Commuting on a bike when there is no shower

[Travis]

In the building where I work there is no shower. In my line of work
I'm generally expected to wear a suit, which isn't particularly
practical riding gear especially this time of year...

Building codes do not require office buildings to have showers and many
office buildings, at least around my parts, are built to the absolute
minimum legal spec. Not having a shower facility would be a common
problem.

So how do people handle this? Does the lack of showers mean I have no
other choice but to commute by car? Putting on a suit without washing
isn't an option, nor is seeing clients while wearing lycra riding gear,
and I don't have THAT much faith in anti-BO sprays. So what do I do?

 

[Davidm]

"Travis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> So what do I do?

I ride, cool down at my desk for 1/2 hour (check enails, make a coffee etc,
read paper etc), then change out of the lycra into my "professional" attire.
Has always worked for me - as long as you're clean before you leave home.
One thing is that I don't require "product". My wife does, but her work has
a shower. For her or other prolific users of "product", I would thing riding
any distance with no shower would be considered impossible.

Cheers
David M

 

[531Aussie]

oooops!! I've never need quadruple threading!!

 

[Travis]

Davidm wrote:
> "Travis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > So what do I do?
>
> I ride, cool down at my desk for 1/2 hour (check enails, make a coffee etc,
> read paper etc), then change out of the lycra into my "professional" attire.
> Has always worked for me - as long as you're clean before you leave home.
> One thing is that I don't require "product". My wife does, but her work has
> a shower. For her or other prolific users of "product", I would thing riding
> any distance with no shower would be considered impossible.

I currently don't use an antiperspirant though when I do ride I tend to
arrive at my destination with a soaking wet shirt. As such I have no
experience with how well they actually work. I take it you don't place
much faith in them? Do you actually sweat much? How wet is your shirt
after a long ride on a hot day?

And I should point out that at this time I usually wear normal
t-shirts. Are cyclist jerseys any better from the point of view of
keeping cool and dry?

 

[Random Data]

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 05:43:16 -0800, Travis wrote:

> In the building where I work there is no shower.

How sure of that are you? Try asking the building manager rather than
HR, because there could well be one tucked away somewhere. Also if there's
a private toilet, you *might* be able to use one of those rubber hose over
the taps contraptions - there are issues with drainage here, but it could
be worth looking into.

Otherwise cool down, then either change or give yourself a wipe down with
a wet face washer, or something like Wet Ones. A face washer and isopropyl
alcohol should work fairly well.

> In my line of work I'm generally expected to wear a suit,

Well there's your problem, right there

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
"Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam
possit materiari?"

 

[Bleve]

Davidm wrote:
> "Travis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > So what do I do?
>
> I ride, cool down at my desk for 1/2 hour (check enails, make a coffee etc,
> read paper etc), then change out of the lycra into my "professional" attire.

I do the same thing. It's easy enough to have a bit of a hand-shower
if necessary in the office toilet at the sink with a small towel etc.

"there are ways, and there are excuses"

 

[Poiter]

So how do people handle this? Does the lack of showers mean I have no
other choice but to commute by car? Putting on a suit without washing
isn't an option, nor is seeing clients while wearing lycra riding gear,
and I don't have THAT much faith in anti-BO sprays. So what do I do?

I'll either shower the night before if I'm doing a long ride BFW (40km), or in the morning at home if just riding into the office (15km).
Paper towel bath at the wash basin seems to do the trick.
I park bike in a building about 300metres away so a walk tends to cool me down somewhat.
Usually in the office before the hoards so time to stabilise.
Pete

 

[Marx SS]

My bike commuting began when I didn't have facilities at the workplace.
Back then the commute was 35mins door to door (St Albans to W Melb) & I used the toilet basin with a wet towel/chamois & regular towel to dry off.
I needed more time to cool off though so I was always the first in.

I found cotton T-shirts soaked so I reverrted to bike jerseys as the air cond was enough to suck the moister out by the end of the day.

 

[eddiec]

A tricker variation on this that i'm still getting my head around is commuting when there are no 'change facilities' per se...

example: Rode in to work on Thursday, rode down to meeting at Parliament at midday. 5 hour meeting. Wasn't riding back to north melbourne so had jersey, shoes, etc. in backpack. But then where to change? Ended up having to use public toilets which were, ahem, acceptable, but hardly a pleasant addition to the ride.. Half considered putting my knicks on under my trousers during afternoon tea, then just changing at my bike (which would then only involve half rather than full-nakedness)

anyone got any creative ways around this - at least until our snazzy bike stations arrive?

 

[Travis]

Random Data wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 05:43:16 -0800, Travis wrote:
>
> > In the building where I work there is no shower.
>
> How sure of that are you? Try asking the building manager rather than
> HR, because there could well be one tucked away somewhere. Also if there's
> a private toilet, you *might* be able to use one of those rubber hose over
> the taps contraptions - there are issues with drainage here, but it could
> be worth looking into.

Oh I'm *very* sure. I work in a small two story suburban commercial
building. Retail shops downstairs, offices upstairs. It was built so
crappy that there is no insulation in the building at all, the phone in
the ancient second hand lift has not been hooked up and the phone wires
in the 18 month building didn't allow broadband internet until they
were replaced and this triggers a repeated voice message from the lift
warning of a fault

The bathrooms are small and have just a couple of toilets, couple of
urinals and a sink. There is a single room disabled toilet. There
really isn't much room at all, not even for a crappy shower hose on the
sink.

No gyms, no private bathrooms anywhere etc. The upside is that there
aren't any parking issues like I'd face if I parked in town.

 

[Tamyka Bell]

eddiec wrote:
>
> A tricker variation on this that i'm still getting my head around is
> commuting when there are no 'change facilities' per se...
>
> example: Rode in to work on Thursday, rode down to meeting at
> Parliament at midday. 5 hour meeting. Wasn't riding back to north
> melbourne so had jersey, shoes, etc. in backpack. But then where to
> change? Ended up having to use public toilets which were, ahem,
> acceptable, but hardly a pleasant addition to the ride.. Half
> considered putting my knicks on under my trousers during afternoon tea,
> then just changing at my bike (which would then only involve half rather
> than full-nakedness)
>
> anyone got any creative ways around this - at least until our snazzy
> bike stations arrive?
>
> --
> eddiec

If you're carrying stuff anyway, chuck a towel in, that's big enough to
tie around your waist. I refused to run in bike knicks, so when we did
bike/run sessions from a shopping centre carpark, I took to getting
changed under my towel.

Tam

 

[slaw]

I use Rexona Body Wipes. 99c for a pack of 15 from the Priceline Pharmacy across the road. There are showers in our building, but my ride in is fairly flat so I don't work up too much of a sweat. Normally I just change in any toilet and use one wipe all over.

I don't normally use deo, though I do have one of those crystal things and they do seem to work.

 

[hemyd]

"Davidm" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Travis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> So what do I do?
>
> I ride, cool down at my desk for 1/2 hour (check enails, make a coffee
> etc, read paper etc), then change out of the lycra into my "professional"
> attire. Has always worked for me - as long as you're clean before you
> leave home. One thing is that I don't require "product". My wife does, but
> her work has a shower. For her or other prolific users of "product", I
> would thing riding any distance with no shower would be considered
> impossible.
>
> Cheers
> David M
>
I do exactly the same. I found a good roll-on deodorant which I apply
straight after a shower each morning. I don't, however, have to attend
meetings with people at close quarters. The few times I do, I drive in to
work.

Henry.