Commuting - clean-up: OK to wait a few minutes?

I have no shower access at work, so when I get in I clean up in a bathroom stall. This morning I was a little early.

Do you stink more if you cool off/air dry and THEN clean up, or should you get the sweat off ASAP?

I always wait a few minutes to cool off and stop sweating before cleaning up and changing.

Both. Get the sweat of ASAP, but then feel free to lounge around to cool off -- if your office and co-workers permit it. I usually get in between 7:30 and 8:00, while no one else shows up until 8-8:15. This gives me some time to sit in a t-shirt before buttoning up so I cool down, drink some water, and respond to personal emails (or check BF). After ten or fifteen minutes, I'm ready to suit up and start the day.

I think it depends on what you use to clean up with. I use Antibacterial Ultra Wet Ones Portable Washcloths:

http://www.skincareandgrooming.com/Wet%20Ones%20Ultra%2C%20Portable%20Washcloths%2C%20Antibacterial/Store/68320

I buy them from some place like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. They work great.

They are larger then baby wipes. WhenI have time I sit in the break room & cool off for a little bit before I clean up & change.

Unless dreadfully cold (<10F) I'd plop myself down at the picnic table and consume the remainder of my water bottle (forced hydration). I'd find that I actually sweat more during the first few minutes after the ride then during (more likely I don't have that nice air-flow wicking away moisture).

Strip off helmet and skull-cap, unzip the jacket or jersey and basically air myself out. Repeat the same answers to the same questions as the cow-workers streamed in from the parking lot.

After 5-10 minutes I'd go in and commence the baby-wipe dance. I think you get cleaner, or at least feel cleaner, if you wait a bit.

Every once in a while I'd score a doughnut from somebody with an early morning meeting. And the vending machine guy would occasionally comp me a soda.

And on a really nice summer morning, I'd occasionally grab a quick power-nap.

I find that if i dry off to quickly i'll just start sweating again (core temperature obviously still being too high), so i leave it for 5 mins and then dry up/get changed.
Remember though that it's not the sweat itself that starts to smell, it's the reaction between sweat and bacteria on the skin. To counter this i get up and shower, then ride to work dry off and don't smell cos most of the bacteria were removed during the morning shower. Not sure if this works for the reasons given or if i'm just lucky, but i don't get any complaints using this approach.

i work at starbucks so im going to be covered in mocha and stink like coffee within an hour or two. i may rinse my face in the sink then i just throw on my black clothes and get to work :)

The first thing I do when I reach the bike rack is take the helmet off, then the first thing I do in the stall is take my jersy off. I use baby wipes as well. I figure that I want to remove sweat/sweaty objects off ASAP. Admittedly, I only have a 2.5 mile ride but still sweat a great deal. My pulse is already down by the time I lock the bike up and walk down a hallway to the bathroom. I then eat an apple and drink a waterbottle in the break room about 5-10 mins before clocking in. My coworkers do not complain of odor, but then again... I work in a microbiology lab, so tends to smell in there anyway.
Scott

I wait at least 10 minutes, otherwise I get out of the shower still sweating.

when i get into the stall i just get all my bike clothes off and slowly throw on the work gear...

ususally the quick shot of air conditioning works really well at drying me off. occasionally on real hot days i use a couple apaper towels to aid the process.

i really think the morning shower means less toxic sweat and eliminates my need for any clean-up ritual... but then i never wore deodarant or cologne before bike commuting either. i seem to smell like my clothes (laundry detergent) all day. by the time i get home and put a second trip into my bike clothes though i am good and ready for another shower ;)

when i get into the stall i just get all my bike clothes off and slowly throw on the work gear...

ususally the quick shot of air conditioning works really well at drying me off. occasionally on real hot days i use a couple apaper towels to aid the process.

i really think the morning shower means less toxic sweat and eliminates my need for any clean-up ritual... but then i never wore deodarant or cologne before bike commuting either. i seem to smell like my clothes (laundry detergent) all day. by the time i get home and put a second trip into my bike clothes though i am good and ready for another shower ;)

LOL I was going to say you sound exactly like me until the part about no deodorant. :eek:

I wait at least 10 minutes, otherwise I get out of the shower still sweating.

Same here. I usually run the water pretty cool after I'm all clean just to help cool me down further.

I'm really glad there is a shower here though. I don't think I'd do this otherwise since my commute is about 10 miles one way and it's pretty hilly. I work in a office environment so stinking all day long isn't really an option.

man people are uptight about their natural body odor... if you wear clean clothes when you get to work and shower before you leave how bad can it be????

maybe it's the hippie in me but i'd rather have someone exude a little natural funk than a perfume/cologne overdose any day.... there are ladies here at work i can't even be around as the fake flowery smell they emit just makes me gag...

btw, i work in an office as well, ride more like 15 miles a day... and i don't stink. ;)

.......and i don't stink. ;)

Actually, we're just being polite, hoping you'd catch on.

I wait until I've cooled down. I sit at my computer and read emails, compose letters, get on BF, etc. When I've cooled down I head for the restroom with a wash cloth, small towel, and baby powder. :)
No one has complained yet.

i work in an office as well, ride more like 15 miles a day... and i don't stink. ;)
Just as you can't hear your own accent, you can't smell your own stink..... :D

I am a massage therapist, so I need to be as neutral smelling as possible. I usually take 10-15 minutes to cool down and clean off. I head to an unused massage room and take off my shirt, take a wet towel and wipe my torso off with it, then dry off with a new (dry, obviously) towel. Since I ride wearing Chaco sandals, I always have to clean my feet to get the dust and grime off -- that's the most refreshing part of riding.

After drying off, I apply some Burt's Bees herbal deoderant (I use a salt crystal after I shower) as it cools my body off and actually makes me smell really neutral after the alcohol evaporates.

I put on my work shirt and head out to greet my client.

Total time 5-15 mins depending on the temperature, humidity, and how hard I pushed myself.

Maybe I just don't push myself hard enough, but by the time I strip to the skin and put on all freshly-laundered clothes, even after riding 16 miles to work, the sweat is gone. I hold with several of the above posters: There's nothing wrong with clean sweat. A swipe of nearly neutral deodorant/antiperspirant and as nearly as I can tell, you couldn't discern that I had not just emerged from a nice clean auto. Compare that to someone who has just smoked in his or her grease-laden SUV, and I'll take sweat any day.

I'm lucky enough to have a shower waiting for me at the studio at the end of my commute, so I start off with warm-to-hot water to calm my muscles down, then incrementally tap the dial over until i'm doing a final rinse-off with cool water. By the time I'm at rinse-off, I'm below studio temperature...which is nice, because it helps stave off the no-AC, mugginess of the studio during the growing season.

If I didn't have a shower, first thing I'd be doing for cleanup is a cool washcloth to back of neck and small of back. This will really pull the heat out of your core and stop the sweating...and after a hot ride it feels REALLY good!