CYCLING

How To Care For Your Expensive Cycling Clothing

On September 3, 2020
By Kimberly

There are plenty of articles about caring for your expensive cycling clothing, however, most are full of the basics. Machine wash gentle, do or don’t machine dry, wash soon after wearing; there are plenty of do’s and don’t’s for cleaning kits.

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up that work for streamlining the cleaning process for your cycling kits.

Immediately

After a ride, once you get off the bike; don’t wait.

Get out of your sweaty cycling kit right away. The longer cycling clothing stays on your body; the more likely you are going to end up with skin irritation.

It Touched Your Body

Anything and everything that touched your body needs to be removed and washed. Even if you think you didn’t sweat; you perspired. Take it off!

Spread Out to Dry Out

If you can’t run a load of clothes right away; give your cycling clothing some space to air dry. While I have no scientific proof about germs; I do know that wet cycling kits will smell after left balled up in a laundry basket overnight.

Straight Into the Shower With Ya!

Get yourself, your gloves and your Halo Sweatband into the shower as soon as you can. The longer you wait; the more likely you will experience saddle area skin irritation.

Use an intimate wash designed for delicate skin on your saddle area. I’ve found this is the first step in truly arresting the development of saddle sores. While bathing, flush your gear with soap then water as well.

I’ve used Cycle Booty Citrus Cleanser a couple months now, and I absolutely love the citrus scent. Honeyfur Balanced Feminine Wash for Sensitive Skin also works great, and has the best small-application dispenser allowing you to access the single drop you need without waste.

Drying Trick

If you’re planning a ride the next day and own only one pair of fingerless gloves (like me!) then you need to know they will be dry the next day. Here’s how I speed up the process without risking putting my gear in the dryer.

Place whatever you hand/foot washed between layers of a bath towel. Then step on them. Your weight will displace much of the moisture in them to a towel so they will dry faster.

Leave Them Hanging

A couple drapery rings with clips work great for hanging gloves and other small items to dry. Or, use a pants hanger with clips; Halo over the hook, gloves captured in the spring clips.

I’ve got the Topspeeder Curtain Clips put to good use here!

Anything That Touched Your Body

Don’t forget about your heart rate monitor band. Give it’s band a quick wash in the sink too.

Hang everything to dry right away!

That Sweaty Helmet

While you’re giving your heart rate monitor a quick wash in the sink, don’t forget about your helmet straps. They are probably full of sweaty salt from your face.

The pads inside your helmet are usually velcroed and can be removed and washed. While they don’t touch your skin; they do collect sweat and salt, which attracts and retains moisture. They even can be replaced!

Ready To Ride

My damp items hang right where they started; by the door, ready to go for a ride the next day. Hanging them where they belong ensures I can find them easily without a search or return trip to the laundry room.

Next Step For Your Body

The most incredible saddle sore solution; Cycle Booty’s Post Ride Cream. I cannot stress enough how much this post-ride cream makes a difference for me. I use it both on ride days and in-between days.

It’s calming effect cannot be underestimated. Post-ride, I usually can feel a saddle sore developing. After showering and using Cycle Booty Citrus Cleanser, I dry the area and apply Cycle Booty’s Post Ride Cream.

Within hours, the area is calmed down and irritation dissipating.

Cycle Booty is made of a slew of natural ingredients, all of which you can pronounce and probably even recognize. Nothing unnatural or synthetic.

Bonus Move

When you swing back by your bike to remove and wash your water bottles; here’s a way to save your tracking device’s housing. We learned the hard way that the rubber case on these can degrade from exposure to the sun.

Toss a mismatched sock – I know you have one – over it to protect it.

Sure, your cycling computer gets plenty of exposure to the sun while you ride. However, all day every day in sunlight will eventually break down the rubber. A quick moment of precaution will save you a sticky mess later.

By the way – the grey box hanging from my handlebars is a Dazzer. It keeps dogs from attacking me. You can read about it here: How to Deal With Aggressive Dogs While Cycling. It’s saved my skin several times!

Finally! Wash Time!

Plenty of articles cover whether or not washing machines are too rough on cycling wear. I like the ones that say it’s ok to wash my kits in the machine, since that’s what works best for my busy schedule.

Many suggestions say washing cycling kits with other clothing is a no-no. So far, I have not noticed any excessive wear on our cycling gear from being washed with other clothing.

In fact, I think the presence of other clothing actually helps buffer my cycling gear from the agitator. I might be quite wrong, so let me know if you have personal experience with this!

Which Detergent?

I have an array of cleaning agents, including homemade varieties. So far, it all seems to work just fine.

A couple years ago, I did learn that I tended to dispense far too much liquid detergent. That caused a “boil-over” of soap in my machine. Just look at the instructions; a 32 ounce jug that says it covers 50 loads of laundry means you should use less than an ounce per load.

Air Dry

To make air drying easy; I hung a tension rod directly over my clothes dryer. Our cycling gear hangs above the dryer, taking advantage of the rising warm dry air.

Before we were married, my husband had a similar spare bedroom closet setup. Cycling gear hung on the clothes rail, and a fan on the floor pointed upward to dry the kits. Now we’re taking double advantage of the space over the dryer, and eliminating running an additional appliance.

To make sure chamois pads dry; I do leave shorts and bibs inside-out. Pants hangers work great for those as well as socks and foundation garments.

That crazy attractive one hanging with my Vanderkitten socks is my new “high impact underwire bra” from Berlei. It’s so demure; you could even wear it alone. We have well water, so the dark color discourages water and deodorant stains. I love sharing when I find something that is good quality, and well-designed!

What To Read Next

You’ll like the information on cost per wear here: Vanderkitten Womens Cycling Kits – Cost Per Wear – Review. Total justification for investing in quality cycling gear; it saves you money “in the long run.” Or ride…

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Dazer Ii Ultrasonic Aggressive Dog Deterrent Repeller Dazzer – keeping dogs at bay while we cycle.
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