SkippyX

Huh.....should I be offended? If so, I'm not. I'm pretty hygienic. I do wash regularly.

I hadn't tried baby wipes post-ride, though.

That's the plan right now. When I get paid next I'll buy another three pair and wear one pair a day, washing them on the weekend along w/ the rest of my clothing.

PatrickGSR94

Better use some Oxi-Clean with that laundry if you let Monday's shorts sit in the pile nearly a whole week!

SkippyX

Actually, what I do is shower & change when I get home @ night. Then I hang the clothes out on the line overnight. At that point I take in the clothes I hung out the previous night.

My hamper would get awfully musty if I didn't do it that way.

demoncyclist

I have enough shorts to get me through the week, although we generally do laundry every few days anyway. Tide and 40 Mule Team Borax. The Borax works better than OxiClean at getting the stink out of our cycling clothes. Also a big +1 on post ride use of baby wipes to make sure that "the area" is clear of infection causing bacteria.

Surrealdeal

No you shouldn't be offended, it was just an attempt at some humor. Baby wipes are an excellent solution when a post-ride shower is not available. re: the laundry, I wash mine daily and let them air dry. Five days after a 40 mile round trip would be pretty funky by Saturday morning.

I just wanted to chime in regarding the prevention of infections & sores. You got lots of good advice re: adjustments to reduce chafing on the first page. One other thing I would mention is that when you do chafe, Bag Balm is a wonderful topical remedy for it.

RaleighSport

I do about the same, but I got a cheapy pair that even look like bike shorts. When it's just too hot I wear them as the only layer, instead of under street shorts.

Bluish Green

When I bought bike shorts, I bought several pair, thinking I would do wash every other day or so, plus have a spare pair.

Well, with the crazy temps in the 100's this summer, I have been coming home so drenched in sweat and nasty that I don't want to leave the bike clothes out sitting for any length of time to fester. So... I've been throwing them in with whatever laundry load we are doing that night and thus I pretty much have all of them to pick from the next day. So several pair was overkill for my commuting needs - one good pair, or two for insurance, could have sufficed. YMMV if you do less frequent laundry; our family generates a lot of laundry, so the machine runs every night anyways.

One quality in bike shorts that I have really come to value is ease of laundering/care. I have been using Aero Tech Designs Top Shelf shorts, which say "machine wash and dry" on them for laundry care. I have been tossing them in with the family's laundry every night and drying them with regular clothes. So far, so good - over a dozen washes and they look good as new. If they continue to hold up well and perform under that kind of treatment, they will be one of the better purchases I've done.

SkippyX

I know you were kidding around. So was I.



I do have to ask you about laundering your shorts every day. I don't have a washing machine in the house, so once a week my wife & I make the trek over to the laundromat and hang out w/ ill-dressed people wearing whatever was left at the bottom of the dresser.

There are some unfortunate wardrobe choices on display at the laundromat.

Anyway, do you actually run them through a washing machine every time you ride, or do you take the time to hand wash them? The reason I hang my clothes on the line in the back yard is to let them dry out & air out before dropping them in the hamper. Sometimes they even get a natural rinse cycle (rain) before I bring them in.

Surrealdeal

If I didn't have laundry at home I would still give them a good rinsing and hang them to dry. But I do, so my jersey, shorts and socks go in the delicate cycle by themselves & are hung to dry. On Fridays the gloves will go in too. On Fridays the helmet gets rinsed with either the hose outside or in the shower and rack dried over the weekend.

For recreational (short distance low speed) riding in the evening or on weekends with my wife and kids, I have a second helmet and I wear regular clothing.

Trifusion

I'm up to about ten pairs of these now, they're perfect for pretty much any sport:
https://shop.lululemon.com/products/c...-and-underwear

Best investment in myself I ever made.

Greg

ckaspar

Suggest to her that she use a melon ****** next time.

Seriously though. I feel for you and am strongly thinking of shorts. Then my transformation will be complete!!

ottawa_adam

I have a few pairs of shorts, which I rotate through during the week. I always hand wash my cycling clothes immediately when I get home and hang them to dry outside. I find they last forever as a result of the hand washing.

TomCat_Ford

I also hand wash my cycling clothes after the ride. It doesn't take much time at all, and, as others have said, the clothes last longer that way.

Bahnzo

I have a couple pairs of these: https://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/mens...ion+Briefs.jsp

And they are on sale right now too. I'm going back this weekend to get a couple more. They are good quality and well worth it.

CommuteCommando

I have six, and wash weekly.

Rick@OCRR

I wear road cycling shorts under floppy mountain bike shorts for commuting and that combination works wells for me. Lube-wise I use either Bag Balm or Chamois BUTT-r and both work well.

Also, I have several pair of "worn out" road shorts that have become kind of "see through" so not applicable for sport-recreational rides anymore, but still work quite well for commuting since the pads are still good and they're worn underneath my mountain bike shorts, so no worries!

Rick / OCRR

Ira B

Over the years I have noticed that some individuals are more sensitive to rub rash, boils, chaffing and generally sore butts than others. Some can ride a lot in regular clothing and never have an issue while others develop problems even on relatively short rides even if they do everything right.
1. Have a bike that fits.
2. Have a saddle that "fits."
3. Get the above preliminarily adjusted, ridden on and dialed in just right.
4. If needed, a good set of cycling shorts.
One often overlooked source of irritation is detergent residue in whatever is next to your nether regions. Be sure to set your washing machine for extra rinse or rinse undies or shorts by hand in plenty of fresh water before drying. I personally have rarely gotten irritation from riding and just wear regular undies for my 14 mile commute without issue. When I have suffered minor rash on longer rides it was related to detergent residue and double rinsing cycling shorts in the sink fixed the problem.
I always considered goops or creams a last ditch act of desperation but they seem to work for some people.

alhedges

I wear regular underwear for most rides I do. Although my regular underwear are boxer briefs made of a wicking material with flat seams.

I wouldn't do this with cotton underwear, though - the problem is that when cotton gets wet, it has a tendency abrade (and also a tendency to stay wet, which means the abrasion goes on longer). Note that (male) runners can have a problem with cotton tee shirts in that they can get wet, heavy, and actually abrade your nipples so much that they bleed.

Mondo734

First butt boils and now bleeding nipples?! I'm scared to see what page three will have next.

In all seriousness though, I hope you get better soon. My personal experience is as follows. I used to ride about 20 miles in regular street clothes and would be ok so long as it wasn't 90 degrees or hotter. Then I started using regular compression shorts and was fine for 30 miles in any kind of temps. I also found that if chaffing was happening or was a frequent occurance I could "Splash" baby power down there and it would take care of it. Now I have graduated to actual bike shorts, ones with minimal padding, and have ridden up to 50 miles in 100 degree temps and been just fine. My next purchase will be bibs since so many people here on BF swear by them.

divtag

I use ExOfficio wicking boxers. They work great inconjunction with a Brooks. Also, get used for hiking/camping. Biking shorts aren't multi-purpose like that.

sudo bike

I finally started wearing my bibs for commuting. I figured if I have to change clothes anyway (which I was having to do), I may as well have the shorts that are padded and most comfortable, even if it's a pretty short ride (6.5 miles). Changing bibs is just as fast as changing street shorts. YMMV.

FWIW, I went with the Falconi bibshorts at the recommendation of some fellow Clydesdales here. Pretty happy with them and didn't drop too much cash.