Brian Engelen
Dan, is this you? Maybe we have met somewhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw
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From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of Dan H
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 10:05 PM
To: Bradley Heintz; obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Tips for Cornering on a Road Bike
Bradley,
I'm not a coach and I'm sure many knowledgeable cyclists will disagree with
what I'm going to tell you. I'm confident enough I'm going to put it to the
list so less experienced riders can benefit.
Back in the mid to late '80's I read an article by Davis Phinney in (I
think) Bicycling Magazine about how he learned to corner with the pros.
After practicing his advise, I have learned to corner faster than most
people so that I have to have room in front of me coming into a corner or I
will run up on whoever is in front of me. It's completely the opposite of
most people teach, of what most pros do and until you practice, it seems
counter intuitive. I see almost nobody doing this. I will try my best to
describe it to you but first, I will brag a little bit so you know I'm not
just some guy that read an article.
I raced for 30 years from 1974 to 2004. I've done mountainous stage races
such as Tour of Ashland, a bunch of cyclocross nationals, won some state
medals on the track and did two mountain bike worlds (where I raced with
Davis Phinney) including Mammoth Mt. Kamikaze downhills where my best speed
was 55 mph.
Here is the technique:
Weight the outside pedal but not totally. How much will come with practice.
The saddle should press against the inside of your outside leg.
Do NOT hang your inside knee out like the motorcycle road racers do!
Instead, press it into the top tube to stabilize yourself against the bike.
Don't lean the bike into the turn. Hold it out away from the turn as upright
as you can, steering instead of leaning. This is accomplished by getting
real low over the bars and leaning your upper body into the turn. Point your
nose into the turn and almost stiff arm the outside handlebar. In other
words, push the bar away from your upper body.
If you start to slide, you can turn into the slide to correct it.
About that Tour of Ashland, it was before I learned to corner and I was
somewhere behind the main field going down Dead Indian Road as fast as I
dared. On the right was big rocks and the left was sky. No guard rail. If I
touched the gravel shoulder, death was a real possibility. Suddenly, Robert
Burney and 2 or 3 other guys passed me going way faster. (no speedo in those
days) I accelerated to join the groupetto figuring if they could do it, I
could do it. I followed them through one corner and got so scared I would go
into the cliff, I had to let them go. Now that Davis has showed me how to
corner, I feel I could descend with anybody.
One more thing: I work on a lot of bikes and 99% of the time I see rear
brakes wearing out 3 times faster than front brakes. This indicates flawed
braking technique. I suggest if you are right handed, you may want your
front brake hooked up to the right lever. That's another story.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bradley Heintz
To: obra@list.obra.org
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 8:26 PM
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Tips for Cornering on a Road Bike
Looking for tips on how to best distribute weight to corner on a road bike.
Any good articles out there? Coming from a mountain bike background and
always considered myself a pretty good descenter until I road my new road
bike with a group of racers. They (we) descended as a group - meaning there
was someone right next to me as I negotiated a tight turn at high speed . I
found having my line dictated by the group unnerving. I slipped to the back
of the group then spent the next 5 miles tying to catch up!
The problem was that I kept finding myself halfway through the corner
leaning with a certain turn radius only to find the corner got sharper. I
found myself unable to get my body weight to lean harder to make the turn
gracefully. Not to mention I found myslef unwilling to lean my body any
further into the corner for fear of sliding out my wheels if I encountered
gravel.
I read that an effective method for sharp cornering at speed is to put the
weight on the outside foot and lean the bike underneath the rider. The rider
remains upright while the bike is leaned over. I tried it and found it very
effective for transitioning body weight into the corners. Even when the
corner got progressively tighter I could lean the bike as much as needed.
Plus my weight remained more upright allowing me to recover in the event of
an emergency. (Like when rounding a blind corner to find a car partially in
my lane.) Before I celebrate, thought I'd run this by experienced
descenters to make sure I'm not setting myself up for a nasty fall.
Cheers,
Bradley
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