Souplesse. Only the French would have such a word; one you can sink your teeth into, chew on. It begs to be spoken over a plate of assorted cheeses and a bottle of vin rouge. Its exact definition is unimportant; such things conjure up an image in our minds that is cheapened by words. Souplesse is the ideal, sought by all and obtained only by The Few.
Souplesse is the perfect storm of Looking Pro; harmony between grace and power, casual and deliberate. It speaks of the entire organism, the perfectly manicured machine together with the perfectly refined position and technique of its rider. It is the combination of Magnificent Stroke, gentle sway of the shoulders and head, the rhythmic breath, and of knees, elbows, and chest converging on the V-Locus.
Jacques Anquetil is man of whom we have spoken surprisingly little in these archives. Perhaps it is because he is a man who inspires us in death as little as he did his fans in life. A calculating man, he pursued Cycling not for the love and passion of it, but for the business of it; for him, the bicycle provided a path from peasantry to aristocracy. That was all.
Be that as it may, he was a gifted cyclist whose fluidity on the bike exemplified Souplesse:
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@mouse
Omniscience is a gift... and a burden.
@James
It's not confined. If you were ever a runner (esp a distance runner), you get "runners high" sometimes. You're relaxed, smooth, fast, effortless.
I get this cycling and I think it's a stretch to say any of us, Pro or otherwise, are always "Souplesse", rather it's a state that's achieved when everything is in perfect balance. Some have it more often than others, and some may never think they have it, but do.
@Gerard, @napolinige
Fantastic word!
@scaler911
There are lots of things you can do to help out; as mentioned, rollers, fixies, trainers will help, but really just anything that forces you to ride for sustained periods that emphasizes flaws in your stroke and other unneeded motions that your body might be making.
But mostly, just ride your bike lots and lots and lots.
@Ron
I'm not sure, but I think Jacques may have been one of those dudes who never hit the road without a comb in his pocket. Classy bastards, to those guys were.
@frank
Might be time for that photo of (Coppi I think) from that book I gave you.
@Oli
This ties in with some of the stuff my sensei has had me doing, particularly the 2 x 20 intervals on the rollers which has the emphasis on a constant output for the duration of the effort. 20 minutes at a fixed cadence over 100rpm. Constant speed, constant cadence, constant power. No variation, no gear changes. Same gear for the second effort five to seven minutes later. It doesn't matter what gear you turn when you start the process but each time it becomes easy in that gear you pick the next smallest cog the next time round. If you can't do it on that cog you go back to the bigger one.
I've been doing this once a week if I can for the last few months and while I wouldn't say that I have a magnificent stroke it is much better than when I started. It goes awry when I'm properly buggered like today when I extended my ride home from a 2 up 40 session with him but didn't really consider the consequences of the route that I was taking. The last 26km was into a headwind that stopped my in my tracks. Apart from the damage that it did to my legs, I was also struggling to maintain a stable core. Time to break out the Swiss ball and do some work there before the keepers tour.
@scaler911
No. No, no, no.
@scaler911
Absolutely, when I ran at school there were days when I would glide over the surface and the pain would drop away (for me, not the other bastards). On days like that you felt invincible and didn't mind losing because you know the guy who'd won was properly good.
It's a good day on the bike when the pain drops away and you suddenly realise you're further down the route than you should be and your feeling loose. It's just too tempting to think this is easy and up the pace when you should just maintain it and let yourself drop back into that trance.
@Calmante
What the fuck do you mean "no, no, no,"? The more you train and learn to spin, feel one with your bike, the more relaxed you become. Balanced. Focused, Effortless. What's your sage advice on this ye who seems to know more than anyone else around here?
@scaler911
Runner's High is a personal inward feeling. I've spoken to many a runner who claimed runner's high but that looked like a twisting sea lion all through a race. At no point did their gait become smooth and rhythmic. This is more of a visual elegance. You can feel like an effort is...effortless, but that's only because you are in a good mental and physical state, not because you are acting with beautiful efficiency.