boys shaving

I read somewhere that if you shower before you get in the pool, your skin won't absorb the chlorine so much and won't be as dry and itchy.

So I'm in the shower and there are 6 skinny high school boys shaving their legs. I guess they are swimmers and trying to reduce drag, but it was a very strange sight - particularly as a group - made me uncomfortable. My high school didn't have a swim team, so I don't know if this was normal back in the day, but there would have been some serious taunting if this was seen in my high school locker room.

That said, there are many cyclist and swimmers that shave their legs, and the elite triathletes almost always have hairless legs. I haven't tried this. I can't imagine that it would make much of a difference and I would rather spend the time training and actually getting stronger / faster / better rested, etc. But then again, I spend time blogging - I could use that time for leg shaving ; ) So time isn't the real reason.

This sport demands a lot. Wearing spandex is about as far as I'm willing to go. I like having body hair - I don't want my legs to look like a woman. I don't want a passing redneck in his pickup truck to have any doubt that the person on the bike is a guy when I'm out on those long solo rides in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to confuse my daughters or my wife. I don't think it will make me faster; I don't think it will make me feel faster; and I haven't heard a really good reason for this 'one more sacrifice', so I'll keep the little fuzziness on my legs unless I have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

What do you think?