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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

Tips from a dancer on how to deal if you don't have a shower at work to clean up after your ride:

- By far the most important, make sure you shower before you ride if you won't have a chance afterwards. IIRC, a shower will get rid of 99.9% of sweat eating odour causing bacteria, and that bacteria has a doubling period of about 20 minutes when well fed, so a shower gives you 3-4 hours stink free even if covered in sweat; much longer if you have a chance to change & dry off before those 3-4 hours are up.

- wear cotton. It might feel icky after you sweat, but it won't stink like technical fabrics will. Wool is a good compromise -- the smell of wet sheep is preferable to locker room.

- change your clothes and dry off when you get to work.

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That seems like a lot of work. Here, most cycle commutes are quite short (up to 5km) and people just ride at a speed where they're not out of breath or sweaty. I just lock my bike and get to work (or rather, the coffee machine). Any speed gains from riding faster would be more than eaten up by the necessary drying off / changing clothes / showering / …

Is your commute that long that it's impractical to just cycle at a comfortable, non-sweaty pace?

Humidity might be a factor though!

My bicycle commutes ends with a half-mile long ascending steep slope. It can be impossible not to arrive sweaty when you live in a hilly place, no matter how fast you go.

Shift down to 1-2 and go up the hill slowly?

Or go the Chinese route and get an electric assist bike.

The bigger obstacle for where I live would be 90F temperature and 80% humidity. You get sweaty regardless of hills (or any physical exertion for that matter) - just by being outside an air conditioned room for more than 10 minutes.

If you live in a "flat" country like The Netherlands, sure.

Biking in a hilly place like San Francisco however, there is no escape from being sweaty.

As an SF cyclist, that's not entirely true. Most commutes in the city end up in SOMA, the Financial District, or the Mission, and require little if any climbing. On the way home, even going to areas like the Haight have paths such as the Wiggle that aren't particularly steep and can be done sweat-free.

Obviously some people live and work in areas where a sweaty climb is unavoidable, but far fewer than you seem to imply. And it helps a lot that it's virtually never hot here.

Having moved from Georgia, it doesn't matter if the route is flat when it's 95 and nearly 100% humidity. That's way more relevant to sweat than the SF hills are.

The human body adjusts to a remarkable degree. The first days or maybe weeks of a new bike commute can be a sweaty experience but it ceases to be a problem quite quickly. If you were in the gym, that would be your cue to increase workout intensity, but since it's a bike commute, there's no need.

For a grade over a certain percentage and longer than some duration, it is probably indeed the case that sweating is unavoidable. But you can usually trade a short steep grade for a longer shallower grade, even in San Francisco. The absolute worst portions of SF hills are usually only a block or two long and are much more likely to be found where you live, not where you work.

get an electric bike

Yep, you read that right here under "Cycling to work can cut cancer and heart disease".

as a support for hills, not use it exclusively.

Totally. I commute (and locomote in general) via an electric bike here in Tokyo, where such bikes are very common.

You can get just as hard of a workout as with a manual bicycle — it's just that you go faster and cover more distance.

However, it also gives you the option to pedal lightly and rely on the motor more, when getting sweaty isn't convenient.

I hope you're already following the first two, most important points: shower before cycling to work and wear natural clothes.

One problem with showering before cycling is that it takes me a long time to cool down/dry off after a shower. If I start riding 15min after getting out of the shower I'm going to sweat like a pig. At least it won't smell, I guess.

> One problem with showering before cycling is that it takes me a long time to cool down/dry off after a shower.

Does it really have to? I'm sure you can avoid that by not using hot water (or even going with cold-ish) and not spending more than 3-5 minutes in the shower. Also you can turn off the water if washing your hear takes time. Seems simple to address.

Mine's about 13km, and I'm not mentally able to ride slowly. Maybe it's the bike I ride, maybe it's the fact that I'm next to traffic. I don't know.

I'm the same way. Sometimes I'll try to ride slowly to avoid getting sweaty, but I'm rarely successful. I'm just used to riding faster, and it's more fun. As you said, it also can feel safer/more natural if you're next to car traffic. Luckily I've usually worked places that had showers if I really needed them.

One of the interesting observations I've had on the bike is that when it is hot and muggy out I don't notice the sweat until I stop. I can be keeping up a decent pace for 5 miles, and it's only when I have to wait for traffic at a crossing or when I arrive at the destination that I'm suddenly drenched in sweat.

The body can keep sweating for quite some time after exercise if it's still having to get rid of some excess heat, often I'll get home from a ride, shower and still feel like I'm (slightly) sweating after.

You Europeans with your sensibly-designed cities. My shortest commute ever was 12km, and my current one is almost 30km.

Toronto; I usually strive to take the long way home because the most direct route is 2.5km

I live in Austin. I ride my bike as long as it's less than 100F (38C) out. Anything above 90F (32C) is pretty hard for me to do without getting sweaty. Fortunately, my office has showers.

Also, I think your advice to ride at a moderate speed is a good one. When I first got into bicycle commuting, I was reading the bicycle subreddit and I was told more than once that it never gets easier, you just get faster. Well, they were wrong. It gets way easier. I understand what they mean by "you just get faster", but I think it's potentially discouraging to new out-of-shape riders like myself.

It gets way easier and for me is almost meditative. My mind wanders like crazy.

That is definitely a quote that only applies to racing. I agree that better fitness absolutely does make the easy stuff easier. But if you want to make going fast feel easy, you can't escape training for it.

My bike ride is right about 8km, but in the summer there is no such thing as a "non-sweaty pace". That said, I'm lucky enough to work in a place that has shower facilities in the basement so I just pack my work clothes in a bag and shower/change when I get there. The worst part is putting the sweaty clothes back on for the ride home.

When it is not hot out (like now), I'll just wear appropriate pants and skip the shower. I find my dress pants rub too much in certain areas when on a bike so I still have to change, but it is quick and I shower at home.

I have to say that I really love biking to work. It's way less stressful than sitting in traffic and there are some health benefits too. Plus it has a way lower carbon footprint.

The GP's point was to shower before riding so that you essentially have "clean" sweat, which has a lower possibility of stinking versus "dirty" sweat.

Showering in the morning and wearing cotton are a lot of work? I cannot tell if you're being serious...i feel like i do these things by accident at least 1/2 the time [i probably bike 2x week at most] and could easily do it all the time if i put even the slightest amount of thought into my mornings.

You picked the parts that fit easily into just about anyone's morning routine and ignored the inconvenient part of arriving at the office sweating. My entire post was about avoiding the sweating in the first place.

> That seems like a lot of work

In my experience, it's an extra 5 minutes of work. Do you consider that to be "a lot"?

But it's not just five minutes, you also need to bring fresh clothes and a towel. Your commute also needs to be a lot longer than mine (4-5km) for that to provide any time savings at all. That's why I'd rather ride more slowly and not have to deal with any of that.

My (bicycle) commute is 25Km one way. It is most certainly impractical to just cycle at a comfortable, non-sweaty pace :)

Also bamboo (I have Bamboo viscose (70%) and Organic Cotton (30%) shirts) - the bamboo material has excellent wicking (so much less icky than pure cotton) is super soft and I've never had a problem with odour (unlike with tech fabrics) - so long as they're washed every other day.

I've got three shirts (purchased from Amazon before a trip to SE Asia) and they've been worn every week for the last four years. Despite the odd moth-like hole they're doing great and are excellent for cycling / working out.

Care to share links to Amazon for those shirts?

"Bamboo" is plain old rayon with some marketing pizazz.

>Wool is a good compromise.

I find merino wool to be far the best base layer. It's fantastic at wicking and doesn't smell at all.

It seems to have unnatural abilities not to smell. I have run marathons in my favourite woollen cycling jersey. It didn't smell at all. I went into work the next day wearing it without washing it.

Wool definitely can smell. It just takes a while.

Merino wool is really great, especially in a high humidity environment (e.g. Singapore). It's pretty comfy as well, not as comfy as cotton, though.

Where does one obtain wool clothing in Singapore?

Uniqlo.

Try Icebreaker

Yup, I'm a HUGE icebreaker fan. I always wear icebreaker t-shirts when I cycle to work.

Very good point!

I commute bi bicycle all year round and admittedly I'm not the chilled kind, so I tend to get soaked (from inside out) quite often, especially if the temperature is >15 C. However, I hate commuting in full bike gear, so having a shower just before leaving has helped tremendously. So does washing in the regular bathroom at work the critical spots where odor develops first (i.e. armpit). All I need is a small towel and a spare t-shit/shirt in case if the ride was too much fun and couldn't keep the speed moderate :)

- wear cotton. It might feel icky after you sweat, but it won't stink like technical fabrics will. Wool is a good compromise -- the smell of wet sheep is preferable to locker room.

This. The other nice thing about wool is that you can go days between washing those pieces.

The downside is that wool a bit tricky to wash (mostly hand-wash, or washed separately in a specific wool cycle). Or is there any methods you recommend to easily wash wool garments?

Put it in the freezer or outdoors (if you live in a cold environment). Not sure if this is actually a thing or just some old urban myth, but it's what I do. Maybe I smell though.

Even just outdoors in the sun: reduced moisture and UV will kill a huge portion of the population. Freezer kills because it's dehydrating, but for wool it'll also kill moth eggs.

Out in the sun works for the reason you said (UV).

Short term freezing isn't very effective as a way to kill bacteria. Once the garment is made warm again, the bacteria wakes up and the stink returns.

I have a merino base layer for outdoor activities and its care guide advises the use of regular detergent and a normal wash cycle: http://www.icebreaker.com/en/customer-service/product-inform...

Most modern sport-oriented wool (using merino) these days can be machine washed. So just wash them in a different load using wool detergent (Eucalan, Kookaburra, Nikwax), and lay flattish to dry. Use a garment bag if you have a top-loader with an agitator.

This is one thing I struggle with. I don't bike to work but workout during lunch. I don't like showering in gym because of limited time and it usually is not very clean.

So this what I do;

- Low intensity workout to prevent too much sweating - Body wipes, need to find unscented brand at reasonable price. - Change T-Shirts, if I sweat too much. - Lululemon ABC pants - If time is really short, I just workout in these pants. They don't look too athletic so I can wear these in office. (I am looking for alternatives though these are just too expensive).

Puma golf pants are in the $50-60 range and look a lot like casual slacks; but they are made of wicking fabric and cut so you can crouch/run/stretch easily. I wear them to bike and roller blade and other workouts.

Thanks, I will have to check these out.

The cleanliness part cannot be helped, but isn't your alternative actually costing you more time? Your workout is probably longer due to the lower intensity, and you still have to use body wipes.

Usually I keep workout less than 45 minutes no matter what. If I am lifting weights, it usually doesn't get too intense. Cardio is a bit tough to not get sweaty in. Usually I just walk on treadmill, so yeah I don't burn a lot of calories but it still feels good though.

Using baby wipes in strategic areas after the ride can help a lot too

Meh, burning it up on Williamsburg Bridge and the 1st avenue lane is the best part of my morning. Shower at work.

I enjoy my big hill too.

I feel more buzzed the whole morning after my ride in. I'm lucky I have a convenient shower at work as well.

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