A rider with good souplesse will seem to dance up a steep hill with the bike just like an extension of his own body.
Souplesse is about fluid motion, without wasted effort. Efficiency, power and style blended together.
The 3 performance training parameters that I often look at are: Endurance, Power and Economy. Endurance and Power have been the core of many a training program and there are many articles and books that can help you structure a training plan to help improve these. Economy is however a more abstract sort of performance ability. Some of us call this "cycling form" or "technique"or "cycling efficiency". Economy to a cyclist means exactly the same thing as economy to a car driver: the ability to do a certain amount of work using as small amount of energy as possible. You want to conserve petrol in your car. You want to use a lower percentage of your VO2 max at a given cycling speed. Both examples represent economy.
In my opinion, economy is probably the most important determinant of success in competitive cycling or for that matter, even recreational cycling...
"If two cyclists have similar VO2 max profiles, the most economical cyclist will win most races. Even if a cyclist has a relatively low VO2 max, he can often defeat other cyclists, because he may ride at a lower percentage of his maximum at any given speed." Physiotherapist, US Olympic Cycling Team.
In other words, if two cyclists are riding at the same speed, the more economical cyclist uses less oxygen to ride at this speed.
I often regard myself as a lazy cyclist. If possible, I would rather ride and go for events without training. Unfortunately, I am not blessed with natural talent, and I think my proportion of slow and fast muscle fibre are in the worst possible ratio. Hence, I need to train to enjoy the sport. I have put in some effort in training for power and endurance, but in today's time strapped environment, I find it hard to improve these tremendously without going full-time haha. I have to be more economical or more efficient! This is when I started looking at improving my pedaling mechanics. Making your equipment or bike lighter, use of ceramic bearings, more aerodynamic positions, may also help improve performance economy but these are for another post (hee…). For today, let's talk about the art of pedaling in improving efficiency. Learning to pedal smoothly and correctly can help your pedaling be more effective. In other words, improve your pedal force application from top dead center, through the bottom of the pedal stroke. Practice pedaling smoothly and learn how to spin rather than pushing big gears. Learn to be more economical on the bicycle.
This is where the art of Souplesse comes in.
Noun
Souplesse (French)
-Definition: suppleness, softness, flexibility, adaptability, fluidity
Its hard to describe the concept of Souplesse. This article tries to explain it --> http://tri-alliance.com.au/tri-101/2013/05/07/understanding-the-pedal-stroke/
Red Kite Prayer sums it all up pretty well.
"As we get older, and top end speed ebbs away, souplesse becomes a new pleasure and a way to distinguish ourselves. How steady a line do we hold? How neatly do we skirt obstacles? How still are our hips? How easy our grip? Do we mash, or do we stroke?"
"Souplesse connotes style, but it also hints at a deep-lying efficiency, an elimination of non-essential movement. Much has been made in recent years of incremental improvements, the sorts of time gains made in wind tunnels and in customized nutrition plans. Souplesse has that same incremental value, except that it comes from within the athlete."
I profess I am not an expert in the art of Souplesse, but it is one of my goals. Many strive but never ever attain this cycling style or form. To me, Souplesse is not about speed, speed is over-rated! haha.. It's about being economical, being efficient, it is about finding the sweet spot, its about looking effortless and looking pro.
"Souplesse is the ability to ride smoothly, to keep a straight path and maintain composure. No wobbly clip ins, no mashing on the pedals, no unneeded movement on the bike. Just stylish efficiency."
It is not my intention in this post to define or determine the best technique or style that epitomizes Souplesse, this only you can determine yourself what suits you the best. There are so many articles and arguments about the best pedaling style and technique that its hard to determine what's best. I just hope that by looking to be more efficient or economical, we can have more fun cycling. This video by Joe Friel is probably the best example I can find. Global Cycling Network has another useful video. There is also an old video here, but still very relevant. This video shows that even without elliptical rings, the pedal stroke is already not fully circular to be efficient.
Other factors waste energy without propelling the bicycle forward will affect economy. Fighting the bicycle, holding the handlebars too tightly, using a lot of upper body energy while climbing and riding is an unaerodynamic position during time trials or break-a-ways will affect your economy. Finally, you can improve your economy by increasing your interval and tempo training. The theory behind this is that by practicing fast cycling, you naturally become more economical and relaxed while riding fast. Once you've trained your body to respond economically at these speeds, it will most likely be even more efficient at the slower speeds during long road races.
Use of rollers
I'm hoping that my recent purchase of rollers will help me attain this goal. So far I've managed to increase the time spent on the rollers without support, and I think it will be 2 or 3 weeks yet before I become confident at this rollers thingy. Rollers are excellent for increasing cadence and fluidity in the pedaling stroke because the primary resistance to keeping the wheels moving is the friction between tire and roller, and there is very little mass to store the energy of the pedaling. In other words, its very very road like. This combination results in immediate feedback to the rider in the form of a smooth whirring sound if the stroke is smooth, and forces you to work at your core muscles and balance, all essential in Souplesse nirvana.
The Q ring
Despite my recent rant about the oval rings being inefficient or akin to "pedaling in squares", I do advocate them to riders to help improve their pedaling stroke. The ovalised rings do help you to understand the concept of the dead spot when you pedal, hence it forces you to apply force on the pedal at the appropriate part of your pedaling stroke, a crucial concept in performance economy. Unfortunately, for me I find that these rings hinder the progress towards Souplesse, simply because the so-called "dead spot" is not static.
