How to ride to work without sweating?

Question

I'm planning on commuting by bicycle to work in hot Montreal, though this question is probably relevant to anyone who bikes to work in a city with temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). I have to wear business casual to formal clothes (no jacket, usually).

How do I not sweat?

I'm particularly looking for

• Helmet features that prevent sweating
• Tips on rhythm, speed, pace, etc. that prevent sweating
• Bags that will make me sweat less (I'm leaning toward nice, office-friendly panniers at the moment but I'm open to other suggestions)

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It is possible, but only in certain conditions. I live in a tropical country, so, 20 degrees centigrade is considered cold here. My conmute to work is almost flat, with only one climb, something a very steep 300 meters. If it were not for that, I'd be able to get to the office almost completely dry.

What's the trick? I use a hardtail mountain bike with a small rack in the seatpost. The bike has a sporty position, but the trick is to pedal in the easy gears and making very little effort, accelerating very slowly. The effort should feel comparable to a moderate walk. Also, take as much advantage as I can from the downhills (Update: later on, I changed the tires to slick ones, that reduces the effort needed to move).

However, ideal conditions are an exception. I have already told you that I have to climb a very steep hill, so I just put the easiest gear and pedal like a grandmother for that hill (While in "sports mode" I can climb the same hill in 4 gears higher and a quarter of the time). I sweat the minimum and I manage to avoid clothes changes, but there are other things I do to minimize body odor:

• Drink more water than actually necessary: urine then turns colorless which is a practical indication that the urinary system has got rid of most waste substances. This helps because some of these substances make their way into sweat and contribute to body odor. The practical point is that even if you sweat, it won't stink that much. *(1, 2, 3)
• Apply a little deodorant in other parts of the body besides armpits. (I recommend a little in the chest and in the back)
• Carry a clean hand towel and use it to dry the sweat when you get to the workplace. First the face, then the hair, then the neck, arms and last, armpits. This helps because part of body odor is caused by bacteria(2) that reproduce and feed in the warm, humid environment provided by the sweaty body, so cutting the time the humidity lasts reduce the growing of bacteria. The towel can be pre-scented with a suitable cologne if you want. Rinse the towel thoroughly and twist dry it as much as you can. It won't be smelly if you do it right, so you can discretely hang-dry it near your desk without disturbing anyone.
• Leave home early enough so you can take your time getting to the office, also, plan to get there 20-15 minutes prior to the time you have to be there, so you can spend those "cooling off". Sprinkle your face with fresh water, moisten hair (and apply hair gel, if you use to do so) which help against "helmet hair".
• Avoid carrying backpacks or anything similar. Any strap that makes your clothing tight against your upper body will wrinkle the clothes, will restrict airflow around your torso, preventing sweat evaporation thus avoiding its cooling effect(1), so it will make you sweat more. They will also cause curious sweat marks in your shirt.

All those tips are easy to implement, and can keep you from needing to change clothes. After you cool off and clean yourself with the towel, most people won't even notice a difference on you if you hadn't commuted by bike.

As per anecdotal stuff, my grandfather used to commte exclusively by bike, in a small city located in the Valley of Sula (Valle de Sula) near the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras. A valley in a tropical country has a very hot weather all year round. He used a bike similar to the "Flying Pigeon" (Google Flying Pigeon Bike for images). That is a heavy steel bike with 28" wheels, a very high gearing and a very comfortable seating position. I remember that he was never sweaty, even if he commuted from workplace to his home for lunch, right under caribean sun at noon. Two elements had a big role in it: 1) the city is completely flat, no climbs, no downhills. 2) The bike he used is almost impossible to pedal in an sporty way, it kind of 'forced' you to pedal in a smooth fashion, with slow cadence, but after a while, you get some speed that is really easy to keep. It makes you feel you can go for hours without getting tired.

(1) Perspiration (Wikipeia)

(2) Body odor (Wikipedia)

(3) Urinary system (Wikipedia)

Answer 2

Everyone else has offered good advice, but let me point out one simple thing for you:

Almost no matter how hot it is or how hard I'm riding, I'm not really sweaty until I stop moving. That's because 1) I'm wearing bike clothes designed to wick moisture and evaporate it quickly, and 2) almost no matter what the weather is doing, while I'm moving I'm headed into a steady wind that quickly evaporates sweat.

But when I stop, that steady wind stops and with it the evaporation, and all of a sudden I'm sweaty when I wasn't 10 seconds earlier.

So just do three things:

1) Wear sports clothing designed to wick moisture.

2) Slow down and cool down a kilometer or so before you reach work. Cruise around in slow circles in the parking lot if you must until you can stop and not feel sweaty.

3) Bring a change of clothing and once you've cooled down and stopped sweating, head for the bathroom and change.

Evaporated sweat doesn't smell. Only old sweat that has lingered and had time to allow bacteria and fungi to grow smells. So go ahead and sweat but just make sure you're dry when you change into your work clothing.

Answer 3

Even a short sprint or uphill effort can make a big difference in how sweaty I am when I get to the office. Maintain a consistently low effort, using low gears for any uphills.

Panniers are good, since backpacks and messenger bags not only insulate, but also hold your shirt directly against your sweaty back. Often I'll put my shirt in my pannier and just change that when I get to the office. Pants take a bit longer to soak through, but they're even more embarrassing if they do, so be careful.

If you can, change your hours so you can ride in during the coolest part of the day. On a sunny day, the temperature rises a lot between 7am and 9am.

Answer 4

What worked for me in an admittedly flat terrain - I used a heartrate monitor. In my spare time I calibrated it a bit - at which heartrate do I get sweaty? Then on the trip to work, I make sure that I stay about 5% below that rate. At 45, my sweat heartrate was about 110, so I stayed below 105.

My trip is 21 km in each direction.

Answer 5

Oftentimes, you sweat the most just when you finish the ride, as you've just been pedaling at full effort, but you don't get the wind generated by the moving bike. And then you need to stand around in a warm space, like I need to wait in the very warm freight elevator lobby. Try to take it easy especially for the end of the ride, and hold something cold (such as an ice pack or cold drink) against your head or neck to cool down quickly.

Answer 6

Basically, getting "sweaty" is a function of the temperature, humidity, clothing, level of effort, length of exercise, and your personal propensity to sweat.

If you're dressed lightly enough, the weather is not too bad (below 75F and maybe 60% humidity), you travel only a short distance (maybe 2 miles max) on relatively level ground, and you maintain a very "casual" pace, then you can hope to arrive without too much visible sweat. (You may have to wipe your forehead, eg, but possibly that's it.) And for shorter distances you can probably stretch the other parameters a bit.

The killer, of course, is humidity. If the relative humidity is 80% it's going to be hard to avoid working up a sweat, regardless of the other factors.

Rather than simply hoping that you won't get sweaty I'd recommend having a way to change your shirt and "freshen up" a bit on arriving at your job.

Look into one of the "sport towels" for drying off at work. They're compact and travel well.

Answer 7

"No-sweat cycling" is a much talked about art that will never be perfected. Luckily, you don't have to be perfect to make riding to work in your work clothes a viable option. I do it several times a week (in NYC, over a bridge), some days finding more success staying sweat-free than others. A couple keys:

Weather is a big determining factor. If it's particularly muggy out, don't ride. Find another way to get to work. But for most summer days (in NYC, and I'd think in Montreal) riding in work clothes is doable. That is, as long as your commute is no longer than about 5 miles and relatively flat.

Of course, no ride is perfectly flat. And hills are where most riders work hard, get hot, and get wet - sweating is your body's attempt at wicking away heat from your core. Choose an easy gear on hills, and as Cyclescheme advises, "treat each pedal stroke like a step on a flight of stairs" -- a light step. This goes for the entire ride: go easy.

Cycling is efficient -- about 300% more efficient than walking, according to studies cited by cycling advocate Ryan Rzepecki. That means that on a bike you can commute to work at an average speed about three-times as fast as the speed at which you would sweat on the same commute on foot. This is fuzzy math, but the main point rings true: You really can get to work efficiently on a bike without breaking a heavy sweat.

That is, as long as you're not the type of person who breaks into a heavy sweat on a leisurely stroll. If that's the case, and maybe even if it's not: Anti Monkey Butt.

Answer 8

Living in Denmark, I have ridden a bike almost every day of my life since I turned 5. I do not claim to be any kind of expert, I just see biking as an every day rutine. I ride my bike to work every day. I break into sweat real easy in the summer, when temperatures often rises above 20 degrees C if not in shorts, which I cannot wear to work. So how do I challenge biking to work in the summer in long pants and a shirt? I go slow. That was an easy question to answer. You do not need fancy equipment, just leave home earlier in the summer!

Answer 9

An electric bike which helps you uphill will lower-down the effort leading into less sweating.

I tested two of them and the feel is quite natural – it automatically adds power when you step into pedals a little more while let you just ride if you want to go calm.

Answer 10

There has been some good advice here so far:

• about packing your business clothes seperately during your ride
• riding before the temperature rises in the morning
• using a low gear

But essentially you are asking "how can I prevent sweat during exercise?" There is no cure for sweating since it is a natural mechanism the body excretes to cool your internal body heat down. To prevent sweating, you have to go at a pace where you are pretty much bored. If it's not hot outside and you are going <10mph on a low gear, then chances are you won't break a sweat.

A more extreme solution to experiment with is applying antiperspirant to your armpits, arms, face, and upper body. You also can also clean yourself the sweat post-ride by packing moisture wipes. I do the latter and it makes a huge difference on how I feel after getting off the two pedals.

Clothing-wise, you can minimize sweating by wearing a dry-fit shirt underneath your business shirt or change into your business setup after the ride as mentioned above. Also research shirts made from Ministry of Supply - it a online clothing website that claims to make sweat-free business shirts through some proprietary technology or whatever. I'm not endorsing them by any means though since I am not a customer, but you should definitely look into that or other alternatives to traditional materials.

Good luck!

Answer 11

No answer mentions your fitness/cardio level. As mentioned by most answers, the faster you go, the more you sweat. But you'll also notice that the less you are in shape, the more you sweat. Take anyone who's obese on a short walk, and you'll see them sweat 5 minutes later even though you're probably just getting warmed up. If you exercise with a great athlete and push yourself to keep the pace, you will be the person sweating like crazy, when he'll be warming up. Bottom line: if you're in better shape, you will sweat less.

So if you have time in your schedule, outside of work, go out and push yourself with a heart monitor, go to 70-80% for a good 45-60min once or twice a week; make sure you warmup well before. After a few weeks, you will notice that at the lower speeds, on your commute, you will no longer sweat as much, because your body can handle it better.

Answer 12

I live in Hawaii and it gets sort of humid at times. What I like to do is secure those ice pack lunch bags to the back of my backpack so it keeps my back cool during the ride. It helps a lot since the heat from your torso seems to feel the worse when you begin sweating.

Answer 13

I have had the same problem for a long time. You need 2 things to significantly lessen sweatiness.

First, you have to get a headband. A lot of tennis players, like Rafa Nadal wear them. You can use a bandana if you hold it like a diamond and then fold it down and tie it around your head. You can use a 70's era John McEnroe type elastic headband, too, if you don't care about fashion. This keeps sweat from running down your face, neck, chest and back. Leave the headband or bandana on until you stop sweating - usually 5 -10 minutes after the ride.

Second, before you leave fill a metal water bottle with ice and the beverage of your choice. When you stop biking, put it on your forehead, neck, face, chest and anywhere else you think it will cool you down. Plastic water bottles are about 80% as effective.

Answer 14

• Use a good antiperspirant
• Don't cycle in your work clothes, carry them separately
• Wear sports clothing designed to wick moisture away and evaporate it quickly
• Use panniers rather than carrying a bag or rucksack on you
• Ease off 5 mins before you arrive
• Go slow :)

Answer 15

I've solved my problem by putting an electric motor (BionX) on my trike.

I work inside a dairy cooler in Florida, so getting to work wet was a huge problem.

About 2 weeks after I got the motor installed, I forgot to unplug before pulling out of the garage and yanked the cord and half of the fuse holder out of the charger. Over a year later, I still haven't bothered repairing it. What I do is run the motor on the way to work, and run it as a generator on the way home. This gets about 3/4 of the charge back. Topping off I do by either a longer ride, or attaching a VERY small (.1 watt) solar panel directly to the battery pack.

Answer 16

Bring a change of clothes so you can wear shorts, etc. Get a rack for your bag so it's not against your body. But no matter what, some days, your gonna sweat.

Answer 17

You could try leaving earlier, maybe before the day heats up. Granted that during the summer this means a very early start, but at certain times of the year it can mean pleasantly cool morning air and maybe less traffic.

Look at the forecast and aim to wear clothing that makes you feel slightly too cold at the start of your journey, while carrying a few alternative layers in your panniers. It's worth taking into account wind direction when planning. On cooler days wear something windproof you can quickly unzip at the first sign of overheating.

Answer 18

I sweat easily and am in shape however I do the following (and this may repeat what others have advised, while the difference is, I do it daily an experience it - I am in Toronto, so the weather is also getting warm):

• I currently ride in jeans and t-shirts (see below)..
• I ride where my body temp doesnt get too high...its very tempting to race or keep up when someone passes me but mentally, I tell myself, calm down, use the ride as a way to freshen your mind vs. get all competitive...so I ride at a speed where my body temp is not too too high...I ride a cruiser not a racing bike..my cruiser is heavy...so I am less tempted to go fast..
• The above is hard to do as I encounter some hilly terrain so heart rate does go high but theres always a slope when theres a hill so I enjoy the breeze when coming down the hill and not pedal,
• I wear an undershirt (so far in the mild temps) and a T shirt on top so far but I will wear a dry fit shirt in the summer and shorts..maybe even a cut sleeve and I always carry at least two hand towels in my pannier...when I reach work, I park my bike....wipe the sweat off my neck and head (as I wear a helmet) and keep doing this from the bike parking till I reach work..by the time I get into my office, the visible parts of my body are not sweaty...my under shirt is sweaty although not drenched...
• One benefit I may have that you may not is I keep my suits in a closet at work, so I change from my jeans and t shirts into my work attire at work...those hand towels come in handy and so does the deodorant...
• I immediately drink about two glasses of cold water and relax as I start my day....its a great feeling!

I hope this wasnt too boring or long but I wanted to tell you that theres a guy at work who is biking 30km to work and I only do 9km...he does wear biking gear but also changes into a suit so its not impossible to do ...

good luck.

Answer 19

Use electric bicycle. Ride at high assist setting to work where your shape upon arrival is important, set low assist just to compensate the extra weight on the way back where the shower and the rest are waiting for you. These bicycles are heavy and more difficult to move with no assist than ordinary ones.

Another approach is to switch into high assist when approaching the office. This allows to cool down nicely in the air stream without the need to slow down. But you probably still need to change clothes then.

Answer 20

A couple things seem to help for me:

• Eat a little. If I eat too much, I sweat. Eat nothing, and I get low blood sugar and end up sweating.
• No caffeine until I get to work.

Answer 21

A few of my favorite recent tricks:

• Wearing an 'ice bandana' on the neck
• Bringing an iced beverage (water or coffee) in a thermos, drinking it to cool down, and then sucking on the ice when you've finished it

These both help in hot sweaty NYC summers, but they don't stop sweat completely.