I'm not into celebrities. There are a few people I admire and think it would be cool to meet, and I take note of the news enough that if a name comes up in conversation I will sometimes know who it is, but that's about it.
(Tangent: Asking for an autograph seems lame to me. And don't get me started on kids at Disneyland hounding "characters" [aka teenagers in costume] for autographs.)
But yesterday I found a reason to like Andy Hampsten. A lot. In fact, he's a hero to me. Why? Because of this photo I saw on FatCyclist:
Those are Andy Hampsten's legs in the foreground left. And you see why I got excited, right? No, not his socks or shoes.
Andy's legs have hair!
That's right, a pro cycling icon is not shaving his legs! Finally, a big name in cycling is taking a stand against the vain and emasculating practice of leg shaving.
I can feel it, this is a milestone in cycling history similar to when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat. With Andy's bold stand the winds of cycling fashion are about to change in favor of au natural. Free from the bondage of the razor!
Thanks to Andy, when some girly-legged cyclists makes a snide comment about my leg hair I will just tell them cycling legend Andy Hampsten doesn't shave, and if leg hair is OK with him, it's OK with me and should be OK for every cyclist.
Stand tall, Andy! The hairy-legged cyclists of the world stand with you.
That's why Andy Hampsten is my new hero.
The End
2 years ago
8 comments:
I'm with you! All male cyclists - take a stand and throw down your wife's razor (well, gently place it back on the tub with the rest of her stuff). Now repeat after me: "We are hairy and proud of it".
mtb w
I'm going to politely disagree. After the pain of getting this cleaned out, I'm ready to start shaving my arms as well.
I am totally with you on this one. Leg shaving is altogether just plain creepy in my book. There should be a club for the few of us left. Something like the He-men Hairy Legged Cycling Club. I nominate Andy as the president.
I have a friend who doesn’t grow leg hair so what club can he join?
Bics, are for chicks.
mtb w - Right on, brother!
SBJ - Are you telling me that's the primary reason you shave your legs?
Mike J - You start the club and I'll join.
Team Thomas - The point here is no shaving. If you're blessed with naturally hairless legs you get the best of both worlds, I guess.
Josh - That sums it up nicely.
Kris, it's easier to hose down the driveway than the lawn. Cleanup, especially when a wound is involved is one of the reasons to shave.
I'll spot you vain, but I'm trying to figure out where you come up with emasculating. Because women do it?
One of your other arguments is that it's unnatural. Last I checked, women grew leg hair as well. Does Jolene let hers grow? What about armpit hair--do you prefer women to be au naturel there as well? What about haircuts. You keep yours short, but that's not its "natural" length.
If you're arguing emasculating and unnatural, seems as if those contradict one another. It's an arbitrary line, and we each draw it where we wish.
FWIW, though, I have it on good authority that Andy H is just letting his hair grow long enough that he can wax it.
SBJ - First, let me emphasis that this post was mostly for fun, prompted by Andy Hampsten's unshaved legs.
Shaving my legs a few months ago felt emasculating to me, so that's where that came from.
Ah, yes, the argument of people shaving hair in some places and not others. This is not an objective black-and-white issue. Hair is cultural and it's styled for appearance. 100 years ago beards were much more in style, now they're not. And while male shaved legs are generally accepted in (road) cycling, outside cycling they are not.
I don't really care if cyclists shave their legs or not, but I like to have fun with the topic.
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