Bike Refugee - A Useful Writeup

I have been scanning alot of Bike Refugee's postings recently ever since I read about his mom getting in on the cycling and even cycling to work, which I thought was pretty cool.

In his posting "How to Always Stay Fresh" I was reminded of RV's first week or two of cycling to work and how he told me about the sweat, the stink, the dirt! (Hmmm...) I thought I'd put up BR's tips here.

1. Always shower in the morning so you start your ride clean.

2. Use a non-mild soap. (Something like Ivory is good. Dove is bad.)

3. After arriving at work, wait at least 15 minutes to cool down and stop sweating. This is a good time to stretch, drink cold water, read emails, etc.

4. Use a hot or warm wet facecloth to wash your entire body. Entire.

5. If you want to use cold water for your facecloth to cool yourself off, make sure you repeat using hot water on the facecloth afterwards. * (see note below)

6. Use a small towel to dry. A small towel can be carried with you every day and can be replaced at home with a clean one easily.

7. Apply deodorant liberally, not antiperspirant. My whole technique could be useless if you start messing with your body's attempts to sweat when it chooses. ** (see the other note below)

8. Put on a complete set of clean clothes.

* I don't know why exactly, but if I use cold water only, I'll sweat a lot more after changing into my clean clothes. My theory is that by using hot water the skin gets tricked into thinking its cold after you're done because it is now colder than it used to be, whereas the opposite happens if you cover yourself with cold water.

** For women, I think the only deodorants available (as opposed to antiperspirant) are the organic ones, which I find are less irritating on the skin anyways. I've found Tom's of Maine works well. A couple other brands do not work well at all, so it may require experimentation. For men, if you go for the organic stuff, it may mean using a scent like Honeysuckle Rose, which is not as bad as it sounds. You just may be more likely to attract flying insects instead of the opposite sex.

More can be found at Bike Refugee.


-RV Girl
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