My current commute is similar distance and terrain. If you are in even just fair physical condition, a 5 mile rolling ride shouldn't require either breakfast or hydration. Heck, even when my commutes have been 25mi + I never ate breakfast first and barely drank from my bottles.

If you are not in decent condition, my best advice would be to slow down and ease into a faster/harder pace, keep hydrated and eat a decent dinner the night before. Anything you eat just before you leave isn't going to do you any good for such a short ride...and it might give you that 'I need to take a dump NOW' feeling as you ride. ;)

Such an elaborate cool down recovery procedure might make sense if a commuter acted like a race horse in a 5 mile race, working himself into a lather requiring such a time wasting "cool down". To me it would defeat the purpose of bike commuting - to have fun. Racing like hell to work just to stand around in the cold for 10-15 minutes to recover from such exertion also seems an inefficient use of time unless the whole purpose of the bike commute is to get a sweaty workout.

My advice - slow down, enjoy your ride and save time.

Yup, if ya want to get a workout, do it on the ride home.

You can work out both ways but you still need to slow things down in the last couple miles. Since it takes me a couple miles to warm up I doubt it would be even worth it on a 5 mile commute. I would pick a moderate pace instead of hauling arse.

No hippie. . .Cro-Magnon, maybe.

or both?

http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/im...caveman-lg.jpg

Get up earlier, eat breakfast, wear less clothing or regulate your temperature better, when you get to work strip, shower and change into summer clothes.

I used to have that problem, but now I just unzip my jacket and go super slow for the last mile. Once I get where I am going, I take off my hat, backpack and jacket and just walk around in the cold for 10 minutes or so. Works great for me.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
 

Hi Anogar,

You need to carry a water bottle or pack and use it. If your mouth is feeling dry, you are already too late.

Some tips.

1. I think that it is probably common sense for most people that we will use a lot of water in very hot weather. But what a lot of people don't know is that in very cold weather, dehydration can happen deceptively quick. A lot of your perspiration is being absorbed by the cold air. If you don't have a habit of sipping along the way, do try and see if that improves things.

2. Avoid big swigs of water. Frequent, little sips of water help out a lot more. If reaching for the bottle is a pain, consider getting a small Camelback. If you're not familiar with the product, it is a hydration back pack with a drinking tube. The water is always there waiting for you.

3. Stretch, hydrate and cool-off as you are locking up your bike. Take a few minutes to stretch out those high performance legs. While 99% of America just drove to work in a car, you kicked butt. Don't guzzle your water. Park the bike. Sip. Stretch. Sip. Unload the bike. Sip. Lock the bike. Sip. Stretch. You get it.

4. Headaches, nausea, muscle cramps... these are symptoms of heat exhaustion. If you are hot and your body stops sweating, that's really bad. You're moving into heat stroke territory. However, I'm thinking you are probably flirting with heat exhaustion. So hydrate and fuel up.

5. We're not a gas tank. You don't just fill it up and go. You might just give your breakfast the heave-ho. So go with the body's flow. If you want to commute in the morning, fuel up the night before the ride. I do not eat just before I ride to work, so I'm running on the previous night's dinner and liquids. Add some salty pretzels (just a few) to carb up a little. Pull a few out and then lock the bag away. Then you can eat them. This helps prevent over consumption. A really good alternative for me is Cup O'Noodle soup. It has sodium. It has water. It has carbs. I like how it tastes too. Try to hydrate and fuel up the night before. I will bet that you feel better after the ride.

6. The other Vitamin A: Aspirin is a good thing. Especially if you are just getting back on the bike, aspirin is wonderful stuff. It dilates your cardiovascular system so that the heart does not have to work as hard. Blood moves around faster. More oxygen makes it to the muscles that are craving some air. Faster moving blood helps to dissipate body core heat build up. It helps with saddle sores, too. Take these at the same time you're having your carbs--the night before.

7. For aches, pains and soreness alone, let me introduce you to one of my best friends, Vitamin I--Ibuprofen. In Army Officer Candidate School, this is the stuff that kept my aching body going.

8. Oh, did I mention hydrate often in small sips?

9. Like you, I have a fairly short and hilly commute. Depending on which way I want to go, it varies between 5.3 to 5.6 miles one way. That probably works out to around 30 minutes in the saddle, give or take. So don't kill yourself. Remember the tortoise and the hare. All those cars are being driven by hares. You are investing in your body. Enjoy the ride and you'll ride again. I would not worry about shortening your commute time until after the first month. Instead, focus on other areas that will really save you time. Do you have a check list of what to pack? Do you pack the night before? Do you lay out your riding clothes? Have you staged your bike with its gear? Are your keys, wallet, office door badge all in a ziplock bag, always loading it in the same, easy to access spot in your pannier?

10. What's your cadence like? Are you slowly grinding away? Try increasing your cadence. It feels unnatural at first, but it leaves me feeling much more refreshed at the end of the ride. If you are agreeable to spending a few dollars, get a speedometer with cadence monitoring on it. Soon, you'll ignore the speed and pay attention to the cadence. You'll find that you are tacking the hills faster.

11. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. However, sipping small amounts of water prevents you from robbing your body of vital minerals. In EXTREME cases, people have died from drinking way too much pure water. The trick for me is to drink enough to keep hydrated and not so much that I sweat profusely. Try this. Boil a pot of water. When it get hot, add just a little cold water to it. It knocks the boiling action down. You want to add enough water to keep yourself from boiling (over heating) but not so much that you boil over (perspire profusely).

12. Okay, you've passed the first month of commuting. You're hydrating and you feel great. Your non-riding time has been fully optimized. Now you want some additional speed and you're willing to put a few bucks into the bike. Here's a few suggestions. Get narrower, higher pressure tires. You will get a harder ride. But if the road's pretty smooth, that's an acceptable compromise. If you have a more upright seating position, you will notice that the road shocks are much less severe than if you are bent over. If you are bent over, unload the bike handles before you hit the bump. On my bike, I sit totally upright. It feels like I'm gliding over the bumps. Next, get yourself some SPD pedals and compatible shoes. You'll be able to develop a smoother, faster and more consistent transfer of power using a circular pedaling motion instead of just mashing straight down on the pedals. Here's another. Buy a really heavy duty lock and chain and leave it at work, locked to the bike stand, pole, etc. There's one that's called, "Fuhgeddaboudit". That or something like it is what you may want to shoot for. Why carry your "commuting lock"? Leave it at work. Less weight on the bike equals more speed. A heavier duty lock and chain equals piece of mind. It's a good equation. Depending on how you do your neighborhood errands, keep a light weight lock on the bike or at the house.

13. Here's a possible time saver. I have not tried this yet, so I cannot swear that it will work. Put a strip of adhesive magnetic tape on the bottom of your cycling shoes. I ride to work and there are a couple of lights that I cannot trip by riding through the loops in the pavement. I have to go over and hit the pedestrian button. That stinks and it's not a safe movement. Those pavement loops generate a magnetic field. Cars roll through and with all their body metal, the magnetic field is disturbed and the light change is triggered. One might be able to hold one's "magnetic" foot close to the pavement while riding through the loops and trigger the light to change. I'll have to post an update.

Well, that's a bit broader in scope than the question, "Why do I feel hot after my morning ride?" But I hope that you will find the tips helpful. And don't forget... hydrate often, in small amounts. Your body will appreciate it.

Good Luck!
Butch

There are enough hills that I can't just "ride slow" on my 9-mile partway route, much less on my 17-mile full commute. I'd be pushing my bike uphill half the way if I did AND taking forever to get to work. I sweat for a while after I quit riding even after a cool shower. Sometimes when I was getting used to riding or on really hot days, I would stop 3 miles out and drink water and sit on the curb a bit until my heartrate came back down under 100; that helped a lot. We have lockers/showers at work in an outbuilding, so after I clean up I still have to walk about a block across campus to my office building. The walk helps as a warm-down and a chance to drink more water even though its not very convenient.

+1

This is pretty much my routine. I arrive a sweaty mess and become moreso the moment I get off the bike.

I used to do the handful of paper towels, then decided to keep a hand towel at work. I grab the hand towel and change of clothes and go immediately to the bathroom. Soak the towel in cool/warm water, strip down to my socks, towel off everything, put on work clothes. I rinse off the towel and hang it up where it is ready for duty again the next morning.

The important thing is to do this IMMEDIATELY when you get to work. The cup of coffee can wait a few minutes. I find that this routine works just as well as a shower although not as enjoyable. No funk issues whatsoever.

The crappy nauseousness passes quickly as well, although it really isn't much of a problem, probably because the last 5 miles or so are pretty flat. My ride home is different as the last 2 miles are mostly uphill.

My routine has been very similar. I bring a hand towel from home, a washcloth and a small hotel bottle of shampoo. The small bottle is empty and what I have done at home is added a drop or two of a clean shampoo that rinses well and I add water to fill the bottle. I dunk my head in the sink and do my head, then using some of that same shampoo water mixture give my self a sponge bath. I have already showered at home so the bateria on my body is minimal, and when I strip a wash like this all I am removing is fresh sweat and any new bacteria. Of course I don't my whole body just my chest underarms and crotchola. Then towel dry, add rub on scent free deodorant by Mennen (good stuff absolutely no scent). I wrap everything in a plastic bag and bring in home - it stays in my bike bag all day. I arrive and finish this routine well before anyone else arrives and none is the wiser. I'm dry, my hair is dry, there is absolutely no funk - I share an office with 2 women, on eof which is an absolute BLOODHOUND.

We're moving to an office with a shower in a month. Not sure how that will work out. There is no locker room so I don't know what I'll be doing with a towel, not a full size one anyway. I kinda perfected my stealth routine so well, that I may just stick with it.

Get a fan!
 

I have a small fan on my desk. When I get in, I run it on high until it feels cold & on low until the noise bugs me & I realize I've cooled down enough.

Biking's efficiency so you can get a 10 MPH wind doing with the effort it takes to walk is great *until* you hit a stoplight or come to the end of your ride.