I don’t know what it is, just the lovely noise his tyres are making (sounds like mine when I take the summer bike out for its annual airing) or the fact that his GoPro actually seems to catch the angle of his leaning in to corners quite nicely.

Melting pads though?? Is that a carbon rim thing?

Melting pads though?? Is that a carbon rim thing?

If only there was a better, 20th century breaking solution for bikes, eh? 😀

Yeah right, because hydraulics don’t also require mollycoddling down long hot descents?

Thing is, I don’t even see him braking all that much…

Just glad I can’t afford carbon wheels I guess! Will continue to aspire to those aluminium brake track Dura Ace wheels…

That’s chuffin’ fast! At those speeds you just hope there aren’t any pot holes. Not much braking down to the water stop at least.

It’s actually not that hard to hit those speeds down that section of road, it’s v.steep and good sight lines for a couple of km’s.

Melting pads isn’t a new thing on carbon rims, discs are better in that situation as you won’t be dragging them but hammering them on when it’s time to knock off the speed, most of the time they’re not being touched.

I’ve tried ridiculously hard in the past and doubt I’ve managed more than 80km/h, speedo failed last time I was in France so might have managed it on Alp d’Huez.

I think I’m finally understanding why folks go disc, carbon wheels sound like a liability!

Back in the day (1994!) I did a fast run down Ventoux on a mtb with slicks. It was equipped with canti’s on the front and a mighty u-brake on the rear for total lack of finesse….I also had full panniers,a foam sleepmat and a frisbee strapped to the rear rack. I still have the picture I took of the Cateye with max speed reading 75.5kmh

I’ve tried ridiculously hard in the past and doubt I’ve managed more than 80km/h, speedo failed last time I was in France so might have managed it on Alp d’Huez.

Nice video that. Needs some better music. I still think one of the best descending videos ever is Fabian Cancellera.

In the UK, 40mph can be pretty routine, 50 you need a long and steep-ish descent with relatively few bends – something like Kirkstone going north is a good one and I’ve had over 50 on some Scottish descents too.

60mph/100kph is real mountain territory. Never ridden Ventoux but the sightlines and bends look quite decent. I’ve had 100kph off Grossglocker Pass in Austria and, many years ago, on an Alp somewhere near Grenoble. Got near it a couple of times on a descent in Spain that I know well where I was confident enough to go for it but never got over 58mph. Trying to pedal at that speed just unbalances the bike.

It’s terrifyingly fast, you can feel the bike is on the limit

I’ve tried ridiculously hard in the past and doubt I’ve managed more than 80km/h, speedo failed last time I was in France so might have managed it on Alp d’Huez.

ADH is not a great decent for top speed too many hairpins. Croix De Fer is good in the same area for top speed, I’ve had north of 100kph down there. I think the quickest I’ve been is on the Lauteret though at 110kph.

Key to it is gradient and sight-lines. 100kph on a steep gradient where you can see is much easier than 70kph on a narrow riding road.

There was a thread, I think on UKClimbing, where people posted their fastest speeds. From memory the winner was someone who got to 56mph going down Glencoe on their loaded tourer!

I once got to 46mph on the top part of Llanberis Pass, quick enough to overtake tourists in their cars, went round a bend and there was a car in one of the laybys. The driver looked at me, thought “it’s only a bike” and pulled out! That was frightening and I nearly went over the wall on the right

As above, the key is sight lines.

Was very reminiscent of my ride this morning in the freezing rain and hail of West Berkshire!

Seen over the ton a few times in Pyrenees, in theory it’s possible on a local descent (pros manage it in a race where they can straightline the first few bends) but it’s eluded me. Have to spin out in 53×11, tuck in and hope there’s nothing coming the other way.

Nice video that. Needs some better music.

Honestly preferred the Ventoux vid and music, loved the chilled vibe of the music, and the POV properly put me back on my bike on those lovely Girona roads from the summer, legs were twitching and heartrate was rising! (possible after effects of 2 IPAs, 1 glass red and some prescription only pain meds…)

Crashed at 98 kmh off a road bike, clad in lycra! Very very very lucky to walk away from that unscathed. Would hate to imagine the consequences of sliding down Tarmac at that speed.

Just checked on Strava, and my speed on the fastest local hill I know of is 57mph, with a 39.5mph average. It’s a mile long. Bumpy surface in places too 😳

I saw 80 kph* on the next road along from the Buttertubs in the Dales. And that was on a 29″ HT with a map board on the bars, with a Conti Mountain King on the front. I was shitting myself! I wouldn’t have worried quite so much but for the fact I had lost a rear pad earlier in the race, and was running on a spare.

*Strava seems to suggest I only made 76 kph, though the Garmin was definitely showing 80 for a short section.

Needs some better music

Yeah, that Mozart! What did he know about music, eh?

Edit: Oops – I now understand that you meant the music in the original video. Sorry.

This is far more thrilling to watch! Last night, Portsdown Hill, in the dark 😀
Switch to 2X speed for extra frills.

Great vid.
I tried for years to break 50mph but could never find anywhere steep and long enough,
When I finally managed it i also broke 60 at the same time, maxing at 62mph, (99kmh).
Slightly gutted I didn’t make the metric ton, but i couldn’t really do any more to go faster.
Rigid 90s mtb, with slicks, very low bars by modern standards, flat with bar ends, full lycra, touring load, 14% gradient, absolutely howling tailwind.
Verified by cateye, so obviously no real way of knowing how accurate it actually was, but I’ve done a genuine 50 (verified by gps) since and anecdotally it didn’t even feel close.
I wish i had the guts to try it nowadays, i was buzzing for days after it.

My best ever achievement on Strava was on a descent off Ventoux – 6th fastest at the time, out of about 6000-odd. Currently, I’m sat at 78th from 41,643 over 14.7km. Needless to say, it was a rather fast descent 😅

I sacked off my road bike as the real buzz was doing silly speeds and I knew it wouldn’t end well. Dropping down off Newlands Pass towards Keswick saw a very quick acceleration up to about 48mph and not the smoothest of roads!

I would pass more accomplished roadies on some decent that’s when I knew I was writing cheques I couldn’t cash.

Just checked and I took it pretty steady down Ventoux in August 2018. I’d bonked on the way up and still planned a decent look before home so just enjoyed the epicness of the descent to Sault for food and coffee. The Gorge de la Nesque after lunch was the best road descent ever and at a good lick with a french roadie showing me the lines.

No desire to go any quicker than the 52mph I once clocked off the top of Cray/Kidstones in yorkshire – scared myself a bit that day.

When I first started road cycling again I used to regularly do over 50mph in the Surrey Hills. Think the fastest I clocked was 57 coming down to Dorking off Leith Hill. Had a bad crash in 2015, lost quite a kit of skin and rarely go over 40 now.

Coming down off mount semnioz to Annecy in the summer I managed to convince myself that my pads were melting. Was pretty sure I was going to go over the edge at each hairpin. Stupid really.

Actually it’s a good point, I’ve wasted enough of the last two years with injuries, chasing arbitrary speeds would be a stupid way to miss out on even more riding!

Martymac – I clocked 60 on a Cateye a few times too! Lecht with a tailwind, Fleet Moss in Dales on a long straight and somewhere near Alston in the Pennines. No such lunacy these days with a wife, kids, mortgage and all that jazz.

Crowcombe (Quantocks) is a 100kph’er on a clear run, not a very long hill so you have to properly commit from the top but it’s doable with a good tuck in the middle.

@shortbread_fanylion
I did mine near alston too!
A689, heading east towards nenthead, BIG drop down towards the lead mining centre.
That was the only time i got close though.
Must have been Oct 95.

I started watching, then got the fear…..coming off and hitting a wall or lower down a tree would surely be very serious if not fatal!!

I also got enraged by that white coupe at the top; I hope he had time to put a take a photo and post it on ‘You Park Like a ****’

https://veloviewer.com/segment/1795722

That’s an easy 100kph + going down it

Doesn’t even need to be a particulalry big hill, just steep. E.g. Britwell in the Chilterns the kom is 58mph and the segment is only half a mile but averages 10%.

One of the best bits of advice I’ve read re mountain descents was “take your time, you may never get to enjoy those roads again”. Very true, but who doesn’t love a fast downhill? I found out the hard way that when it goes bad it can go really bad. 40mph, car pulled out without looking. 2 smashed vertebrae and a load of titanium later and I tend to follow the above advice, even on my local hills.

When was the crash in that video?

When was the crash in that video?

Watch from 10.40 onwards. Lucky boy!

When was the crash in that video?

You don’t see it – just the guy wobble and disappear offscreen.

Yeah sorry, the crash part of the video isn’t very dramatic, I was mostly enthusing about the quality etc. as it really put you behind the guy’s bars (or so I felt).

Managed to get 59mph on one of the descents on Torino-Nice in 2018, trying to think which descent it was, but having the bikepacking gear on actually seemed to make the bike more stable at speed thankfully.

Good vid although I’ve watched it before.

I’ve hit 81km/h on a return trip from Brighton, climb up towards Devils Dyke from Hove and there’s a really nice long, fast descent with no turns or side roads that you can really let go on.

In terms of leaning into corners this is the best I can do, me following a mate who is a much better descender than I am on the final descent of the Cingles

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More descending skills demonstrated by Andy as he skims the markers skiing stylee #montventoux #ventoux #descendingskills #1909metres #19092018 #cinglesdeventoux #cingles #cinglesduventoux #outsideisfree #lifebehindbars #dropbarsnotbombs #cycling #bikes #ridebikes #ridelife #rideitlikeyoustoleit #ventouxfivezero #gopro #goprosession

A post shared by Richard Sear (@ralph_e_rogers) on Jun 28, 2018 at 12:23am PDT

Doesn’t even need to be a particulalry big hill, just steep. E.g. Britwell in the Chilterns the kom is 58mph and the segment is only half a mile but averages 10%.

No corners helps! Just mind the gravel where it crosses the ridgeway at the bottom. Horrible hill, I once came second on a RCC tt up it, like riding up a ski jump!!