riding on the drops

[g-boaf]

Thought about this thread on the way home from work this afternoon and bombed down the local 'hill of death' in the drops of my disc-braked CX bike, got to 69.8 kph before cooking the brakes approaching the roundabout at the bottom. Some things I noticed about how I rode:

Pretty much already been covered already and just my experiences but there you have it. Some people I know still leave me for dead on fast twisty descents, they trust the grip of their tyres a looooooot more than I do.

Good advice. I've not exceeded 60km/h yet (gone close), perhaps through some nervousness - but also perhaps not riding the right way. Compared to some of the M7 regular riders, I'm quite slow due to some persistant niggling injury issues. But I'm getting that sorted out once and for all and see light at the end of the tunnel.

Fiona: Just be careful doing that and take note of what to do if your bike starts wobbling: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/shimmy.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clackers]

- I sat very lightly on the saddle, supported most of my weight on my feet, had my pedals at the 3 and 9 o-clock positions.

You might try doing this heels-down, Andrew - the mountain bikers way of bracing yourself under heavy braking so you don't do some impromptu acrobatics over the handlebars.

[boss]

Thought about this thread on the way home from work this afternoon and bombed down the local 'hill of death' in the drops of my disc-braked CX bike, got to 69.8 kph before cooking the brakes approaching the roundabout at the bottom. Some things I noticed about how I rode:

- I sat very lightly on the saddle, supported most of my weight on my feet, had my pedals at the 3 and 9 o-clock positions
- I was hardly holding the bars, in fact my fingers weren't even wrapped around them, I was just kinda resting with the bars between my thumbs and fore-fingers
- I shifted my butt to the back or slightly off the back of the saddle and my head and chest forward, flattening my body to lower my CG and to stop me from going over the bars under heavy braking
- Really be delicate with the movements, at that speed everything reacts very fast, I also tried to take a very straight line and avoided sharp turning

Pretty much already been covered already and just my experiences but there you have it. Some people I know still leave me for dead on fast twisty descents, they trust the grip of their tyres a looooooot more than I do.

Need to be careful using above technique as windy descents or braking into corners with insufficient weight over the front end = speed wobble / wind catching your front wheel.

[__PG__]

Whenever I'm 'bombing' down a hill (ie. 60 km/h + in a straight line) I'll move my bum backwards and end up sitting on my thighs. If I'm cornering, I'll sit down in the normal fashion.

Moving your bum backwards is like altering your brake balance on a car.