PaperBag

I currently commute between my house and my school, which is 10 miles away. I usually take the bus to school, and ride my bike home. I'd like to start riding my bike to school so I can stop taking the bus (plus it's faster) but I don't want to go to school all sweaty. How do you guys manage to do this without having hygiene issues? Also, I don't have any special clothes for bicycling, I just wear whatever I'm gonna be wearing that day, is this part of the issue? Am I just not "trained up" enough (I've only been doing this about twice a week for a few months)? Or is being sweaty just inevitable?...

fietsbob

School ? High School or College?

I note individual biology is mentioned by others .. living in a hot climate and being prone to sweating a lot to try to cool yourself off
is just what you body does ..

Bring a sponge and wipe down in the washroom..


Location : Live close to the Pacific Ocean , Here. .. and take your time on the Bike..

Its a 10 Mile Round trip to groceries and back here.. to where they can have vast parking lots ..

DrPangloss

Wear a shirt made from a moisture-wicking material, and it will cut down on excessive sqeatiness. They're not expensive, Champion is a good brand, for example. Then change into your regular shirt in school.

Bring some wipes with you to clean up. Also, allow extra time for you to cool down. I have the same length commute, and it takes me something like 10 minutes to stop sweating.

I don't find sweat unpleasant since it's a great way to cool down provided it evaporates (water has a high latent heat of vaporization.) Also, sweat doesn't have to equal BO if you are clean before you bike.

ill.clyde

So helpful bob ...

Would definitely plan to ride in something different from what you're wearing. Once you get there, find a bathroom, do a sink shower or use baby wipes to freshen up a bit. Hang your sweaty clothes somewhere for the ride home. Plan to arrive to school a little earlier than usual, to account for the "freshen up" and to settle down and ideally stop sweating.

My commute is 12 miles one way ... for me, being sweaty is inevitable. But I also have a shower waiting for me upon arrival. Increased fitness probably won't play too much of a part. But it might help a little.

JPeters

Light clothes, taking it slowly, a water bottle filled with cold water every morning, and if you can, ditching the backpack for a bag that doesn't hug so tight like a messenger bag or bike pannier.

alan s 

Drive in a car with air conditioning. Riding without sweating around here is not an option.

pdlamb

Start clean. If you shower daily, do it before you leave home.

Slow down. Take an extra 5 minutes to ride, you'll arrive cooler and drier.

Baby wipes or equivalent to wipe down when you arrive. Handicap stall in the restroom.

Change into dry clothes.

wphamilton

I did it for a while, 10 miles without sweating much. I'd just change my shirt when I got there. Shower before leaving home, only completely clean clothes. Not sniff test clean, but actually fresh laundered.

It's helpful to set out before sunrise and go easy enough that you're not breathing hard. Fast enough for the breeze to cool you, not so fast that you're putting off much heat. It does help to be in shape, because faster is better for cooling.

If you have any hills that's problematic unless you are geared low enough to go up really slowly. About all you can do is sweat a little and then go even easier until you've cooled off. I've been known to take loops around the parking lot to cool off, in the shade where I could find it, after going a little too hard. It's faster actually to go slower than to spend extra time cooling off, but if you know that the sweat is going to come pouring off as soon as you stop, you just have to keep going ...

PaperBag

Would something like this work? Champion Vapor Heather Men's T Shirt | # T6274 | Championusa.com



Hmm, I only have so much room in my backpack, adding clothes sounds crappy, especially since I tend to wear sort of chunky clothes (cargo pants, shirt, jacket). I'll have to think about it.



Yeah, I've noticed that I get sweatiest where my backpack is pressed against me.



"If you shower daily" lol



"Before sunrise" That's part of the issue too, my classes don't start until 12 o'clock, and the school doesn't even open until 7:30, so that's an issue.
Also there are a lot of hills, not huge ones, but basically lots of small ones, because the trail I use is right next to a river, and the trail rises up to meet up with the street at least 3 times every mile. It's up and down constantly. Overall, it is an uphill incline to my school by a little more than a hundred feet.
Also A huge part of the issue is that I have long hair, so if I get even a little sweaty, it starts to become extremely apparent. So this might not even be an option right now (I don't want to cut my hair).

mcrow

IDK, at this point I sweat going around the block. I used to commute when I only had 6 miles to work but now I'm about 60 miles. Where I work has a bike shop in the basement that has secured storage for bikes, locker rooms with showers and a full service coffee & bike shop. That was about as sweet a setup as one can get, too bad I live so far away now.

PaulRivers

a. If you shower in the morning or the night before, while you get sweaty, you usually don't stink. This seems to vary somewhat between different people, but for most people sweating != stink if you've showered recently with soap.

b. Related, it sounds weird and is totally optional, but removing armpit hair decreasesthe odds of smell. I hit it with the trimmer - it looks better playing volleyball. Honestly, I'm vain, what do you want, but it reduces smell. Totally optional, just an afterthought.

c. Wear different clothes for the ride that you wear at school. For 2-3 miles I wouldn't worry about it, but 10 miles it can start to become a thing. I wear shorts and tshirt to work, then change when I get to work.

d. Slow down and bike slower on your last mile to school. When you're biking hard your body produces a lot of heat. When you bike at 50-75%, your body produces a *lot* less heat, but on the bike you're still getting a lot of airflow (it's like standing in front of a fan) so you'll get cooled down faster. If you slow down on the last stretch, you arrive with your body back in "not working hard" mode - not sweating much, and dry again.

wphamilton

Well, along the river you have trees right? So the shade mitigates the direct sunshine somewhat. And a hundred feet up over 10 miles wouldn't be much problem. The issue is how steep the inclines to the roads are along your river trail. Short enough or not too steep you could still be ok. I've got a few of those on my river trail, and I don't really notice it any more, but yours could be a lot more pronounced. The only thing for it is a few test runs to see if a no-sweat ride is possible.

I've got long hair to, but not as thick as yours since I'm 55 and you're going to school :LOL: It gets about as sweaty, or not, as does the rest of me. I'm not going to tell you anything about helmets, but the breeze in your hair does tend to cool and keep it dry ...

PaulRivers

Just a thought, an Arkel Bug -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NWQ51JVjpU

Though to be fair, it's expensive, and not sure it has enough capacity.

Another alternative is have a basket in the back of the bike, throw the backpack in there.

You can often leave most clothes in your locket at school, only occassionally transporting them back and forth, but that does cut into your time savings.

tds101 

I ride, I sweat, I get to work & wash up and change my clothes. I deal with it myself, and I'm not fond of going to work drenched in sweat.

PaperBag

A. I do shower daily, and I've noticed that I don't stink at all, even after having gone the entire school day and then riding my bike, so stench isn't really my issue.
B. Lol
C. Sigh, lol. Sometimes I have a lot of stuff in my backpack, so it's kind of annoying to add more stuff.
D. Slower biking seems to be the consensus.

It depends on the time of day on whether or not the trees help really. For the majority of the ride, I'm on the east side of the river, which means if I ride in the morning, so the trees won't help very much, plus there really aren't that many trees for the majority of the ride anyways, maybe only 3 miles have consistent tree covering.
The inclines probably never go past a 30 degree angle. But on average they're probably at least 25 degree angle, I'm not sure if that's really all that bad? But like I said, it happens a lot.
I'll just have to try a test run on a day I don't have school, like you said.
It always seems to me like my head and neck area sweat way more than any other area of my body, but it probably has a lot to to with my hair retaining moisture...

I've ridden with a front basket before, and it was super annoying, but maybe it's because there was always a dog in it... I also don't think my bike could even have a tail-end basket. The thing in your video could probaly work, but I'm poor, sooo, lol.
No lockers at my school :/ (college) it's not a big campus.

Sullalto

Find a way to shower at your destination.

wphamilton

For me the direct sunlight is the biggest challenge. It's a little more direct here, so I couldn't say what you're facing in CO.

25 degrees slope is pretty bad, I hope it's short. Good luck with the test runs.

ThermionicScott 

"Super sweaty" is how I roll.

joeyduck

Do you have showers at your school?

Can you find a way to attach a rear rack? They can be found fairly cheap, plus a few bungee cords. @wphamilton had a post about how he hangs his bag between headset and top tube, this may be an option.

If no shower then you can use the old hand towel/wash rag wipe down. Bike without a shirt will keep it dry.

wphamilton

With books and such I'd go with a rack though. The frame bag only works if it isn't too bulky - for me that's one change of clothes and maybe a lunch container.

bbeasley

^ I live in the tropics of South Louisiana, no choice down here.

joeyduck

This is how I roll.

But according to @fietsbob I should be okay since I am further north.

Everyone's internal thermostat is different. My wife has hot baths, a cup of tea and thick blanket on the bed. I take a brief just warm of cold shower and drink ice water and sleep on top of the sheets. This was last night.

At 9pm last night a friend was over talking bikes standing next to me looking at the computer and was commenting on the heat I was radiating.

So find what works for you; slower, change of shirt and a rack might be the best choices.

Steely Dan

i sweat like a mo-fo whether i ride 10 miles or 10 feet. and i've been doing the bike commuting gig for over 7 years now.

my body simply ABHORS being even the slightest bit warm, and at the very 1st sign of any physical activity, it turns on the water works.

there's nothing i can apparently do about this. the only thing that's ever worked for me is toweling off and changing into new clothes at my destination.

joeyduck

I have been told that sweating like that (which I also do) is a sign of an efficient and fit body.

DrPangloss

Me too. And it's embarrassing in my case because I'm a woman. But I'd rather sweat than suffer from hyperthermia.