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Greg Henderson contested wins on flat finishes, rather than the mountains, but needed to be highly skilled on descents. Getty Images<\/p>\nGreg Henderson knows a thing or two about going downhill fast. A professional cyclist of 16 years until 2017 \u2013 10 of those spent at WorldTour level \u2013 this Kiwi rode 10 Grand Tours as a sprinter and lead-out man.<\/p>\n
Standing 6ft tall and weighing 71 kilos, on the days in between leading out the likes of Andr\u00e9 Greipel for sprint victories, he was a paid-up member of the grupetto \u2013 the group of riders that forms at the rear end of Grand Tour stages such as the Tour de France, particularly during the mountain stages.<\/p>\n
Its composition is a mixture of riders who\u2019ve done their work and dropped back, stage hunters taking a break for the day, general classification riders who\u2019ve blown up catastrophically and those who\u2019ve been dropped early in the stage.<\/p>\n
As a lead-out man working for his team\u2019s main sprinter, Henderson would often be in that final category, finding himself at the back of the race and often chasing time cuts, which if missed would see him eliminated from the race, so an ability to go downhill quickly was a prerequisite for the job.<\/p>\n
Now a cycling coach, Henderson believes it\u2019s a misconception that the guys at the front of the race are the best descenders.<\/p>\n
Greg Henderson contested wins on flat finishes, rather than the mountains, but needed to be highly skilled on descents. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cOn TV, you only see the leaders in the mountains. If you put a camera on the sprinters you\u2019d be impressed to see how fast we go downhill,” he says.<\/p>\n
“We can take three or four minutes out of the leaders on a descent, so if we\u2019re six minutes off them at the top, we know we can halve that by the bottom. <\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve got the power to sprint out of corners, we\u2019ve got gravity on our side and the bike handling skills of a sprinter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even at the WorldTour level, the range of descending skills is vast.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the guys who go uphill fast are the slowest downhill. Euskadi [Euskaltel\u2013Euskadi, the Basque team that disbanded in 2013], they were a team full of climbers. <\/p>\n
“We used to call them mobile road cones, because you had to go round them on the descent. For some reason they could just not go downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n
This imbalance between climbing<\/a> and descending skills is something I\u2019ve always been fascinated by.<\/p>\n It\u2019s strange it even exists at the pinnacle of the sport. You\u2019d think the disparity, once there, wouldn\u2019t be so big. <\/p>\n But as club riders, the gap is a yawning chasm. We\u2019ve heard anecdotal tales of Sunday club riders being faster descenders than paid up WorldTour professionals, and at the other end of the spectrum there are riders \u2013 and I\u2019d put myself in this category \u2013 who are tentative to the extent that simply getting down safely to the start of the next climb is the only goal.<\/p>\n The Furka Pass challenge It was with this in mind that this feature came about. It would pitch me, a 75kg climb lover with an allergy to descents, against my colleague Steve Fearn, who doesn\u2019t much care for going upwards but combines his skill, confidence and 110kg heft to dizzying effect on the downhills.<\/p>\n We\u2019d head to the Swiss Alps, and the Furka Pass (2,431m), a 12.3km climb that gains 893m (7.3 per cent) for a one-on-one challenge, up and over it.<\/p>\n The choice of the Furka was no accident, given that the car chase in the James Bond classic Goldfinger was filmed here. <\/p>\n We\u2019d record the ride with GPS, cadence<\/a> and heart rate <\/a>and examine the data to find out how far good descending can take you and how we could improve our all-round mountain game.<\/p>\n From Andermatt, the ski resort where we were staying, Steve and I rode over to the \u2018start line\u2019 in the town of Realp, several kilometres up the valley where, at the Furka Pass sign in the town, and with a harmonious beep of our computers, the ride proper began. Immediately, I began to gap Steve.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess I\u2019ll see you over the top,\u201d he said. I would indeed, but precisely where, time would tell.<\/p>\n Steve is a Land\u2019s End to John o\u2019Groats veteran, but riding in the high mountains was breaking new ground. <\/p>\n With a test of fitness, a Strava segment analysis, Google and a Furka profile study, he reckoned upon a target average heart rate of 160 beats per minute \u2013 the top end of his zone 4 heart rate \u2013 for the climb, just below his lactate threshold; a sensible idea, which means his body can get rid of lactate faster than it accumulates.<\/p>\n \u201cI found in training for this that my endurance in zone 5 is non-existent and I needed a long recovery after being in it for a minute or two,\u201d says Steve. \u201cBut my body was happy with zone 4.\u201d <\/p>\n I did no such calculations, but know that I can sustain zone 5 heart rate for a good chunk of time \u2013 and have ridden enough mountain passes to understand their rhythms.<\/p>\n Come the summit, Steve had, commendably, not wavered from his target \u2013 right on 160bpm, in fact, and never breaking into the 170s during 1hr 20 minutes of climbing. <\/p>\n Mine was a ventricle-busting 180bpm, 90 per cent of my maximum heart rate and right at the top end of zone 4, over a neat and tidy one hour of climbing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt depends on how many passes you\u2019ve got to ride,\u201d says Henderson, of the intensity you should tackle a high mountain pass at.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve only got one, like you two, sure, head out at threshold [FTP, or functional threshold power \u2013 the power\/heart rate you can sustain for an hour], but if you have two, three or four, stay within your realms: 85 per cent of your max heart rate is a good target, and don\u2019t go above 90 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n Seat of power <\/p>\n One thing that wasn\u2019t measured but something we can mention anecdotally is position on the bike when climbing. <\/p>\n Neither me or Steve are the sort of riders who get out of the saddle very often. When we do, it\u2019s only to mix our position up and give our backsides a rest. That’s a wise move, says Henderson.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go above 80kg, there\u2019s an energy cost to getting out of the saddle. That\u2019s why the bigger riders stay seated the whole time. <\/p>\n “If they\u2019re 60, 65kg, it costs them no extra energy in their hands and arms. That\u2019s the advantage: that they\u2019re able to change their muscle firing patterns. <\/p>\n “[By standing], you\u2019re using the same muscles, of course, but the firing patterns are different. You can go dull after 45 minutes in the same position.\u201d<\/p>\n What about cadence? \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be doing 60rpm, then no one is comfortable at 100,\u201d says Henderson. <\/p>\n \u201cThe sweetspot is between 80 to 90rpm. If you have a gear ratio that can land you at that cadence you\u2019ll be fine for most climbs.\u201d<\/p>\n I averaged 83rpm for the climb, whereas Steve\u2019s was much lower, at 64. That led Henderson to suggest Steve was \u201cslogging a big one\u201d. <\/p>\n High gears and low rpm mean an increase in torque, \u201cone of the hidden factors that cause a lot of muscle fatigue,\u201d says Henderson.<\/p>\n This probably wasn\u2019t the case with Steve. With a low gear of 34\/32, which he was in the whole way up, his low cadence was likely the result of disciplined pacing, although he might want to try my Giant Defy, with its 34\/34 to put even less stress on his body.<\/p>\n Pacing was key to Steve\u2019s climbing success, which isn\u2019t always the done thing for riders new to high mountains, who can get both over-awed and carried away if they\u2019re used to the kilometre climbs of home. <\/p>\n There\u2019s common ground in breaking a long climb down into sections from pro riders through to us.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d do exactly that,\u201d says Henderson. \u201cGet to that tree, the next corner, the next bunch of riders. If you break it down into achievable goals it\u2019s less overwhelming. <\/p>\n “If it\u2019s your first Alp, you\u2019re going to be a little intimidated, a little pensive. To do 160bpm I\u2019m sure he\u2019s held back in the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n Time in hand I reached the summit on my absolute limit after an hour\u2019s climbing and, although I wouldn\u2019t know this until the end, Steve would arrive 20 minutes later, meaning I had that amount of time in hand to play with for the remaining 10km of descent. If you think that\u2019s more than enough, you\u2019ve never seen me descend.<\/p>\n I make a habit of wasting time on mountain summits, even when I\u2019m notionally racing colleagues. <\/p>\n In gran fondos, it\u2019s always where feed stations are situated and I like to refuel off the bike because I\u2019m so incapable of doing it on the downhill.<\/p>\n Here, I lost over a minute putting my arm warmers on for the descent. Did I need to? No, it was a very pleasant day. It was merely habit born out of an abundance of caution.<\/p>\n Still, it appears I\u2019m in good company. \u201cWe were doing the Mortirolo, in the 2010 Giro d\u2019Italia,\u201d says Henderson. <\/p>\n \u201cI was out the back, I\u2019d stopped for a nature break but it was okay, I was in the grupetto, so there was no problems catching back on.<\/p>\n “Then Froomey [his Sky teammate that year] comes past. We went across the summit together and we\u2019re still off the back, and I said, \u2018Come on, we can catch them on the descent\u2019.<\/p>\n “And he\u2019s fluffing around for his bloody rain jacket and I\u2019m like, \u2018F**k your rain jacket, let\u2019s go!\u2019 I waited and waited for two or three minutes until I said, \u2018Mate, I\u2019ve gotta go\u2019.<\/p>\n “So I descended really hard, chased like mad in the valley and caught [the grupetto] before the final climb.<\/p>\n “And [Froome] is five minutes behind and gets caught holding onto a car [he was disqualified for holding onto a motorbike \u2013 Ed]. He got DQ\u2019d because he didn\u2019t follow.\u201d<\/p>\n Pedal to the metal Stopping unnecessarily to slip on arm warmers was just the start of my descending woes. A paltry top speed of 49.5km\/h, a max cadence of 58, zone 2 average heart rate, a few bursts of pedalling and long spells of freewheeling is, in short, the story of my (21-minute long) descent.<\/p>\n Steve\u2019s was a different story: a 71km\/h top speed, a heart rate that went over 150bpm at times (close to his climbing average) and regular bursts of cadence, where he\u2019d sprint out of corners. <\/p>\n With a time of 13 minutes, he\u2019d claw back eight minutes of time on me in only 10km of descent \u2013 equal to around 300ft of elevation from the opening section of the climb<\/p>\n \u201cYou want power spikes out of the corners,\u201d says Henderson, \u201cbursts of cadence, where you get straight back onto the speed. It\u2019s only 10 pedal strokes but if you do them hard you\u2019re back onto 70km\/h. <\/p>\n “Someone who cruises out of the corner will take 20 seconds to get back to that speed. For someone who\u2019s accelerated, it might be half that. Across 10 corners you\u2019ve already taken 100 seconds and you can see how it adds up.\u201d<\/p>\n Given that we were stopping at the bottom of the descent, we could concentrate simply on getting down, but if this were a longer ride or event, with two of three more mountain passes to come, the descents (should you not have stopped at the summit) are a time to recover and refuel, because it\u2019s hard to do so during the climb.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re at altitude, where your body asks for carbohydrate but you\u2019re under the pressure of the effort so it\u2019s hard to reach for your bottle all the time,\u201d says Henderson. <\/p>\n \u201cTake time on the descent to regain your hydration status. This can increase gastric emptying [processing the food you eat] and ensure you\u2019re loaded with fuel for the next climb. You\u2019ll be better on the fourth climb because you\u2019ve taken the time early on.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from losing speed by coasting down the descent, if I’d had another climb to do straight after, I\u2019d have been in trouble \u2013 and possibly spent time removing my arm warmers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take you several minutes to get going again, with all the metabolites that have built up from the climb,\u201d says Henderson. <\/p>\n \u201cI have this trick that I learned during my Sky days. You\u2019d be riding around 70km\/h and we\u2019d pull on our brakes and do 10 pedal strokes hard with them still on, to make sure the legs were still firing for when we got back onto the climb.\u201d<\/p>\n Skills for the win Over the whole Furka Pass, I put 12 minutes into Steve. But eight of those 20 hard-earned minutes on the climb were squandered by a lack of skill, know-how and focus on the way back down. <\/p>\n Of course, it pays to hone your fitness for the mountains \u2013 it\u2019ll save you time, you\u2019ll lose less strength as a longer day goes on and you\u2019ll recover better for the following day. <\/p>\n But there\u2019s an argument to say that gains over mountain rides are easier to find by improving descending skills, particularly as fitness gains get harder to eke out. <\/p>\n
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Right away, a gap opened up on the climb. Joseph Branston<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-09-29-at-13.56.26-1024x677-1.png\")
The Furka Pass is one of the most atmospheric mountain roads anywhere in the Alps. Joseph Branston<\/p>\n
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Steve’s confidence and heft combined to great effect on the Furka’s descent. Joseph Branston<\/p>\n
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Effective descending isn’t just about speed, but keeping your climbing physiology switched on before the next climb. Joseph Branston<\/p>\n
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The side of the Furka Pass that we descended, which leads to both Grimsel and Nufenen. Getty Images<\/p>\n