descent.

Yesterday's Tour of California stage 8.

I have no pics to share because we basically rode the whole time.
I found the descent they rode yesterday on Youtube. It probably doesn't look as scary, but holy god damn...that shit was unbelievably fast. There were times I thought I was going to skid and just eat shit, but I somehow still managed to ride through it. We rode this a couple times.

I don't think I'm a good descender, but here are a few things I've learned(for those who can't or don't know how at all). Some of this stuff is just common sense, but I think there are people out there that have no idea how to ride fast down a hill..

1.) just like mtn biking...i guess you lean as far back as you can because when you brake, it pushes you forward. don't stand up. it's the worse thing you can do when braking... You want more weight on your rear wheel of course(so it doesn't skid) and not your front. because duhhh, if you put weight on your front wheel and you brake, you're pretty much screwed and you'll probably hate your life.

2.) you brake before you turn. i've seen many people brake while turning. i'm pretty sure this is the worse thing you can do. this goes to whatever corners you take. it doesn't even have to be a downhill.

3.) look where you're turning and not in front of you(ie: look to your right if you're turning right. look ahead, not your front wheel?). for some reason, this works really good and you can descend fast as fuck just by doing this. it's like your body follows where your head turns so wherever you turn, turn your head that way and your body/bike will go the same way. not to mention, it'll go smooth as fuck. TRACK RACERS. YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY!

4.) IF you do end up braking while turning (because you decided to go fast through a turn and then immediately became a pussy) you'll probably go straight rather than going with the turn. so you're probably going to end up dying falling off a cliff or just getting hurt real bad. either way, if that happens...let go of the brake and you'll see that you can actually correct this and go through it without any problems. it's basically like you saying "fuck it" and just kinda do it without hesitating cus you're fucked either way. (@Joe "f.i.d."?)

5.) if you're gonna turn left, please don't leave your left foot down. instead, put your left foot up and leave the right foot down and push down on the pedal like you're pushing your bike to the ground. you'll get more grip or something. same with your hand pushing on the handlebars.

again, sorry if this is dumb, but i still see a ton of people doing these things.
be safe and have fun!


here's that video i found. this isn't even the craziest part of that descent.



-chcuk.