I have decided to use what’s left of my two-weeks notice at my old job as an experimental platform for non-shower, anti-stank bicycle commuting strategies.
So, I cleaned out my locker at work last week, and today, I did the following:
- shower at home, pre-departure
- under dress (and nearly freeze on the way in)
- deploy unscented baby wipes to potentially smelly body parts, upon arrival
I think it worked pretty well nobody told me I stunk, and I doubt my coworkers would refrain from saying so if I did.
I didn’t feel the need to bother with the cold water/washcloth business described in the Bike Refugee article, but today’s commute wasn’t a good simulation of my real one, so I think next week, I’m gonna get up extra early and ride a longer route with bigger hills to simulate my new commute.
Steps 1-3 is the method I use. Showering in the morning before I leave is definitely the key. Sweat itself doesn’t smell (except that nervous sweat from your pits), it’s the bacteria that grows on it that smells so rank. You have to get any bacteria off that has started to grow overnight and then baby wipe the fresh sweat off when you get to work. I don’t even use deoderant. I’ve gone five years at the same work place and no complaints yet.