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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That's actually the first time I've seen more than about a two minute clip from "A Sunday In Hell' - muchas gracias for the upload. Really striking to the see the number of Grand Tour contenders mixing it up with the favourites, especially guys like Poulidor, Zoetemelk and Thevenet who were less suited to the cobbled classics.
@Mikael Liddy
Likewise when he won the 2012 Olympic time-trial, I don't think his upper body moved at all through out the entire distance. Try and do it yourself, even on a trainer, for 5 minutes and you realise just how fit he is.
I do aspire to that sort of upper body stillness and smoothness. But I also think that the outright power that Merckx shows smashing away at the pedals is impressive.
Let's not forget Jacques Anquetil.
Forgot the Anquetil pic.
There's a guy on our club rides like that,absolutely as still as a very still thing while crushing most of us(usually on a single-speed bike as well);he was a veteran grass-track world cup champion though,
World Cup Cycling Champion Alan Newark (1946 -)
The Ely Standard of May 1991 has the following account; "Veteran cyclist Alan Newark became World Cup champion when he beat such cycling luminaries as Beryl Burton and Graham Webb in Derbyshire on Saturday. Newark, of Ely Cycling Club, was taking part in the inaugural Veterans World Cup at Matlock, which attracted a field of 300 over 35s, including the two former world champions and a string of continental stars....The legendary Burton for example once held a world record that was faster than the equivalent men's best time. So the in-form Newark was delighted to finish second overall to win the 40-45 age group in 50 mins 35 secs, just 23 seconds behind the winner, 35 year old Dutchman HennieKemkers."
Firstly as a Virgin Velominatus I'v gotta tip my hat to @Frank and the Keepers, this is on hell of a site. Thanks to these guys for leading me here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFYRiqodvU (skip to 36:07)
As far as body stillness goes, this winter's self-inflicted turbo torture has helped me no end, getting a better posture/stronger core from not having the wind pushing me skyward.
Still a farmer's kilometer from Lo scheriffo though!
@osbk67
Bugno sat so still it almost looked forced. Same with Tony Rominger.
Rudy was a very under-rated rider and beautiful on the bike. His crash when he rolled tire while in the lead in the TDF was sadly his most memorable moment.
@brett
My Sunday riding pal just got a Colnago C60 in matte black. Even though it says Colnago on the DT in white, all I see when I look at the bike is the Tricolore on the ST. A damn fine bike, makes me wish I rode a 56 so I could jump on some of his classy bikes.
It is allmos hypnotic to watch those pros spinning the legs and the rest of the body is still.
To me it is clear that you need at least some style on the bike to be a winner. The guys that looks like a walking duck on the bike rarely win any races.