Lovely commute - sweaty arrival

[finnporter]

wow, thanks for all the comments!

On days where I have just classes/work it's not so bad. I don't mind that. Because I can give myself enough time to arrive and dry or it doesn't really matter to me because sitting in a HUGE room with lots of other students who came by bike...who gives a damn. Also, I can always go and change at least my t-shirt or something.

What I'm still trying to figure out are days like today. I'll have to be at a friends house at 11, meet at another place with my estate agent at 12, pick up a prescription from my doctor at 2, walk the dog of my mother-in-law and then get some grocery shopping done before heading to my LBS to pick up my brake cables. It's the days of running errands that get to me, because I sit on the bike start sweating, dry off while doing something, get on the bike again, start sweating again...rinse and repeat. By the time I'll be at my doctor's I'll feel completely grubby.

Just like Crankin said, I love to sweat. Going for a run or ride, I'm pissed off when I don't sweat properly (maybe because of a dry, warm wind), but going round town I just don't like the feeling of it - and I'm not really the person to care what others might think of my sweaty state (seriously, who cares?) but I care about how I feel.

But maybe it's as you say, shootingstar: If I'm doing it for long enough, I'll forget about it.

[shootingstar]

Then I wonder how many women who bike for transportation within their own city, do it in Europe? They have the same lifestyle as yours....? and bike in their ordinary clothing/business wear.

This is why I'm not interested in cycling in dressier clothing (ie. dress, skirt, etc.). It's clothing that's either cycling wear or very casual wear (ie. walking shorts). For latter, then I don't feel I've ruined a great top/pair dress pants so quickly for the washing machine.

[colorisnt]

I don't sweat all that much unless it's exceedingly hot (which it often is here in the summer). I find that helps me get away with it a bit. Even when I had a 15 mi round trip that was all hills, I was still not that sweaty. Right now, I only encounter a couple normal sized hills and my RT is 5 miles. So, it's nothing. I could ride in a dress and be fine and I often ride in Zoic jeggings (which I will wear with a tunic or something to teach in) or skinny jeans but as it gets warmer, I will take my liner shorts and put them under mostly skirts and dresses because that's how I dress in the summer.

I do get a bit sweaty on hot days but I keep deodorant at the office along with a hairbrush and if it's hot, I change clothes or take off my baselayer and put on underoos (I don't wear underwear on the bike basically ever). I will run errands before/after work with lots of stop and go. I will even do a grocery run at the end of the day and be okay. I used to worry more about sweating around people but the BF says he really can't "smell" anything until I ride 25+ miles or its really hot, so if he doesn't mind and is sitting basically right next to me while out to eat or whatever, I figure most people don't notice. I've never had an officemate notice and these are some brutally honest people.

[ak2outside]

Currently, I have the most fortunate advantage of having a full shower at work. I love it more than any other non-monetary benefit.
Formerly, I did not have that luxury. I would use (and still do if in a pinch, or going somewhere else that I need to be "presentable") anti- monkey butt towels. I buy them on Amazon. I've heard very good things about Walgreen's skin wipes, but we do not have a local Walgreens. Other skin wipes I buy from the grocery all seem to have a very perfume-y, lingering odor. I bought some from L'Occittane, but cannot afford to use those frequently. I carry a couple in the seat pouch of my road bike, and in full quantity in my commuting panniers. If I ever leave my job, I will definitely only leave if they have washing facilities. There is nothing that can compare to the comfort of sitting all day behind this damned screen squeaky clean.

[azfiddle]

I'm a science teacher and I wash my hair in the sink (it helps having the little hose attachment) and run to the nearest bathroom to dry my hair. It takes me about 10 minutes to clean up. I usually only ride on Fridays when we can wear jeans and school t-shirts.

[Crankin]

I now use the Ban Refresh cloths to freshen up. They are not smelly or sticky. I've only had a couple of days when I was really sweaty from commuting so far; it's more from humidity than heat.
The part that bothers me is my hair. It doesn't take more than 5 minutes for me to fix it (product and fingers on the top/sides and flat iron on the bangs), but why can't I have the kind of hair that just falls straight and dry when I take my helmet off???? Instead, my head is soaked and my bangs are flipped into a backwards C. It was not so bad in the cooler weather, but I would kill for straight hair, not frizzy, bendy, twisty, ugly hair. I would even kill for naturally curly hair. Anything would be better than what I have and that's the reason it's short!

[azfiddle]

Crankin, mine does all that AND I'm suffering from hair loss (hereditary my doc says, but depressing) so it is just embarrassing to take my helmet off in public