dooderic

I do a 14 mile commute to school a few times a week and am having problems getting my jersey and shorts to dry. Although I have classes for 6-8 hours when I go, my clothes don't have much of a chance to dry off while they sit in my bag. When the weather was still nice I didn't mind it as much, but riding home in a damp jersey and shorts at 10pm with low temperatures is not one of the most pleasant things I can think of.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can possibly dry my clothes? Right now I have them between the cordura and canvas in my chrome bag, but it's not doing much.

Thanks!

FlyingAnchor

Is there a place you can store them that is warm? In a bag of any kind you will have trouble drying them.

Maybe the janitor has a place to hang them or there is a computer somewhere you can lay them on, hang them out a window, or if all else fails try putting them in a heater vent tied to a string so others can't see them. Of course the smell may make that problematic.

Steven

LittleBigMan

Dooderic,

Bring a clean change, keep those dirties bagged up in plastic.

dooderic

Unfortunately I can't afford to have multiples sets of jersey's and shorts. Stuck with these for now!



Also, I'd feel beyond weird asking one of my professors to let me drape my smelly clothes over their computer or on the heater. Hah.


Just wondering if anyone has tips. Thanks!

Zero_Enigma

It has been a long time since I've played with a locker before. That comments also explains I've been out of school for some time. From what I recall of the lockers you should be able to go to Walmart or any store and look at thier hangers for pants. I chose Wallys because often you can get them for free with the purchase of something there or if you ask really kindly the CSR's on the ground may give you 1 or 2 (happened to be before and ask very kindly) but ask when you don't see a manager floating around you asking them.

I find the pants/swimwear hangers for pants and such the best shortened size to clip and hang your gear. I forgot but I do believe in my school days I used such a setup once to dry a wet shirt and the hanger fit inside the locker. Now I don't know how many hangers the lockers have but I'm pretty sure there is at least one hanger. You can go to Home Depot and find a adhesive on plastic hook so you have spare hangers in the locker.

Now if the area is warm (thermometer may help) then the cloths can dry a bit faster but if not get a cheap fan from the dollar store and stick some batteries in it and gun tape that inside the locker. It will help speed up the air circulation to dry the clothes. I find half used or low batteries best to keep the RPM's on the fan low. I would think fresh batteries will make the fans high RPM's hum in the locker sparking curiosity to others and also possibly scaring others in a post 9-11 scare that you have some bomb or something in the locker. You may get 60% dry in cool temps or 90-100% dry in warm temps with a fan.

Hey if you can get a Kim Possible setup in the locker then you'll have AC plugs and can put a heater in on low.

axelfox

Bring a set of regular clothes.

BarracksSi

He already is, and is keeping his cycling clothes in his bag during classes.

You're talking about college, right? If this were HS, I'd expect that you still get to use lockers.

What about a rec center/gym on campus? If there is one, surely they've got a locker room that you could use for the day.

Beyond that... man, I'm not sure. Maybe find a girlfriend who lives in the dorm and will be willing to let you change & hang your clothes there (maybe she'll scrub your back, too ).

dobber

I often hung my gear in the boiler room.

bike2math

Hange them on your bike outside. Whose going to mess with a smelly pair of bike shorts?

I hang my helmet and gloves on my bike on a college campus every day.

I have had poor luck getting clothes to dry in a locker. Luckily I now have an office.

I just had a brillian idea though: At many colleges you can reserve a study cubicle in one of the libraries. Bring some clothes hangers and go nuts. Some of the ones I've seen even have doors.

Pepper Grinder

Get a desiccant.

Mr. Underbridge

Couple of options:

1) Can you get into a dorm laundry room? If so, you could always just use a dryer. Might not want to spend the $1 per day though.

2) When I was in college the locker room actually had a sort of centrifuge spinner for drying out swim suits. Don't know how common that is.

banerjek

Lockers don't really help. At the job I used to have, I rented a locker at a health club so I'd have a place to shower off and although they were ventilated, I'd wind up donning cold wet tights, tops, socks, and shoes in the afternoon.

To get stuff dry, you can try using hand dryers in the bathroom before you put clothes away. This doesn't work that great in all honesty, but it's better than nothing. What you really need is a place to hang your clothes. If you can find a place where you can hang them near an air vent (maybe where you or someone you know works), that will be more effective. If that isn't an option, the only solution is to come to terms with putting on cold wet clothes. Once you ride a mile or two, they'd be wet again anyway.

ericy

A dog would do it in a heartbeat.

daredevil

You just need to buddy up with a teacher or janitor or someone and get em hung up. There's got to be thousands of places to hang em where they can air out and dry. If you were a student of mine, I'd find a place for you. Probably a place for your bike too.

chephy

On a college campus?.. Yeah, right, nobody...

If I were determined to wear bike clothes both ways, I'd probably hang them in a locker (my university had lots to rent all over the campus) and, if necessary, also do this hand-dryer thingie in a washroom. Or, you could find a way to drape them creatively around your backpack... and sit at the back. However, it's more likely that I personally would probably just bike back in regular clothes. I used to have an 11-mile one-way commute to school, and never felt that I had to wear any special bike clothes to do it.

BTW, even if you do feel the need for technical clothing, you don't need a bike-specific jersey per se. Bike shorts, I grant, are tough to replace, but lots of cheapie workout shirts from Walmart and the like are basically as good at wicking moisture as many bike-specific jerseys. Do you really need to pay extra fifty bucks for three tiny rear pockets?

kchan99

I'm not familiar with the fabrics in bike clothing. If gentle heat doesn't mess up the fabric, how drying your clothes under the hand dryer (if available) in the restroom during a break?

derath

I have a hard time believing that. For a 14 mile commute you don't need top of the line. Also do you literally have ONE pair of shorts and ONE jersey? If not then you already have enough to do this. You would just have to wash them more often.

Also you can easily get away with some cheap microfiber shirts instead of an actual jersey for a 14 mile ride. Especially if you use any kind of backpack, since the pack blocks the jersey pockets (main reason to use one).

-D

LittleBigMan

Cool, been there.

Wherever you decide to hang them, wash them in the bathroom sink with hot water and hand soap, first. Then they won't be smelly.

If you find some place with enough dry, free air, your clothes will be fresh and dry by the time your shift is over (or your 6-8 hour class schedule.) You won't need a heater if you do the following:

Use clean towels. Lay each towel flat, then lay a clean, washed item flat on the towel. Slowly roll the towel on a flat surface as tightly as possible with the garment inside. Once tightly rolled, using the palms of your hands, press your body weight down on the roll repeatedly to squeeze the excess water out of your clothes into the towel. Do for each of your clothes, until they have gone from wet to damp. Then hang. (Note: synthetics dry much faster than cotton, and cotton/synthetic blends dry somewere in-between.)

If your clothes are clean, the towels can be used again. Just hang them up, too.



(Remember to wash your clothes properly in a washing machine when you get home. It's much faster and convenient than hand washing.)

samsmeg

+1

cyccommute 

Hang them on hangers in an out of the way place. I hang mine in a stairwell at work...have for 20+ years...right over where I park my bike. You probably don't have to worry about anyone stealing damp smelly clothes. Even the most crass of thieves probably draws the line there

And, yes, get them out of the bag. Nothing will dry there.

slagjumper

Find a big air handler and hang them there. I work in a data center so sometimes I just toss my shorts against the intake screen and they kind of suck on and stay in place. Avoid heat sources. Hang them instead of leaving them in the bag.

paulrad9

Get a credit card. It's like getting stuff for free

Zero_Enigma

Till the end of the month.

Zero_Enigma

If you can't afford spare jerseys or shorts (I find the shorts more expensive then the jerseys somehow) just go to the stores now and check fo rthe end of summer selection and get another cheap set (no neon pink and green patterns please ) and you can get them rather cheap now. To McD it, I would say you could get a shirt for two McD meals and I would suspect (don't normally pay attention to the shorts) the shorts would be 3 McD meals so assuming $5/meal we're talking $15-20 dollars compared to $50+ on the good stuff.

I was at https://www.canadiantire.ca (it if asks for a postial code enter M5H 1K5 (random postal code for the Toronto Orchestra) ) and they hve clearance on thier summer gear now for about 50-60% off (more like base+ 10% profit for Can.T seeing how some stuff is expensive there). For the women you're lucky pending location I guess as I've seen a lot of tops (hey they put the mens stuff all mixed up with the ladies stuff together ) in the xsmall, small, and medium size around as with the plus sizes as well and I'd say it's about 3:1 ratio of womens to mens stuff around so you ladies have a good pick of good savings on lots of techincal gear for cheap like $15-25 cheap on stuff that's 50-60% off. Guys you have the shorts, shirts, and technical runner shirts with back pockets. Shorts I've seen a lot of size 32's around whichis rare as often when hunting online for deals all 30-32 sizes are normally the frst to go. I guess thier waist sizes went up or something . I'll have to check out Wallys as well as now seems the best time to get a good bang for your buck on the cheapie second/thrid pair of spares while riding if you're on a budget (who isn't).

Zero_Enigma

You could always ride in the buff and change at school so you donb't have anything to hang.