Originally Posted by
Steely Dan
i've ridden 15 miles every morning to my job that doesn't have showers for over 5 years now.
1. shower before you leave home.
2. take off sweaty bike clothes when you get to work.
3. towel off, reapply deodorant, sink shower if necessary.
4. put on clean work clothes.
this method has been working just fine for me for years. sweat doesn't smell by itself, it's the bacteria that grows in sweat that's allowed to linger that stinks. so get the sweat and sweaty clothes off of you when you arrive at work. a full blown shower is a nice way to accomplish that, but it's not necessary.
Works for me, changing clothes is the important part and why I don't ride in the clothes I plan on wearing that day.
I've noticed that it is only the next to skin layers that really seem to develop an odor. I have a poly jacket that I wear as a mid-layer during the winter. It gets damp during the ride, but dries if I wear it for about 20 minutes after changing. It never gets smelly despite polyester's propensity to latch onto funk. The same principal of wearing a skull cap keeps my helmet from getting rank.