5 reasons why cyclists shave their legs

There is one curious fact about cyclists: almost all of them, both amateurs and professionals, shave their legs ... Yes, yes, that's right. And there are several reasons for this at once.

One of the reasons why cyclists shave their legs has an aesthetic background. If we put aside all stereotypes, you will agree that shaved legs in combination with bicycle shorts look much more beautiful than hairy ones. Thanks to the smoothness, they seem more chiseled and monolithic, but the hair, on the contrary, gives them a little sloppiness and primitiveness.

The habit of shaving legs has been formed among cyclists for a very long time. Therefore, when modern athletes do this, we can say that they follow a tradition that has existed for decades. Professionals say that shaved legs are a kind of sign that a cyclist belongs to the caste of the sports elite. And the first shave is generally like an initiation rite.

But how did this tradition originate in general? Back in the 80s, scientists discovered that smooth legs can reduce resistance by 0.6%. This gives an advantage in speed: about 5 seconds for every hour, if you drive at a speed of 37 km / h. During the races, every second counts for the participants of the races, so they do everything to increase their speed: they take special poses while riding, reduce the weight of bicycles and ... shave their legs.

During the races, athletes quite often fall, get various injuries, abrasions and other damage. In such cases, they have to stop and provide themselves with emergency medical care — disinfect abrasions, glue a plaster, bandage wounds with a bandage, etc. It is much easier to do this on "clean" skin. It's not for nothing that patients shave the places where the operation is to be performed.

Another reason is convenience, including during recovery. After hard races, cyclists often need to undergo a massage course or smear their feet with special ointments to relieve muscle pain. Again, doing this on smooth skin is much easier than on hairy.