BryanW

Swimming is a great workout, and much more fun than boring gym-sessions, but I wouldn't swim in shorts I'd ridden in. For a start, riding afterwards in a soggy pad isn't much fun (unless tri-shorts, which have a much thinner pad). But also, they'll be loaded with sweat and bacteria, even if you rinse off before you go in, and that means the pool management have to put even more chlorine in to keep the nasties down. (If everyone was made to shower properly before they swam the level of chlorine in pools would be much lower and more pleasant.)

But if you do, try to rinse lycra shorts in water mixed with wetsuit shampoo as soon as you get out of the pool. (Carry a small container of it with you and do it in the bathroom sink.) It very much increases the life of lycra and pays for itself pretty quickly.