I'll vote for wisdom. If you don't feel comfortable with the speed on a particular section of road then take it slow there. Discretion, valor and all of that. A rough road will have me taking it easy every time even though I'm running medium pressure 26x1.5s. I surely love flying down a decent road, though :)
-Ken On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 9:53 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/iToeUC0XbYUJ. > 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. -- 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.
