Shower after cycling to work?

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jul 19, 6:21 pm, " wrote:
Hello,

After reading the "Copenhagenized Cycleliciousness" thread I was
curious about bike commuters' need to shower after biking in to work.

Me? I just need washcloth to wipe up my sweaty body. I'm lucky that,
because I have a buzz cut, I don'thave to worry about my hair.

I wonder how rare it is for workplaces to have showers for bike
commuters?

If your job doesn't have a shower, bike commuters, what do you do?

I'm off work for the summer. But where I teach, I could have used the
showers in one of the athletic facilities. I've never bothered. Too
much trouble.

I shower in the morning before work. Luckily, it's mostly flat to
downhill on the way in, and I take it relatively easy. I'd still
arrive a little moist, but I'd just mop my brow.

My ideal would be to go to bed in cycling clothes [1], so I could just
roll out of bed and start riding, and then take care of all the personal
hygiene stuff at work.

The only time I had to do more was riding in to teach an evening class
in the summer. Then, I had to ride in during some hot, humid
afternoons. So I sometimes took a fresh undershirt (or occasionally,
rode in shorts) and sat in front of a fan for five or ten minutes
before heading up to my office.

Clean sweat doesn't normally stink. If it does, talk to your
doctor. He can probably suggest a remedy.

I have trouble concentrating when I am hot, sweaty and sticky. A cool
shower after hammering on the way to work for 15 or 20 miles would be
wonderful.

[1] Excluding magic foam cycling hat, which I do not need since I sleep
on a futon close to the floor, not on a high bed.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"People who had no mercy will find none." - Anon.

On Jul 21, 8:49*pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:

My ideal would be to go to bed in cycling clothes [1], so I could just
roll out of bed and start riding, and then take care of all the personal
hygiene stuff at work.

[1] Excluding magic foam cycling hat, which I do not need since I sleep
on a futon close to the floor, not on a high bed.

This is OT, but: I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.

Hmm. Styrofoam floor mats?

- Frank Krygowski

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jul 21, 8:49 pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:
My ideal would be to go to bed in cycling clothes [1], so I could just
roll out of bed and start riding, and then take care of all the personal
hygiene stuff at work.

[1] Excluding magic foam cycling hat, which I do not need since I sleep
on a futon close to the floor, not on a high bed.

This is OT, but: I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.

Hmm. Styrofoam floor mats?

If everyone placed expanded polystyrene floor mats next to their beds,
head injuries from falling out of bed would be reduced by 85%.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"People who had no mercy will find none." - Anon.

In article ,
"Claire Petersky" writes:
wrote in message
...

I wonder how rare it is for workplaces to have showers for bike
commuters?

If your job doesn't have a shower, bike commuters, what do you do?

At my new job, it's a 12 or so mile ride in. While it's mostly flat, the
final last couple of miles are at a 12% grade, and yeah, I work up a sweat
coming up the hill.

At first, I didn't think I had a shower available, so I showered before the
ride, and then did a bird bath at the sink in the bathroom. Then, my boss
finally directed me to the rumored shower, and now I use it every time. I
just feel much fresher afterwards.

At the new place we'll be moving to, you'd think that I'd make sure that a
shower is part of the deal as I negotiate the lease. Well, unlike my current
work place, where I informally tie the bike to a downspout under an eave,
I'll have covered and locked bike parking at the new place. But no shower.
There is a janitor's closet with a floor sink and a hose on the faucet, and
I know from using these in the past, they work fine as a shower of sorts.
You just have to be careful with the direction of the hose.

I used to work at a chemical warehouse, which had emergency
shower stations distributed across the floor.

I never experienced a serious chemical spill, but we workers
used to avail ourselves to those watering holes for simple,
general cleansing.

Except there was a certain one, that, when you turned the
water on, some of it would gush unexpectedly out of a
low-down pipe elbow, and onto yer shoes. Kinda made ya
feel like you just had an accident.

So sometimes I'd go to wash my hands, and come away with
squishy, swampy shoes. And leave embarassing footprints.

The water was cold. If we're going to have showers,
there simply /has/ to be heated water available.
No two ways about it.

But I guess heating water is a carbon-hit.


cheers,
Tom



--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

In article ,
Frank Krygowski writes:
On Jul 21, 8:49*pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:

My ideal would be to go to bed in cycling clothes [1], so I could just
roll out of bed and start riding, and then take care of all the personal
hygiene stuff at work.

[1] Excluding magic foam cycling hat, which I do not need since I sleep
on a futon close to the floor, not on a high bed.
This is OT, but: I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.
Hmm. Styrofoam floor mats?

Bear rugs without the heads attached.

Actually, when Canadians fall out of their beds and die,
I suspect it's from imbibing in stuff that's gonna kill
'em one way or another anyway.

I used to be a bed-faller-outer, and sometimes experienced
somnambualism -- which was pretty freaky during camping
trips. Nothing like waking up in the middle of the
wilderness, in the darkness of night, where you can't
perceive the 3 spacial dimensions. Actually, I preferred
that to waking up on the floor beside my bed, but I eventually
got used to that, too.

That's okay. My younger-older brother was for a time
a bedwetter. I have that over him. Heh.


cheers,
Tom

--

Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Tom Sherman wrote:
Jeff ? wrote:
wrote:
...

If your job doesn't have a shower, bike commuters, what do you do?
...

I'm only 4 KM from work, so I ride slowly. Except for the hottest, most
humid days, not much of a sweat.

Being that close to work and having to ride slowly takes the fun out it.


Well not entirely. It's still better than driving or taking the bus
(although walking is fun). It's fun riding slowly and still keeping up
with the bus that I might otherwise have taken.

And riding home is an exciting serious of sprints (pedal hard and stop for
a light [lather, rinse, repeat]).

And I get a good laugh when the price of gas, or parking, goes up.

A bad trip on my bike still beats a good trip in my car.


Ya. A mixed blessing for me is my commute. I went from a bicycle ~15 minute
commute to less than 5 minutes. In nice weather I often thought 15 minutes
was too short of a commute. OTOH in bad weather I am grateful for the
shorter ride to and from work.

As for showering I think I've always.... 4 employers over 20 years or so...
had shower facilities available, even before I found the way of the bike.

In article
,
Frank Krygowski wrote:

On Jul 21, 8:49*pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:

My ideal would be to go to bed in cycling clothes [1], so I could just
roll out of bed and start riding, and then take care of all the personal
hygiene stuff at work.

[1] Excluding magic foam cycling hat, which I do not need since I sleep
on a futon close to the floor, not on a high bed.

This is OT, but: I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.

May be true, but more Canadians sleep in beds than ride bikes.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On Jul 23, 9:36*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article
,
*Frank Krygowski wrote:

This is OT, but: *I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. *I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.

May be true, but more Canadians sleep in beds than ride bikes.

But... if only ONE LIFE can be saved.....!!!!

- Frank Krygowski

On Jul 23, 9:44*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jul 23, 9:36*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In article
,
*Frank Krygowski wrote:

This is OT, but: *I recently read a claim that more Canadians die each
year from falling out of bed than die from bike crashes. *I haven't
yet tracked down the original data, though.

May be true, but more Canadians sleep in beds than ride bikes.

But... if only ONE LIFE can be saved.....!!!!


Well if we can get the doctors out of the hospitals we'd reduce the
death rate even more.

John Kane Kingson ON Canada

wrote:
Hello,

After reading the "Copenhagenized Cycleliciousness" thread I was
curious about bike commuters' need to shower after biking in to work.

Me? I just need washcloth to wipe up my sweaty body. I'm lucky that,
because I have a buzz cut, I don'thave to worry about my hair.

I wonder how rare it is for workplaces to have showers for bike
commuters?

My office has showers and lockers. I ride a hilly fairly fast 10 miles
to work, so I tend to be sweaty. I don't shower in the morning at home,
I just shower at work. If I didn't have a shower at work, I would be
showering at home and then a quick wipe down when I got to work.

--
Dane Buson -
Linear time is for wimps