When was the last time you heard of someone walking up to another person and said: "you stink like pig, take a freaking shower!" You're not going hear that, which explains why you've never been told that and why you think it's not a big deal.

Obviously I never expected to be told that. No one tells me to take of my sunglasses when speaking to them either and yet I can still observe that I am more likely to be treated with kindness and generosity if I do take off my sunglasses and make appropriate eye contact when speaking to them.

I have not observed as much difference in whether I am offered hospitality when I haven't showered as I do when I forget to take off the shades. That has been my observation any way, at least in rural and small town settings.

There is another variant of these that camping stores sell where one side is clear and the other side is black or dark green. The intent is to lay them out in the sun and let the solar energy go through the clear side and bounce off the blackside heating the water. Cabela's sells them I believe and most camping stores. A 2qt version snapped onto the top of the rack with a bungie cord in the early afternoon provides a nice warm shower or wash up opportunity before taking supper in the wild. I don't know if there are brand differences...perhaps someone has a comparision.

Nonsense ... I really don't care if I offend people with the good clean wholesome smell of outdoors and sweat. If that offends certain delicate westerners, they need to get outside and get active more often.


That said, I do wash my hands with soap whenever it is available in restaurants or campgrounds or public toilets ... especially if I'm going to be eating something like hamburger and chips with my hands. That is a hygiene thing.

Yeah, I've got to laugh more than a bit about this idea of offending some people. I've been in office and city dining environments and supermarket checkouts when the smell from other (inactive) people's BO has been overwhelmingly awful. And let's not talk about cigarette smoke, and the pervasive smell of alcohol.

Yes, if cigarette smokers aren't concerned about offending people with the stench that pervades their bodies and clothing ... why should I be concerned about offending people with a bit of the smell of being active outdoors?

There should be a way of stickying this post so touring cyclists can take a look at it from time to time and remind themselves of this.

Even as a touring cyclist myself, I have been disappointed more often than not by the off-handed attitude I've got from other touring cyclists that I have come across, whether I've been on or off my own bike.

Having said that, one of the most enjoyable interactions we had on this trip was with a guy who bailed us up in Mallaig, Scotland, for half an hour talking bikes, cycling, touring, the local area and B&Bs. And we've had other interactions which linger. But that may be as much to do with following Pete's list above as much as anything else.

And we have had great relationships with just about every person behind booking counters in airlines, train stations, and ferry terminals, and with security personnel in airports. A smile and a positive attitude are wondrous things.

Oh baby, I love you already!!!

I know a couple of farmers, they would smirk at what you said about hygiene and washing hands before eating. They think that dirt of the earth is good for the immune system, and they will eat without washing. Crazy as that sounds to you and me, but the funny thing is...neither of them have been sick in many years, maybe their on to something? I don't know, but I know I'm uncomfortable eating a sandwich with dirty hands. I guess it's just what we get use to.

I remember as a kid we never had anti bacteria sanitized soaps to wash our hands and/or counter tops with, we all survived just fine. In fact there may be evidence that we've gone to far that way, that we should not be using anti bacteria soaps and cleansers, my wife and I don't, we're still alive.

If I spent my day out in the country (and I've lived out in the country), I wouldn't worry so much about the hand washing ... there's nothing wrong with good wholesome dirt :) Handwashing is more for city life. So many hands touching door knobs, railings, etc. ... so many people sneezing and coughing everywhere ...

I also end up riding in rainy or recently rained on conditions a lot ... it seems to rain wherever I go ... so everything, including my hands and face tend to collect a layer of street grime. I'd rather remove that before eating.

We recently settled down after spending a total of 4 years traveling the Americas on our bikes with our children and we ate a LOT with dirt on our hands. Water was a very precious thing and we needed it inside our bodies way more than we needed clean hands, so we would sometimes go up to 3 or 4 days between hand washings. We hardly ever got sick.

Now that we've been back in the USA for 18 months, one son still sticks by the rules of the road - I swear that kid never, ever washes his hands. He goes to school and rides his bike all over tarnation and chops wood and moves rocks, but never washes his hands. He's healthy as a horse.

Not all dirt is created equal. Soil is different than sewage. I'm not a prude when it comes to dirty hands. Plumbing is my family's business, and we were seldom sick. But I still wash my hands if I'm flossing my teeth after I use the toilet, for instance.

Handwashing has its place, like preventing fecal-mouth transfer of nasty stuff like hepatitis in restaurants, hospitals, etc.

I'm amazed at how many myths surround something as simple as handwashing. Some very intelligent people I know believe regular hand soap and warm water kills "germs". Mom said so.

See, I'm weird that way, I don't worry about door knobs, railings, etc and rarely wash my hands even during the cold and flu season after touching such stuff. I also don't wipe things down with sanitizing cloths. Since I don't work typically in a place where my hands get dirty from dirt or grease my hands don't get dirty all day so I don't wash them at all except after going to the toilet. And I don't get sick, and I live in the city. I think people need to build up their immune system by washing less and not using anti bacteria soaps thus exposing themselves to these various germs which will eventually build up their immunity against them. Granted if you have some sort of illness and/or a compromised immune system that could cause serious consequences if you don't protect yourself from germs that's a different story, but for the normal person I think we're going way overboard, and it may be why we're encountering super bugs. But that's just my opinion.

What most people don't realize is there are good and bad bugs, the good bugs do warfare against the bad bugs, if you sanitize your hands you kill both bugs, problem is, bad bugs duplicate far faster then good bugs, so now you left yourself with an army of bad bugs as the anti bacteria soap wears out and very few good bugs to defeat them.

Ugh! Hand sanitizers! People don't realize how bad the antibacterial stuff is for you. Triclosan should be banned!

Has anyone noticed the color of the water when washing their cycling gloves? I'll bet my gloves would fill a petri dish with a lot of different critters.

Depends on how often you wash your gloves. But you could fill a petri dish with critters after a shower!

Oh yeah. Nasty as hell. I have been on organized rides recently where you are supposed to remove your gloves before taking snacks. On one of those rides last year I watched a guy walk up the food table, grab some potatoes with a gloved hand, pop them in his mouth, lick his fingers and then grab some more. Needless to say, I didn't take any more potatoes from that batch.

We occasionally use thickened alcohol hand sanitisers. And my part of my work before leaving on this trip was cleaning public toilets and other undelightful stuff that required gloves and extensive use of alcohol cleaner on the hands.

But away from the toilets and doing stuff in parklands and bush... not a problem sitting down for lunch without washing hands.

Based on over 1000 nights camping over the past 10 years, here are my observations about keeping clean:

1) Stretch your muscles so you can squat properly, which positions the body so that there isn't so much mess in the first place, then wash your bottom with water after wiping. Then clean the hand you used to wash your bottom with soap and water. Yes, this wastes some precious water, but it solves the biggest single issue with cleanliness outdoors. I wipe with natural objects (rocks, sticks that have been smoothed by rubbing against rocks, sturdy leaves), which work much better than paper when it is raining. Wet wipes is another possibility, but is one more consumable that can run out and which has to replenished at town stops, with the potential for out-of-stock situations, which is why I prefer my system, which is always available.

2) Wear loose-fitting nylon shirt and pants against the skin, with no underwear for men. (I can't comment about women's underwear.) Nylon (aka polyamide) is highly stink-resistant to begin with, cleans easily in hot or cold water, and dries quickly after cleaning. Supplex nylon breathes very well, just like cotton. Polyester and polypropylene are stink-magnets. Wool is also stink-resistant (though has a smell of its own when wet) but is slow to dry and isn't very durable. Then wear insulating garments on top of the loose-fitting nylon, so that they are protected from contamination.

3) Wear wool or wool/nylon blend socks stink much less than polyester socks and are easier to clean (cold water and shampoo will clean wool, whereas hot water and strong soap is often needed for polyester).

4) Clean the feet in the evening by scraping them in dry dirt. Yes, you read right. Dry dirt is mostly just fine sand and even the organic matter is less-smelly than the bacteria and fungus that collect on the feet. Even wet dirt can be used to clean the feet. Just brush most of it off aftewards, then keep the feet elevated for a minute or so, which should be enough for the remaining dirt to dry, then brush that off. Cleaning the feet is essential to keeping the sleep gear clean. Truly bad foot smell will go right through a silk liner.

5) Wear wool or fur felt hats, since the head is full of oils that can go rancid and smell. Wool and fur will absorb these oils (which are similar to the oils that were on the wool or fur originally) without smelling bad.

6) A towel is unneeded and will mildew. Just put on the loosely-fitting nylon shell clothes and burn off the moisture with body heat.

7) If hot weather, rinsing salt off the face might be advisable in the evening, since salt deposits can burn the skin.

8) Underarms will tend to stink far more in cold weather than hot weather (assuming you are wearing loose-fitting nylon) because lack of air circulation there under cold weather clothes creates a hot and damp environment for bacteria build-up. It's a simple matter to strip down and clean with soap and water, assuming you have the right soap and water bottles. Practice at home. The human body won't be hurt by being splashed with a little cold water, even if air temperatures are near freezing, as long as you can put warm clothes on afterwards.

9) I recommend using shampoo with conditioner inside a 4oz Nalgene screw-top bottle as your soap. These Nalgene bottles are sturdy and the wide mouth allows inserting a finger so as to remove just a tiny bit of soap. Shampoo is gentle soap and the conditioner reduces the likelihood of drying out the skin, regardless of which part of the body you are washing. Shampoo with conditioner works fine to clean both supplex nylon and wool in the sink.

10) Evening tick inspection is advisable in many areas. Less of an issue for bicyclists than hikers.

Found an interesting and informative blog containing useful info.
http://guide2homelessness.blogspot.c...uck-stops.html

a couple quick things...

I moved to Europe five years ago and I've changed a lot with respect to hygiene over here.

I shave my head and beard with on the 0 setting with an electric trimmer every 3-5 days. The style is better and more relaxed. People like it and think it looks great.
I wear my clothes much more often before washing. I probably get 3-5 days/pant and 5-7 days/shirt. Just a little cologne and deo and I'm good to go.
My teeth are not super ultra glow-in-the-dark white anymore.

As far as showering goes in Europe:

Any reasonable sized train station will have a shower you can use for a € or 2.
Most larger fuel stations ... truck stops have showers as well for a similar price.

As far as using anything antimicrobial ... as a practicing microbiologist ... please don't. multidrug resistance is a hug deal, so please don't contribute to it.

GL.

Yes, indeed it can be, if you get up so close and personal.

Sorry, couldn't resist poking fun with an innocent typo...:D

If you make a good impression with people and but stink, they just might let you use their bathroom to take a quick shower :)

I've basically given up with using a towel of any sorts, it's not because of weight/performance/comfort but I keep hanging them up to dry and they like to disappear. I just use my shirt to dry off, it dries of quickly when your wearing it.

I use a bar of soap, the cheapest one I can get ahold of. Good for laundry, me and dishes.

Pactowl, part of Cascade designs, are a very compact synthetic
that takes up moisture without absorbing much of it.

so a small piece can be wrung out several times and go again..

Clean crotch skin prevents saddle sores.

Since I'm a poor smuck stuck with a regular job, other than taking a week off to go some place, we are normally only bicycle camping in the distance that we can get there and back in one weekend. That means the nearest state parks for us. No problem there as they have showers. And, yes, I want to sleep cleanly. Don't care so much what I look or feel like during the day short of a layer of dirt if I get caught in wind blown dirt.
The Arkansas trip last month was 203 miles of "hotel camping". Showers were obviously available. Only rode five days so we just did laundry at the end of the ride.