So I still calm myself a mountain biker but I’m probably 70% on the road at the moment. It’s easier for me to get a quick ride in and I’m enjoying the road at the moment. On the mountain bike I’m a reasonable descender; not worrying the top of the Strava leaderboards but decent enough. A session with
Jedi really helped my confidence after an MTB arm break crash a few years ago.

However, on the road bike I struggle to keep up with my club on descents. I used to think this was because I was a big lad (125kg when I started riding with them) and I didn’t like the feeling of picking up speed quickly with only 25c tyres. I’m down to 99kg so that isn’t really an excuse any more.

I’ve not a disc braked road bike, which helps as I have faith in the (shimano so sometimes leaky) brakes. I’ve gone 28mm and tubeless which also helps. My bike fit is dialled in, which definitely made a difference.

However, I’m still a lot slower than I like. On a long straight descent if I get up to maybe 45 to 50km/h I just don’t like the feeling and scrub some speed off.

However, if it’s twisty and steep I really struggle. The list of things that make me slow down are:
It being steep
Tight bends
Signs telling me it’s steep
Loose gravel
Crap road surfaces
Not knowing what the road layout is
No barriers at the side of the road
Drops at the side of the road
Bushes at the side of the road
Traffic

Basically in my head I’m imagining all sorts of terrible stuff happening, so slow right down. This means on really steep descents I’m at an absolute crawl, watching my club shoot off down the hill. On one, maybe 15%+ twisty descent in the Yorkshire Dales I was absolutely terrified.

Against my own times on Strava I am getting a bit quicker on things I regularly descend, but this irrational fear puts me off doing, for example, some of the steeper Lakes passes – whilst the ups would be hard I just don’t fancy the descents at all.

Has anybody had similar before and did they get over it?

Tried a bike fit?

I was in a similar position coming from an MTB background regularly shuttling/DH runs but skinny tyres and being on the drops have me the fear.

Some minor tweaks to my handlebar setup with the help of my LBS had me finally feeling comfortable on the drops and I’m now getting silly speeds on the commute down the hill to work.

Ask Richie Porte.

I find relaxation helps. Wiggle the fingers as It’s too easy to grip the bars too hard. It’s also easy to imagine the consequences of a misjudged action!

Better to arrive at the bottom in one piece.

Tracy Hannah says singing helps on a mountain bike – try that !

I’m kinda similar, a totally pussy on descents on the road. However…

irrational fear

I wouldn’t say it is this. Fall off an mtb and you might break a bone. Come off on a road descent and the consequences could be way way worse.

I’m happy to go at the speed I’m comfortable with, well within the limits of grip on the tyres. No one is paying me to ride my bike, so I just Poole down the hills.

I felt the same. My road bike has Corima deep carbon rims, rim brakes and the front has only 18 spokes. I’m 15 stone and I got the fear when descending fast and rising in dappled sunlight where potholes go invisible. A Conti GP4000 28 tyre won’t fit in the fork so a 25 is the biggest I can go.
A few weeks ago I bought a cheap alloy rim front wheel. A travesty, fitting this to a carbon Pinarello with Campag Record (and still the Corima rear) but it’s without doubt the best upgrade I’ve made. I enjoy my rides much much more.

yep, much higher consequences and much less thrills/enjoyment on the descent to justify the risks.

A guy in the local group had to go wide on a downhill corner because there was unexpected gravel on the road, and hit a people carrier – 3 months in hospital and he was lucky…

I wouldn’t worry to much, riding will increase confidence, get someone to look at your position, it’s all about relaxing so if your are tense back off

I was always fast downhill, Then on a ride I wasn’t pushing it, it was just a nice evening and I thought let’s not waste it. I ran over a bit of metal at 40mph just going into the steepest twisty part of the descent, went straight from full tire to being on the rim in less than a second, barely held it up, missed the oncoming car, wobbled again and high sided at 30mph, just missed the barrier protecting the drop, and then used my body to slide to a stop. Fortunately the car behind was slowing and stopped.

I am now slow going downhill, changed the tire setup, and view the world differently, however confidence is coming back and it’s not stopped me riding

Bike fit? To help with a mental block? Okey doke!
Sounds more like you need some meditation to convince yourself you won’t crash. I had an off a couple of years back (on the flat!) which slowed me right down. I guess you just have to be confident in your technique to relax and KNOW you’re not going to crash. Anyone you ride with give some tips?
Other wise, I’d say don’t worry about keeping up with anyone, crashing on the road can have nasty consequences, so let your mind keep you safe.

Tracy Hannah says singing helps

It’s about being relaxed, innit.

Maybe you’re the enlightened one? If one was designing a bike from scratch to safely, confidently and quickly do road descents then it wouldn’t end up anything like a road bike!

Tracy Hannah says singing helps

It’s about being relaxed

A bit, but that’s more to make you concentrate on the words of the song, so you can’t overthink what’s happening in front of you, you just deal with it, almost sub-consciously.

Got a song you like OP?

I’d half consider fitting a dropper if my frame would take one, possibly with an under seat lever.

Maybe a slightly wider tyre?

I found that lifting my backside off the saddle and slightly resting an inner thigh against the top tube made me feel more solid and a bit more confident on road descents.

Group descents can be a bit bizarre too- maybe a couple of rides with someone who descends that sort of terrain comfortably, following their line, would help?

Find a nice long straight descent to ride down and get used to the speed. Something like Britwell Hill in the chilterns, easy speed, no corners and good sight lines.

Then go off and find something more technical!

Most stuff transfers from MTB’ing, experiment with stuff and see what works, the advantage of roads is the corners are generally consistent and longer so you can see what effect dropping a shoulder or over twisting tour hips has mid corner and if it works try it on the entry to the next one.

I think it’s probably best to have a bit of fear on the road bike as coming off at 40mph just dressed in Lycra is going to be messy.

I went out on my road bike either last year or earlier this one round near Bath and went down a huge hill. I knew I was going fast but on checking Strava I got to 48mph. That’s a bit scary and the consequences of messing that up would be awful. SO I’m trying to dial back top speed a bit when on the road bike now.

You can get road coaching for descending I’d have thought – it you want to improve descending technique I’d consider that. I lost a bit of confidence cornering off road after a couple of biggish crashes and 3 hours of coaching helped.

I find fast road descents far more challenging than black MTB descents – the speeds are a lot higher as are the consequences. A couple of things that got me from a 30-40mph to a 40-50mph descender are technique and practice. Technique: get in the drops. Yes your speed goes up because you’re lower but the braking is much easier than being on the hoods. Brake hard before a corner not during. Use your weight, put it through the outside pedal. Look around the corner as your enter to see where you want to go.
And practice: in the UK we tend to have pretty short descents. It really helps to ride 20-30km descents (ie the Alps, Pyrenees, even a few in Australia) and just get in the rhythm of it and get confident in the grip of the tyres. I have a few fast descents I love (generally flowing 7-8% like Burdincurutcheta) and few I hate (10-12% straight down like Lake Mountain) but you definitely get faster the more you ride them.

Bike fit? To help with a mental block? Okey doke!

Small changes in setup make a big difference in feel on a road bike. Feel influences how relaxed you are, just the same as the difference between different road bikes some inspire confidence some don’t

But meditation, okey doke!

A longer stem helps improve confidence too.

It’s not really irrational.

Your MTB is designed to let you put your body weight in the right place, to weight the wheels according to the descent you’re on. On a road bike, you’re on the drops, you aren’t really moving around all that much. Your weight is centred or on steep stuff over the front, so if that washes out you’re toast. As a competent MTBer you’re probably acutely aware of this (I know I am). A riding position that feels good for getting the power down on the drops on flat bits might leave you too far forward. It does on my bike – but I think the frame is a bit too small. The bike fit idea is a good one potentially – if the bike doesn’t fit, the weight distribution could be wrong which will affect your cornering confidence hugely.

Then there’s the physics. On a fast singletrack off-road descent you might be doing 15mph; on a road it could be 45mph. That means you’re carrying NINE time more energy. So if you come off it’s potentially far worse.

Watch & learn

Seriously, on the road you have to ride within your limits. Confidence really is just about practice, but on the road you simply can not afford to ride at 100%. Just keep riding and at some point you will speed up.

You need to try and convince your brain to let you go faster than 45kph on long, straight descents. It’ll hurt lots whether you crash on tarmac at 45kph or 65kph so I find it best not to worry

Try riding on your own and not having the pressure of trying to keep up with the people in your club? The pressure of trying to do that probably leads you to tense up and if you do that on a bike things don’t work as well.

I had a front-wheel blowout at speed descending off the Col du Glandon a few years ago during the Marmotte. I was over 110kg at the time, and this coupled with heavy braking on rim brakes, altitude and high tyre pressure resulted in the rim overheating and causing the tube to let go.
I managed to stop it unscathed (other than a completely destroyed GP4000), but ever since I’ve had a mental block about heavy braking on road descents, like I’m always afraid it’ll happen again. I’m picking up a disc braked road bike today actually, so hopefully problem solved.

I ride my road bike in North Lakes mainly (so Whinatter,Newlands, Honister etc).
Biggest difference for was to fit a set of slightly flared wider bars (think Salsa Bell Lap or Ritchey Evo Maxtype flair). Not bike fit as such – just a way to feel more comfortably in control.
I’m normally well in the fastest 15% on any road descent (though definitely not the fastest!!!) so it works for me.

Used to regularly go over 50mph on descents when I first started road biking. Came off at around 30 on a gravelly corner about 4 years ago, which was extremely painful. I’ve never really got my balls back properly after that – rarely going much over 40 now. Did the Etape Du Dales with a couple of mates back in May and resigned myself to being the last at the bottom of the descents (although not really by that much). Could always catch them on the flat afterwards though.

Also don’t trust strava leaderboards.

I came down Pishill the other day, took 13minutes from the top to the junction, averaged 26mph, and that was off the brakes down to stone and then pretty much team time trialing it with another rider, going faster would be a massive effort, certainly I won’t beat that time solo any time soon.

The strava record is 35mph, I’m pretty sure that’s because it’s a time trial route too (and obviously there are some very fast clubs about who’ll be faster than just the two of us).

Also – who cares? Road biking is about one of two things: fitness, the feeling of pushing your body physically and zipping along; or it’s about getting out in the countryside covering distance. Descending thrills are for the MTB surely?

Nope. I really enjoy a good road descent. It can be pretty exhilarating.

Yeah, I can get just as much pleasure from a long road descent as a mtb one. Terrifying but very exhilarating.

people do also race, go for times, and generally like to push themselves. I’d echo points about learning some technique – it’s not just about nerve.

I’m the same.  There’s a series 3 lumps in Herts starting on a down ward slope.  If you keep peddling gravity has you speeding over the rollers and halfway up the last climb.  Stay on the gas and I’m 20s to a strava kom because for some reason I carry speed well.  BUT I cant help but imagine a car pulling out of one of the many driveways along the road, it really holds me back – I’d be doing 70kph on the first downslope if I go hard enough, imagine the mess….

Descending thrills are for the MTB surely?

Nah, I get at least as much pleasure from nailing a road descent. Everyone is different though. Fancy a proper crack on this descent, got within 20secs of the KOM on my first time down there so should be able to get closer now I know which way the road goes. 12% average gradient, twisty and dry stone walls. What could possibly go wrong? 🙂

https://www.strava.com/segments/4983287?filter=overall

https://veloviewer.com/segments/4983287

I’m the same. I’m much faster descending on road on a mtb than a road bike. Road bikes just feel like death traps. Then I added 20lbs of bikepacking gear and it descended absolutely fine.

Learn to ride a motorcycle. Then the road bike feels slow.

tbh, i don’t really have the balls to go much over 40mph/64kph on the road. regularly touch that, but it’s just the extreme end of comfortable for me. Any faster starts to become the light end of terrifying for me and I just don’t feel in control so will temper the speed.

You do have to give massive respect to the roadies that regularly descend at speed above 80+kph/50+mph.

It’s all just about finding your comfort levels isn’t it. Road surface also has a massive part to play, obviously much easier to go faster on smoother roads and feel more comfortable.

And he could wear the leathers on the road bike too.

Come off on a road descent and the consequences could be way way worse.

Really ? Fall off on a road bike decent at 30+ and you tend to get gravel rash. Fall of on an mtb at 10mph and you break bones.

Having said that I’ve had road bikes that inspire no confidence downhill, never twitchy but just don’t want to turn or inspire confidence in the corners

The other thing I find helpful is just being rational – what are the things that could cause a crash (gravel, a pothole, a cow, a crosswind wobble etc) and how do I avoid them. If there’s no good reason that I’d come off, and especially if I know the road, then it’s easier, logical even, to stay off the brakes. And then I get overtaken by bunch of riders.

British descents are some of the worst out there. Often “variable” road surfaces, often blind corners, junctions, traffic, narrow, relatively steep etc – you actually need to keep your speed in check a lot of the time rather than actively caning it. Yes there are plenty of exceptions but there’s always that doubt in the back of your mind.

Learning to relax on descents, it really helps to do much longer smoother ones. Spain, France etc where you can really get into the flow of it. In the UK, you’ve only just got into the feel of it when you’re suddenly out the bottom.

The key to it is relaxing, dropping your shoulder and pushing the inside bar down/forwards.

 The list of things that make me slow down are:
It being steep
Tight bends
Signs telling me it’s steep
Loose gravel
Crap road surfaces
Not knowing what the road layout is
No barriers at the side of the road
Drops at the side of the road
Bushes at the side of the road
Traffic

All pretty sensible reasons to slow down a bit. But if your getting dropped by club mates your probably being a bit over cautious.
Relax and trust your bike, over time familiarity will increase your confidence. And as said get into the drops and get low, you’ll feel much more stable and in control.

Are you in the drops? Safer, your hands won’t slip off and more stable – lower centre of gravity.
Find a well surfaced decent and practice, good excuse for a holiday in the Alps / Dolomite’s!