wrote:

The "quiet upper body" riding is a development in the pursuit of
excessive spinning, where saddle bounce becomes a problem. If you
observe anyone racing you'll notice that riders lunge onto the
downward stroke if working anywhere near top performance. This is not
an option but a necessity.

All out sprinting aside, a lunging upper body is a telltale sign of
trying to maintain speed in too high a gear. For an experienced
rider, dropping to a lower gear should make it go away. The notion
that one must lunge over each pedal to generate high power is old
school myth and lore. The limit to performance on climbs is the
heart, not the amount of force once can put into a pedal. Lowering
the gear ratio reduces the maximum pedal force, removing the need
for upper body gymnastics.

If you get a chance to see the 2004 Tour de France DVD, watch
Armstrong as he climbs l'Alpe d'Huez. His upper body is relaxed and
virtually motionless -- all the way to the finish (except when he
sprints to the finish out of the saddle). His cadence appears to be
80-85, for a full 40 minutes of near maximum effort climbing.

Riding with no upper body motion is
possible only when riding at a less than maximum effort where an
optional style is drawn from extra effort, something riders cannot do
for long when working hard.

I don't understand your point. Riders can't maintain a maximum
effort for long, regardless of their form. I think it's confusing
the point to bring up maximum effort riding when discussing riding
style. It should be obvious that a quiet upper body is more
aerobically efficient than one that's moving "all over the machine",
as Phil Liggett would say. Throwing upper body weight around is an
attempt to shove a few more pounds of force into a pedal, which
should not be confused with power. A low-torque engine that runs at
high RPMs can put out as much power as a high-torque engine with low
RPMs.

Regarding maximum effort, consider the following: Time trial
specialists can ride for an hour well above their lactate
thresholds, yet many ride with rock-solid upper bodies. Jan Ullrich
is a good example.

--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/