Categories: EtiquetteLook ProNostalgiaTradition

Look Pro: Souplesse

Master Jacques, master of souplesse.

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:

A Magnificent Stroke is more than pushing or pulling on the pedals. The stroke flows from the core and hips, driving the pedals round and belying the effort to do so.
Feet sweep the pedals around in perfect revolutions, one leg cannot be distinguished from the other – they work as one to counter and balance the forces to drive the machine ever faster forward.
The legs can not do their work without the arms, the lungs, the chest, the heart, the mind. Each unit functions independently to do its work, yet feeds seamlessly into the other. In a phrase: Fluidly Harmonic Articulation.
Move to the V-Locus; the body is folded such that legs, arms, and chest overlap but do not intersect. Knees tucked in, shoulders hunched, wrists rolled inwards, elbows angled such that the knees only just slip inside them with each revolution of the cranks.
Face calm, eyes cooly focussed up the road; a grimace is energy that is better spent on turning the pedals.

I give you Master Jacques.

More: Jacques Anquetil Part II & Part III

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

scaler911 says:

Feb 15 2012 at 11:37 am

Nice as always @Frank
Oli says:

Feb 15 2012 at 11:39 am

Souplesse just means suppleness.
scaler911 says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:11 pm

@Oli

Souplesse just means suppleness.

"Its exact definition is unimportant; such things conjure up an image in our minds that is cheapened by words."
Nate says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:24 pm

@Oli
Not anymore than "jante" simply means "rim." (Thanks Tim Krabbe).
paolo says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:24 pm

I was just about to make the same post myself Scaler ..HA! Frank waxes poetic and Oil just stomps on it.

Frank l'artiste, huile pour le mÃ©canicien.

You know I'd like to think that in the last six to nine months I have achieved just a degree of souplesse from my old sit up and beg style and I feel more like a cyclist for it.
Oli says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:37 pm

My point is that souplesse isn't some mythological state of being or anything to do with position, facial expression or even focus; it's just not being choppy and stiff in pedalling style.

To me sometimes the exact definition is important, especially when it actually changes the meaning of a word that has been perfectly well used in its original form for a hundred years or more.

I love the romanticism of Frank's prose at times, but I don't agree with ascribing more meaning to words that actually exists...
Oli says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:48 pm

@Oli

...especially when it actually changes the meaning of a word that has been perfectly well used [within cycing] in its original form for a hundred years or more...
paolo says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:48 pm

@Oli

My point is that souplesse isn't some mythological state of being or anything to do with position, facial expression or even focus; it's just not being choppy and stiff in pedalling style.

In other words being fluid and graceful ? Is that not a romantic notion, a lofty goal to which we should all aspire ? Seems poetic enough to me.

( btw it would seems it probably does have a little to do with the correct position.)

On your other point, language is alive and the meaning of words do change as we all know...but thats a whole other topic.
MarcL says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:48 pm

Other riders of lesser palmares that nevertheless demonstrated remarkable souplesse: Gianni Bugno and Bobby Julich
Oli says:

Feb 15 2012 at 12:53 pm

@paolo
For me, souplesse is part of that ideal but not the ideal in its entirety. Isn't there a word we can use that doesn't take quite a specific meaning and broaden it so much?

...yes, I'm aware I'm being a prick. I'm allowed.