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Originally Posted by TheLibrarian
(Post 18562268)
I'd think cotton breaths more than spandex, lycra and whatever these new materials are though i think cycling clothes take sweating into account. they say they wick but do they breath well and let air in and out?
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Odor:
- Shower in the morning with soap before leaving. If you can't do that, at least the night before (and apply deodoerant the night before). Odor is caused by the bacteria living on your skin, soap it off and there's a lot less odor even if you sweat a lot. Most people (not all) can seat buckets but not smell if they showered in the morning and are wearing fresh clothes. - Wash your clothes frequently for the same reason. - If you trim or shave the armpit hair it holds onto smell/bacteria less. Fyi. - A lot of synthetics are very bad for holding onto odor. Cotton can actually be much better, wool is great but expensive. Bottom line, if your shirt starts stinking after 1 time of wearing it try a different shirt or material. Sweat: - The last 10 minutes of your commute take it real easy. On a bike you basically always have a headwind - take advantage of that to cool off while biking with a lot less effort. - You can also dial back how intensely you sweat by biking a little easier - If you have a fridge or ice at work, drink something cold when you get to work. It will cool you down very quickly. |
Originally Posted by StanSeven
(Post 18562243)
wear shirts of high tech wicking material
Not all of them, but some of them. |
Originally Posted by bikinglife
(Post 18553394)
Hello,
So I'm going on my second warm season of serious commuting. I was wondering if anyone would have any tips for a relative newcomer to the cycling world as regards sweating less and/or avoiding sweat altogether. Same goes for body odours. I'm aware that a change of clothes is good idea, but are there methods and/or clothing materials that I should know about to keep sweating and odour to a minimum. Thanks |
Originally Posted by no motor?
(Post 18562214)
Washing your clothes with Boraxo helps control the odors on your clothes.
We noticed that our clothes didn't have the strong perfume odor of detergent anymore, but more importantly, they didn't stink as much when dirty. I found it much more noticeable with my 'hi-tech performance apparel.' I didn't smell like a wet camel when I got to work. Another thing I did was to take some baby wipes and put them in a Ziploc bag with a little witch hazel and rubbing alcohol. I keep some in my backpack for those not-so-fresh days. |
Stay home and watch re-runs of the TDF --- LOL
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Originally Posted by 79pmooney
(Post 18553431)
There is one thing you can do to improve comfort on those big sweat days. Start now trimming your salt. The less salt you eat on a regular basis, the less your body puts into your sweat and urine. Hence your clothes get less salty and feel better. Sweat in your eyes will sting less.
Don't go salt free right before a ride! This retraining of your body is a slow process. Takes months. But I came to dislike very salty food and food that used to need a good shake or two of salt no longer did. It was life changing. I avoided processed foods and no longer used a salt shaker. My dirty riding clothes were not salty and I was immune to the ills of low sodium on very hot and humid days, the reason I went low salt. Still had to take in potassium. |
If you are currently using a bag or plan to get one, don't use a backpack. Get a pannier or something that hangs off the bike, not you. The airflow makes a huge difference.
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Originally Posted by cwjDC
(Post 18574560)
... The airflow makes a huge difference.
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
(Post 18553542)
It's impossible not to sweat during those hot humid summer days...The best you can do, is to try and minimize your sweating by riding at a lower intensity, using technical fabrics which wick moisture and dry fast and also bring a deodorant with you to work. Thin lightweight merino wool is great to wear in warm weather, wool is not just good in cold weather, it also works great when it's warm.
Originally Posted by noglider
(Post 18553880)
Believe it or not, a merino wool t-shirt can help control sweat and odor. I just got a Smartwool t shirt. It is extremely thin and comfortable. I haven't tried in warm weather yet, but I used to wear them. I can wear them several days in a row without smelling bad because of the material's wicking action.
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I've been wearing this new Smartwool shirt nearly every day for two weeks. I'm waiting for it to get stinky.
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Originally Posted by mgw4jc
(Post 18575297)
Agreed. Which is why I can't believe nobody has suggested - BIKE NAKED!
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Ride earlier and later...
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Originally Posted by GovernorSilver
(Post 18582109)
It's because the OP is in Quebec, Canada where it is about 3 degrees F today.
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Even with the advice in this thread, you're going to sweat to some extent and you're going to need to deal with it.
One way I mitigate the damage is to use dress shields—not the ones that stick to your clothing—that sit in between my armpit and my shirt. I sweat into the shields, not the armpit of my shirt, and can remove that sweat by simply taking off the dress shields when I get to my destination. I can even carry a few if I want a fresh pair later. I use these. Don't worry about the bra aspect; I don't even bother with those straps most of the time. Also carry something you can use to wipe yourself down in a restroom if needed, like these wipes. |
Originally Posted by gregjones
(Post 18576753)
Merino is the first and best of the "technical fabrics"---it built the wealth of Spain. Man has yet to make anything better. The Icebreaker tees are 150 wt. and work fine in hot weather or warm work environments. I have a merino cycling jersey that is at least as heavy as the 200 wt. base layers. I wore it just over 70 miles in the last week, as a test. Tonight I gave it to my female roommate (she could smell a mouse fart in a hurricane) and said I didn't know if this is the one I just washed or not. She stuck her nose in it and declared it "Good to go, I can't smell any funk in it"!!! Proof positive of the odor resistance of merino fabrics.:p
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Try summer in Atlanta. When you go home you'll think you're not sweating anymore :)
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Originally Posted by gregjones
(Post 18576753)
Merino is the first and best of the "technical fabrics"---it built the wealth of Spain. Man has yet to make anything better. The Icebreaker tees are 150 wt. and work fine in hot weather or warm work environments. I have a merino cycling jersey that is at least as heavy as the 200 wt. base layers. I wore it just over 70 miles in the last week, as a test. Tonight I gave it to my female roommate (she could smell a mouse fart in a hurricane) and said I didn't know if this is the one I just washed or not. She stuck her nose in it and declared it "Good to go, I can't smell any funk in it"!!! Proof positive of the odor resistance of merino fabrics.:p
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Originally Posted by GovernorSilver
(Post 18582109)
It's because the OP is in Quebec, Canada where it is about 3 degrees F today.
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In the summertime on the more humid days I show up for work literally soaked with sweat. If I didn't have shoes on I would be dripping on the floor. Then strangely enough, when I get home in the afternoon (and it's hotter) the sweat evaporates off me a lot more and I just get home "damp".
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if you can smell yourself and it stinks, you have a problem
many people who 'smell' don't think they smell bad, yet others smell the bad odour ride to work earlier, use a backpack, take extra clothes and shower.... then use deodorant |
Slow down... Get stronger... I've found that works the best once you are done with all clothing changes...
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Too much of a good thing...?.
There is no problem with sweating which is normal. It's the excessive sweating that starts to become a problem. I ride my bike everyday and I ride it in South Florida. It's got to be the hottest place to bike ride because the humidity alone is torture. It feels like the air is nonexistent. And my body drips from the sweat. I don't care if you LOVE sweating, but it get old real fast when it gets in your eyes and starts to sting, and sometimes I sweat so much that it starts to blur my contacts that I have in my eyes. It sucks. I have used just a little bit of a prescription strength antiperspirant right above my forehead to stop this kind of sweating and it had really helped (It's called Certain Dri). It worked so well that I use it for my armpits when I ride to just get me a fighting chance against the really hot days in Miami. Its good to sweat, but sometimes it can really prevent you from going that extra mile! I hope this helps.
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[MENTION=445688]TimmyStevenson[/MENTION], I remember in the 70s, sweatbands on the forehead were popular. Would one of those help you? I imagine it could hold the sweat before it reaches your eyes, and you could wring it out before it becomes saturated, because once saturated, sweat would drip from the band into your eyes.
Another thought is that the only time my eyes have stung was when sweat washed sunblock into my eyes. It's horribly painful. Are you using sunblock above your eyebrows? That could be the problem rather than sweat. That happened to me when I swam in the ocean. The salt water diluted the sunblock which ran into my eyes. I no longer apply sunblock to my forehead. |
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