Here's a vote for wisdom. You paint a picture of a beautiful area to ride in; why hurry? And the results of a crash at the speeds you describe are painful at the least and involve a long time off the bike. If that's not enough, consider damage to the bike.
There's a reason those downhill racers wear all the protective gear plus motorcycle helmets. dougP On Jul 13, 7:53 am, Michael Hechmer <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm not a particularly anxious person, although I do get anxious when > someone compliments my courage! I regularly downhill at 40+ mph and have > hit 50 on good pavement and reasonably straight mountain descents without > too much anxiety, but one hill this year has me spooked. > > One of my favorite routes is a 23 mile ride with 1400 feet of climbing that > is equally divided among lightly traveled & good dirt roads, mostly descent > chip & seal town roads, and a third of moderately traveled state roads. It > provides beautiful pastoral scenery, a good view of the whole of the Mt. > Mansfield ridge line, and a stretch along the Lamoille River, including the > impressive Fairfax Falls. In the past I have always ridden it counter > clockwise, which includes a beast of a 3K climb, including a K of 20%+ > grade right in the middle. This year I reversed direction and have been > riding it clockwise on my Rambouillet, with a very nice set of Grand Bois > Cerf tires. The first time down it I discovered the pavement on the > steepest section was not in good condition, no pot holes or heaves, just > lots of broken chip and seal. The bumping was quite dramatic and I felt > like one good hole could toss me over the handle bars. Garmin was showing > 47.5 when I lightly squeezed the rear brake. Fortunately the Paul's Racers > have excellent modulation and I safely slowed enough to feel OK. > > But when I got to the bottom I asked myself why I chickened out, since I > was just fine, and thought that the next time I would lay off the brakes. > But this hasn't happened. Instead each time I have gone down it, I have > gone slower and slower. Today I took out my Trek, which has 32 mm TServes > to see if I would feel more comfortable at higher speeds with the softer > tire. But when I got to the top of the hill I realized I had no real taste > for the experiment. I went down at 25, until I could see the good pavement > at the bottom and then I let it roll out to 39. > > So I ask myself, is this wisdom, or just yielding to irrational anxiety. > > Michael > Westford, VT -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
