livedarklions

There's a lot of routes around me with exactly that pattern of rolling hills. For me, there's really no general answer to how I handle descents, it's too specific to the characteristics of the route, the steepness, the quality of the road, and maybe even how hot I got doing the climbing part.

There's a fair number of roads around where the pavement on the hills is so bad that braking on the descents is my primary concern because complete pothole avoidance is an impossibility at high speeds.

Reflector Guy

You're all doing it wrong. The hill is only 0.2 miles...... Get going fast enough before the hill so you can coast UP the hill AND back down the other side.

Milton Keynes

I know of a few places like that, and I put a little work into building up speed on the descent just to keep that little bit of momentum going up the next hill.

GhostRider62

The proper form is to power over the top, put it into the big ring and get to speed. Then, you can tuck and rest. Just saying because you seemed to be into form with pushups and squats. Dying too early is bad form. Bad pacing on the climb

subgrade

What is this "coasting down after climbing the hill" you all are talking about? Where I live, most of the hills are actually river valleys, thus all the climbs come after the descents.

phughes

Awesome! Keep it up and soon you will be able to tackle a real hill, and increase your ride to 5 1/2 minutes!

livedarklions

I know a couple places near me where there's a hill like this with a traffic light that's usually red at the base. PITA both directions, but I think I prefer the accelerating uphill to braking on the downhill. A climb this short isn't really enough to cause more than just a couple minute's annoyance but going the other way would be a lot more fun if I could take the speed boost into the long flat that follows.

devianb

Pedaling down hill is wasting energy that I could use later, especially on those longer rides.

OldTryGuy

Kind of just go with my body's flow with "SOFT PEDALING" = rotate cranks with no pressure application just to keep muscles from cramping OR power into the cranks for additional speed and to work the muscles OR coast OR a combination of the previous actions.

Six Gap Century provides an opportunity for plenty of experimentation with one's technique.

https://www.granfondoguide.com/Event...hree-gap-fifty

livedarklions

I don't care if someone comes up with "math" that supposedly proves this wrong, but I'm quite sure it's more efficient for me to keep the pedals turning on rolling hills. Also, if it's a long downgrade of less than something like 6%, I'm going a lot faster pedaling than not, and I'm going to carry over some added momentum into the subsequent flat or uphill. I know someone's going to claim that I have to expend a great amount of energy to take the bike from 25 mph to 30 in that situation because of wind resistance, but it sure feels like the gravity boost makes pedaling fast in a high gear close to effortless.I

I have a route I ride that has about a mile of 9% uphill grade followed by several miles of about 3-4% downhill grade on a state road without intersections. If you pedal that downgrade in a good tuck, you can go ridiculously fast. I find it absurd to say that maximizing that speed boost is somehow wasting energy. At that point what are you saving it for?

Litespud

depends - if I’m in a group, I’m likely to get yelled at for not pedaling down the descent. If I’m solo, could go either way - I’ll pedal if I’m feeling it, otherwise I’ll take the view that I’ve paid for that coast, so I’ll take the break

CheGiantForLife

Yes, this is exactly what I was seeking.
Soft pedaling
I knew there would be a thing.

It is so tempting to coast, but my instinct told me to at least soft pedal

jleeg

Is there cyclist coming the opposite direction?

diphthong

tuff to locate a solid descent after a decent climb that doesn't involve a four-way stop in suburbia around here.

coasting is sweat equity. we may not always cash it in but it is deserved at some point, whether immediately or eventually.

aclinjury

this question could have been a good one relating to interval training.
Too bad thread took a dump

unterhausen

Pedal over the top until you get back up to speed. What you do after that isn't super important. I shift up at that point so I can pedal if I want to, but usually coast.

Iride01 

Depends more on what the goal is for the ride or the exact circumstances of the moment.

Not so much on how hard the hill was to climb. Lack of energy from climbing one side will only impact the ability and how well one can do what is desired on the down hill portion.

rsbob 

If you take the OP’s question and apply it to a hill I did two days ago, climbed 1/2 mile, the grade started at 10% and immediately jumped up to 14 then 16. Hung at 16 for the longest quarter mile of my life, then backed down to a relatively easy 10% to the crest. When I got to the top, I definitely coasted because I gave it 100% and my HRM was pegged. Had more hills to climb after that but nothing as extreme and would get back up to speed when crested. When I got home (after 52 miles and 3400’) I laid down on the cool garage floor and was utterly whipped. Come to find out I had the beginning of a virus then and now have a full blown head cold. No wonder I didn’t feel really strong on the ride. So if you apply the OP’s fitness and cycling acumen, it matters on the steepness, length and his fitness whether he soft pedals or coasts.

So the definitive answer is….it depends (not the underwear). Haven’t gotten to that stage of life yet.

frogman

Hope you are getting better. Hope it isn't the corona virus !

wolfchild

It depends which bike I am riding. If I riding my fixed gear I pedal downhill, if I am riding my singlespeed I coast.

rsbob 

Thank you. Me too!

rydabent

Logical cyclist pedal up hills, and coast down them!!!!!

livedarklions

So, what I take from that is coasting gives you a head cold.

Seriously, feel better!

skidder

What's on the other side of the hill? Another hill? A downhill? a stretch of flat road?

If I had a hill near me that was a 10% grade and 0.2 miles long, I'd go back down it and up again . . . and again . . . and again . . . and repeat as long as possible. Great HIIT workout! And after the HIIT workout you can skip the soccer field lunges and wind sprints.

Ghazmh

Pedal like your worst enemy is about to pass you at every given moment. Especially when going downhill unless your going so fast an aero tuck will be faster.