Carrying sweaty clothes?
 

This is probably an oft-covered topic, but my searches turned up lots of vague posts that didn't answer my direct question.

I sweat, even in the cold. When the summer comes, I will surely sweat more. However, while I can shower in the gym on campus in the mornings, there isn't always a locker available to leave my clothes in all day. I stupidly opted out of a rental before they filled up because I hadn't thought about how late I'd be in on Mondays and Wednesdays.

So now I'm dealing with the situation of carrying around my clothes in my backpack. Because it's winter, I can usually run my wool stuff under a hair dryer for a few minutes and be fine, but this won't be the case in summer.

So does anyone here deal with clothes having to co-mingle with books and papers? What do you do? I could obviously just shove them in a stuff sack, but even the most breathable stuff sack will keep them soaked and I have to put them back on at the end of the day to go home, so I'd like it if they could get a little dry. And we're talking school here, so hanging my flithy, sweaty bike shorts from my backpack while walking around campus is definitely a no-go.

So I'm out of ideas. Input? Suggestions?

mesh laundry bag with a drawstring . gym duffel with school logo of course ,
plastic bag to put the dry stuff in.

of course the fact that they are in a wad even in a mesh bag
means they won't dry like that.

You need to arrange some place to put up a clothesline..

Make friends with the custodial staff.

Leave them in grocery bag in your bike's basket or pannier? I doubt anyone would steel them . . .

Change into something that you can ride home in, this way you don't have to put your sweaty clothes back on. Something like khaki pants - Mountain/loose bike shorts and a plain jersey - t-shirt.

I see what you mean, but not really doable for me. It's a 7.5 mile ride one way and I prefer bike specific clothing for the longish ride, and I prefer non-bike clothing during the day. If it were less than 4 miles, I'd probably entertain that idea.

And leaving stuff in panniers is a no-go. I did that for a while and it seemed safe enough, but after a while, I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my nice bike clothes (merino wool and all) sitting on my bike. Even then, they didn't get very dry. The cold didn't help. :lol: That and I've recently gone away from panniers.

I guess the mesh bag idea is as good as any. The main thing is to keep the dry clothes against my notebooks, etc. I spend a lot of time sitting (in class, or working on a computer), and sometimes I'll just crack the bag to keep the air flowing, so the mesh bag would be pretty functional at that point.

So far, pretty good input. Keep the ideas comin'.

My commute is 6 miles and I have never considered bike specific clothing, winter or summer. In summer, i wear champion mesh shorts and a dri-fit tshirt. At 10 bucks a pop for each, I would have no problem hanging a mesh bag off of my handlebars to dry during the day.

7.5 miles shouldn't need bike specific clothes, IMHO.

As a rather sweaty person myself, I'm not sure I understand why you're having such a large problem dealing with sweat. I ride six miles to school with either wool or athletic polyester clothing and a backpack. When I arrive I am usually sweating, but within five to ten minutes of getting off my bike, I'm well on my way to being dry. I don't have an issue with going into class wearing an athletic shirt or a wool sweater, and I seldom smell even if I'm still a little bit sweaty.

I say to just dress light, ride a reasonable pace, and keep your clothes on when you arrive and let the sweat evaporate. That's the point of sweat, and also the point of wearing clothing that wicks away moisture.

Ok, let me try and put it into perspective:

This is Texas. We're talking southwest humidity. If I sweat a good bit in the cold in Texas, the driest time of the year, just imagine me in the high 90's with brutal humidity. Even on days in the high 70's I'm usually already sweating after having just taken a shower and riding back across campus to where I park my bike at (close to my other classes). And with that in mind, remember that it can be 10 at night in the summers here and still be in the high 90's.

And when I say bike specific clothes, I guess I'm being a little misleading. I don't always wear padded shorts, and I'm rocking pedals with toe clips, so no special shoes or anything, but I'm often in a wool jersey and wearing tights if it's cold enough. I need to get some lightweight wool T's or jerseys, but for now I'll have to run with thin polyester stuff in the summer. Basically, it's just stuff I wouldn't want to wear to class. I understand this may work for others, but seriously, if I rode 7 miles and wore the same polyester gym shorts all day, people wouldn't want to be in the same room with me and would talk about me behind my back. I can shower 3 times a day, but 30 minutes of good riding in polyester and that stuff just gets funky on me. This is why I stick to wool whenever I can. Not everyone has this same problem with polyester.

So yes, I understand that wal-mart shorts and poly tees work for short rides for many of you and can wear the same stuff all day. This just isn't an option for me, unfortunately. Trust me, I'd LOVE to be a generally less sweaty person. I guess it's glandular... :lol:

Sorry but that doesn't work for some of us. I've had commutes of around 5 miles downhill and still have to let my clothes hang to dry because of how much I sweat. And I live in very dry Colorado. I don't wear 'regular' clothes for this reason...partly.

The best way to get your clothes dry for the ride home would be to hang them up somewhere. Can you find some one who would let you hang them in a office closet or cabinet? If you use synthetics, you could run them through a dryer if you can find access to one or if there is a coin-op laundry near the campus. Keep the temperature low and it won't damage synthetics.

Alternatively, how about carrying two changes of bike clothes? Change into the dry stuff for the ride home. I know this is a hassle but it beats riding home in cold wet clothes.

Further, you could just HTFU, as our friends over in the Road forum always say, and put on the wet stuff. It's cold and wet for a while but it warms up as you pour more sweat into it. I don't like to do this. I know most people don't but it better than riding naked;) Although that would depend on the rider:D

Those are good points, but I'm a little depressed to hear that you're still working up a sweat in Colorado. :lol: I actually dream of riding there just to see if I don't soak my clothes on a summer ride.

I'll have to look into the coin operated laundry idea. Surely there is one close by that I could drop in on after class. I have some large breaks in the middle of the day. And hanging them up would be a good idea as well. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find that luxury, however. That and my paranoia. The worst thing, though, is that even when there is a day-use locker open and I leave my stuff there all day, they're still wet after like 10 hours of hanging in the locker. There is pretty much zero ventilation on the lockers and the locker room stays perpetually humid with all the showers as well. So even if I had rented on out for the semester, they'd still be soaked at the end of the day.

I agree with cycocommute on having two sets. It'd be worth it to just carry two sets per day and just dry them each night. You don't necessarily need to wash them because you will be showering after each ride anyway; so the smell shouldn't be that big of an issue.

And if you begin to sweat just from going from the gym to your class, how about locking your bike at the gym, and taking a campus bus (if you have them) to your class? or walking there.

yeah, I don't know any way around finding a place to hang up the clothes to dry, or somehow or finding a dryer. I don't know which campus you're going to, but UTA used to have several on-campus apartments with accessible washer/dryer facilities. Good luck.

It just evaporates faster. Cools more efficiently too.

pallen's idea may be the best one. Dorms.