Question about bike shorts and commuting...

[8bit]

I assume you're going to shower anyway when you get home, so the issue isn't so much putting on dirty clothes over again but the possibility of bacterial growth. I'll second the suggestions to just let your shorts dry out over the day (or at least don't smoosh them into a bag while they're wet). If you try it and suddenly start getting saddle sores, then it wouldn't be very hard to go back to the 2-shorts a day system.

I don't know if this idea sounds horribly disgusting to you, but I've done multi-day tours where I've re-worn dirty shorts and haven't had any additional trouble from it other than getting chafed in the same spots from wearing the same shorts. *oversharing* If you're worried about cleanliness of the other bodily secretion sort, the key to the shorts re-wear up to several days is wearing a tampon */oversharing*

[Geonz]

HOly cow, "they" always say Americans are totally twisted about cleanliness... remember the good old days in pioneer times when you'd sew youreself into your clothes for the winter? (Oh, yea, a lot of people died, too...)

But seriously, it ain't nothin' but a thing! IMO if you ahve to use a bunch of grease the shorts prob'ly don't fit, but then I've never used chamois butter at all... so I may be made of different stuff (or it might be riding the more upright stallion).

[CorsairMac]

I base it on miles: I wear mine for about 25 miles or 2 days of commuting. I figure if I was going on a long ride I'd wear those shorts for 25, 50 100 miles....it's not going to hurt me to wear them 2 days in a row

oh: and I don't use chamois creme - even for my long rides....never have.

[Cassandra_Cain]

Sorry but I don't get why wearing shorts twice in a day is 'gross'?

I mean you wear your underwear say 10, 12, maybe 14 hours continuously?

So why the worry about wearing bike shorts for a grand total of 2-3 hours a day for your commute ?

Just my opinion....

About chamois butter....I have never needed or used the stuff.

[GLC1968]

I think I need to explain myself a bit better.

Up until the past two commutes, I have always used Assos chamois cream. It's wet and kind of slimy and then it mixes with sweat (and perhaps other bodily fluids). If I were to leave the shorts hanging in a locker for 8 hours, I figured it would either be super stinky, extra slimy or worse...hard. The thought of pulling that up against my naked privates is very unappealing. It's bad enough when I have to pee at mile 75 of a century...I didn't want to have to do it every damn day unless there was no other option.

I don't bike with any other women whom I could ask...and men are obviously structured a little different down there!

For whatever reason, it never occured to me that I could just skip the cream. Now I get it...and no, it's not gross to wear bike shorts for two consecutive commutes when the chamois isn't saturated with stuff! I appreciate all the info...you learn something new every day.

[Geonz]

Okay, now it makes sense :-)

Happy slime-skipping commutes!! See how long it takes you to get to a "commiting century" - 100 trips!

[Tater]

Happy slime-skipping commutes!! See how long it takes you to get to a "commiting century" - 100 trips!

Woo-hoo! I am over a century. I will have to count the rest of the days in the year to see if I can squeeze out a double, though!

[GLC1968]

Happy slime-skipping commutes!! See how long it takes you to get to a "commiting century" - 100 trips!

Oooh, what a great idea! I'm off to see if its possible get a century in before the end of the year....