It’s been seven days since my first crash. The crash itself didn’t hurt all that much, but what is absolutely killing me is ripping off the bandages twice a day so I can keep the dressing fresh. Pulling the hairs hurt so much that I would actually hold each hair still while pulling the bandage off of that one hair, and then move to the next. It took forever.

(Worse that that, actually, is my wife saying “C’MON YOU WEAKLING! JUST RIP OFF THAT BANDAGE ALREADY! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT REAL PAIN IS UNTIL YOU’VE GIVEN BIRTH!” Once she actually *did* rip the bandage off, and while I lay wailing on the ground told me to practice my breathing exercises. As Dave Barry says, I am not making this up.)

Of course I had been reading about how “real” cyclists shave their legs, not just to look cool but in the case of a crash. Having learned my lesson the hard way, I decided to go under the blade…er, the Norelco. Just couldn’t bring myself to recreating the Gilette Venus commercial.

I had a bit of trouble getting the long hairs until I broke out the beard-trimming accessory, then things moved along a bit faster:

I decided to stop at the knee since my oversized shorts pretty much cover the entire thigh. this is a bit ugly, but here’s the comparison of hairy-knee with smooth-calf. Depending on feedback I may keep going north, but I hear that the knees are particularly tricky.

and, finally, just a clean back of the calf. feels great, actually, though chilly!!

don’t have the guts to post this on Facebook yet 🙂