cycling short usage (& re-susage)
 

OK - I'm going shopping for cycling shorts. It's about time right? I'm going for the baggy type - just because. (I may consider the not baggy type).

For commuting I have been wearing stuff in the morning and wearing different stuff home. Where the shorts are bigger and bulkier and more expensive does anyone wear the same set home that they wore in the morning. I plan on wearing mine without underwear as recommended and it doesn't seem smart to wear them again without washing them. I'm thinking 1 pair in the am and another pair home.

Make sense?

BTW: my commute is under an hour, but is 13 miles and I sweat a lot.

My commute is 9 miles each way (about 30 minutes each way) and I'm in TX so yeah, I sweat.

I use the same (tight) bike shorts for AM and PM and will use the same pair for a couple days before I wash them. I only have 2 pair of good bike shorts and commute ~4 days/week so I'm kind of stuck in that respect.

Would be nice to get another pair or two so I can be squeaky clean when I take off every morning but does it really matter if I'm going to be sweating in 5-10 minutes anyway? Nope.

I used to do the arm and leg warmer thing.
3 seasons I wear a pair of nylon REI Sahara pants with zip off legs.
A C-dale vest with zip off the sleeves and back shoulders revealing
a mesh vent.
Can't say I do the right thing, I do my thing.:)

it might be easier to start with the same shorts for AM and PM since they dry out fast. just dont hang it in view of coworkers.

if you wash them in water briefly every day they can last several days.

I wear the same shorts and shirt home that I wore riding in. I drape all my clothes over my bike to help to dry them/keep them from stinking too much. I'm lucky in this respect that I have a dedicated place to store my bike inside away from everyone else in the office. I always wash them when I get home. Putting on dirty clothes after you get out of the shower is not my bag. Of course I don't sweat a whole lot even in the summer.

For warm/hot weather (above about 70F) I wear relatively inexpensive tri shorts (5" inseam and a very minimal pad). I have three pairs of 'em and wear a different pair each day.

I actually do the same with the other riding pants I have as well (PI Infinity knickers and full-length running tights--some hi-viz bits with no pads--and with my winter tights by Vermarc). Having found these with the fit and features I wanted, I quickly acquired multiple pairs. Partially for rotation during a week, partly for flexibility (this morning I wore full-lengths, but packed along knickers in case it gets warm enough), and partly to help them all last longer. YMMV.

I wear the same gear home as I wore in. I have hangers in the showers at work and all my gear gets dry by EOD with the help of a tiny fan. The only thing that doesn't always get dry is the gizzy I wear on my head to keep the sweat from dripping into my eyes. I also live in Texas, so in the summer it is usually already over 80* when I leave for work. My husband's newest nickname for me is "niagara falls" because my head sweats so much.... so I think that if you hang them up in a place that gets good airflow, all your gear should be dry after an 8-hour day. :)

I wear the same clothes home as I do when I ride in except for making any weather related adjustments.

As long as it's not cotton it'll usually be dry for the ride home even though I keep my stuff in a ventilated gym bag under my desk.

Note: I also use tri-shorts in the summer. They dry pretty quick.

I'm in Houston and my commute is roughly equivalent (14 miles one way). Typically I wear roadie regalia. Why? I found baggy MTB shorts snag on every protuberance on the bike and at only one layer thick the roadie gear is cooler. As for how ofter do I change my shorts I pick one pair for the full day. If I'm really sweaty the shorts dry fast and are usually ready to go by the afternoon.

I too use the same gear outbound that I used inbound, though I sometimes use different socks. The bike clothes: shirts and pants, are always dry by PM, even if it rains, but I've found that the socks do not always dry -- I also have issue with the shoes not drying if it really rained hard the night before or during the AM commute.

1 day 1 pair.

You mean you have to wash them?

I wear roadie shorts under baggy shorts, or under whatever, esp if I have to stop at a store or something on the way home. Also helps to not freak people out with my "Spinal Tappishness" on the way from the bike rack to the changing area at work. I have roadie shorts because I become a roadie on some weekends. (Well, an underachieving roadie.) Same thing homebound as workbound, pretty much.

Exceptions galore depending on weather. If it's perfect out, I'll ride home in my work clothes to save time.

Some winter gear other than bottom-layer gets re-used a few times. I only have one pair of full-length tights, for instance.

I have the same commute as the OP.
I sweat like a pig and I'm in houston.
That said, I wear the same pair of shorts for two days straight. Whether they are baggy or tight, doesn't matter. Both are synthetic.
My wool shirt I can wear all week, no stink. Ya gotta love wool.

At lunch I got 1 pair of cycling shorts with liner. I'll wear them under my baggy shorts or wind pants. In a pinch or for an anonymous ride I might wear them as is with nothing over them. We'll see. There's nothing like trying these things on though to see what fits well. I've seen plenty of nice cycling shorts: not-so-baggy-cargo-style online but I won't buy this kind of item online. The shorts I got were at Dick's Sporting Goods, and they were marked $19.99. That was a happy surprise. REI had some very nice MTB shorts (good style & fit) but the liner wasn't comfortable. They had some liners but the padding was very robust and not comfortable. I'm gonna keep looking.

Anyone know any stores with big supplies with lot's of variety for cycling shorts in the Natick, MA Framingham area?

Just bang 'em against the wall until they're pliable enough to wear...



I have a couple pairs of bibs and a few jerseys. They get washed after every 2 or 3 commutes, or 1 really long ride. Socks get washed after each ride.

I met a guy selling a bike who told me he developed a heart condition - a serious bacterial infection of a valve - that was caused by a bad saddle sore. I've heard of mouth infections making their way to the heart but never from a saddle sore. I'm reluctant to use a liner that wasn't laundered.

Same shorts inbound and outbound
 

Look at it this way. If you went for a Saturday ride of 30 miles, you wouldn't stop and change shorts halfway through. What's the difference if you go for a 15-mile ride in the morning, and use the same shorts for another 15-mile ride in the evening?

It certainly simplifies commuting to wear the same clothes home that you wore in.

that sounds sensible but I don't like putting on a wet bathing suit - plus letting the bacteria sit around all day to cook and breed - not sure I want to invite that bacteria back onto my body - once they're off, they need to find a new host.

Well then do whatever you want. You've gotten others' opinions and most are in agreement that same pair for AM and PM is fine. :thumb:

I shower before i leave the house in the morning and then shower after i get to work.
There's no nasty bacteria to worry about. And the shorts are dry by the end of the day.

I wash mine when I remember to. Generally a couple times a week. I think.

Since I've spent the last 15 years as a microbiologist and bio-engineer, I guess I'll weigh in on this one...

It's a pair of shorts, not an incubated TSB jar. Hang your shorts up to dry when you get to work, and you will not have seething angry bacterial cultures waiting to find an open pore so they can maliciously ruin your life.
First, if you bathe on a regular basis, you're not going to be harbouring anything to worry about. Second, even if you were just covered in a collection of the CDC's worst nightmares, a dry scrap of foam and lycra isn't the optimum breeding ground for it. Third, nothing you host is going to grow rapidly enough in an 8-12 hour workday, under the conditions I just listed, to be harmful via routine contact.

I'm thinking that bacteria that would kill some people on this thread
would die if it landed on me.

I wear the same stuff on the ride home as I wore on the ride in. Only problem I've had with saddle sores was cured when I changed saddles. I'm in Tx and sweat bucket fulls.