The Inspirational Eddie Soens
Article Published : 11/08/07
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- Dave & Eddie
“Football isn’t a matter of life or death, it’s far more important than that!” Thus said Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly, probably the greatest manager/ coach of all time. Now substitute “Cycling” for “Football” and you have the credo of the greatest cycling coach of all time. He also happened to be a great friend of “Shanks”. In fact they could have been hewn from the same piece of rock and sadly we will not see their likes again. Who am I talking about? Eddie Soens of course.
Eddie came from the Soens dynasty of brothers, with Jimmy, Tommy and Dougie all completely cycling mad. Before I came into contact with Eddie he had coached the likes of Norman Sheil, (pursuit world champion in ’55 and ’58), John Geddes, Beryl Burton; the list is too long. All the top riders were in contact with Eddie, seeking his knowledge and along with Eddie’s long suffering wife Mima, the Soens’ was open house for bike riders from all over the country. Mima would supply the tea and cake and Eddie the massage and advice.
I, however, can only talk about Eddie from my own perspective and how he moulded my career. When I look back at those times , one word really sums Eddie up.. Inspirational! He was far more than a coach, he had that very special, in born ability to inspire and motivate people. A gift not given to many. I well remember times when I was at my lowest; I would go around to Eddie’s and Mima’s and after an hour’s pep talk and massage I would ride away ready to take on Eddie Merckx. A truly amazing gift.
To go back to the start.. I began riding in 1969, initially to transport myself to work and to stop the 40 cigarettes a day habit I had at that time. I soon joined a club after being inspired to race whilst on holiday in the Isle of Man and seeing the racing at Onchan Stadium.”I could do that!” I thought. However, due to some bad advice with regards to my position, (I was about 3” overstreched) I began to have severe knee trouble. I was going backwards and was having Cortisone injections to try to ease the pain, but nothing seemed to help. After a while someone mentioned Eddie Soens to me and told me that if I gave him a call he would be able to “sort me out”.
It was with some awe and trepidation I picked up the phone, as Eddie’s reputation for not suffering fools gladly went before him. “Get yourself down here lad and let’s have a look at you” was the reply and that was the start of it all. I “got myself down there” at the double and Eddie had me ride my bike up and down the road while he watched. “Bloody hell” said Eddie, “ you look like a monkey up a stick!” Not an auspicious start, I thought! However, I was there for advice and Eddie lowered my position by about 3” and said, “Try that lad.” I thanked him and left and within about 3 weeks my knees had cleared up and I was back on track.
That was the start of what was to become a long and productive partnership. I now turned to Eddie at every point in my career for advice,inspiration and motivation. From my amateur days at the Munich Olympics, throughout my pro career and again during my comeback years.
Eddie had this unique ability to sort out goals and then execute a plan to attain them. There are hundreds of instances I could quote. But to think, he took me from a novice in 1970 to ride for my country at the 1971 Worlds in the individual pursuit, the team pursuit, the team time trial and the road race! He took me from a time triallist to finish 7th in my very first stage race, the two week 1972 Milk Race.
He literally won the Grand Prix William Tell for me in 1972. (This was the amateur version of the Tour of Switzerland.) After holding the leaders’ jersey, I had slipped to third by the final day, due to puncturing in the first time trial. The last day had two stages, the final of which was a hilly time trial. We started the time trial in reverse order on G.C. so I was chasing 4th placed rider, the Russian, Gusjatnikov. I was catching him, and coming to a long drag, I could see him ahead. I was out of the saddle and Eddie was in the following car. He saw that I was well overgeared and yelled “Sit down and change down!” I did this and went straight up to the Russian. The finish was up a very steep and in places unmade road and at the bottom of the climb the Russian came back alongside me and proceeded to “half-wheel” me. This went on and on and I thought I was about to “blow”. Eddie had obviously seen something I hadn’t, because he shouted “Attack him NOW!” With all the strength I could muster, I got out of the saddle and immediately put a couple of bike lengths into him. That was it.. He was gone, cracked wide open. He had been kidding me! I then had great morale and got my second wind. I romped to the finish, won the time trial and won the race overall. All because Eddie had been on hand to notice that the Russian was the one suffering, not me. That’s what Eddie had, the ability to see things others couldn’t!
There are so many anecdotes I could write a book!
It was strange; you rode as much for Eddies’ approval than your own satisfaction. The one thing I do remember about Eddie was his relentlessly positive attitude to life. Whenever anyone asked him how things were he would always answer “Just grrreat!” It was this positive attitude that was so infectious; you just had to be positive with him!
Make no mistake, however, Eddie was the boss, what he said went, otherwise you went! Simple. He was a hard taskmaster too; I remember throwing up after some speed sessions behind his motorbike. He trained through instinct, he knew exactly how hard he could push and exactly when to stop. He had no heart monitor or power cranks to monitor a rider, Eddie just KNEW. He could read riders like a book and, put quite simply he was the best!
I know hundreds of bike riders all over the world who have stories to tell about Eddie. How he nurtured, cajoled, praised, motivated, swore and always managed to get the best out of whoever he was coaching. He was truly an inspiration and wouldn’t it be great for our sport if there were a few more Eddie Soens’ out there. Sadly, I feel that after that fateful day at Leicester track, when Eddie died doing what he loved best (coaching our track team) the mould was well and truly broken.
Comments
Neill | 17/08/2007 @ 19:48
What an awesome bloke! I'm interested to know what intervals Eddie got you doing to make such a hard nut like you chunder Dave :-)
Dave | 17/08/2007 @ 19:55
Hi Neill,
Eddie was the coach who introduced me to the infamous "hill repeats" and also intervals behind his motorbike. WE used to do a lot at Kirkby trcak doing "one lap in and one lap out". ie. One lap behind the bike and then one lap by myself trying to hold the same pace.... SO HARD !!