… on alpine descents? Given that the best descenders are all former mtbers and that most of us are mtbers. How would we cope if we had to race them(the slowest ones) from the top of say Alpe D’hues to the bottom on the road?

We’d be shit.

You would be a long, long way back.

professional athletes are in a completely different league, to average joes.

You’d be introduced to the concept of eating dust. They’d be measuring your time using a calendar rather than a stopwatch. 😉

muppetWrangler – Member
We’d be shit.

+1

We’d be hopeless.

I’ve only ever hit over 60mph twice on the bike. These boys do it regularly.

It’s all about the size of your balls.

I’ve only ever hit over 60mph twice on the bike.

I found going over 50 to be fairly terrifying.

I’ve only ever hit over 60mph twice on the bike. These boys do it regularly.

BS they do.

I’ve only ever hit over 60mph twice on the bike. These boys do it regularly.

To be fair they do probably ride bigger hills more regularly 🙂

I reckon I could take them in a straight line down hill, but anything needing braking and cornering my weight would be a massive disadvantage.

Depends if there is a coffee/cake shop on the way down.

… although we would all easily be faster than Andy ‘Boo Hoo, Pedallling Down a Big French Hill is Really Dangerous’ Shrek

Not very well.

These guys are out on the road bikes all day every day tackling those type of descents. They know exactly where the limit of the bike is and hit those kind of speeds a lot of the time.

Hitting 40mph for the first time is scary, then you get use to it. 50 then becomes scary and so on, these guys have gone through that up towards 70mph and will be happy at those kinds of speeds.

Even just looking at the speeds they can put a jacket on with hands off the bars shows how good they are at speed.

Think calling these guys ‘bad/poor’ descenders is pretty unfair in general terms as they are still pro bike riders.

DISCLAIMER – this is based against normal riders, not the STW riding gods who will, of course, be faster!!

EDIT – I’d be able to freewheel faster than them, weight would be an advantage there – freewheel comp down a straight road I’d probably beat them!

BS they do.

Thor was measured at a 69.6 mph (112 kph) the other day.

BS they do.

They do. Have a look at the shots of the motorbike speedo on some of the descents. Thor Hushovd was clocked at 112kph / 69 mph on his Garmin GPS speedo and everyone else in the Garmin team had speeds of about 100kph (62 mph).

Even I’ve had speeds of 60mph in the French Alps and I was still being overtaken by local roadies (who obviously knew the descent far better than I did). 50’s mph was more common for me but the pros will easily hit 60+ for short periods of time on a regular basis.

Depends if there is a coffee/cake shop on the way down

😆

I think you’d find that there is a huge range on “elevated” abilities in the pro peloton and a huge range of “moderate” ability with STW riders. There will be some overlap.

That’s one occasion on one descent. Hardly regular – most of the hills aren’t steep enough for that.

I would nail them all to the floor with my speed and my grace.

8)

😀

The first time I decended down a Dolomite I pooped myself. It was the Pasa De Gavia and I hit speeds of 80ks which at the time was the fastest ever I’d been on a bike. Since then I’ve done many more “bumps” over that way and regularly hit 80ks.
To be fair though I’ve also been shot down the road a few times too, notably last year when I spent 4weeks in traction having missjudged a sharpie and full on 20mtr skid (no fixie content) into barrier/down ravine moment.. bike was shot to pieces, I’ve the scars on my left thigh still..and the road wasn’t shut at the time either.
I consider myself a LuckyBoy, a LuckyBoy I am.

So, unless you’re willing to practice hacking off the top, it’ll poop you out sonny.

EDIT – I’d be able to freewheel faster than them, weight would be an advantage there – freewheel comp down a straight road I’d probably beat them!

Think you might need to check Newton’s Second Law of Motion!

Being heavier will not make any difference, presuming the road is smooth. If anything, being bigger will give you more drag and make you slower.

“LAST ONE TO THE BOTTOM”S GETTIN’ THE BEERS IN!!!!”

That should do it 🙂

A few of us (not me, I hasten to add!), the ones with natural DH talent, would be ok but most of us would get thrashed. I doubt that anyone here would be anywhere near able to keep up with the best guys.

Think you might need to check Newton’s Second Law of Motion!
Being heavier will not make any difference, presuming the road is smooth. If anything, being bigger will give you more drag and make you slower.

Appealing to Newton’s laws of motion suggests you’ve not heard of aero drag. Your second bit suggests you don’t understand how aero drag works.

glenp – Member
Think you might need to check Newton’s Second Law of Motion!

Being heavier will not make any difference, presuming the road is smooth. If anything, being bigger will give you more drag and make you slower.

Wrong 🙂

Ask any tall/heavy road racer and they’ll tell you that descending at speed in a road race in a group is quite tricky as you naturally descend faster than the little lads so you end up constantly on the brakes.

Why? Wind resistance – bigger riders’ weight goes up significantly more relative to the added drag from increased size. End result, more gravitational force to speed up the rider with relatively less increase in drag to slow them down = more speed overall.

I might not be quicker but I’d do it with more of a smile on my face and a lot less whinging than some.

errr, no heavier objects fall faster, anyone who’s done A-level physics, thought about it, then ignored the sylabus as it talks a lot about droping a sack of feathers and a sack of coal in a vacuum. Add in air resistance and heavy stuff falls faster.

One of the reasons tandem parachuters/skydivers have those little ‘chutes out fromthe start that slow them down to about the same speed as solo skydivers.

I’d be great in a straight line, crap in corners. Just like my mountain biking.

Well I recorded an average speed of over 64mph over about 30 miles the other day according to a GPS thingy so I’d naturally beat everyone! 😆

I would nail them all to the floor with my speed and my grace.

There’d be more chance in you covering them with your liquid poo, Bully…

I’ve no problem with the claimed speeds these guys reach.
I managed 52 mph on my road bike, but had to slow back down as I ran out of hill. That wouldn’t be a problem in the big mountains.
Those guys are proper nails though, I’d back off long before they did!

most i’ve done is 41mph on the road with my mtb, so i reckon pretty useless!

errr, no heavier objects fall faster, anyone who’s done A-level physics, thought about it, then ignored the sylabus as it talks a lot about droping a sack of feathers and a sack of coal in a vacuum. Add in air resistance and heavy stuff falls faster.

Bit of a physics fail, there. They’ve even performed the experiment on the moon, the feather and the coal fall at the same rate. Big things will naturally go slower as they offer more air resistance.

One of the reasons tandem parachuters/skydivers have those little ‘chutes out fromthe start that slow them down to about the same speed as solo skydivers.

That’s probably more to do with stabilising a complex shape than any kind of weight issue.

If anyone on here thinks they’d keep up with any of the pros, they’re deluding themselves.

I could freewheel downhill a lot faster than most of them, if not all but then I’ve got a good few kilos on them 🙂 I might have issues keeping up round the bends 🙂

Interestingly, Harmon on Eurosport keeps pointing out when ex-mountain bikers are descending well and thinks there’s a link.

So given a good few alpine road descents to get our teeth stuck into, maybe we’d be ok (well better than Andy Schleck anyway).

The way i look at it is,i could decend faster and better than they could erect a conservatory,therefor i’m better than them.

All depends if you descend well for an mtber. Most of the riders I encounter are **** awful on an mtb. Why this would make them good on the road I don’t know.

I follow the rules with my descending ability.

Rule #64 – Cornering confidence increases with time and experience.

This pattern continues until it falls sharply and suddenly.

When I’m at my peak (therefore about to crash), I feel like I’m pretty quick, and can drop average club riders pretty easily. I still rarely go over 40mph though, and don’t think I’ve ever done 50mph. But I’d get ragged by the pros, I just don’t have the straight line high speed confidence you need.

I would leave them gasping and astonished in a cloud of dust.. even if I was riding a unicycle..

fact