Bloody roadies; a mountain bikers perspective

Comic Book Guy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Returning home from a ride about an hour ago, red P plater went past at about 90 in 60 zone. Still scared the shit out of me even though he was in the right lane. :clap2: cops had a radar both sides of the road 1/2 k further on. Licence gone.... said thanks to the cop on the way past.
You've made my day.:cheer2:
 

wilddemon

Likes Dirt
Look out! A pebble!! AAAAAAHHHHHRRRRGGG! LMAO
Pebbles are a hazard to other riders and cars, rarely yourself. With your tyres so hard they can get squeezed out at a terrific speed. I've fired some off at cars that were driving too close which is pretty amusing, for me anyway. You occasionally hear a ping when they hit armco railing or signs. Most dangerous thing is badly repaired potholes. The hot mix sinks and you're left with a hole that you can't see...
 

pharmaboy

Eats Squid
whens dozer shaving his pegs?, found this

Do I have to shave my legs through the whole year, or only during the part of the year when I wear bike shorts?" This is an excellent question, but you'll find it answers itself. Once you've started shaving your legs, you see, it's impossible to stop. As you'll find, after about three days, the stubble becomes downright irritating. After five days of letting your hair grow, the stubble will become so abrasive as to take the finish off your top tube.

By the end of the week, you will have caved in and shaved again. Which may explain, when it comes right down to it, why cyclists continue to shave their legs, long after they discover it doesn't actually make them any faster.

courtesy of the fat cyclist
 

Ride_Guy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Pebbles are a hazard to other riders and cars, rarely yourself. With your tyres so hard they can get squeezed out at a terrific speed. I've fired some off at cars that were driving too close which is pretty amusing, for me anyway. You occasionally hear a ping when they hit armco railing or signs. Most dangerous thing is badly repaired potholes. The hot mix sinks and you're left with a hole that you can't see...
Meh.. Try riding along the road when bam hit by cross wind then smashed into a big pile of sand that has been blown up off the beach. Just bunny hop holes/bumps/rocks or assorted gutters... I get bored on my road bike.. lol
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
whens dozer shaving his pegs?, found this
I'm a man o f reason, a man of understanding and I'm a calculating thinker. The notion that shaving your legs makes it easier to apply treatment to a wound sustained from hitting the deck is so far beyond ridiculous that I won't even argue. I'm aware that shit happens and you fall off sometimes but making it easier to remove a bandaid by shaving your legs?!!! You can slam that idea right up your dot, it's utter bullshit.
It's about time roadies started wearing body armor if they are concerned about a cosmetic injury.
 

harmonix1234

Eats Squid
Someone once told me that they shaved their legs only when they raced crits on asphalt.
His reasoning was that one time he lost the bike on a corner at about 60kph, slid along on his side and his hairy legs worked like velcro in the asphalt and ripped two large patches of skin off his calf and thigh.
Her referred to it as 'Like peeling a banana'.

He mentioned that he has had numerous spills on other surfaces and never had this effect prior to this crash. Now he shaves before every race on asphalt.
Seems legit. Saw the scars.
 

harmonix1234

Eats Squid
Pebbles are a hazard to other riders and cars, rarely yourself. With your tyres so hard they can get squeezed out at a terrific speed. I've fired some off at cars that were driving too close which is pretty amusing, for me anyway. You occasionally hear a ping when they hit armco railing or signs. Most dangerous thing is badly repaired potholes. The hot mix sinks and you're left with a hole that you can't see...
I love this. I am always hearing the 'Whack'! of pebbles hitting fences at high speed as they get shot out the side from my back wheel.
They really shoot out with some speed too. I reckon if you copped one in the face it'd ruin your whole day.
 

mik_git

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I'm a man o f reason, a man of understanding and I'm a calculating thinker. The notion that shaving your legs makes it easier to apply treatment to a wound sustained from hitting the deck is so far beyond ridiculous that I won't even argue. I'm aware that shit happens and you fall off sometimes but making it easier to remove a bandaid by shaving your legs?!!! You can slam that idea right up your dot, it's utter bullshit.
It's about time roadies started wearing body armor if they are concerned about a cosmetic injury.
I dunno, while i'm not about to shave my legs, back from when I was a younger and playing hockey on supergrass, you'd take a slide from time to time and strip off big swaths of skin, the hairs hurt like hell when it was raw, then was it scabbed over the hairs were a pain in the butt, as they came off they would attach to the hairs and try to pull them off too, was a pain.
 

wilddemon

Likes Dirt
Bandaid?!? You do have a lot to learn. I double dressed one and still ruined the sheets. Pus and blood everywhere!
 

scblack

Leucocholic
I dunno, while i'm not about to shave my legs, back from when I was a younger and playing hockey on supergrass, you'd take a slide from time to time and strip off big swaths of skin, the hairs hurt like hell when it was raw, then was it scabbed over the hairs were a pain in the butt, as they came off they would attach to the hairs and try to pull them off too, was a pain.
Possibly the pain is real, no doubting that.

But other than full professional road guys, how often are people crashing on ashphalt? Enough to really justify the shaving? In true honesty?
 

mik_git

Likes Bikes and Dirt
hopefully never.

but having watched the tour de france lately it seems about 15 times a week...

and tri guys, at every bike/run transition...
 

0psi

Eats Squid
and tri guys, at every bike/run transition...
Not just the transition mate, also uphill, downhill, every corner, straight, crosswind, tailwind and headwind.

I marshalled the bike course at a tri once and it's up there as one of the scariest experiences of my life.
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
I have no obligation to shave my legs. I'm a punter like 99.9% of every other dude on a bike but first and foremost, I'm a mountain biker! I drink beer after riding, I eat too much food and couldn't give a shit about the weight of my bike and the clothes I wear flap in the wind and look awesome when I finish a ride and go into a fast food shop to get junk food.
I will forever remain hairy!
 

0psi

Eats Squid
I keep telling roadies and triathletes that the hair on my legs acts in a similar manner to dimples on a golf ball or dimples on Zipp rims. It creates a boundry layer reducing drag. Some of them even take me seriously.
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
I keep telling roadies and triathletes that the hair on my legs acts in a similar manner to dimples on a golf ball or dimples on Zipp rims. It creates a boundry layer reducing drag. Some of them even take me seriously.
Thats a classic and not surprising that some of the intelligent folk would actually contemplate that! ;)
 

MrZ32

Likes Dirt
Thats a classic and not surprising that some of the intelligent folk would actually contemplate that! ;)
It's probably closer to reality than you may think... maybe not for swimming when the fluid is more viscous (Tri guys) but for the normal cyclist probably not a bad hypothesis.
 

0psi

Eats Squid
Now now guys, let's not let this thread degenerate into an adult discussion. Next I'll start talking about truncated airfoils and we'll be here for weeks.

Speaking of aerodynamics, anyone ever wondered why those deep dish wheels Trek had at the World Champs never caught on?
 
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