StanSeven

Once cotton gets wet, it can't breath. That's the advantage of athletic clothes - moisture gets wicked to the surface for evaporation

PaulRivers

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.

PaulRivers

Their comfortable to wear, but the drawback is that some synthetic material is really really bad for smells. I know I've had synthetic shirts (as have a lot of other people) that you wear once and they're already starting to smell, at at some point you can't wash them often enough to keep them from smelling.

Not all of them, but some of them.

jfowler85

Ride slower. That's about all you can do unless you have a shower and/or locker at your destination.

stdlrf11

A few years ago, we started making our own laundry detergent using Zote (soap), Borax, and Washing Soda.
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.

Joe Minton

Stay home and watch re-runs of the TDF --- LOL

ph0rk

This should be taken with a grain of salt (ha ha) - I have always been at the very low range for blood sodium, and if I were to cut my salt intake much I'd go hyponatremic on a short ride. I usually need to reach for electrolyte additives pretty quickly.

cwjDC

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.

mgw4jc

Agreed. Which is why I can't believe nobody has suggested - BIKE NAKED!

gregjones

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.

noglider 

I've been wearing this new Smartwool shirt nearly every day for two weeks. I'm waiting for it to get stinky.

GovernorSilver

It's because the OP is in Quebec, Canada where it is about 3 degrees F today.

rmfnla

Ride earlier and later...

rmfnla

So sweating shouldn't be much of a problem, eh..?

RandomEncounter

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.

jfowler85

A technical fabric is one made specifically for function vice aesthetics, like kevlar or a fire resistant suit.

Velocivixen

Botox injections and I'm not joking. Expensive but works.



https://www.botoxseveresweating.com

Walter S

Try summer in Atlanta. When you go home you'll think you're not sweating anymore

rmfnla

Wool makes me itch...

Gnosis

Yikes! At those temperatures, the problem "biking naked" becomes major shrinkage.

Walter S

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".

dim

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

bored117 

Slow down... Get stronger... I've found that works the best once you are done with all clothing changes...

TimmyStevenson

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.

noglider 

@TimmyStevenson, 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.