Memo to self: learn these skills
Training for Gran Fondos Part 4, Descending
Velonews, June 21, 2010
Rule 1: Look ahead. The key is to look where you want to go.
Rule 2: Hand Positioning. In this way your steering will be more controlled. Probably the safest, most reliable position is in the drops.
Rule 3: Braking
--You should be able to “cover the brakes” keeping them partially engaged but with little or no pad/rim contact until your fingers are partially bent, thereby allowing greater use of hand strength.
--Control your speed.
--to avoid skidding and losing control, feather the front brake and don’t over brake on the rear wheel.
Rule 4: Cornering
--Look ahead
--Outside pedal down
--Look to the inside apex
--Enter the turn wide
--Practice letting off the brakes after entering the turn. The rear brake can lock up and skid with too much brake applied.
--When in doubt, lean it more.
--“Bailing” (refusing/failing to commit 100 percent) in a turn does a number of bad things. Most importantly, it can send you into oncoming traffic (!), and/or cause you to straighten up suddenly, thereby throwing your weight forward and off-center. To commit 100 percent to your turn you may have to employ “counter-steering” technique, which is accomplished by pushing on the inside of the handlebar as you simultaneously weight the outside pedal, keeping the knees braced inward. This takes practice, and should be tried incrementally, not all at once at high speeds. Once this technique is mastered, however, it is very, very difficult to crash, because you’re using the laws of physics in your interests, not simply charging downhill and hoping for the best.
Okay, well, this article was published on June 21, 2010. I was in Italy on June 21st. Riding my bike. Amongst Italians. I didn't see this series of articles until after we'd returned to the U.S. Too bad.
One great thing we did do after we'd descended from the highlands (which, in hindsight, we could have--should have--delayed for at least 2 more days) was to take a ride up Monte Grappa. We were staying in a little hamlet called Lauro, very near the town of Asolo (this region, notably, is not only home to Pinarello, but Sidi, Alipinestars, Selle Italia, Diadora, and several other famous Italian marques--we saw all of these companies while moving around the area).
Thursday was our travel day to Asolo, Friday was Venice (I'll write a three sentence entry about Venice later), and Saturday was our day to finally ride. When we first arrived in Treviso, and as we neared Asolo at the foot of Monte Grappa, we couldn't even SEE the mountain. The humidity was so heavy, the air so full of moisture, that the mountain was completely obscured.
We left the B&B where we were staying at around 7 a.m. It was already quite warm, though maybe a little cooler than it had been. The plan was to take Rd No. 248 out of Asolo to Bassano del Grappa, then make a right to Romano d'Ezzelino and the start of the 27 km climb to the summit. There are 9 different ways to get up Monte Grappa. We chose this route because the B&B owner suggested it might be safest given it was a weekend and might be likely to see a lot of cars--wider road, better visibility. Sounded good to us. Stats: about 16.75 miles, 5.9% avg, 10.5% max, 5141 feet gained.
http://climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Monte-Grappa&qryMountainID=2573#profile
Monte Grappa, at 27 kms, was the longest climb we did on this trip. Next was Stelvio from Prato at about 25 km, or 15.5 miles (Stevlio was probably the toughest climb of the trip). About half way up Monte Grappa there's actually a section about a mile long that goes downhill. Nevertheless, 27 kms is intimidating when you see the first sign. The mental math I did constantly converting kms to miles and back again (and converting kph to mph and back) kept my mind occupied during some of those long hauls.
The kilometers clicked off quickly. I don't know if the signs were too close together, or if the climb just wasn't that demanding, but the signs came one right after the other. I didn't think there was any way they could be correct. A quick check of the computer, though, and they were right on.
The heat was on, but I was surprised at how little it bothered me, although I was sweating profusely. I removed my helmet and hung it from the handlebars hoping the exposure to the air would feel cooler. It didn't help much. I was sweating all over my top tube!! Yeah, I was soaked through. I had plenty of water and "sport" drink (my EFS) and managed to stay nicely hydrated the whole day.
Nearing the summit, the clouds and moisture we'd been seeing since our arrival really closed in. It looked like it should have been quite cold, but it was pretty comfortable. I liked the climb. It gave me delusions that I could climb quickly. The views were obscured. I couldn't see the valley floor below.
I guess it took about 90-105 minutes to reach the summit. I checked out the memorials at the top. There had been some heavy action in WWI on Monte Grappa between the Italians and Austrians. Check out some of the history here:
http://www.biciveneto.it/montegrappa.html
After a short while, I stopped by the restaurant at the summit, picked up a Coke for myself and one to take down to Linda, who was on her way up, had some strudel, and headed back down. This was to be an out-and-back to make sure that, if Linda had trouble, I'd find her on the road back to the start.
Linda and I met up at a restaurant just before the short downhill section and we headed back down together. At about that point, an Italian club rider sped downhill past us. I thought, "why, heck, I think I'll try to catch him."
So I did. This guy probably climbed and descended Monte Grappa three times a day, and double that on weekends. He knew his way down. But I caught him. It was a blast. It's amazing descending out of a turn and being in the drops, stomping on the pedals some, and closing a gap. I could see I was getting on his nerves because he kept looking back over his shoulder.
At one point, coming up the other direction was a pack of cars. In typical Italian fashion, one guy decided to pass another just as we were coming up on them. Now I mentioned that the roads on this approach were wider than some of the others, but they weren't THAT wide. It was a seriously close call. The guy was an idiot.
Anyway, crisis averted. A couple of switchbacks later, the Italian rider had opened a slight gap on me which I quickly closed half way to the next switchback.
Rule 1: look ahead. Okay, I could see that the turn was coming up quickly and that, coming the other direction up the hill, were three automobiles.
Rule 2: hand positioning. I was in the drops: good. Brake levers covered, good.
Rule 3: Braking.
1. Uh--yeah, I had the levers in hand.
2. Control your speed. Uh. . . well. . . not so much.
3. Use rear brake more than the front--check. "To avoid skidding and losing control, feather the front brake and don't over brake on the rear wheel." This is about where things turned south.
Rule 4: Cornering. Look ahead? Control speed? Feather brakes? Not too much rear or you'll skid (that's the truth).
"Bailing"--well, if you're out of control, and you haven't practiced the skills discussed in the Velonews article, and you don't know what else to do but to hang on. . . .
It could have been worse.
I had way too much speed approaching the next turn. If I'd known a few of the skills discussed (or if I'd just slowed down earlier) I could have made the corner.
Instead, I guess I grabbed too much rear. My rear wheel locked and the skid began. The first of the three cars coming up the hill had just reached the apex of the turn and was just starting to make the turn uphill. The driver must have seen that I was out of control and, bless her, she came to a complete stop in the middle of the turn (while simultaneously honking her horn). I slid for about 50 feet and inched past her front bumper just as she came to a stop (while honking and saying nice things to me in Italian like, "nice save" and "are you okay"?). If She hadn't stopped, we'd have met a little more intimately--either she into my side, or me into hers. If I'd gone to the right, I'd have hit the car behind her, or the car behind that guy.
The skid was audible, and I could see the Italian rider in front of me look back over his right shoulder as he made his way, successfully, around the corner. He knew I'd had trouble and was probably shaking his head thinking, "idiot".
The situation was completely salvageable, I just didn't know how to do it.
I don't know exactly where the word "sheepish" came from, but I was it. I tried to act cool, like I meant to do that. Like, "what were you guys doing there! If you hadn't been in the way I'd have caught that other guy for sure." The guy in the last car had a classic look on his face--if I hadn't been on the receiving end of it I'd have thought it was funny. He was not amused. He didn't say anything, though. I heard some more "encouragement" in Italian as the three cars continued on their way, most of it from the middle car. All I could hope for at this point was that the Italian guy I'd been shadowing was long gone.
I wonder if they knew I was American? Or a tourist? Anyway, it was a good excuse now to stop and wait for Linda (and allow more time for the Italian guy to ride off to wherever he was going). Linda caught up and we headed down the last few kms together at a leisurely speed.
As we arrived back in Romano d'Ezzelino who is at the side of the road?? I couldn't believe it! Had he waited to see who the idiot was? There were a few other members of his club with him by this time--he'd been waiting for them to come down. He was probably telling them all about this dolt that he was sure had been killed on the descent and/or that he'd out-skilled me on the switchbacks. He was probably asking them if they'd seen anyone lying in the road, dead.
But he saw me. He knew what had happened. I couldn't tell if he was concerned or amused. He said something to me, I acted like it was all under control. Fortunately, he and his club took the next right turn while Linda and I continued straight. Hoo-boy. I hope he couldn't tell I was American.
Lesson--ride within capabilities, careful with the ego (pride comes before the fall), and practice some skills. I wasn't going too fast for the turn, I just didn't know how to negotiate it.
Okay, Mom, you can start reading again.
No comments:
Post a Comment