Drying your shorts
#26
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I think that's his point. Not everyone is motivated by the minimalist mindset.
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I don't need my Kindle or a book and the weight it adds, but by touring life would be worse without one because I like to read when out on the road.
#28
Every day a winding road
Or you can look at it as carrying what makes you comfortable. An extra pair of shorts weighs near nothing A wet pair of shorts makes me uncomfortable. Why wouldn't I carry a spare pair? Just like I carry light weight of bike shoes and off bike clothes. Just like I also carry a two man tent for one person.
I guess minimal gear is an easy way to drop weight and it really doesn't cost you anything but your comfort. I guess it is better than investing a fortune in light weight frame and components to save a few ounces. That one makes me laugh when you see someone with a really expensive light weight bike and they could easily lose 10 to 20 pounds or more off of themselves.
I want to know what minimalist do in the event of torn shorts? Yeah probably not a real common occurrence but it can happen.
My glasses are so important to me I carry 2 pair plus the contacts I am wearing while riding. I also carry backup medication in the event I do something dumb like leave it in a bathroom. Never had to use either but I know it is there when I need it.
I did fly off to Italy once wearing my contact. I left my glasses at home! I can't wear my contacts all day so I had to have a pair made once I got to Italy. That is when I got the idea of backups. They are the first thing that is packed. So matter what happens I have a pair.
Last edited by spinnaker; 04-01-18 at 11:01 AM.
#29
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A few times I have had to give water to badly dehydrated cyclists that were bikepacking and they had run out of water hours earlier. There are limits to this ultralight weight obsession that some people seem to have.
#30
Macro Geek
I have one pair of cycling shorts and one jersey on my tours, but not because I'm trying to save weight. If I wanted to minimize my load, I would carry running shoes, sandals, but not both. Or I would bring along a single paperback instead of two or three. Or I would mail things home. (On the first day of a 12 day tour, I had breakfast with a friend who gave me a gift that weighed about 500 g/1 pound. I found a corner for it in my pannier, and left it there for the duration of the tour.)
The first thing I do when I arrive at my overnight destination is take a shower, and launder my shorts, jersey, and perhaps one or two other small items. It's part of my touring rhythm rather than a desire to save grams. It takes me five or 10 minutes to hand-launder these items and set them out to dry overnight.
If the shorts or jersey happen to be a little damp in the morning, it's no big deal. Body heat drives out any remaining dampness even before I finish breakfast.
I guess it's about simplicity, not convenience, and different people draw those lines differently.
The first thing I do when I arrive at my overnight destination is take a shower, and launder my shorts, jersey, and perhaps one or two other small items. It's part of my touring rhythm rather than a desire to save grams. It takes me five or 10 minutes to hand-launder these items and set them out to dry overnight.
If the shorts or jersey happen to be a little damp in the morning, it's no big deal. Body heat drives out any remaining dampness even before I finish breakfast.
I guess it's about simplicity, not convenience, and different people draw those lines differently.
#31
Every day a winding road
I have one pair of cycling shorts and one jersey on my tours, but not because I'm trying to save weight. If I wanted to minimize my load, I would carry running shoes, sandals, but not both. Or I would bring along a single paperback instead of two or three. Or I would mail things home. (On the first day of a 12 day tour, I had breakfast with a friend who gave me a gift that weighed about 500 g/1 pound. I found a corner for it in my pannier, and left it there for the duration of the tour.)
The first thing I do when I arrive at my overnight destination is take a shower, and launder my shorts, jersey, and perhaps one or two other small items. It's part of my touring rhythm rather than a desire to save grams. It takes me five or 10 minutes to hand-launder these items and set them out to dry overnight.
If the shorts or jersey happen to be a little damp in the morning, it's no big deal. Body heat drives out any remaining dampness even before I finish breakfast.
I guess it's about simplicity, not convenience, and different people draw those lines differently.
The first thing I do when I arrive at my overnight destination is take a shower, and launder my shorts, jersey, and perhaps one or two other small items. It's part of my touring rhythm rather than a desire to save grams. It takes me five or 10 minutes to hand-launder these items and set them out to dry overnight.
If the shorts or jersey happen to be a little damp in the morning, it's no big deal. Body heat drives out any remaining dampness even before I finish breakfast.
I guess it's about simplicity, not convenience, and different people draw those lines differently.
#32
Senior Member
#33
Macro Geek
So then why would you not add a pair of shorts and a jersey to your gear? What value is there is taking one set of riding clothes other than saving weight?
I suppose the opposite of what I do would be to carry of shorts and a jersey for each day of a trip! Imagine, no laundry!
#34
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No hard and fast rules. Generally take two pair, and wash shorts and synthetic jersey after arriving in camp each day, then hang to dry overnight. If still wet the next morning, will drape on top of rear panniers and hopefully its sunny and dry out. I try to avoid stuffing damp things in teh panniers 0- they tend not to dry out in there. If its raining when I arrive at camp, or I know its going to rain, I will sometimes skip washing and hope to do the next day or just wear "dirty" shorts a second day. Nice thing about wool tops is you can wear multiple days and they don't stink. Also, wool drys relatively fast and you can actually put on damp and dry out. Bottom line, I think it depends on climate and weather. Multiday rain is going to stress any rule you come up with.
#35
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I don't. I'm not sure where this idea that you can't dry Lycra came from but it is entirely wrong. Bicycle clothes don't need to be air dried. They are simply not that delicate. The heat of a drier is even beneficial in that it resets the stretch of the Lycra polymer.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#37
Senior Member
or where dropping off at the chinese laundry overnight isn't convenient.
#38
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I don't. I'm not sure where this idea that you can't dry Lycra came from but it is entirely wrong. Bicycle clothes don't need to be air dried. They are simply not that delicate. The heat of a drier is even beneficial in that it resets the stretch of the Lycra polymer.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
At best, it will weaken the fabric shortening its life and causing it to lose its shape and wicking ability. This is true with clothes in general, but more so with delicate items. Front load washers ftw.
#39
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Maybe if you have a modern advanced washer and drier with a delicate/hand cycle? Some driers you can even switch off the heat. Otherwise, stay away from commercial washer/driers. Those agitators are way too powerful, and the driers will cook your cycling clothes (Lycra) before you know what happened.
Again, no, it doesn't. The polymer that makes up Lycra is not "rubber". During manufacturing, the Lycra is "set" ( i.e. given its stretch) by heating it to from 175° to 200°C (~350°F to ~400°F). That's far hotter than you can get in any commercial drier and also far hotter than most "rubber" compounds would stand. Reheating the lycra fabric in a drier helps restore some of that stretch, not degrade it.
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Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
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#40
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It's hard to say. Boomhauer didn't say where he was touring nor the conditions. While there are a lot of people who bicycle tour to remote places in the world, the majority of people probably aren't going to be too far off the beaten path. That means the conveniences of laundry facilities somewhere along the way. Even, and perhaps especially, when I stay in a hotel (it's nice to sleep in a soft bed once in a while), 99.9% of them have a coin-op laundry that I can use. In a pinch, I have even stopped at a laundromat along the way during the day.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#41
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I had the same problem with my towel until I met an English cycle tourist who was an avid swimmer and lived in a small ford van back home, and never used a towel, he said put your clothes on and you'll get dry. It's worked for me since and that was more than 5 years ago.
BTDT,good part of the reason the next trip is in hotels.
Agreed. My bike shorts go in the dryer with the rest of my synthetic stuff, generally on high heat. No issues thus far, with them or any of my other plasticy clothes.
#42
Senior Member
I always take two pair. Try to ring the one pair out the best you can. If you are staying in a hotel. Roll the shorts up (pad out) in a towel to help them dry a bit more.
Assuming it is not raining the next day, damp clothes get hung on panniers till they dry. That right repeat the process with the clothes you are waering.
Assuming it is not raining the next day, damp clothes get hung on panniers till they dry. That right repeat the process with the clothes you are waering.
#43
Senior Member
Last year my first day saw 8 hrs of hard rain and 6 hours of just rain after that. Glad to have another dry pair of short to wear the next day.
#44
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I don't. I'm not sure where this idea that you can't dry Lycra came from but it is entirely wrong. Bicycle clothes don't need to be air dried. They are simply not that delicate. The heat of a drier is even beneficial in that it resets the stretch of the Lycra polymer.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
I have loads (and loads) of bicycle clothes that have been machine washed and dried for more than 20 years and they are still going strong. They are starting to look a little thin but that's wear. They still stretch like they always have.
Now I know that some (perhaps most) people only carry one extra set of bicycle clothes and do laundry every night but I personally hate doing that. A jersey and a pair of shorts doesn't weigh all that much so I carry 4 total sets of bicycle clothes (I wear one and carry the other 3). That way I only have to do machine laundry every 3rd or 4th night.
I really hate the idea of doing all the things you need to do at the end of a day of touring and then add hand washing bike clothes to that.
We were on another tour, 3-months, where we experience 35 days of rain. We became pretty creative rigging clothes lines in hotel rooms. IME most European hotels/motels do not have laundry facilities that the public can use. Even when you find them, the washers and dryers used in Europe are painfully slow; it takes about 5 hours to do one load of clothes. Imagine a large campground with only 2 washers and dryers!
If I remember correctly, there was a sports bra on each rack pack, flapping in the wind. The same method works for shorts
Last edited by Doug64; 04-02-18 at 01:40 PM.
#45
Every day a winding road
I don't know about dryers. My Pearl Izumis seem to wear pretty thin after a season or two. To the point I don't trust them anymore. Not like I put on tons of miles. My average was around 2.500 miles in a year. That has probably been reduced to under 2,500 in the past few years.
I figured it was the dryer so I decided to start line drying. Maybe I am buying th ewrong brand?
I figured it was the dryer so I decided to start line drying. Maybe I am buying th ewrong brand?
#46
Every day a winding road
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https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov...coeur-d-alenes
#48
Every day a winding road
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, Idaho. It is a very nice trail and will take you most of the way across the Idaho Panhandle. It is also near the Trail of the Hiawatha.
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov...coeur-d-alenes
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov...coeur-d-alenes
Oh great! On my list for next year as well as the Route of the Hiawatha.. Plan is to do a loop out of Spokane. Then return home on the Empire Builder if I can stomach waiting till 1:30AM for the train to leave.