For me it really depends on the road I’m descending. I’m more cautious on the descents in our NC mountains, but I always have been. Most of those descents are fairly steep with tighter turning radiuses. It’s very easy to enter a curve with too much speed. Add to that wet conditions and it can be pretty dicey. I leaned my lesson years ago taking a curve to aggressively.....lucky to not have gone off the road down a ravine but crashly badly with fractured ribs and separated shoulder.
However I’ve found that I can just let it roll on the majority of the descents in Colorado and Wyoming for example. The slopes are typically only 6% and the curves are more generous. I’ve hit speeds of 50-55 mph a number of times out there.
I have recently added a road bike with disc brakes and just love the enhanced braking ability in our mountains on the east coast. Plus I’m not as worried about descending during wet conditions either with the disc brakes. I still descend with caution but it’s definitely more controllable with the disc brakes.
But after crashing on a flat road and breaking my hip I think I’m probably more cautious overall.
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Ride your Ride!!