{"id":459674,"date":"2026-03-05T23:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459674\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:28:13","slug":"buns-vs-ponytails-specializeds-wind-tunnel-testing-reveals-the-faster-hairstyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459674\/","title":{"rendered":"Buns vs ponytails: Specialized&#8217;s wind tunnel testing reveals the faster hairstyle\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the age of aero, everything is measured for marginal gains, with ultra-endurance athlete Lael Wilcox going as far as testing hairstyles in a search for watt savings.<\/p>\n<p>The American racer, who became the first woman to win the Trans Am Bike Race in 2016, spent time in Specialized\u2019s wind-tunnel testing facility last week, investigating how aerodynamics could impact her world circumnavigation record attempt.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVbtlD_EiCT\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a post on Instagram<\/a>, the racer tested bags, aero bars, outfits and even her hairstyle.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not the first time Wilcox has circumnavigated the world, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/news\/lael-wilcox-around-the-world-record-bike\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">setting the women\u2019s record in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Wilcox is looking to beat the record, set by Mark Beaumont, of 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>To do so, she will need to ride at 15mph for 16 hours a day, or 16mph for 15 hours a day, in order to hit 240 miles per day for 78 days consecutively.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1799\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/laelwilcox_1772563902_3844867144937569828_2282080182.jpg\" alt=\"Lael Wilcox wind tunnel\" class=\"wp-image-963188\"\/>Wilcox is taking on one of cycling&#8217;s longest record attempts. Lael Wilcox \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p>She says: \u201cWe are looking to save minutes wherever we can. A mile an hour faster, saves me a whole hour every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1801\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/laelwilcox_1772563902_3844867145264674766_2282080182.jpg\" alt=\"Lael Wilcox wind tunnel\" class=\"wp-image-963186\"\/>Aerodynamics play a key part in cycle racing. Lael Wilcox \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/advertising-feature\/sleep-and-cycling-performance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sleep<\/a> is a main concern for Wilcox&#8217;s attempt, with the post continuing, \u201cWe have 24 hours in the day and I want to sleep a minimum of 6\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1801\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/laelwilcox_1772563902_3844867145315006093_2282080182.jpg\" alt=\"Lael Wilcox buzzcut\" class=\"wp-image-963192\"\/>Wilcox is yet to brave the shave, but she shared what it might look like. Lael Wilcox \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p>In her testing, Wilcox reveals that a bun is faster than a ponytail, but says: \u201cIf I buzzed my hair I\u2019d probably save 10 minutes a day not having to wash it, brush it or put it up. And it\u2019s more aero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Its not the only follicle testing that\u2019s happened at the Specialized wind tunnel, with Ben Delaney visiting on behalf of BikeRadar back in 2015 to see if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/features\/shave-your-legs-save-precious-seconds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shaved legs would save time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In his testing, he found shaving his legs saved 48 seconds over 40km.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the age of aero, everything is measured for marginal gains, with ultra-endurance athlete Lael Wilcox going as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}