Cycling Downhill Fasssssttttt

I have just returned from a MOST AWESOME private bike camp in Aspen (CTS: Carmichael Training Systems (http://www.trainright.com) with the extraordinary Coach Jane Rynbrandt, who not only drove from Colorado Springs, but just so I wouldn’t have to lug my custom Seven from NYC to Aspen, she brought me a demo Trek Modone OCCV carbon – just 12 pounds and so light I could pick it up with three fingers. In this two-day high altitude climbing camp, we did Maroon Bells day one (oh my aching legs) and Ashcroft (much easier) day two. Part of CTS camps is they have you ride with a Power Tap, a sweet computer which they then download onto a computer which gives you your watts, intensity, strength, speed, calories burned – this little gadget does everything but make your coffee. After Day 1, Jane showed me the graph and told me that at one point, I’d come down Maroon Bells at 38.6 mph. I think that’s faster than I’ve ever come down a hill in my entire life (then again, I’ve never gone down such a steep hill). I emailed a good marathoner from Wisconsin and told her about my speed and she wrote back:

"38.6 mph?! Are you crazy, Margie?! I can't believe it. I'm a total WIMP when it comes to going fast on my bike downhill. I think the fastest I've hit is maybe 24 mph. I always brake a lot because I don't want to wipe out and break a lot of bones. I've seen too many people in my health club -- younger and fitter -- with terrible bike injuries. Still, my goal is always to get myself to go a little faster downhill without being afraid. Any tips?”

I was also a wimp when I first started riding as an adult, and used to have sore palms from squeezing my brakes so hard. Then I joined NYCC (New York Cycle Club), and while I was with the 18mph group, I noticed they all went down Harlem Hill much faster than me. Here I was squeezing and they were flying and I was so terrified I would be “dropped” (left behind) once we left Central Park and headed out to points west across the GW Bridge, that I started gripping the brakes a little less each time we went down the hill. And one day I dared myself NOT to brake (as none of them ever used their brakes) – I was up to 23mph, FLYING! And since I didn’t crash, I realized I COULD do this. So, if you’re a hill wimp, just slowly slowly ease off a little more on the brakes each time you do a hill, and eventually, you, too, will be screaming with joy as the wind hits your face (and not the pavement!).