My commute is only 7 or 8 miles each way. I find if I shower at home and apply deodorant and perfume, ride like the wind (albeit a pudgy, out-of-breath, beet red, and slow wind), then pretty much coast the last mile, I arrive at work only a little sweaty.
Though still beet red.
I wander around for 15 or 20 minutes dressed in only my Eurohalter or a tank-top and the bottoms I rode in on. Sweat in my bobbed hair makes it damp enough to comb it and pin it, and it dries in the 15 or 20 minutes the rest of me dries.
Then I put on my "professional" clothes.
Folks at work say I don't stink, and I trust them on that. My hair looks fine. I reapply make-up if I need to, but rarely need to.
My biggest piece of advice would be: get ready at home like you would for any other day. Just wear biking clothes out the door. If your commute is short and fairly flat like mine, you won't sweat enough (and it is fresh odorless sweat) to mess you up. Even your hair will behave better than you expect.
Last edited by KnottedYet; 07-07-2011 at 06:39 PM.
"If Americans want to live the American Dream, they should go to Denmark." - Richard Wilkinson