Am I overlooking anything on how I can possibly get a shower before work? I have a 15 mile commute and would not really mind biking it, except for the sweat issue. Would my best bet be a gym near my work?

There is always the option to pack a little towel, washcloth, soap, etc. for a sink-bath. This is much less pleasant than a shower, but it goes a long way towards making the sweat-drenched cyclist presentable. In my experience, anyway--YMMV.

I've been taught to (1) take a shower right before you live the house, (2) let your body cool down after you arrive, and (3) then wipe your body down with a towel and baby-wipes in the restroom. The shower removes bacteria. I let myself 30 minutes to completely cool down. The baby-wipes kills remaining bacteria and freshens you up. There is really no need to shower at work. A little bit of odor is OK; it's manly that way, assuming you're male. Female is lucky; they don't have that manly smell after sweating.

Baby wipes! That's brilliant!

I find that I suffer only in the cool down period, for which a strong fan is good enough. For longer commutes I slow down as I reach my destination (1-2 minutes before) and stay cold for my 15 minute cool down period. After that the sweating has stopped.

I also do not wear cologne at home anymore (deodorant yes), and give myself a spritz or two at work.

I take a shower with Dial anti-bacterial soap, in the morning, and that keeps me from stinking. Also, get to work a little early, so that you won't be bumping into your fellow workers in your 'funny' clothes. When you get to work, sit and cool off for 15 minutes - you will still sweat for 10-12 minutes after you stop riding.

Then take a quickie bath with Baby Wipes, in the biggest bathroom stall you can find. By the way, don't get the cheap-o wipes - it will be like wiping off with a pair of panty-hose. Instead, get the thicker Baby Wipes, with a powder fresh smell; you will smell clean as a baby, and that's just fine.

Leave clothes at work, if you can. I have some big file cabinets in my cube, and I leave a pair of black dress shoes and maroon dress shoes in there, as well as matching belts. That way, I don't have to carry in shoes. I ride in tennis shoes, on my commute bike. Basically, if you can leave dress shirts at work, leave a bunch of them there, and if you cannot ride to work, because of thunderstorms or something, just take them all home on that day.

Hope this helps.

Showering before you leave in the morning is the best thing you can do to make your situation work.

Shower, ride, cool down, wash face and neck with soap and water, baby wipes in all the other spots, hang cycling clothes somewhere inconspicuous to dry during the day. It works great for me.

Something else to try, Crystal Stick deodorant. Doesn't stop the sweat but it sure do stop the stink. I should post this in the frugal living thread as well, they claim it will last at least a year and I don't see why not.

I slow my pace down before I arrive to work. Goriot is right, you sweat more when you start to relax than when you're hammering. I take it easy on the way in, and on the way home get rid of all my tension. A hobo bath is nice, I take my shirt off and put paper towel on the floor in front of the sink. Guys either know you and understand the reason or don't and act like you're invisible. I'm not shy about that stuff though.

I hang around outside for 5 minutes or so where it's really breezy then beeline right to the bathroom in the office and wipe myself down with a wet paper towel, and get changed. I put a stripe of deoderant down the small of my back, too. I have long hair that gets sweaty, so I try and get that when I wash my face but not enough to look like I just got out of a shower.

The thing that sucks is that my floor USED to have a shower (previous tenant used to have a gym and a locker room with it), but my company decided they wanted to remove it to make room for HR. How sad

Baby wipes are teh awesome . I much prefer them to the cold and very dribbly shower at work. Quicker and I feel cleaner than with the shower that won't really rinse soap off properly (plus my hair takes For.Ev.Er to dry).

+1 --previous job didn't have a shower, so I showered before I left. Works just fine....

True. Our HR is sad too (yesss I do know what you meant)

Our HR is being moved seems sometime in the next few years so that we can expand the cafeteria (which I never use but they would like to have for staff meetings).

On the plus side, we have an official change room here. A former closet with the handwritten note 'change room' on it and a little sliding lock on the inside. Not bad. Still missing a sink or a shower, but at least it's better than the handicapped stall...

I find that splashing some cold water on my face and neck works fine. And we all know that morning commute sweat does not stink anyways

even something as simple as taking a wet paper towel and wiping it on your skin, will help tremendously.

baby wipes should be even better.

Make SURE you don't have a secret shower in the bowels of your building. Ask the maintenance/cleaning staff. Still nothing? Scope out the office buildings around yours. Showers are usually in the lowest level restrooms. Be casual, confident, and respectful. You might find a shower in a nearby building you can use without getting hassled.

grow some dreds and buy some patchouli oil.

Doesn't your work building have a shower room right next to the Muslim prayer room?

If your job isn't good enough to have a shower, you don't need to shower....

A spritz of lamb urine usually does the trick for me. Tip: keep a small perfume bottle of lambs' urine in your desk/workspace. One spritz for the top and one for the tail. Don't over-do it.

Question: who the hell doesn't shower in the morning before work?

Nothing can beat a nearby gym though. I stop in and do a few dozen laps in the pool, then take a shower, then pedal slowly to my final destination (another 0.2 miles). On Fridays I play a game of racquetball with a friend who lives nearby instead.

We call them ***** baths, but try a product called "wet ones" which can be found at Walmart, Target, etc...They do wonders and are what they use in nursing homes/hospitals to take care of that funk you get when an old man cr*ps themselves.

I say screw it and walk in with the bike shorts on, chicks dig the shorts.

-Nate

I found this to be true many years ago... the machine room which held the water heater and some blowers and stuff had a shower pan in the floor and a shower head, but no curtain. I bought a curtain at a local hardware store and was good to go. No one had thought to use it before.

Since then, everywhere else I have worked has had a shower room.

I find that when I come inside is when I start sweating, if it is not to hot out. Maybe try walking around outside until you have cooled off.

No, you are lucky to have never smelled a really funky, sweaty, female. . . we females work hard at making sure you don't have to "smell that smell!"

Really, you should try to cool down the last 20 minutes or so on your ride to work and then use wipes, or a hobo bath or whatever works. And if you do shower before riding in you will be alot lest funky smelling.

My commute is about 15 miles each way as well. I shower in the morning and then bird bath at work. One of the things I always do with work or school is scope out the bathrooms. Which ones are high traffice etc. Anywho, we've got 2 small bathrooms with locking doors that I use. I dump water over the head to help remove sweat and helmet hair. I've got longish hair and I don't care if I look like I just stepped out of the shower. When I bike in, I'm usually an and a half early as to avoid people anyway. I'm going to propose that a small shower stall go in one of the bathrooms.

Yeah, I proposed we get a shower at work, a bunch of times. No dice, just a smirky look (from, uh, fat people), uh, yah?