You can get a tuck on this descent, never touch your brakes, and bomb 50+ mph the entire way down. But you won't do that because you don't have a death wish right? What if you hit something on the road and blow a tire at that speed? You're dead.
very telling sentence here.
I get it Yan, you've toured in mountains and have gone down big descents successfully a lot, but this comment shows that you are not really comfortable with speed and your assessment of danger is different than mine.
Internet discussions are great, but every descent is different and how fast one can go down a descent and how much one needs to control speed will depend on lots and lots of factors, and one factor is the individuals riding skill and competence at speed, not to mention judgement.
of course, all the real world factors prevail--
-line of sight
-your eyesight and reaction time
-your experience going fast and competency with high speed bike handling
-how you brake, ie using front brake HARD for effective bleeding off speed, (back brake too) and letting off fully to let heat dissapate.
-road surface
-grade
-upcoming turn radius
-possibility of side arriving traffic
-potholes, no potholes
-wind, especially side gusts
-any and all traffic
-intimately knowing the condition of your tires and bike in general
-knowing how to manage your braking system ie proper braking, and constantly assessing the possible changing effectiveness of your braking system and adjusting for that
so one riders "completely comfortable" can easily be another riders "terror filled descent", with death looming, as your blanket comment does seem strongly to suggest your view.
BUT, this aint a pissing contest or who has bigger balls, descend as you are comfortable and competent at, who cares? As long as one is safe and is able to assess from experience what is safe, then its all good.
Improper use of braking though can have serious implications, and that's what this usual discussion always leads back to.....but interblabs writing will never really know how one person brakes.......