Descending breaking the fear

I'm a cyclist and a motorcyclist, and the latter has really educated me in terms of understanding how much of an effect your body has. If you can relax your grip and your body it will really help with cornering.

Try youtube videos of motorcycle cornering techniques - a bit anorak-y but really very useful technques for safely evaluating corners and risks. Try roadcraft nottingham: http://youtu.be/WkAtWiRq8Q0

Other techniques I use:
- Brake as much as you need before the corner and flow through.
- Don't target fixate (i.e. if you stare at a tree in the road ahead you will drift towards it)
- Look where you want to go
- Low centre of gravity - try holding the drops
- Holding the drops gives greater control (subtlety of grip) on the brake levers
- Outside foot down when cornering

If you're worried about your speed in a straight line then you're probably going plenty fast enough! Don't bother taking risks. Try adjusting your style, but don't over extend yourself when you can't see or evaluate risks ahead. As someone above me said, who cares about a couple of minutes compared to what would happen if you came off?

Some of the best TdF riders will hit up to 120km/h on a descent. That is hard to comprehend. Enjoy the ride rather than pushing yourself too far.

descending is something only practice can sort, i think my fear comes down to clipping a kerb at speed when i was younger. Knowing the damage it can do doesn't help. Over time you do get better, i would also say you need to believe your not going to crash, that you can go round a corner. I would suggest not skimping on tyres, in the winter i have a tendency to go cheap and heavy because they don't puncture, but they don't grip either!

Also with the state of some roads, hitting a pot hole at speed is not going to end well.

Something else to consider, for most riding a bike doesn't pay the bills, so don't be too concerned by being the fastest.

Sounds to me like you have the wrong bike. Your bike sounds twitchy. Try the same descent on different bikes and see whether it's you are the bike. Almost certainly the bike.

Practice, practice, practice, practice.

Descending is a skill just like clipping in to your pedals, and if you don't do it with an eye on getting good at it, you won't. Youth helps because the young are unaware of the potential consequences, but it's all about doing it a lot. Following people who can do it is the best way to practice; watch the line they take, match their speed, soak up some of their 'can do'.

Best to find a bit of road that you can 'session' to borrow a mountain bike term, and ride it a few times.

Having said all that, it's not something you want to get wrong.... at all.... but if you do, always best to lean more; a slip onto your side will lose you some skin, but standing the bike up tends to mean you run into things.

I bought a bike renowned for stable handling, told myself to trust it and to relax, relax, relax. The muscular tension is the biggest factor, and the more anxious you are, the more tense you get, the less stable the handling, so you get more anxious etc etc ad infinitum.

Also, do core stability exercises, you'll be surprised how much more stable you feel with a strong core.

For sure, it's still a work in progress.

Hope this helps:
http://www.vulpine.cc/Blog/road/how-to-descend-fast-safe-on-a-road-bike

Sometimes the biggest help is just having equipment you feel confident riding, and position. Time and practice after that.

I take the view that I'm not a paid-up professional and cycling is fun. If the conditions are ropey (wet) or I don't know a hill well, then what's the point in getting all gung-ho about descending?

I've seen so many riders nursing bumps and bruises (or worse) on various hills round my way, almost always on a steep descent before a sharp corner.

If you can't see far enough ahead to be sure enough that you could stop before any obstacle, slow down.

If the conditions are bad (or have been recently) and your rims are likely to be wet/muddy, don't let yourself build up too much speed. If you know the road, great, if not be extra careful.

I'm the first person to treat Sportives as a race and try to beat the clock, but descending at 35-40mph on a road I don't know (or can't see far enough ahead on) is just not worth the risk.

The last thing I want to do is have a nasty accident while undertaking my hobby, is the 1-2 minutes over 4 hours that you might gain really worth the extra risk? Just do some training and make it up on the flat.

(To answer your question though, I did a fair bit of down-hilling when I was younger so I'm fairly comfortable controlling a bike. I tend to descend stood up of the saddle, but with my knees bent (1-2 inches clearance between the saddle and myself - fairly aero still while insulating you from poor road surfaces) and often gripping the saddle with my inner thighs. This gives you some suspension (you legs) and a good deal of control of the bike, hell you can even bunny hop if you really felt like it from this position. I tend to descend on the hoods while free-wheeling or the drops if I have to peddle.)