Arriving in a muck sweat

How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?

Over the past couple of months I've been riding the 5 miles each way to work.

Going in, its a bit of a hill for the first 1 1/2 miles and then busy traffic for the rest, so for
me riding slow enough not to warm up a bit is difficult.

I've learnt to pace myself to arrive at work feeling good, not knackered and feel like I could hold
the pace for a couple of hours or so. When I stop however the sweat seems to be pouring off me. I'm
lucky as I can take a shower, I come out feeling fresh, but within 5 mins am red faced and sweats
dripping down my face again.

Can some on (Hi Helen) explain the physiology of whets going on and how can I avoid turning up quite
so dishevelled?

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

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Maybe it'll just be a matter of time. Once your body is more used to the cycling you'll be fitter
and thus feel less sweaty.

At the moment I ride 12 miles into work. I used to wear all my cycling gear but a few times thought
I'd just go in work clothes. Apart from getting a salty face, I didn't feel too sweaty. Just rinse
my face off and I feel okay. Though I do find that if I have a rucksack on it makes me loads more
sweaty, probably because the back is a big area from which you can lose heat. Cover it up and you
sweat more.

I have panniers instead, which keeps my back free of obstructions.

Burton

 

"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> I've learnt to pace myself to arrive at work feeling good, not knackered and feel like I
> could hold the pace for a couple of hours or so. When I stop however the sweat seems to be
> pouring off me.

When you're riding along there's a breeze helping moisture on your skin to evaporate so a low level
of sweating is enough to keep you cool. As soon as you stop you lose this cooling mechanism and the
sweating reflex increases to compensate. You have a trained sweating reflex so it does this very
effectively.

> I'm lucky as I can take a shower, I come out feeling fresh, but within 5 mins am red faced and
> sweats dripping down my face again.

As you have a shower at work there is no need to soft pedal on the way
in. The hot shower washes sweat off your skin but does not cool you. You are probably still sweating
in the shower but of course it is not noticeable. Immediately you step out of the shower the
water on your skin begins to evaporate and again there is a cooling effect allowing sweating to
reduce, which is why you feel fresh, but it is only temporary. The answer is to finish off with
the shower really cold for long enough to reduce your temperature and stop the sweating
completely. This will also make you rough and tough.

--
Dave...

 

This *always* happens to me. Doesn't matter how far I cycle, be it a mile or 25 and when I'm cycling
I can feel great - not get out of breath, not feel as if I'm pushing it - yet stop, step off the
bike and it's like a waterfall! I assume that when cycling, the breeze is causing the sweat to
evaporate & help keep me cool - stop and the breeze goes.

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Clean up the waste & get rid of the trapped wind to send a reply

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

When I cycle my 5 miles to work I usually bomb the journey so I arrive very sweaty. Working as a
confectionary baker for a supermarket, I just need to nip into the main freezer storage in the
warehouse for a few minutes. Hey presto, no sweat.

Gadget

 

"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?
>
> Over the past couple of months I've been riding the 5 miles each way to work.
>
> Going in, its a bit of a hill for the first 1 1/2 miles and then busy traffic for the rest, so for
> me riding slow enough not to warm up a bit is difficult.
>
> I've learnt to pace myself to arrive at work feeling good, not knackered
and
> feel like I could hold the pace for a couple of hours or so. When I stop however the sweat seems
> to be pouring off me. I'm lucky as I can take a shower, I come out feeling fresh, but within 5
> mins am red faced and
sweats
> dripping down my face again.
>
> Can some on (Hi Helen) explain the physiology of whets going on and how
can
> I avoid turning up quite so dishevelled?
>
> --
> Andy Morris
>
Yes this is what happens when the shower doesn't "take" (George Costanza - Seinfeld). You need to
finish with a cold shower to cool your body temperature down. I also find that puting my shirt on
last (or whatever your hottest area happens to be!) helps as does taking things easy for 10 mins or
so and trying to get some breeze.

 

"Gadget" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When I cycle my 5 miles to work I usually bomb the journey so I arrive
very
> sweaty. Working as a confectionary baker for a supermarket, I just need to nip into the main
> freezer storage in the warehouse for a few minutes. Hey presto, no sweat.
>
> Gadget
>
You must smell good when you thaw out later ;-) A freezer would be nice though.

 

"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote:

| How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?
|
| Over the past couple of months I've been riding the 5 miles each way to work.
|
| Going in, its a bit of a hill for the first 1 1/2 miles and then busy traffic for the rest, so for
| me riding slow enough not to warm up a bit is difficult.

I cycle (about 3 miles each way) with about the same amount of energy I would use to walk, so I
arrive with about the same degree of sweatiness albeit much sooner. If I didn't I'd get the same
effect you describe.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk

 

I
> assume that when cycling, the breeze is causing the sweat to evaporate &
help
> keep me cool - stop and the breeze goes.

Ever cycled on rollers or a TacX type trainer? Even doing low intensity work I find I sweat like a
pig, and cover the floor around me in salt and water - despite usually doing it at 10pm in a garage
in winter, so its not exactly hot. However, I'm not particularly sweaty when I get back from a hard
ride. Think this anecdotal evidence ties in with your hypothesis.

 

In message <[email protected]>, Dave Kahn
<[email protected]> writes
>"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> I've learnt to pace myself to arrive at work feeling good, not knackered and feel like I could
>> hold the pace for a couple of hours or so. When I stop however the sweat seems to be pouring
>> off me.
>
>When you're riding along there's a breeze helping moisture on your skin to evaporate so a low level
>of sweating is enough to keep you cool. As soon as you stop you lose this cooling mechanism and the
>sweating reflex increases to compensate. You have a trained sweating reflex so it does this very
>effectively.
>
>> I'm lucky as I can take a shower, I come out feeling fresh, but within 5 mins am red faced and
>> sweats dripping down my face again.
>
>As you have a shower at work there is no need to soft pedal on the way
>in. The hot shower washes sweat off your skin but does not cool you. You are probably still
> sweating in the shower but of course it is not noticeable. Immediately you step out of the
> shower the water on your skin begins to evaporate and again there is a cooling effect allowing
> sweating to reduce, which is why you feel fresh, but it is only temporary.

I deal with it by getting to work early enough to give myself time to cool down.

I'm a schoolteacher so I would get to school normally well before the kids anyway and get on with
some work - I normally have breakfast at work as well. I can turn up in cycling gear get a drink,
have breakfast and/or do a bit of work then when I'm cooled down go and get changed.

This would of course not work for all work situations.

--
Chris French, Leeds

 

Patrick Herring wrote:
>
> I cycle (about 3 miles each way) with about the same amount of energy I would use to walk, so I
> arrive with about the same degree of sweatiness albeit much sooner. If I didn't I'd get the same
> effect you describe.

I sometimes try to do errands at that sort of pace, but always forget myself and end up
going to fast.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
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"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in news:bbe0k2$9ol$2 @news8.svr.pol.co.uk:

> How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?
>
> Over the past couple of months I've been riding the 5 miles each way to work.
>

I do about 9 miles each way and go fairly hard (well it feels hard to me). My main way of dealing
with it is to avoid over-dressing. This morning, leaving at 7:30, cycling t-shirt and shorts were
enough. I feel a bit a chill for the first couple of miles, but that's all.

I have no shower at work (well there is one, but in an inconvenient place). When I get to work I
have a quick wash and get changed at a leisurely pace. I also find the deo-wipes that have started
to be promoted to party-all- night types useful for freshening up.

Toby

--
Remove spamtrap to reply by mail

 

"Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Maybe it'll just be a matter of time. Once your body is more used to the cycling you'll be fitter
> and thus feel less sweaty.

This is unlikely IMO. There are wide individual differences in sweating but generally the fitter you
are the sooner you begin to sweat during exercise.

Every so often you will see a letter in one of the running magazines along the following lines. "I
notice that if I run just a short distance, 50 yards for a bus say, when I sit down I am pouring
with sweat. Before I took up running this never used to happen. I know that I'm fitter than I used
to be so how do you explain this?" The simple answer is that the runner's sweating response has been
trained along with the rest of his system.

--
Dave...

 

"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?

I've only been cycling to work for the past couple of weeks, but the three miles each way leave me
sweating like a pig. The joys of no exercise for a few years, fancy!

Anyways, I lock my bike up outside the office, take off my helmet and take a walk to the shop to buy
a couple of drinks. After that, I have a leisurely fag outside the office before going in, still
sweating heavily. I then sit down, scan over a few emails and generally apologise to the bloke
sitting opposite me. By then I've normally sorted myself out enough to go to the toilets, change
clothes, wash my face and apply a small layer of deodorant.

Seems to have done the job - the guys in the office have generously offered to beat me senseless if
I start to reek, and so far I haven't had a finger laid on me

Still, a shower at work would make life much better.

Thomas.

 

Dave Kahn wrote:
>
> The answer is to finish off with the shower really cold for long enough to reduce your temperature
> and stop the sweating completely. This will also make you rough and tough.

Tried it, the water in the shower only went down to chilly as opposed to freezing, but it felt
surprisingly good and the re-sweat rate was much lower.

Don't know about rough and tough tho.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

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Thomas wrote:
> I have a leisurely fag outside the office before going in, still sweating heavily.

Yes Yes, and its so much nicer than having one stuck in a traffic jam in a car.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
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Thus spake "AndyMorris" <[email protected]>

> Dave Kahn wrote:
> >
> > The answer is to finish off with the shower really cold for long enough to reduce your
> > temperature and stop the sweating completely. This will also make you rough and tough.

> Tried it, the water in the shower only went down to chilly as opposed to freezing, but it felt
> surprisingly good and the re-sweat rate was much lower.

> Don't know about rough and tough tho.

Take a flannel or two. Soak under tap[1] on arrival at work. Apply one flannel to head and others to
limbs (hands & forearms are good; thighs are OK if you're sitting.) Latent heat of vapourisation is
a good, cheap, effective, cooling trick. Flannels are good for clearing 'muck sweat' AAW. Cheap
flannels dry faster as they have thinner pile.

Then there are Tchibo gel ice packs...

[1] Water does not have to be cold.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

"AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Don't know about rough and tough tho.

Well, you can't have everything.

--
Dave...

 

In article <[email protected]>, Thomas wrote:
>
> "AndyMorris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> How do people avoid turning up to work in a muck sweat?
>
> I've only been cycling to work for the past couple of weeks, but the three miles each way leave me
> sweating like a pig. The joys of no exercise for a few years, fancy!
>
> Anyways, I lock my bike up outside the office, take off my helmet and take a walk to the shop to
> buy a couple of drinks. After that, I have a leisurely fag outside the office before going in

[snip]

Thereby, of course, undoing all the good you've achieved by exercise and then some! :;

AC

--
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| http://www.acampbell.org.uk/cycling/
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http://www.ocd.org.uk
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On Wed, 04 Jun 2003 15:28:12 GMT, Anthony Campbell <[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, Thomas wrote:
SNIP
>>
>> Anyways, I lock my bike up outside the office, take off my helmet and take a walk to the shop to
>> buy a couple of drinks. After that, I have a leisurely fag outside the office before going in
>
>[snip]
>
>Thereby, of course, undoing all the good you've achieved by exercise and then some! :;
>

I usually have a fag on arrival and before departure. And on the hour if it's a long ride. People
are always making comments along the lines of 'why bother cycling if you smoke'.

Two points. (1) Health is a very minor reason for my cycling; transport and fun are what gets me in
the saddle. (2) So I give up cycling; I'll have achieved what, precisely?

I like to point out that smoking is carbon-neutral (unlike driving) and the effluent from my 'few'
fags per day is several orders of magnitude less toxic to their fellow humans than the pollutants
arising out of their commute.

I haven't got any actual evidence for the latter claim beyond a feeling that 4 mins sucking on a
ciggy is pleasant whereas 4 mins breathing exhaust is likely to polish you off. Also, despite
improvements, car exhaust is still pretty carcinogenic AIUI - particularly deisels.