Thoughts have crossed my mind (in a rather Devilish kind of way
) that I cant be a serious cyclist as I dont shave my legs!I never understood this leg shaving thing anyway, but I recently visited a local cycling "club" with the thought of joining in a few group rides.
I guess I knew they were a bit "sporty" when they took a look at my touring bike and suggested I could make it lighter by removing the racks and mudguards. I suggested that if I wanted it to be lighter I could go out riding with them and loose a stone in weight, and I am fit enough anyway to cycle with my bike as it is as its normally loaded down with panniers, tents, cooking stuff etc. So to me it was already very light, thank you very much indeed. I needed the racks the next day to carry stuff on and have no intention of taking them off. They seemed to have things attatched to their saddle (which wern't very comfy looking anyway) that wouldnt even hold a decent sized flask of tea.
They also suggested that whilst my bike was a decent spec. some of the components were no good for a road bike (its a 700c tourer, I knew it wasn't a road bike and they said I could ride on any bike) I just hoped to go out for a few rides with a local club. I didnt know I was competing at this stage as I didnt want to compete at any stage. They were sniffy because apparantly its got mountain bike components mixed with road components. True its got Tiagra on the front and Deore XT on the rear....it came off the shelf like that and Ive never bothered to change it as its fine for me. Its also got 32c tyres on it and hand made Spa Cycle wheels .....however they led me to believe I could go out with their Monday evening ride that does 15mph on avarage for an hour....I can do that no probs and knew their route as it was published on their web site. So no probs again.
Finally I realised I was in the wrong place as I caught sight of shaved legs. Even if I changed my bike entierly to gain speed and loose weight (which I dont want to do at the expense of not being able to carry large loads up steep hills), it seemed pointless to shave my legs when I have a reasonable sized full beard.....they didnt have an answer to that.
As I left, I was told I would also need a helmet if I came back to ride with them. I was rather bored with their "mentality" by then so didnt put up much of an argument to be honest and on the way home I deposited the leaflets for "British Cycling" in the bin.
I tried emailing my thoughts to the secratery a few days later, but a month has gone by now and I didnt get a reply. I'm now at home in East Sussex CTC so no problems my end and a great group to ride with and often up to 60 out on a Wednesday, so they must be doing something that we are all happy with.
....but would shaving legs be equal in improving my performance to the removal of a pannier rack, skinny tyres, carbon frame etc ? I really do need my rack to carry stuff on when touring, I think 32c is a good choice for that too and I do preffer a steel bike for touring also. Seems that should I want to go faster as a serious cyclist I can now only really improve my performance by shaving my legs. I then still have the beard to think about, which is a worry as I can hide my shaven legs under trousers.....oh I guess that might defeat the object. Its so confusing !!
