I'm a BIKE editor and occasional gravel biker. Recently, my colleagues at TOUR asked me to stand in as a road bike model.
No problem: a day outside in the fresh air is better than in the office anyway - so I agreed. The days passed and the photo shoot drew closer. I was kitted out, as I should be, in fine-tuned racing bike clothing. TOUR colleague Jens gave me final instructions and casually mentioned: "Legs are shaved anyway, aren't they?"
Shaving legs: "We always do it this way."
No. Of course not. And why should I?
Then I heard this sentence, which is a reliable one in such situations: "We always do it like this." Maybe so, I thought. But I had little desire to shave: "Can't you do it without?" I asked Jens. Jens remained firm. It's just the way it's always been.
So I did what children do when one parent says no: I asked the other. In this case, Wolfgang, TOUR Bild editor. But he also stood firm. Everyone stood firm.
So I asked myself the question: Why?
I understand, it's a racing cyclist thing - but why can't it be done without shaved legs? After all, we live in times when anything goes: man and man, woman and woman, not binary, agender or transgender. Women coaching Bundesliga teams and men looking after the child at home while the woman pursues a career. Why not! I think it's good.
I recently read about Sven Liebich - a convicted right-wing extremist who was sentenced to a prison term - in a men's prison, of course. Liebich obviously didn't fancy it - which I can fully understand. So he applied for a new first name and gender change (you can do this several times, by the way). At least that's how it was portrayed in some media. Sven is now called Marla-Svenja Liebich - he's kept his moustache. That's no joke. So identity has apparently become negotiable. Only the calf still seems non-negotiable. ...
Road cycling with hair: experiment with logic
Back to the topic.
So why not ride a road bike with hair? My mate Jörg calls it "the last bastion of roadies". It's always been like that and will stay that way. Another one of those sentences that is meant to be an argument, but isn't one.
Another racing bike friend later tries to apply logic over a beer: shaved legs are better for massages and injuries heal faster.
I have to laugh. Massages? Injuries? How often does an amateur racing cyclist get a massage? And what kind of injuries does he have when cranking along on the tarmac? Nah, sorry - that might apply to Mathieu van der Poel, but not to Klaus on the Olympic road to Starnberg.
The aerodynamic advantage
I do some more research: a study by Specialized found an aerodynamic advantage in the wind tunnel - around 70 seconds over 40 kilometres. Impressive, I thought. Or not, depending on how often you ride against the clock in everyday life.
Historically, the whole thing can be traced back to the Tour de France, which has existed since 1903. The first riders allegedly started shaving as early as the 1930s - actually for hygienic and medical reasons. In the 1960s and into the 1980s, it is said that it finally became established in the peloton.
Cleopatra is also said to have been completely shaved
Fun fact: Even in ancient Egypt, around 10,000 BC, hairless bodies were considered the ideal of beauty and kings and queens shaved their heads. Cleopatra is also said to have been completely shaved. But now back to the topic.
My roadie colleague tries one last time. "You're a mountain biker," he says.
"Yes," I say.
Roadie colleague: "You spend hundreds of euros on clothes like Troy Lee Design and co. Blaspheme when bikers dress too colourfully, have the visor set too high or combine a goggle with an open-face helmet - it's the same thing in green! A statement with a sense of belonging."
I won't say any more. My colleague has a point. But so do I: my appeal: everything must be allowed in cycling: Mountain bikers in parrot outfits, goggles with open-face helmets and furry hair when riding a road bike.
I'm a harmony seeker - so the next day I bow to the TOUR colleagues' shaving dictates - in the bathroom, with my girlfriend's razor. Zack. The first cut. Then the second. Then the third.
And as I stand there, bleeding and a little offended by my own inconsistency, I was hoping for the supposedly better wound healing - after all, the hair is gone now.
What do you think? I look forward to your comments. Gladly by mail to: L.Lehner@bike-magazin.de - Subject: Shaving - compulsory among roadies
Laurin Lehner
Editor
