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I often bike to work, which for me is about 26 miles each direction. I take a shower right before I leave, and when I get there I just have to rinse down and c
by Niten 16y ago
I often bike to work, which for me is about 26 miles each direction. I take a shower right before I leave, and when I get there I just have to rinse down and change out of my cycling jersey. The theory behind the pre-ride shower is that body odor is caused by bacteria on your skin, and showering temporarily knocks out enough of your bacteria that it won't cause significant odor during your ride. (I'm not aware of actual science on this topic, but I've asked a trusted coworker whether I smell after riding into work, and he says I don't. So there's your anecdotal data point...) So for me the bike is extremely practical even living in an area that wasn't designed with bicycles in mind.
As for humidity, this is in south Florida—if we can manage it here, then we can handle the humidity pretty much anywhere in the US.
Now I'm not saying everyone can or should bike a 52-mile round trip to work. But the point of this article is that this little experimental suburb has 5,500 people within a single square mile; biking or walking is a perfectly reasonable way to traverse such a small area at nearly any level of fitness, especially when you don't have to worry about automotive traffic, and for the few people who can't manage that there's the public transport option. Even on our hottest days here in south Florida, one can easily bike a mile, fully dressed, without breaking a sweat.
- jonknee 16y ago> Even on our hottest days here in south Florida, one can easily bike a mile, fully dressed, without breaking a sweat. Perhaps we're different, but I break a sweat in a couple minutes simply going outside in FL this time of year. Add riding a bike and I'm drenched.
- Niten 16y agoRiding somewhere on a bicycle can keep you cooler than if you were just standing or walking outside, provided you're riding at a leisurely pace on a bicycle designed for road use (and not some horrific retail store contraption with useless knobby tires). At say 14 mph on a road bike, you aren't doing enough work to heat up, yet you're moving fast enough to get a good breeze that keeps you cooler than if you were standing still. When I'm just cycling through the town (rather than exercising), the only time I really feel the heat is when I'm stopped at a light.