Cycling and shaved legs??

Question

14 year old son has an important time trail tomorrow, and has been advised to shave his legs, does it make a great difference?

he has v hairy legs!!

Answer 1

Shave them!  I think that the actually effect that shaved legs has on speed is minimal, they sure do make you feel fast.

Answer 2

Yes it can. There's a surprising amount of drag just from hairy legs. Since cycling is a sport where times are measured to the thousandth of a second, these little differences count.

Answer 3

yeah,he should shave his legs; wet the hair well,and use shave foam and two-bladed razors - you may need several !!!! rub with baby oil afterwards to stop dry skin.

Do the whole leg,right up the groin,and don`t forget behind his knees!!Good luck !!!

Answer 4

Yes, it can make a difference. Air flows over smooth legs better than through hair. (think of a windy day, when your hair is blowing around. If you pull it back, I bet you can feel a difference too.) In my opinion, my legs also feel cooler. Might have something to do with the air flow the fact they aren't covered in hair. The rest is mental. The feeling that something is going to help also makes a difference. If you believe it helps, it generally does.

Answer 5

No, if your son is 14 then this is not going to make any difference to his time trial, the reason that cyclist shave their legs is because it reduces the amount of damage "road rash" when they come of their bikes at speed.

Answer 6

Drag as silly as it sounds...but shaved legs actually feel better and encourage determination!

Answer 7

From Lance Armstrong's autobiography ("It's Not About the Bike"), he says:

"Cyclists have to shave, because when the gravel gets into your skin, it's easier to clean and bandage if you have no hair".

I reckon he'd know best.  The bit about drag is untrue - I shared a house with a Formula One aerodynamicist and he said it wasn't true.  Also, it's not likely that it would cause much more damage if you came off, although I only know that from my experience, not any other evidence.

Last time I had a bad case of "road rash", I lost quite a lot of the skin down one side, from ankle to chin.  The bits that had hair fared no better or worse than the bits that didn't, although when the bandages came off it was the bits that had hair that were most painful.  It was also much easier to see the bits of dirt and grit in my legs because they were mostly hair-free.

Answer 8

also if he falls off, sliding across the ashfelt rips the hair out and skin along with it... if he shaves his leggs less skin is suposably ripped out, decreasing the pain level aswell!

Answer 9

it is more about been comfortable and cooler, you sweat less too. not because of the aerodynamics, that might work for swimmers. but yes do it!

Answer 10

yea because as the other guy said it does cause drag surprisingly even though leg hair wouldnt seem to have that much effect but in the long run it might give him the extra second he needs to do good.

Answer 11

It helps when cleaning out a wound, and it's less painful to remove bandages.  Those are the only practical reasons.

Aside from that, every other reason is psychological - it does make you *feel* faster/more competitive, and it shows off those hard-earned muscles.  The psychological aspect is a big part of athletic competition.

Answer 12

it is more than just areodynamics. in case of a wreck, shaved legs are easier to treat and have been shown to heal better and faster and be less prone to infection.  it is also tradition.  it kind of says that you are serious about cycling and about giving it your every effort.

Answer 13

The main function of hair on the body is that when your cold the hair raises to trap a layer or air as insulation, in combination with turning the legs this creates very turbulant air around the legs causing drag this is why cyclists tend not to shave arms as arm do not move once in position.

Answer 14

The drag is insignificant unless we're his legs look like carpet.

On the other hand, shaving to decrease the chances of bad road rash is a good idea.  All those little hairs pulling out can really hurt.  Last big road rash I got I wished I shaved.

Answer 15

Shaving legs is only for the look & feel. I have very hairy legs & when they're shaved I feel good!

The old idea about road rash is rubbish, as not many cyclist shave arms and if you crash you need your arms to heal as well.

The areodynamic myth is also rubbish, if you want aero then only shave the back half of your legs. Which would look well silly!

Real reason cyclist shave their legs is cause it looks good.

Answer 16

Otter is right. Swimmers often have to shave almost all of their bodies for the same reason. (bit of boring info there)