Today, I put the new brake pads I installed to good use going down the Butte Downhill in the beautiful, Fall weather. Sure, the trail was dry, but for the most part, it is clear and it’s mostly a straight line trail anyway, except for the switchbacks near the lower half. This trail is worth the climb if you haven’t been out here yet. It sure is amazing how hot those discs get! I should have taken a disc picture immediately before the traverse when the colors on the steel were blazing. :-) The Trailforks ride log is here.

For the Physics or STEM nerds....

It is amazing how hot brakes get after 3000' of vertical! Imagine what car brakes  or semi trucks must endure!

mgh =  (The Potential Energy Released in my Butte descent, Mass, Gravity, Height)
9.81x 95kg x 900m
=839 kJ

Then divide by two because there's two brake discs however, the front wheel probably takes 80%.

839kJ / 840 seconds for the run
= 1000 Watts. Or an average of 1.34 horsepower of braking energy being absorbed during the descent!!!!!

An average human can only output .25-.4 HP (best case)!

It is truly Unreal! No wonder having good brakes is so important. We are inadequate!

If there weren't disc brakes, imagine how much rubber would be ablated or lost with old caliper brakes we used to have!!!!!   lol