Downhill speeds...or: I must be getting old - Page 5

On Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:24:06 -0400, David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:

>In article <20040703091015.04124.00000831@mb-m15.aol.com>,
>dnvrfox@aol.com says...
>> >With my $99 junky bicycle, on a wide road, and great
>> >visibility, I would consider anything over 50MPH is "too
>> >fast".
>> >
>> >It's basically the speed when you start losing fully
>> >control of your bike.
>>
>> Okay - so you agree that each of us has a "too fast,"
>> yours being 50, mine being 40 and someone elses being
>> 30, right?
>>
>> I know guys whose "too fast" is 60 mph.
>
>I don't know what mine is; I hit 46 over the weekend on
>a big hill, and was hoping for 50. It felt good, and I
>felt like I was nowhere near my comfort limit. A nice
>solid, stable touring frame may have something to do
>with that, though.
>

Has an animal run out in front of you yet? ;-)

Ben

In article <mgqle09epd23mr4m0iqgp3ln77pbtq55h7@4ax.com>, spaXm-mXe-anXd-
paXy-5000-dollars@pobox.com says...
> On Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:24:06 -0400, David Kerber
> <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:
>
> >In article <20040703091015.04124.00000831@mb-
> >m15.aol.com>, dnvrfox@aol.com says...
> >> >With my $99 junky bicycle, on a wide road, and great
> >> >visibility, I would consider anything over 50MPH is
> >> >"too fast".
> >> >
> >> >It's basically the speed when you start losing fully
> >> >control of your bike.
> >>
> >> Okay - so you agree that each of us has a "too fast,"
> >> yours being 50, mine being 40 and someone elses being
> >> 30, right?
> >>
> >> I know guys whose "too fast" is 60 mph.
> >
> >I don't know what mine is; I hit 46 over the weekend on a
> >big hill, and was hoping for 50. It felt good, and I felt
> >like I was nowhere near my comfort limit. A nice solid,
> >stable touring frame may have something to do with that,
> >though.
> >
>
> Has an animal run out in front of you yet? ;-)

Nope; that might be a factor as well <grin>.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

"Ben Kaufman" <spaXm-mXe-anXd-paXy-5000-dollars@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:mgqle09epd23mr4m0iqgp3ln77pbtq55h7@4ax.com...

> >> >With my $99 junky bicycle, on a wide road, and great
> >> >visibility, I would consider anything over 50MPH is
> >> >"too fast".
> >> >
> >> >It's basically the speed when you start losing fully
> >> >control of your bike.
> >>
> >> Okay - so you agree that each of us has a "too fast,"
> >> yours being 50,
mine
> >> being 40 and someone elses being 30, right?
> >>
> >> I know guys whose "too fast" is 60 mph.

At some point you suddenly say to yourself... this is too
damm fast. It happened to me on a Hill near New Glarus
Wisconsin. I was feeling really amped and was on a bike tour
with a bunch of other people... including some rather lovely
young single women... and I had my old Raleigh Aleyska a
nice following wind and a big hill... And I put it in to
full power climbing up and over the hill and pumped until I
put it into a full tuck. At the bottom of the hill... which
lead to another hill, the bicycle was shaking and I was
hestitant to apply any brakes. When I finally stopped...
having coasted nearly to the top of the next big hill... I
saw that my Cyclo-Computer had registered a top speed of 67
MPH.... mind you I don't know how close to accurate that
was... but I do know it was way too fast...

These days I am older and wiser (and frankly bicycling on
pretty flat areas and no longer in good shape)... and I
would say 35 MPH would be "too fast".

John Smith wrote:
> At some point you suddenly say to yourself... this is too
> damm fast. It happened to me on a Hill near New Glarus
> Wisconsin. I was feeling really These days I am older and
> wiser (and frankly bicycling on pretty flat areas and no
> longer in good shape)... and I would say 35 MPH would be
> "too fast".

I just had that feeling this last Sat. Luckily for me, my
computer is dead or I'd probably have thought it sooner. My
husband and I were descending Kitt Peak, fast. I was riding
my Bianchi Vigorelli, and it was reaching that point where
it felt "squirrely". I know we were absolutely flying. Then
visions of Joseba Beloki danced in my mind and I slowed a
bit, as it's hot desert right now, and a lot of tar repair
strips on the road.

BTW, for any of you racer types out there, what Cat would
this climb have been? It's 12 miles long, goes from 2,500 ft
to 7,000 feet. It would be fun to know this. The road sign
gives an average grade of 8%, but there are *definately*
areas where it is more and less steep. Thanks for the info.

Teresa in AZ (normally starts feeling uneasy when we hit the
high 30's...)

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 12:11:58 -0700, Teresa Bippert-Plymate
<teresa@as.arizona.edu> wrote:

>
>
> John Smith wrote:
>> At some point you suddenly say to yourself... this is too
>> damm fast. It happened to me on a Hill near New Glarus
>> Wisconsin. I was feeling really These days I am older and
>> wiser (and frankly bicycling on pretty flat areas and no
>> longer in good shape)... and I would say 35 MPH would be
>> "too fast".
>
> I just had that feeling this last Sat. Luckily for me, my
> computer is dead or I'd probably have thought it sooner.
> My husband and I were descending Kitt Peak, fast. I was
> riding my Bianchi Vigorelli, and it was reaching that
> point where it felt "squirrely". I know we were absolutely
> flying. Then visions of Joseba Beloki danced in my mind
> and I slowed a bit, as it's hot desert right now, and a
> lot of tar repair strips on the road.
>
> BTW, for any of you racer types out there, what Cat would
> this climb have been? It's 12 miles long, goes from 2,500
> ft to 7,000 feet. It would be fun to know this. The road
> sign gives an average grade of 8%, but there are
> *definately* areas where it is more and less steep. Thanks
> for the info.
>
> Teresa in AZ (normally starts feeling uneasy when we hit
> the high 30's...)
>

It's an average grade of rise/run x 100, or (7,000 - 2,500)
/ (12 x 5280) x 100 = 7.1 grade. I don't know what the
category is, though. That's a nice ride, when it's cool.
Where is this? I used to live in Phoenix.

--
Bob in CT Remove ".x" to reply

Not a racer, but based on the Cats from Tour de France mountain stages, I'd say at least a 2 but probably more like a 1 or "hors categorie"/unclassified. Then again, I don't really know much about how these are graded. I think it has to do with a combination of length, average gradient, quality of road, amount of exposure, and some other things.
It's plenty long at 12 miles, and quite steep (average of 8% gradient). Factor in the fact that you're in Arizona, which can be quite hot, and that makes for a pretty tough climb.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004...d=stages#climb click on the stages to see the category of the climbs.