends are and we have never gotten over 50mph on the roads to which Phil Ligget has attributed such high speeds. Professional racers will tell you that there is no benefit in getting to the bottom of a descent first (and alone) although there is a large loss of safety trying to do so in a race.
Knowing how hard reaching 60mph is, 74mph is absurd. You'll need to qualify that to bring it any credibility. On what road under what circumstances. A sports announcer's word doesn't cut it.
I do know, though, that I have repeatedly hit 45mph without pursuing much of a tuck, and on hills with lesser pitches than those ridden by many others. I also know friends who have hit 60+ in Colorado on several occasions.
My fastest here in CO has been 56, good, straight downhill, hard tuck, with an unusual tail wind. All I could think was, "it will be a long slide/tumble if I go down".
Why would a professional race be any more aerodynamic than an intelligent amateur who wants to test attainable speeds? As I said, for racers there is no advantage in reaching the bottom of a descent alone and ahead of the lead group.
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Jobst Brandt
True enough, but what if he was not (quite) in the lead group. Let us say he is a better sprinter than climber, lost the lead group of 3 up a small climb just before a descent and 20k run to the finish, and if he can rejoin stands a good chance of hanging on until the finish where he stands a better chance of crossing the line before the other guys. This occured at least once in this year's tour, IIRC.
Those guys go 90mph. A taller bike and lack of fairing is certainly going to slow you down somewhat, but I'd bet any off-the-shelf bike can hit 60mph on a big hill.
And in Colorado, big hills are plentiful.
Well, yes, but suitable roads for 50+ mph descents are not that plentiful. There are some out there though. The big Five Oh can be had on Sugarloaf, in Boulder Canyon, Golden Gate Canyon, the top of Left Hand near Ward, Sunshine Canyon, the back side of Rist Canyon, that I know of. It really is not advisable to go for 50 on any of those sections, especially Boulder Canyon. One of my very few forays into the 60 mph range came on the back of Rist, an incredibly straight descent westbound to Stove Prairie. This was some years ago and the road was a smooth gravel surface, four of us on mountain bikes loosely drafting hit 60-61 mph.
Robert
I remember CO being bigger than just the front range, thank god.
Those guys go 90mph. A taller bike and lack of fairing is certainly going to slow you down somewhat, but I'd bet any off-the-shelf bike can hit 60mph on a big hill.
And in Colorado, big hills are plentiful.
Well, yes, but suitable roads for 50+ mph descents are not that plentiful. There are some out there though. The big Five Oh can be had on Sugarloaf, in Boulder Canyon, Golden Gate Canyon, the top of Left Hand near Ward, Sunshine Canyon, the back side of Rist Canyon, that I know of. It really is not advisable to go for 50 on any of those sections, especially Boulder Canyon. One of my very few forays into the 60 mph range came on the back of Rist, an incredibly straight descent westbound to Stove Prairie. This was some years ago and the road was a smooth gravel surface, four of us on mountain bikes loosely drafting hit 60-61 mph.
Robert
I remember CO being bigger than just the front range, thank god.
I vaguely remember that too.
But despite the s-load of riding I've done in the Durango area, I can't recall any real high speed descents. I'm sure there are a few though. Help us out Craig.
Why would a professional race be any more aerodynamic than an intelligent amateur who wants to test attainable speeds? As I said, for racers there is no advantage in reaching the bottom of a descent alone and ahead of the lead group.
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True enough, but what if he was not (quite) in the lead group. Let us say he is a better sprinter than climber, lost the lead group of 3 up a small climb just before a descent and 20k run to the finish, and if he can rejoin stands a good chance of hanging on until the finish where he stands a better chance of crossing the line before the other guys. This occurred at least once in this year's tour, IIRC.
You'll have to try hard to contrive a situation where descending speed in a typical road race will have an advantage. I don't know how fast a descender you are but even the fast guys don't get a big lead on the slower ones in races around here. The reason is that the lean angle and difficulty in cornering (a necessity for fast descending) increases as the square of velocity. Total time spent on a descent is trivial compared to time spent climbing, speed being about three times as great.
But despite the s-load of riding I've done in the Durango area, I can't recall any real high speed descents. I'm sure there are a few though. Help us out Craig.
The road down from Wolf Creek Pass looks primo for fast riding. Have you tried it since they finished the road work (or, have they finished the road work)?
Bill, who was sorry to be on that road in a car.
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But despite the s-load of riding I've done in the Durango area, I can't recall any real high speed descents. I'm sure there are a few though. Help us out Craig.
The road down from Wolf Creek Pass looks primo for fast riding. Have you tried it since they finished the road work (or, have they finished the road work)?
I have not, but I dont think Wolf Creek would produce speeds in excess of 50 mph, more like 45, even in its widened state. One section up near the ski area might get you over 50.
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Bill, who was sorry to be on that road in a car.
Better than being on most other roads in a car though.
Robert Wolf Creek Pass-way Across the Great Divide Truckin' on Down... The other side.
What is the final descent of the Iron Horse Classic like? My son and D-in-L havejust moved to Durango and are goading me into riding it mext year.
For that matter what is climb like? From the profile it looks like a sustained 6%. Am I close?
Don't you mean "climbS"? There are two bad boys, Coal Bank and Molas. 'Sustained 6%' sounds about right, key word being 'sustained.' The descents aren't too hair-raising but will give hypothermia to unsuspecting victims if it happens to be snowing or freezing rain.
Don't you mean "climbS"? There are two bad boys, Coal Bank and Molas.
Yep, I saw the double peaks on the profile. But they looked close enough that there would not be signifcant recovery so I guess I think of it as one big climb. However, I've not done them so your opinion is probably the more valuable one.
Here in Tucson we have Mt Lemmon whihc climbs at a sustained 5% for ~ 25 miles. We top out below 9000' so it doesn't quite have the altitude but should be pretty good prep--at least I hope so!
Don't you mean "climbS"? There are two bad boys, Coal Bank and Molas.
Yep, I saw the double peaks on the profile. But they looked close enough that there would not be signifcant recovery so I guess I think of it as one big climb. However, I've not done them so your opinion is probably the more valuable one.
Here in Tucson we have Mt Lemmon whihc climbs at a sustained 5% for ~ 25 miles. We top out below 9000' so it doesn't quite have the altitude but should be pretty good prep--at least I hope so!
Whoa, that's a long hill. That'll probably do the trick. Try to work in some steep ones evry now and again.
But everybody's different. For me, the hardest part of the ride by far is the false flat run-up to the base of the climb.
Don't you mean "climbS"? There are two bad boys, Coal Bank and Molas.
Yep, I saw the double peaks on the profile. But they looked close enough that there would not be signifcant recovery so I guess I think of it as one big climb. However, I've not done them so your opinion is probably the more valuable one.
Here in Tucson we have Mt Lemmon whihc climbs at a sustained 5% for ~ 25 miles. We top out below 9000' so it doesn't quite have the altitude but should be pretty good prep--at least I hope so!
Whoa, that's a long hill. That'll probably do the trick. Try to work in some steep ones evry now and again.
But everybody's different. For me, the hardest part of the ride by far is the false flat run-up to the base of the climb.
Wow. My Topo program, which may be slightly over-estimating the grade says it's an average of grade 7, with only two places about 8 and 12 miles where it goes down to a 2 or 3 briefly. From 2800 feet to 8,246 feet in about 22 miles. That's gotta take at least 3-4 hours or more. I'd think twice about driving a car up that road, lol.
Today at lunch I was telling a friend about how I used to regularly hit 60mph on a long downhill stretch of road. He said, "not possible unless it's a super bike and you are Lance Armstrong".
Bill Baka and Trevor Jeffrey regularly obtain such speeds downhill. 😉
-- Sock Puppet
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It's not how "big" but how steep. If you consider that bicyclists sprint to 40mph and the same rider reaches 85mph in a fully faired streamliner on the salt flats you can see that there is little comparison between a Schwinn clunk and a fetal position low rider.
Jobst is a little bit optimistic here, as the fully faired speed record is 81.00 mph/130.36 kph*. The record was set on a closed state highway, not on the salt flats.
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Bob Roll, professional racer, said he topped 60 two or three times in his racing career.
Was that in the "Tour day Franzt"? 😉
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On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:00:57 -0400, Chris BeHanna <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
Jeff Fox said:
Today at lunch I was telling a friend about how I used to regularly hit 60mph on a long downhill stretch of road. He said, "not possible unless it's a super bike and you are Lance Armstrong".
I'll have to add my voice to the chorus of "Not likely."
yeah, i'm going to say at least where it respects me personally: impossible.
Michael J. Klein & Asian Castings Consortium [email hidden] Yangmei Jen (Hukou), Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC Please replace mousepotato with asiancastings ---------------------------------------------
Whoa, that's a long hill. That'll probably do the trick. Try to work in some steep ones evry now and again.
But everybody's different. For me, the hardest part of the ride by far is the false flat run-up to the base of the climb.
Wow. My Topo program, which may be slightly over-estimating the grade says it's an average of grade 7, with only two places about 8 and 12 miles where it goes down to a 2 or 3 briefly. From 2800 feet to 8,246 feet in about 22 miles. That's gotta take at least 3-4 hours or more. I'd think twice about driving a car up that road, lol.
I'm pretty sure it averages ~5%. But as with most averages there are sections that arelesss and some that are more. It is a really nice ride as you go from the desert floor to Northern type forest all in those 25 miles. It is a great auto road and they have just cometed a mult year project to widen and add bike lanes. Lots of folks here ride it (at least part of it) regularly. ~8 mph going up and >30 mph coming down at least for me. I do regularly get passed by stronger riders that must be much closer t 10-11 mph on the way up.
But everybody's different. For me, the hardest part of the ride by far is the false flat run-up to the base of the climb.
I always find false flats hard. I imagine it's psychological. It just seems like you should be going faster but it feels hard. When climbing I go intoa completely different mind set than when going fast on the flats. I've never figured out how to attack the false flats.
