{"id":22275,"date":"2025-07-25T05:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T05:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/22275\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T05:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T05:01:12","slug":"why-do-cyclists-shave-their-legs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/22275\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Cyclists Shave Their Legs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cyclists compete in the men’s Sierra de Montserrat Circuit Race in California in 2014. Credit: Paul Higley, Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch any pro cycling race and you\u2019ll see it: cyclists with smooth, shaved legs. It\u2019s one of the sport\u2019s most visible habits.<\/p>\n

Some say it makes them faster. Some point to massage, wound care, or team culture. But does shaving your legs actually make a difference?<\/p>\n

A sports physicist, a biomechanics expert, an Olympic medalist, and a former pro cyclist explain why this long-standing ritual still shows up at the starting line.<\/p>\n

Shaving Cuts Drag<\/p>\n

Dr. John Eric Goff is a physicist who studies sports performance. This fall, he\u2019ll join the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, as a visiting assistant professor. He\u2019s been modeling Tour de France stages since 2003 and says even tiny changes\u2014like rider position or leg hair\u2014can affect speed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going about 30 kilometers an hour, which is something like 19 miles an hour, you can get somewhere between 4 to 5 percent lower drag,\u201d he says, referencing a 2014 wind-tunnel study<\/a> by Specialized, a cycling company known for testing aerodynamics.<\/p>\n

\"ACyclist Phil Gaimon says shaving is part of being taken seriously by others in the sport. Courtesy of Peter Griffin \/ @petergriffinphoto<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s about 5 watts of energy saved. This refers to a reduction in power output needed to maintain the same speed, not per a specific unit of time, but as a constant reduction in required effort. A decrease of 5 watts isn\u2019t much per pedal stroke, but it adds up over hours. Over a 40-kilometer ride, it could shave off 30 to 60 seconds.<\/p>\n

At higher speeds, savings grow to 10 to 15 watts. That means a rider can go the same speed with less effort, or go faster with the same power. Triathlete Lionel Sanders<\/a> did a similar wind-tunnel test last year in Germany. After shaving his legs and arms, he saved 13 watts, translating to 53 seconds in a 40-kilometer time trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat can be substantial over the course of a stage,\u201d Goff says. In many multi-day races like the Tour de France<\/a>, a stage is one day of racing, and every bit counts.<\/p>\n

In a \u201cshaved legs\u201d test, Specialized recorded speeds for Jesse Thomas<\/a>, a professional triathlete from Bend, Oregon, under different conditions. \u201cThey happened to find that the leg shaving saved the highest number of watts in the power output,\u201d Goff says.<\/p>\n

In other words, he says, removing leg hair reduced drag more than any other tweak\u2014more than helmets, wheels, or body position.<\/p>\n

Other Gains May Be Bigger<\/p>\n

Not everyone is convinced. Bob Prichard, 81, of Tiburon, California, is a biomechanics specialist who has worked with Olympic athletes for more than four decades, and he doesn\u2019t shy away from saying so: \u201cThe athletes I\u2019ve worked with have won 44 gold medals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Prichard, president of Somax Performance Institute<\/a>, says shaving might offer a small benefit, but it\u2019s not where the biggest gains come from.<\/p>\n

He says cyclists should pay more attention to how their bodies move, how flexible they are, and how efficiently they breathe. In his work, he often sees tight chest muscles that limit how much air athletes can take in.<\/p>\n

One rider he trained couldn\u2019t stay with the lead group on a mountain climb. After a few weeks of targeted flexibility work, the rider\u2019s chest expansion grew from 1 inch to 5 inches, enough to change his performance entirely. \u201cHe rode everybody into the ground,\u201d Prichard says.<\/p>\n

To Prichard, shaving is cosmetic. Better flexibility wins races.<\/p>\n

Recovery Counts, Too<\/p>\n

Olympic track cyclist Dotsie Bausch, of Irvine, California, says riders will do just about anything to gain an edge. In her event, races happen in a velodrome, a steeply banked oval where aerodynamics matter most.<\/p>\n

Now 52, Bausch started cycling at age 26, during recovery<\/a> from an eating disorder. She won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, just shy of her 40th birthday, making her the oldest competitor in her event.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo members of Team Lampre crash in Stage 4 of the 2009 Tour de France. Some cyclists say having shaved legs is helpful when healing from road rash after a fall. Credit: John Kershner \/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

She says that while smooth legs can offer speed gains that make a difference for elite athletes, there\u2019s another practical benefit. \u201cHealing from road rash<\/a> is significantly less messy and nicer if you don\u2019t have hair involved in that wound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bausch was more focused on recovery between rides, though, and credits her long career to treating plant-based nutrition<\/a> as seriously as training.<\/p>\n

Feeling Ready Is Part of It<\/p>\n

Phil Gaimon, 38, is a former professional cyclist based in Los Angeles. He raced from 2009 to 2016 and now organizes events, creates content<\/a>, and advocates for clean sport. He shaved his legs throughout his career, but not because of the science.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I ever actually tested it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was just one of those things where if you didn\u2019t do it, people would talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

He remembers showing up to a group ride without shaved legs. \u201cIt was just like, \u2018Who\u2019s this guy?\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to say it, but everyone\u2019s thinking it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gaimon, it wasn\u2019t a race-day ritual so much as a seasonal habit. \u201cYou start doing it in the spring,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then you stop in the fall, and by then you forget how annoying it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

For him, it stuck because of the message it sent. \u201cIt\u2019s a social indicator,\u201d he says. If your legs weren\u2019t shaved, people might assume you were a beginner or not serious about riding.<\/p>\n

Is It Worth It?
\n\"ThreeDotsie Bausch, Sarah Hammer, and Jennie Reed won silver in the track cycling team pursuit at the 2012 London Olympics. Courtesy of Dotsie Bausch<\/p>\n

If a young cyclist stopped him on campus and asked whether shaving their legs was worth it, Goff would probably say it\u2019s worth trying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re an amateur and you\u2019re not quite at the point where you care about time, your main concern is probably comfort,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But for racers chasing every watt, even small gains can matter. \u201cAll kinds of little, tiny things can go into making a 16-second difference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Even as a performance skeptic, Prichard acknowledges that shaving might \u201cmake cyclists feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sport built on tradition, Gaimon says feelings and expectations still shape what riders do. He says for cyclists, shaved legs signal speed, recovery, identity\u2014and maybe even a slight edge.<\/p>\n

\t\tMeet the Writer<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Tanya Bricking Leach<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAbout Tanya Bricking Leach<\/a><\/p>\n

Tanya Bricking Leach is a freelance journalist who writes about science, health, and travel.<\/p>\n

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