smgrover

I got a new job that is closer to home and have decided to start commuting a few days a week. There is a shower at work, but no lockers. My question is, what to do with my sweaty cycling clothes and wet towel during the day. I don't want them stinking up the office, but I do not want to put on wet clothes for the ride home. I thought about just hanging them in a garment bag in my cube, but I don't see how they would dry out. My ride is 12 miles each way with lots of hills. I've done the ride a few times on the weekends so I know my clothes will be sweaty. What do experienced commuters do?

Thanks

paul2432

I just leave my bike clothes at my desk. I've never had an issue. My work gives us towels, so I just put my towel in the bin for dirty towels.

Paul

Edit: My wife suggest a camp towel. They are quick drying.

cyclezealot

I've had that problem too.. Initially , I'd be ready before day shift came in and have them on when they arrived. But under wind pants as I will soon take off for home post quitting time.. But, once so much went wrong with the computers , I had not the chance. So, when day shift secretarial workers showed up, by shorts, jersey were strung about the visitors bathroom. They all examined by bike clothes and learned about chamois, etc.. Never again. And I was told never again... ( ( I only cycled Midnight shift, which was 1/3 of the time.. ) So, I brought in hangers to work and hung them up on the duct work in the basement adjacent the computer room, which was very warm . Since I always washed my bike clothes out for the return home 12 hours later and that gave them time to dry... I suggest one find their own place to hang out and be in storage, separate of other workers..
. Unless you like the plant's secretaries examining your drawers..

fatso

You can carry a second jersey (and shorts, if necessary) for the return commute and not bother drying them out.

jsmonet

throw a fresh shirt in your bag, and hang the commute clothes off your desk or chair

akohekohe

I keep a spare clean pair of shorts and jersey at work. I then wash the dirty cloths by hand in the restroom sink. I then squeeze out as much water as I can and then wrap them in one of those fast drying synthetic towels you can get for camping and then hang them to dry in my office. They become my clean pair the next day. This strategy depends on having a place to hang them. Wrapping in the towel assures they will dry without dripping and be dry the next day just by hanging there.

mustang1

My cycling clothes generally do not smell but even then I would never leave them lying around in the office. Instead I close them up in a plastic bag so no smell can escape then chuck the bag into my rucksack. For the ride home, I have a fresh set of cycling clothes. The only thing I re-use on the way to and from work are hat, gloves, windstopper jacket.

mikewille

If you can wait a while before changing your body heat can dry your wicking items for you.
Takes about 20 minutes for a thin underarmor shirt to dry on me.

Rollfast

Leave them in the fridge. Anyone who eats them will have to find a better job to pay the medical bill anyway...would be doing you a favor.

scroca

Your commute and work environment sound very similar to mine except I have access to lockers and I'm not new at my workplace. Locker or not, you still need the clothes to dry by the time you get off work.

I'd focus on materials that are light and wick well. If your clothing allows for evaporation, there is less sweat once you get to work and they'll dry more quickly. Also, you need material that tends not to smell. For me it's merino wool; you might find there's another solution, but merino wool has worked very well for me.

Also, I use a synthetic chamois instead of a towel. The one I use is small, about the size of a typical wash cloth, so I have to wring it out a couple of times before I am done, but for that trouble it dries quickly and takes up almost no space. Those two advantages are key for me.

I hang my stuff all over my cube, taking each item down once it's dry. Folks where I work have gotten used to it. And I can assure you, if there was a smell I'd hear about it. No one has ever complained.

b_young

Ask if you or if they can put a locker in the shower area. My company did it for me.

MichaelW

+1 on merino tops. A plain merino T shirt will do the job but make sure it is superfine grade (non itchey).
In winter you dont need to sweat on a ride and you can use the last 1/4 mile to cool down. In summer, chuck a bottle of water over your clothes during the cool-down.
You can store your clothes in a mesh bag.

rumrunn6

plastic bag for the laundry incl towel. bring a fresh set of bike shorts; socks and top base layer. carry the laundry home each night. use as small a towel as you can find.

pharasz

My cube is next to the window, so there is a cube wall that runs parallel to the window. I found plastic clips with stickpins that stick into the cube wall fabric. Each morning I hang my wet towel on these plastic clips on the cube wall, but since it is only six inches from an exterior window, nobody notices the towel hanging back in there. I take a dry towel out, and hang a wet towel. So the dry towel comes home with me each night.

For my clothes, I am fortunate that we have a shower and locker room, and there is a three foot long clothing bar. But I have to bring my own hangers, as the cleaning crew disposes of any empty hangers left on the clothing bar overnight. I left a sign on the wall to please leave just two empty hangers for the biker's use. But next thing I knew hangers started to accumulate, and then obtuse users started hanging wet nasty gym clothes and leaving them hung there for days, even though the official rules posted on the wall states the locker room is for DAY USE ONLY and no articles are to be left overnight (including empty hangers, I guess). My simple request quickly became fodder for the ignorant and inconsiderate. I gave up that battle and now I have small plastic hangers packed in my panniers which I must transport to and from home every day.

The moral of this story (and some of the other responders) is, there are little hidy-holes around your office you may not have noticed before. Just keep looking around and you will discover them. Look for places where your stuff won't be noticed so it won't get thrown away, but has access to enough air to dry and not smell too bad. Utility closets, machine rooms, spaces between cube walls, etc. Just seek and ye shall find.

I_bRAD

If I had a cubicle with only a fabric "wall" between me and the window I'd take down the wall! Why would they block off a window?

daven1986

I dry mine out under my desk!

rumrunn6

the guys I work for are pretty cool about it all and one is a serious biker. I hang my reusable stuff in the boiler room to dry during the day and I've taken to reusing my bike shorts and socks, but I also hang inside out my snow pants; fleece vest and rain jacket; gloves too. in the computer server room I disassemble my lights on wet days so they dry out.

mr_antares

I hang most of my clothes (including my bike shorts) on the back of my office door. (It does help that I'm an "owner" and can do pretty much whatever I want). We have "heating units" along the exterior walls, and first thing I do when I arrive (which is well before most of the employees show up) is place my gloves, arm warmers, balaclava, etc on the heating unit to dry. They are usually dry when I come back from taking my shower, so I put them on a shelf in my office until it's time to dress for the trip home.

I also keep a floor pump under the desk, which doubles as a towel rack during the day. It's next to the computer, and the heat from the fan makes the towel nice and toasty by the next morning.

There are several underutilized closets around the office, as well as a couple of rooms that mostly have computer equipment in them. I do occasionally hang my jacket in one of these closets. I'm sure that if we had more bike commuters, we'd start using these closets for bike clothes. Several people in the office have expressed an interest in commuting once the summer comes; we'll see how many of them follow through.

elvez

+1 for drying under the desk. commute to gym 8 blocks over from work. throw riding clothes in the shower with me. wring out and towel dry them, stuff into back pack, cycle remaining distance to work, remove and hang over $10 circulating fan under desk. Bingo! Clean dry clothes for the ride home.

pharasz

It doesn't block the window - the wall only runs from the edge of my desk to the edge of the next desk over. Behind me is unobstructed floor to ceiling window view, from the third floor. All I see is the the next building over and the courtyard between buildings. But I've found there are a very many beautiful women who work in Finance in the next building over, and they all like to have lunch at the cafeteria on the first floor beneath me. So the view is wonderful - at certain times of the day.

DataJunkie

I hung them in my cube. My clothes don't stink from the average ride into the office.

gerv 

Hang them up to dry. If they do stink, put some Febreze on them first. By the time the Febreze odour wears off, noses in the neighbourhood should have adjusted themselves accordingly.

Wilbur Bud

I use a clothes valet, which is more or less a floor standing set of hangers and shelves. Still not enough in winter, but holds most the really wet stuff like towel, baselayer, tights, boots, socks, so that everything drys out well during the day.

colleen c

Do you have your own computer near the desk you work in your cube? One possibility is to rinse your clothe and place them loose in a fishnet bag with a dry towel to catch the water drip. Then place the bag behind your computer as discretely as possible. The heat from the computer will help air them out and expedite the drying process. If you are worry about any odor, you can place a 1/2 sheet of Bounce Fabric softener with the clothe to cut down the odor.

scroca

Some of these posts reminded me that back in the good old days I used to keep a space heater under my desk and used the phone line, supported in places with paper clips, as a clothes line. It was discrete and dried things in a jiffy. Then one day the powers that be decided that nobody could have any fans or space heaters. If your employer is not so restrictive, this set up might be worth a try for you.