I made my first commute to the new office today. 7 miles along a MUP that has some off-road sections. Took me 35 minutes door to door, which I guess means I averaged 12 MPH.

One of my concerns was the lack of shower at my new office. Add to that the oppressive humidity. So here's what I did, based on lots of good info in this forum if you search for "shower":

- Shower well before leaving home, wear clean clothes to ride (or maybe wool or something if you have it)
- Packed: change of clothes, small thin towel, washcloth, hair product, homebrew spritzer
- Homebrew spritzer: witch hazel, wintergreen rubbing alcohol, sandlewood oil, rose oil (tiny amounts of the oils)
- Took 15 minutes to cool off outside before coming upstairs
- Took another 15 minutes to cool off in the AC before freshening up
- Went into the tiny stall in the bathroom, cleaned up and changed

The witch hazel spritzer is awesome. And I still felt pretty clean when I got undressed to change, so the towel and spray stuff were enough -- didn't really need baby wipes.

Now? I feel totally fresh and non-stinky/sticky. Thanks to everybody who contributed to the great info on the shower threads!

We have similar issues...I also take a good shower before I leave, and I get to work usually around 7-7:15 which leaves me plenty of time to cool down while I get ready for work. It helps that I spray my hair down with water so I can fix it. Baby wipes for perspiration, and I'm good! Luckily, we have a rarely used single-user bathroom that I can take over while I clean up.

And microfiber towels are awesome...thin and light and fold to next to nothing, but just as absorbent as any fluffy, voluminous towel.

That spritzer is brilliant.

I do similar, but add one (to me, vital!) step. I always wash my hair again after getting to work. For some reason the majority of my sweat on the 7 mile trip collects in my hair, and if I don't wash it regardless of the fact that I washed it minutes before getting on the bike, it feels nasty halfway into the day. So adding in a sink "shower" for my hair makes the world of difference.

Granted we have showers here, it's just getting someone to clean them out so I can actually use them (when the training rooms were built up instead of the gym, everyone decided to use the showers for a storage area...)

I took the recipe directly from this forum. Works great. Mine even has an extra little something b/c I found the perfect tiny stainless steel spray bottle, but it had the remains of some natural (mostly citronella) bug spray. So even after washing out really well it still smells a little like citronella. At least it'll keep the mosquitos off, though I might smell a little like a camping trip.

Anyone ever used a talc like baby powder or something in those under-the-clothes places? I would imagine that would help keep you dry and fresh feeling (/smelling) down there..

Yeah, sure. (Great for feet, too!) If I had a little bottle of talc I probably would have brought it today, but all I had was the econo-size.

Don't use talc it's dangerous to inhale. You can use corn starch baby powder (as I believe virtually all baby powder is these days). Save the talc for your feet. Or not at all, baby powder's less expensive.

I have no idea where you find an extra 1/2 hour just to dry off, but I do remember biking in Austin however, and must say it would have been nice.

Same here, but with the exception of those 30 min cool off time.

my average changing / clean up / freshen up takes all 15 min, in the office public washroom.

talc or similar products doesn;t work for me, i sweat way to much.
It just causes a big mess inside my shoes, or wherever i put them on.

I don;t know about you guys, but asides what was mentioned earlier.
I always keep some personal cleaning hygiene products (soap, shampoo, toothpaste), and change of clothes in my drawers at work.
if Talc worked for me, i'll probably keep a big bottle there as well.

What i usually do, is to refill every Monday, and bring back all the dirty stuff every Friday
So Mondays & Fridays are panniers day
that leaves me Tuesday to Thursday to ride freely

Concurrent threat talks about a Rocket Shower. Once I got to work and the water was out, after a 26 mile commute. Nothing is as refreshing as a real shower ...