Moser: All legs, no body. Photo by Photosport Int
“It’s Francesco Moser, with his distinctive style, his still, aerodynamic position on the bicycle is an imposing sight of almost effortless rotary action.”
Whoever the narrator in A Sunday In Hell is*, he got that little nugget spot on. If you want to know how to pedal a bicycle, you can do no better than to study Lo Sceriffo. All legs, no body.
Movement, that is. Cycling is a leg sport, which is why most proper Cyclists (i.e not us) possess upper bodies that are required to serve little more purpose than to lift a fork with a couple of strands of spaghetti on for a few dozen reps, a couple sets a day. Not that they are weak, (and guys like Moser certainly couldn’t be described as weedy) but any unwanted motion is considered wasted energy that could be channeled straight to the pistons rather than used for waving one’s head around outside the sunroof.
There’s no need to break down this most obvious of techniques into bullet points, it’s elementary: just move the legs, keep everything else still**. Class begins at 1:12:30.
*Turns out he’s David Saunders, and you can find out about him here…
**Don’t even try to emulate that back flatness. We take no responsibility nor compensate for damages.
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Stud.
@frank
A short time after that picture was taken the young ladies in the background found out they were pregnant.
Even at 42 he could still ride pretty well.
Gianni Bugno is the other guy who was always super still.
Still looked pretty sharp when he jumped in a local NYC race at 61...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gallery-francesco-moser-jumps-in-new-york-race
Not only is Lo Sceriffo looking badass ,as to is that Steel Moser in all its glory flying over the tarmac. Walk into your LBS see something like that and suddenly there,s not another bike in the shop worth looking at .
@frank
Here's Wiggo giving a free lesson up Diablo last year.
https://youtu.be/rOkUgA4v2Vs?t=1h17m24s
Another example of Magnificent Stroke was Stephen Roche....super...super smooth style....
@Haldy
And I note he is one of the riders to resist clipless pedals. Maybe there is a relationship there?
@frank
Having switched from clips and straps to Speedplay pedals on my track bike just two years ago, I'd love to claim to have the smoothness that both Roche and Moser have. Sadly this is probably not the case. I think the fact that Roche is still in clips in this pic is the fact that in '87 clipless pedals were still just starting to get a foothold in the peloton. If you look at photos/video from that Tour the peloton is split as far as pedal usage goes. It looks like Carrera, Kas, Fagor, and BH are all still rocking clips and straps. And that's just what I see from browsing a few pics.
@The Grande Fondue
Rudy Dhaenens. Couldn't find the video to prove it but the memory is indelible.