Why I shaved my legs for "La Ruta"

Ok. To be fair, I shave my legs on a fairly regular basis. However, recently, I have generally avoided the practice. I had not shaved my legs since before the Transrockies. And, if memory serves me correctly, my leg hair was quite long when I shaved it then. This evening, however, La Ruta (the stage race in Costa Rica) inspired me to draw a bath and turn my legs from looking like the "evolutionary missing link" to as smooth as the late and great Pantani's head.

At this point, there may be some of you who question why cyclists shave their legs at all. For your benefit I will give you a brief explanation. For roadies, who prefer speeding along smooth tarmac, the leg shaving is for minimizing wind resistance to maximize speed. Does it make a difference??? Well, in a solo effort into the wind, probably a bit but not a whole lot. It helps to remember that road racing has its heart and soul in the Mediterranean area of Europe where men typically resemble a Sasquatch in terms of their hair growth. Maybe that is where leg shaving for men started. As for mountain bikers, wind resistance plays a very small role, due to a slower speed and other variables, like the technical terrain, that are much greater factors than wind resistance. Mountain bikers reason that leg shaving is a good idea, beyond the meager air resistance benefit, due to faster healing of cuts and scrapes plus massages are a better experience.

My reason for shaving my legs tonight for La Ruta has very little to do with any of those reasons.

For La Ruta, I shave my legs for the weight savings! -- Ok. I know were talking a minimal weight savings but let me remind you that I have to carry my sorry carcass almost 15,000 ft of climbing the first day, 12,000 the second, 8,000 the third and over 5,000 the fourth and final day. I think the weight savings will amount to some time savings with that amount of climbing. I should also add, that if I had hairy legs on day one, I would probably accumulate about 5 lbs. of extra mud on my legs. Something I really don't need!

I anticipate one last protest from the cynics in the readership. "Jon, why don't you cut your HEAD hair short if you're so worried about weight!" To you, I have one word to say (or rather a name)-- SAMSON... I can't cut my hair. I'll lose my mojo!


Cheers everyone. If you're interested, keep track of the race on canadiancyclist.com or adventurerace.com.