Commuting in work clothes?

[ChrisF]

6 hours ago, Bomberman said:

Hi Hubbers.

So been contemplating commuting to work as its only 5 km away from home, well its more because I got fat and I need to make a plan now. I normally go home for lunch so its going to be 4 trips in a day, just want some advice on how to do this? My work wear would normally be long pants,(jeans or cargo) cotton shirts and boots so what would be the best clothes to wear?

Now I cant shower at work, so  will it be realistic changing 4 times a day is just to ride up and down? Other question is what do you do if you carry a laptop? I can leave it in my office but I like working at night so I do have it with me every day.

What bike would you guys suggest, road bike or MTB?

Thanks

 

4,5km to work for me, and 4,8km in the afternoon, two decent hills both ways.

 

It IS possible to take it very slow on the hills and get to work with minimal sweat .... in reality you end up sweaty at work.

 

A basin wash certainly IS good enough for such a short ride. .... (and dry underwear..)  You can skip the basin bath, but you really want the dry undies ....

 

 

Winter mornings it is fine to ride with the jeans and work clothes.  Not an issue on the way home.  Summer time ... nope, shorts and T-shirt really makes a difference !!

 

 

I often have shorts and T-shirt in the back-pack .... just in case I decide to do a 30km afternoon ride.  

 

 

What bike .... uhm ja .... we have LOTS of thorns here, so a tubeless setup is an absolute must !!  The side of the roads are very bad with tree roots causing all but a smooth ride .... for my commute I need at least a hard tail mountain bike.  Obviously this answer will differ for each route.

 

 

YES, yes, yes .... DO IT.  Those 10km return trips add up quickly.  

 

 

What ever you do .... get some proper USB rechargeble lights.

[Zebra]

My thoughts…

for your distances, I would consider cycling in zip off shorts, then zipping leg lowers on at work; have done this myself a few times…

my commute is 30km, one way, so I need a basin wash, but done it many times, and you get super-efficient at it!
 

I leave a deodorant stick and hair gel at the basin, bit of liquid soap on a facecloth, and good to go!
 

I have hooks, with double-sided tape, up to hang cycling kit to ‘air’, in a less-used area, so if/when cycling back home, kit is dry!
 

Rarely , I ride in on  a (kit) e-Bike, but I STILL sweat on that, S’Bossie is 3km from my doorstep, and I make a game of seeing how LITTLE assist I can use, thus the sweating. Oh, and I also play ‘catch the cyclist ahead’ which does not help the sweating issue!

A LITTLE time spent putting up some hooks, leaving some toiletries at work, having an easy spot to store the bike, make it all a breeze.

oh. And a LIGHT! Definitely a light!

Edited August 23, 2021 by Zebra

[Mamil]

I have a 4km commute. No real hills. In summer I ride very slowly and arrive only a little sweaty, not enough to require a change of shirt or undies but I do have a shirt at work on standby if needed. 

Sometimes I pack full cycling kit in laptop bag, leave the laptop at work at the end of the day and go for a proper ride after work and bring the dirty work clothes home the next day. This morning I had to pack away my socks and underwear before my first meeting cos on Friday I just dumped them on the floor of my office in my haste to get to the mountain. 

Ripping underwear off to go ride a bike.... Mental age = 8 

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, Zebra said:

Oh, and I also play ‘catch the cyclist ahead’ which does not help the sweating issue!

Is there even another way to ride? 

[V18]

My commute is 15km each way. Do it most days of the week. I ride in kit with my work clothes in my back pack and work shoes in my office. Have a place with a basin and hooks for a waslappie and to hang my kit. In the summer I need to do a quick basin koue waslappie and fresh roll on. In the winter there's hardly sweat to wipe down... Unless I had to make up time from an en route mechanical. 

Tried riding in work clothes. Just not the same. You end up chafing/hooking pant legs and not enjoying the ride. 

The kit change takes about 3min tops. And it's a good time to listen to a few pre work songs. 

Commuting is the best part of my week. I'll be in a suboptimal mood for the day if I have to take the car. 

And as above... Rechargeable front and back (flashing) lights (and velcro mounted top tube gel pepperspray) is a must. 

[Shebeen]

Depending on your office type/dress code this is not hard to do with a bit of planning. Have a stash of 3/4 outfits at work, and leave your shoes there. Ride in with Tshirt and shorts. 

 

There are two types of office commuters. those who have been at work commando, and those who lie about it

[TNT1]

Just work in your cycling kit. No need to re-invent the wheel, is there?

[The Ouzo]

17 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

I was in a similar situation with a 3km commute and tried riding to work a bit. In my experience, it wasn't worth it. It's a downhill to work for me, so I found I could get to work with minimal sweat as long as I rode really easy. Left my laptop and some shoes at work and just carried pants and a shirt with me, or just rode in my work clothes. 

In my experience though, it really wasn't worth it. It was never really good for training, and added a bunch of admin and time to my routine for no real advantage (I have no traffic to contend with though). It made much more sense to just drive home for 5 minutes and go for a proper training ride. 

same issue with me, 2km to get to work, not even worth the effort to get kitted up, so instead I do a 1 hour ride before work, shower change and throw down a quick bowl of cereal and then just take a drive to work.

[Dadbod Racing]

LMAO at the Commando comment, if you've not done commando at work you're not doing it right! 

I agree with the wash basin comment, you feel good after a cowboy splash. I would ask the cleaner to conveniently leave the mop in the toilet area just in case you splash alot. 

The one place I worked at was a 16km to and 18 - 22 km commute home depending on how I rode home. The toilets had to way to lock so I took a door wedge with me to work and locked it from the inside, those ******* were consfused for months as to why at a certain time of the morning it was locked! 

I miss commuting, would love to do it again. 

 

 

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

There are two types of office commuters. those who have been at work commando, and those who lie about it

Yup

Also once spent the day in my MTB shoes. 

I reckon having "emergency spare clothes" at work is a good idea - onnies, socks, shirt at least. 

[The Ouzo]

3 hours ago, Shebeen said:

 

 

There are two types of office commuters. those who have been at work commando, and those who lie about it

And those that did grab a pair of under jocks in the dark winter morning only to find out they were the wife's so landed up going commando anyway

????

[Mamil]

3 minutes ago, ouzo said:

And those that did grab a pair of under jocks in the dark winter morning only to find out they were the wife's so landed up going commando anyway

????

Real men wear satin

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Real men wear satin

they werent satin they were cotton (or whatever the material is that mine are made of) and they would not have fitted

 

just glad it did not coincide with the day I split my pants

Edited August 24, 2021 by ouzo

[Zebra]

Yes, I have commando before, but I have also gone SOCK-mando a good number of times; seems that when I pack shirt/thermal undershirt/ onnies/fleece and pant, that the socks are always…..in hiding!
 

yup, SOCK-mando was a regular thing, for a while!

Edited August 24, 2021 by Zebra

[The Ouzo]

9 minutes ago, Zebra said:

Yes, I have commando before, but I have also gone SOCK-mandolin a good number of times; seems that when I pack shirt/thermal undershirt/ onnies/fleece and pant, that the socks are always…..in hiding!
 

yup, SOCK-mando was a regular thing, for a while!

why not just wear your cycling socks ? or am I missing something ?

[ChrisF]

8 hours ago, Shebeen said:

Depending on your office type/dress code this is not hard to do with a bit of planning. Have a stash of 3/4 outfits at work, and leave your shoes there. Ride in with Tshirt and shorts. 

 

There are two types of office commuters. those who have been at work commando, and those who lie about it

Uhm ... and those with a spare undie stashed away ..... or so I have heard ....