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

paolo says:

Feb 16 2012 at 2:55 pm

@Calmante

I understand that it's fashionable to disagree with me right now, but I'm far from self-aggrandizing. To call me out personally because I disagree is jackassery.

It's only fashionable to disagree with you when you're wrong.
paolo says:

Feb 16 2012 at 2:57 pm

@Oli

@paoloWe sure did - BB was on afternoon telly for years...

For Americans reading this BB is not bottom bracket. It's Basil Brush.
mcsqueak says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:04 pm

@Calmante

I understand that it's fashionable to disagree with me right now, but I'm far from self-aggrandizing. To call me out personally because I disagree is jackassery.

What are you on about, it's not fashionable to disagree with you. ON THE CONTRARY!
Calmante says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:14 pm

@mcsqueak

@Calmante

I understand that it's fashionable to disagree with me right now, but I'm far from self-aggrandizing. To call me out personally because I disagree is jackassery.

What are you on about, it's not fashionable to disagree with you. ON THE CONTRARY!

[laugh] Good, good.
Ron says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:30 pm

Damnit, Frank! You are exactly right. I think I've been too far South for too damn long. My VMH will often say things like, "Why can't you just be sweet & nice?" I'll have to point out that fighting, arguing, and criticizing folks comes much more naturally to combative, excitable Northerners.

I'm not sure what is the most awesome part of the Mario Photo - his superb round bars, his shades, or that hair. I always wanted Brikos.
Marcus says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:41 pm

@ChrisO

Personally as one who winces at the commonplace misuse of words like enormity, I have some sympathy, but I suggest you are pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

Do you have a few examples of "words like enormity"? Bigness maybe? Or maybe you should have written "...words such as enormity...".

Gee, pedantry is fun after all.
scaler911 says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:46 pm

@Ron

Damnit, Frank! You are exactly right. I think I've been too far South for too damn long. My VMH will often say things like, "Why can't you just be sweet & nice?" I'll have to point out that fighting, arguing, and criticizing folks comes much more naturally to combative, excitable Northerners.
I'm not sure what is the most awesome part of the Mario Photo - his superb round bars, his shades, or that hair. I always wanted Brikos.

Again, the man's smooth, even in his crazy kits.
mcsqueak says:

Feb 16 2012 at 3:47 pm

@Marcus

Look, a ginormous ewe, right over there!
snoov says:

Feb 16 2012 at 4:01 pm

For what it's worth, all words have some sort of genealogy. "Suicide" for example used to have much more of a sense of nobility, to commit suicide could be to spare your family from some kind of shame while nowadays it's seen more in terms of a way out or escape from responsibilities or/and being unable to cope with something. I don't judge, I've lost a few friends this way, one of them a cyclist (World Champion BMX Freestyler).

Think of the word bicycle. A hundred years ago a bicycle was not what is conjured in our minds when we hear the word nowadays. If we know what a word meant in the context of it's time in history, it's meaning to us now is richer even if that meaning now applies to something slightly different.

My word that I hate to hear being misused is "bespoke", which should properly apply to something that is a one off, but I'll get over myself.
RedRanger says:

Feb 16 2012 at 4:04 pm

@Ron

Damnit, Frank! You are exactly right. I think I've been too far South for too damn long. My VMH will often say things like, "Why can't you just be sweet & nice?" I'll have to point out that fighting, arguing, and criticizing folks comes much more naturally to combative, excitable Northerners.

So fucking true. add sarcasm to the mix. I tend to have a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor, which is unusual for a Latino like my self. I chalk that up to being a native New Yorker. Its something many of the natives down here dont get.