How To Descend Like A Professional Cyclist | Ride Downhill Faster & Safer

Descending on a road bike at speed is a skill that develops with age and experience but it's also one of the best parts of a ride. It's no surprise that professional cyclist's practise descending, and in this video James and Chris share their tips for riding downhill faster whilst still being safe.

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Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound:
Cafe - Andreas Ericson
Slow Move - Maiwan
Someone - Jones Meadow

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[AndrewBlucher]

1. Wear gloves.
2. Hands in drops. On the hoods one good bump can jolt your hands off with an unhappy outcome. Besides, you can brake properly.
3. Bum slightly off the seat. Ride don't sit. If your bum is firmly on the seat then one good bump can jolt you into the air and cause loss of control.
4. Don't descend like a pro, unless you are.
5. If you want to be fast then brake into the corner and pedal out.
6. Commit. Half hearted cornering means only cornering half. Then crashing.
7. Practice, and learn by following someone faster.
8. Enjoy.

[playandteach]

Also, as a ex-motorbiker - remember that sometimes going round a corner puts your head on the wrong side of the road, just at wing mirror height.

[eigobike]

One of the hardest aspects of descending is knowing the grade as approaching it. If you have not ridden the descent a few times before, the change in grades can be treacherous. It is visually hard to discern if a road is changing from 3% to 5% to 7 % etc. That variable causes the gravity effect to shift dramatically. Speed and inertia can ratchet up quickly and braking distances must be adjusted immediately. There is no prize for crashing ever.

[shodaboy]

always use glasses to protect your eyes. You won't like getting something in your eyes at high speed and crash

[easternbrown]

Descending is a serious business. It's important to appreciate the gravity of the situation.

[suninwest]

New to biking and was only on my 4th ride this morning with a used 2014 Fuji Sportif 2.3. Pedaled up on a small hill area and I was holding my dear life in the descent. The brakes were a joke and I felt like I was sitting on a broom stick and flying like in the Harry Potter movie. I found myself descending at 39 mph, thanks to my motorcycle experience, I managed to go through the corner, slammed the brakes again to slow down. The next two times, I held the brakes, slowed down before descending and rode at the speed I could feel comfortable and was in control. But the first one was scary. I thought I was going to crash. I admire you Pros, the video is a delight to watch. I'm already 50 and I don't know if I would ever be able to do descents like a pro, but I am not going to stop; nor am I going to try race down. I will just enjoy my ride at whatever speed I could go down the hill. Thank you.

[Ramyfication]

Another thing that really helped me with descending that might not be as obvious: use your maps on your head unit to help you anticipate the radius of the turn coming up. Obviously use your discretion in looking down at the screen but, on an unfamiliar climb, being able to "see" turns before they come up really helps me figure how much braking/turning I'll need to do.

[mosca]

Tip: keep your shoulders, arms and hands relaxed. Stiff arms and a death grip on the bars won’t let the bike work. I sometimes “flap” my elbows to remind myself to keep my arms relaxed.

[bhumiriady]

Awesome as always!
Thank you for sharing these useful tips, GCN!

[graemewoodward]

Great to see Cheddar Gorge featuring. Fabulous climb - something I miss after moving away from the area.

[samuelhopely]

I think it's important to note that there are absolutely times where dragging brakes mid corner is okay and necessary. Conditions rarely occur where a tiny touch of the rear brake can result in disaster, and if it does your speed through the corner was far too great for the given conditions in the first place. I myself and many others I know suffered bad accidents from sticking hard to the rule of absolutely no brakes mid corner, which can kill you in a fast blind S- Turn. Also just one more reason why disc brakes are a great thing to consider, because you rarely have to be afraid to drag away! If i've said anything that anybody wants to dispute with some good science or experience, I'd absolutely love to hear it! Never want to lead my fellow riders astray like I've been in the past.

[MrBJPitt]

They say it takes 10, 000 hours to become an expert at something. Sure some people spend 1200 hours a year riding, but how much of that is actually descending mountain roads? Lucky to be even 50 I'd guess?

Cyclists who ride motor bikes have a huge advantage here if they do mountain riding, as you spend much more time having to plan corners - going up or down. That 90% is so important for survival on a motor bike.

Many cyclists pick racing lines when descending, which may be the fastest line in theory, but late apexing (only choosing an apex after corner exit is visible) is the safest way to descend, and fastest as you can get the line correct for the following turn.

[danmathis]

Great training video! Not a confident descended, so all advice useful. Thanks!

[gonetoearth]

Great Vid guys!! More stuff like that! Quick point: Always look ahead to the exit of the curve if you can see it as you enter the curve....bike will tend to go where you look...if you look straight thru an apex you might be heading out off road tangentially...youtube some of the videos where they show where F1 drivers look when entering a curve...

[robbchastain]

This was excellent, Hank and Chris, the video and the comments. And with so many of us riding smaller frames with long stems and long seat posts, I do think it is time to revisit your dropper post suggestion and investigation. Perhaps the tech has progressed to the point where it is even faster and safer to, shall we say, slam the saddle in the corners.

[jmorris]

Great vid guys. Not only do you offer great cycling advice, but you also feature Sarah the illstrumentalist. So I get a nice suprise watching these vids.

[edwardokaa]

The old saying, descending and cornering confidence increases steadily until it suddenly drops!

[conan_der_barbar]

that's some high end production value!

[sawomirpuko]

Another tip I'd add, handy when riding a hire bike, is to try your brakes and try to assess tyres grip before the descent. There is no worse feeling than being unsure of brakes on an epic descent.

[Krejza]

I must agree with couple of guys bellow. You really benefit from riding a motorcycle. There are a lot of great techniques you can apply on a bicycle and make your ride faster and safer - not only on the descent.

1. use your body weight to your advantage. Do not push the bike underneath you like you did most of the time on the video since lean angle of the bike itself will be higher than your overall lean angle. Go with the bike and lean your upper body into the turn.
2. Previous point makes means difference of your viewing range. To see more, leaning your upper body (head) into the turn is a no go if there are obstructions along the road. Yet, it can be reduced by the next point.
3. Choose your riding line wisely. There are two basic types depending on your aim.
3a. Racing line. You want to use your maximum speed, whole width of the road to reach the fastest time. It means to carry as much speed throughout the turn as possible.
3b. Safe street line. You must take into account upcoming traffic and give yourself some margin for error, yours or anybody else's. That means not going into the turn half blind (like you would/could do with racing line) but turn AFTER you are sure you can turn. That means to turn WHEN you see the end of the turn. This safe line (and I teach my students this way) is to enter the turn widely and exit it narrowly. IOW from the outside to the inside. Example: in left hand turn, I keep to the right of my lane until I can see the end of the turn, then, I turn and preferably exit the turn in the left parts of my lane.
4. Single turn vs. series of turns. You can use 3a style in any single turn if you can see where the road leads to after the turn. But what if there is the next turn with other direction too close you won't be able to get into the perfect entry line for the second turn?
It is great to look at series of turn backwards. Split turns and series of turns with straights and look at it from the exiting line of the last turn backwards up to the entry line of the first turn.
Yes, it is difficult since you usually can't see all those turns right form the start. There comes the point 3b. It is a bit slower than 3a but gives much more confidence.
Of course, there are endless options between both options I wrote. It always is a combination of so many factors you can write a book about. But my points 3a and 3b are two reasonable borders to keep myself between. Maximum speed and maximum risk on one side, really safe but slower approach on the other.
5. Trailbraking or dragging your brakes into the corner. It is possible if you won't exceed your grip level. Even after that you may slide a bit but keep going. It is better on a motorcycle, on a bicycle there is much finer line. But it is possible.
6. Braking with your rear brake while leaned over. This technique scrubs off a bit of speed while making the bike lean a bit more into the turn. Be aware to do it with your front brake. Slight touch may do the same but increases the risk more than the rear brake. Braking hard with your front brake stands up your bike.
7. One of the most important techniques is to turn faster. I mean how fast you put your bike into your desired lean angle, not the riding speed itself. Speed of turning influences your line. In basics, slow turn in means really wide arc while fast turn in creates much sharper arc thus allowing you to reach less lean angle for your speed or more speed for the same lean angle.
8. Look ahead, scan your road. I guess it is implemented in going fast but it never hurts to repeat it one more time.
9. It is good to reach level around 75% to learn something new. If I will go on my maximum, I put too much risk and I am not able to learn anything. Otherwise, bellow 75% I do not put much effort and some goes in vain.
In other words, train on lower level than your maximum, it will give you some margin for error and ability to learn. Save maximum efforts for the decisive parts of racing (and from time to time during training in really controlled conditions).