Around the Horn

I made it. Against all odds I made it. Yes I think I have shaved my legs year round for the first time ever. No clippers and gnarly hair balls for me this year baby! Now, I wonder if that tan line is ever going to go away – I have only had it 5 years. Hmm, that’s probably not good.

When you are a cyclist of the leg shaving variety you get the leg shaving question frequently – as in ‘Why do you do it’. Most are under the impression that it is for aerodynamics and speed. I don’t think that is quite right, but I did find this article that says shaving will save you 5 seconds over a 40K timetrial http://www.damonrinard.com/aero/aerodynamics.htm of course that was in 1990 – the air is thicker now with all that CO2 (right Al Gore)?

The other answer which I have used is that when you shave your legs it is easier to clean out all the crap in your road rash when you fall. I crashed twice last year to test this out – ultimately the parts that got the most scraped up where not particularly hairy in the first place so it was all for not.

My favorite answer is that I shave my legs because ‘chicks dig it’. I don’t really know about this one either. I think my wife lies just to make me feel better.

Any of these answers sound better than what I think is the truth – vanity.