The testimonials on Oscar Saiz’s web site communicate volumes. From Thibaut Pinot: “I’ll by no means be the best descender, however Oscar’s actually improved my downhill expertise,” whereas Marianne Vos eulogises: “Oscar has the distinctive capacity to really feel the place a rider’s boundaries are… after which push them that bit additional, step-by-step.” Saiz is a former star on the mountain biking World Cup circuit, who now coaches descending expertise to many WorldTour groups.
At the moment working with Lidl-Trek, 50-year-old Saiz helps the world’s best acquire an edge downhill. That will help you do the identical, Biking Weekly tapped into Saiz’s distinctive educating expertise. The Spaniard is supported in his mountainous mission by the skilled Marvin Faure, a British Biking level-three coach who relies within the French Alps, the place he runs his firm Alpine Cols. With these two downhill specialists’ assist, let’s break down speedy descending into its element elements for an entire lot extra velocity and security.
Begin out secure
Use a monitor pump to get your tyre pressures spot on
(Picture credit score: Future)
We should start, like each good private progress journey, with a well being and security briefing. “Crucial issues to examine in your bike earlier than a descending session are the brakes and the tyres,” says Faure. “The brakes have to be totally purposeful, and the tyres needs to be undamaged and pumped as much as the really helpful stress. Additionally examine the steering, which needs to be silent and easy if you wiggle the handlebars. Examine the tightness of any bolts that will work unfastened, corresponding to these between the stem and the bars.”
Saiz echoes Faure’s sentiments and provides an extra notice of warning: “If it’s raining or rain is forecast, cut back your tyre pressures barely. For me at my 73kg weight, I’d drop from 90psi within the dry to 75psi within the moist. It helps grip.”
Hold it steady
“A balanced place on the bike is significant,” says Saiz. “This implies you haven’t loaded your weight over the entrance or rear. In flip, this must also lead you into a pleasant, sustainable place on the drops.” Descending on the drops is the important thing ability to be taught in case you’re intent on driving quicker and safer.
“There are six the explanation why it is best to place your fingers within the drops when descending,” provides Faure. “You decrease your centre of gravity, so that you develop into extra steady on the bike; you’re extra compact, once more growing stability; there’s extra weight on the entrance wheel, which you want when descending quick; you will have higher grip in your handlebars for extra management over surprises like potholes; you’re able to a stronger and faster pull on the brakes; and, after all, you’re extra aerodynamic – the rider being liable for 80% of drag.”
Your elbows ought to naturally tuck into your sides, reducing your chin in direction of the bar. Retaining the pedals stage helps to maintain a steady centre of gravity.
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Get a grip
“How arduous you grip the bars is determined by how briskly you’re driving, what the highway floor is like and whether or not you’re alone or surrounded by different riders,” says Faure. “The final rule is that your fingers needs to be wrapped across the bars, however there’s often no must grip arduous, definitely not on a regular basis. Grip a bit tougher as you method a tough floor or a nook, then chill out when you’re again on easy, straight tarmac. A very good rule of thumb is to grip solely as firmly as is critical to make sure you maintain maintain – whereas avoiding pointless fatigue.”
Tom Pidcock reveals good method along with his head up and fingers on the drops
(Picture credit score: Alamy)
Counting down: descending in numbers
100.8kph: When Tom Pidcock received the twelfth stage of the 2022 Tour atop Alpe d’Huez, it got here off the again of a descending masterclass on the Galibier. However his quickest velocity that day – 101kph, or 63mph – was recorded on the descent of the Croix de Fer.
90% The share of energy spent in overcoming air resistance when descending at round 30mph. It’s round half that determine at 10mph.
227.72kph In 2017, French rider Éric Barone reached this record-breaking velocity (over 140mph) when driving downhill on a mtb on the velocity snow monitor at Vars, France.
72 miles Reportedly the longest uninterrupted downhill on Earth is Peru’s Freeway 16 that descends 13,388ft from Conocha to Paramonga.
Get comfortable on the drops
In case your main occasion is overseas and options 20km-plus descents – remarkable within the UK – you’ll must practise on the drops to get used to the place. Again to Faure: “Begin off by spending an growing period of time in your drops on a flat highway. Then throw in light descents in the identical place. You’ll regularly construct confidence in that place, which you’ll take to longer, steeper, extra technical descents.”
In the case of descending apply, select a shallower hill to start with, driving it a few times every week. Then discover a steeper hill and do the identical, earlier than your confidence grows and descending turns into second nature.
Look the place you need to go
The essential tenet of the place to look is properly forward. “In brief, look as far forward or across the nook as doable,” says Faure. “That’s for 2 causes. One is for security – you need to spot upcoming obstacles – and the opposite is your bike will head the place you’re trying.”
It’s not nearly trying forward, provides Saiz; you additionally must interpret visible cues to anticipate the place the highway goes subsequent. “Sure, you should work on the bike dealing with aspect and your bike place, however there’s the cognitive aspect, too – you should work on the ability of ‘studying the highway’. How a lot distance and time do I’ve to decelerate?” This ‘sixth sense’ develops with apply and confidence. “I prefer to work on one factor at a time. What are the braking distances? The place are we getting into the nook? How are you going to exit this nook? I don’t thoughts repeating a small stretch of highway many occasions, as that develops ability.”
Brake earlier than the bend
The secret’s to brake earlier than the nook and carry that momentum by means of it, moderately than braking contained in the nook, which disrupts the stream, scrubs velocity and will increase the probabilities of crashing. Saiz urges riders “to be comfy and use the utmost potential of your brakes”, achieved by heading to a neighborhood highway, setting a braking level at ‘X’ and seeing how lengthy it takes you to cease. Journey and repeat.
“Brake as late as doable however earlier than you begin turning,” provides Faure. “How a lot velocity you scrub is determined by your ability and the sharpness of the bend.”
Use each brakes
“The physics of braking is skewed in direction of the entrance brake,” says Saiz. “Your braking power on the levers needs to be break up round 70% entrance and 30% again. So long as you brake progressively, you received’t fly over the bars! Not more than 70% stress is the best. Should you brake too arduous with the again brake, you’ll skid. That’s as a result of your entrance wheel is closely weighted and your again wheel a lot much less.”
Keep balanced by means of the nook, pushing weight by means of your outdoors leg
(Picture credit score: Future)
Three of one of the best UK descents
A trio of routes to practise and refine your downhill driving method.
Lengthy Hill, Peak District
Lengthy Hill has a mean gradient of round 3% and stretches for round 4.4km. It’s a fairly vast highway so you possibly can clearly see the place you’re going, plus lengthy sweeping bends which are far simpler to practise on than sharp hairpins.
Pen-y-Go, Snowdonia
Should you take within the 11-mile stretch from Capel Curig to Llanberis, you’ll encounter Pen-y-Go. As soon as crested, the valley opens up in all its spectacular glory. You’ll be able to see for an enormous distance forward and the Welsh panorama is breathtaking.
Rutland Ripple, Rutland
The Rutland Ripple is a sequence of three hills in succession that’s akin to driving a rollercoaster. Every ascent is a superb, pure solution to scrub velocity out of your downhill exploits.
Counter-steer easily
Leaning the bike into the nook is initiated by subtly turning the bars in the wrong way to that of the bend. This will appear counterintuitive, and chances are you’ll not even realise you do it. “There’s an virtually unconscious counter-steer,” says Faure. “Flip the bars to the left and centrifugal power makes you lean to the best.” Lean is maintained by pushing down on the within arm and out of doors leg.
Saiz refers me to a video the place the previous professional and now DS at Israel-Premier Tech Daryl Impey says: “One of many key issues I’ve learnt is if you press your foot down on the surface pedal, don’t drop the heel; actually, put stress by means of the toes. It provides stability.”
Choose your line
(Picture credit score: Alamy)
decide the quickest line? “Should you’re in a closed-road occasion, you possibly can minimize throughout each lanes,” says Faure. “Meaning getting into a nook vast, darting in sharply to the apex after which exiting vast, utilizing the entire width of the highway.
“On open roads, look over your shoulder earlier than the bend to make sure no- one is about to overhaul you. Supplied it’s secure, enter vast however stay in your aspect of the highway. Begin braking as you start to maneuver into the center of the lane, and raise the foot that will probably be on the within of the bend – this provides you extra floor clearance and higher weight distribution. Choose the entry line that greatest extends your line of sight by means of the bend.”
“Hold trying forward after which push down on the surface leg, whereas preserving some stress on the within arm and on the saddle,” provides Faure. “You then enhance the push down on the within arm to keep up the lean. If you’re by means of the apex, maintain trying ahead, cut back the lean angle and, offered it’s secure, drift in direction of the sting of the lane as you exit the bend and resume pedalling.”
It’s essential to resist the temptation to take the closed-road racing line by carving throughout each lanes – it’s just too harmful on the open highway.
Let sightline information velocity
One of the best descenders nook at as much as 55kph (34mph). On open roads, it’s good to be real looking about with the ability to cease inside your line of sight – if it’s a blind bend, take it cautiously.
“If the velocity you’re descending at makes you apprehensive, you’re definitely going too quick in your present stage of ability,” says Faure. “Higher to again off and construct your expertise and confidence, and solely then velocity up. Somebody who’s descending too quick for his or her capacity is liable to react badly when confronted with an surprising state of affairs corresponding to a nook that tightens unexpectedly, or a automobile in the course of the highway. The doubtless result’s to grab on the brakes, leading to a crash.”
Enable for floor adjustments
There are two key contributors to tweaking your descending method additional: rain and tough surfaces. “If it’s raining, make sure you’re actually effi cient along with your braking,” says Saiz. “Place adjustments barely, too. Within the dry, you possibly can go deeper and lean the bike extra. There’s no scientific solution to know the bounds of grip. It’s an artwork you’re employed on.”
What about bumpy roads?
“If the tough floor makes you apprehensive, decelerate,” says Faure. “Tyre grip will probably be decreased and braking distances longer. Essentially the most harmful is a unfastened floor, corresponding to gravel. On a straight, often you possibly can trip by means of it with out issues. Gravel or sand in a nook needs to be averted just like the plague, adjusting your line and your velocity as quickly as you detect it, both to keep away from it fully or to undergo it as upright and straight as doable.”
