(dramatic music)
- You may have seen our descending videos before.
And those tips are still valid.
Everyone assumes that to be a pro at descending,
you have to go as fast as possible,
but there's so much more to it than just that.
- Yeah, we know we should be racing downhills,
but that doesn't mean we can't practice the basic principles
of descending which will make us more confident descenders.
Thought I lost him.
- [Man] First up is the assessment of the road ahead.
Observing where the road is going, to be able to judge
your speed around the corner, you need to accurately
asses where the road is heading.
Which direction you need to be preparing to turn,
and how far you'll need to lean,
and ultimately how fast you will be able
to navigate the corner.
- [Man] Know where to break and how hard
is critical to safely
entering the corner on the right line.
Is your braking zone on good tarmac, how hard will you be
on the breaks while they are slowing down,
and do you need to modulate the pressure applied
based on the surface conditions?
- Deciding on where the exit of the corner is,
is one of the most important parts of judging your speed.
If you can't see far enough ahead,
as you know what's coming, this is also known as the
vanishing point and is crucial because you need to be able
to stop in that distance.
- If the corner is tightening, and you want to scrub
some speed off, enter the corner with a tightening
of your line so you've got a nice exit to the corner.
On the other hand, if you've got a fast flowing corner
that opens up, this is the perfect opportunity to go in wide
and come out wide, setting you up perfectly
for the next corner.
- If you do have a clear line of sight, then great,
go fast but stay safe.
If, on the other hand, you can quite see what's around
the corner, then keep in mind that literally anything
could be coming the other way.
In the mountains especially, coaches and delivery lorries
are not an uncommon sight and they take up the entire road.
An obstruction mid corner can result in a disaster
if you're not expecting it.
Either a slam on or a big swerve to avoid it.
Either way, not ideal.
You want to be able to preempt a mid corner obstruction,
by always expecting the unexpected.
- [Man] The road service beneath you
needs careful consideration.
Not all asphalts are made equally, they certainly don't grip
equally either.
In the wet we all know we need to use more caution,
but even riding the shady side of a hill will have less grip
than the side that basks in the sun all day long.
- Does the road lean into the corner with you,
or does it in fact drop away off camber?
If it does drop way off camber, you cannot go anywhere
near as fast, as you've already got more of a lean
angle on your tires than you otherwise do.
A well cambered corner on the other hand, is kind of
unrivaled at how fast you can take it.
It feels like the holy grail of descending.
- Now we've got observation covered, the next golden rule
is to never exceed your limit.
Actually you want to ride within 90 percent of your limit.
This will make descending a lot more fun and enjoyable.
- You'll be affording yourself plenty of reaction time
by giving yourself a 10 percent buffer.
After all, imagine absolutely pushing it on a descent
and making one tiny mistake, only one thing's likely
to happen and it's gonna hurt.
- [Man] How much of the road can I use?
By now, having answered our previous category of questions,
you will have built up a picture of how much of the road
is available for safe use.
You can only ride into what you can see and you need to be
able to stop if something is coming.
- Another key aspect is knowing that in the event
of a puncture or a brake issue that you can use the runoff,
and you can do this by knowing the descent and knowing
the road you're riding on.
That was a close one.
- All of these questions and observations
are an ongoing process whilst descending and they all
will happen within hundredths of a second,
but the more consciously you ask yourself these
questions, the quicker and more confident the answers
become, to the point that you can completely switch
off and enjoy the ride safe in the knowledge
that nothing can go wrong that you don't have an answer for.
- [Man] So brake on time, keep your weight over your tires,
don't hang off the side of the bike, moto style,
as we don't have 200 kilograms beneath us so this
isn't really necessary.
Instead, go for smooth, relaxed and balanced movements
on the bike.
Sure, if you're going fast, you will feel like you're
throwing it from corner to corner, but in reality you're
aiming to maintain a good flow of the momentum
from one corner to the next.
Aim to get lower of the bike and keep your weight
centered between wheels.
Don't drag your brakes through the corners
and certainly don't grab at them mid corner.
Using all of the observation techniques will really
accentuate how you are able to use your natural ability
and convert that into speed.
The actual physical control of the bike will then take
a very natural progression in making you a lot faster.
Pros are really good at assessing
when to really push your limits,
and when to back off and just ride tempo.
- The same rules apply to descending.
Whilst pros often do look pretty quick,
there is a time and a place for it,
and training is not one of them.
There are no prizes for crashing
when you're out on your own.
- No, and to be honest, pros are so used to racing on
closed roads and roads they recce an awful lot.
You don't think Chris Froome just chanced that epic descent
a few years back, do you?
- Good point.
If you enjoyed this video give us a big thumbs up,
for more how tos click down here.
Let's go uh. - Yeah, I mean we haven't
done it enough here, - Quite right.
- have we, so let's hone our skills.
- Go!