Who better than to give cycling tips and strategies than Cody Stevenson.  Have you heard of him?  Cody Stevenson has ridden over 300,000 miles on a bike, 200,000 miles of which were logged during a decade of racing full time. With 25 years of international racing experience, Cody brings a wealth of knowledge about what works…..and what doesn’t…between people and bicycles. His  17 professional victories, including a stage win in the Tour de Hongrie, give him a good understanding of most facets of the cycling world.

So when I saw his statement "Smooth is Fast, Fast Is Smooth", I had to read further.  

What does he mean?  Read on.. this is taken from the website www.hollandcycles.com (check it out and see how awesome Bill Holland cycles are!)

Smooth is fast. Fast is smooth.

25 years ago a wise man told me, “smooth is fast, fast is smooth.”

I was racing BMX at the time, and all I cared about was doing skids, wheelies and jumping doubles.  Smooth is fast?  What the heck does that guy know?  I preferred to let it all hang out, on the ragged edge. If I could put it all together, then I would sometimes win, or get on the podium.  If I didn’t, I crashed.  I crashed a lot.

It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I began to realize that maybe the “old guy” was on to something. I was really getting into my cycling and all I wanted to be was a Pro. I had moved on from BMX up to the big skinny wheels. I was learning about endurance training and how every little bit of energy you save will help you at the end of a 5-hour road race.  How could I save energy?  Sure I could sit in the wheels, but everyone knew that.  What if I worked on my pedaling technique, to be more proficient?  What if I tried to hold my body still, and just move my legs, instead of bobbing up and down all over the place?

I began to notice it in other forms of racing too.  Car racing.  Motocross. MotoGP. Track and field. Swimming.  Ayrton Senna racing a Formula One car – it looked effortless.  Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Johnson, those guys make motocross look easy.  Valentino Rossi, on a MotoGP bike shows precise control. Carl Lewis running 200m – his torso doesn’t move, his head doesn’t waiver, it’s as if he’s floating.  Ian Thorpe, big powerful, strong arm strokes, almost lethargic movements, yet he was flying through the water.  All these athletes had something in common, they looked slow, even boring.  I had mistaken smoothness for slow.  No sliding, no skidding, no tire smoke, no unnecessary accelerations. Flowing.

Huh?

I then began watching the Tour de France, and saw the most boring of riders win.  Miguel Indurain.  He would climb the massive mountains at 20mph, his legs the only part of his body that moved.  His upper body never changed, his head never bobbed, his facial expression never even once made a grimace or showed any emotion.  Smooth is fast, fast is smooth.

I spent a lot of time over the years trying to be as smooth as possible so as not to waste energy.  I practiced it.  I rode the rollers with one leg.  I rode up hill on training rides with my hands behind my back, leaning forward in a position that would naturally occur whilst climbing, to strengthen my body and rely only on my legs to take me up the climb.  I figured I needed to make myself as smooth as possible. I was not very naturally gifted as an endurance athlete so I needed to work on other aspects of the package.  The engine I was born with only had so much horsepower, so I had to refine things that were wasting my horsepower.

Take a look at some Tour de France footage, watch the really good guys, Cancellara in the TT, Contador on the climbs, Cavendish in the sprints.  Those guys are so smooth.

Next time you are out riding, think about the things you can do to be smoother, to flow better.  Try not to jump out of the saddle and accelerate at the bottom of the climb – stay seated, find a rhythm, count your pedal strokes, gauge your effort.  You might reach the top of the climb faster and with fewer changes in effort levels, thus saving more energy for later.  Maybe try not to brake so hard before a corner that you wash off all your speed and then have to accelerate out.  Carry your speed through the corner.  Easy in, fast out (it’s safer too!). Momentum is your friend, and requires a lot less effort than acceleration.  It can also be a benefit when you are getting really tired towards the end of a long ride, when you feel your shoulders roll and your head bobble. Remember that the more the rest of your body moves and not just your legs, the more effort it takes.

To this day, I always aim for “smooth is fast, fast is smooth” It’s the best piece of racing advice my Dad has ever given me.

Ride smoothly.

Cody Stevenson