Originally Posted by
JakiChan
That's my point. My "gentle cycle" is rather short, and I use sports detergent, but it's still a spin cycle. However the stomping is harsher than the washing machine. I will say this - things like fabric softener do inhibit moisture transfer, and there are things in hair shampoo that are similar. Which is why this plan may be worse than just throwing them in the washer.
You're definitely overthinking this.
There is no way that the tiny amount of residue that fabric softener leaves in any way detracts significantly from the performance of bike shorts or a jersey. No way.
And again, even if the stomping and wringing is harsher than the washing machine (it likely is), the shorts and jerseys STILL come out fine. I've done it as well in the past, and even though I don't stomp on 'em or wring em anymore, I used to for over a yera, and I'm still wearing those shorts and bibs and jerseys no problemo.
The amount of delicateness people treat their bike clothes with is really humorous to me now that I've had 4-5 years to see how sturdy the stuff is. If anything, you should be babying your cotton clothing since those are the ones that lose lots of fibers as lint in the dryer - the technical clothes lose almost none.