Professional cyclists, and many fans, usually shave their legs. There are several reasons to do so. One of them has to do with Infection prevention, since the absence of hair helps heal wounds and scrapes caused by a blow or a fall.
There are also theories and hypotheses about the alleged aerodynamic improvements provided by hair removal. About this, Specialized developed in 2014 an experiment in its wind tunnel in which it showed the Advantages of shaving your legs to roll by bicycle.
But ... what about the beard? How does facial hair influence aerodynamic resistance? In other words: is it rolls faster with the shaved face than with a beard?
Engineers Chris Yu and Mark Cote, who work for Specialized, have also done aerodynamic tests in the wind tunnel to calculate the difference between having a beard or not having it When competing in cycling.
https://youtu.be/FkmCLOjk2h8
The experiment consisted of performing 40 kilometers in the wind tunnel at a constant pace in three batches. In one of them the cyclist performed the exercise with a beard, in the second with a light shave and in the third totally shaved.
Subsequently, they analyzed the air resistance in each of the phases and compared the results obtained.
The conclusion they obtained was that The difference between pedaling with beard or without beard is less than 1 second per 40 kilometers.
Therefore, do not worry if you don't give you time to shave before the next race or proof you have. Going by bicycle with a beard will not make you go slower than the rest.
