Sweaty cycling gear in the office...

[confusedcyclist]

luckily my employer has covered secure bike racks , shower facilities and a huge drying rack over a huge radiator in our changing room , we are well looked after Sadly only 6 of us take advantage of this , the other 100+ prefer to drive 2 or 3 miles into a congested car park ,which doesnt always have room for them !!!!! Ironically us commuters live 8 to 13 miles away . Love it !!!!!

Slightly off topic but this makes me laugh every time, was approached by a staff member the other day and they said they were thinking about cycling in but were concerned about the distance, "Great!" I said, "But how far?". 2. miles

Naturally I was very encouraging, but it makes you chuckle when people come in from the car park fuming about the lack of spaces, rain on way in, traffic/road works, it all washes over you (and off you once showered!) on a bike. I arrive in the office looking my best and fresh from the shower every day!

 

[clid61]

Slightly off topic but this makes me laugh every time, was approached by a staff member the other day and they said they were thinking about cycling in but were concerned about the distance, "Great!" I said, "But how far?". 2. miles

Naturally I was very encouraging, but it makes you chuckle when people come in from the car park fuming about the lack of spaces, rain on way in, traffic/road works, it all washes over you (and off you once showered!) on a bike. I arrive in the office looking my best and fresh from the shower every day!

Makes me laugh too , they come in fed up and stressed about weather , traffic , having to walk 200 yards in inclement weather from the furthest parking space ! Whilst im fresh as a daisy showered fed and ready for action after a 9 mile hilly ride into work !!!

 

[mr_cellophane]

I had to go in a room with a patch cabinet that was full of damp towels and sweaty socks. I pitted the BT engineer who had to work in there for a couple of hours.

 

[jonny jeez]

as someone who is responsible for the design of office space...and a commuter...i have to say i find the thought of peoples sportswear hung all about the office to be abhorrent.

however, as someone who is responsible for asking people to pay for the design ...and use...of their office, personal storage seems to fall very low on the list, with drying areas even lower

things are changing and businesses are waking up to the fact that some staff value good office welfare higher than other perks and are more easily retained and attracted to these features.

trouble is proper facilities cost a lot of money and valuable square footage to design correctly. I have advised many clients to remove half cooked designs for showers and the like in favour of offering staff subsidies on local gym membership, in the knowledge that the resulting scheme will be unused as it simply isn't fit for purpose.

 

[fossyant]

Hi fossyant. Your fans solution looks good and like it's worth trying at my new place of work. A few questions.....

How effective at drying do you find the desk fans in the confines of the locker? Presumably you found just one wasn't up to the task?

How long does the battery last running two fans? What capacity is it, and how long to charge it?

How loud is it with them both going?

Cheers!

Its an Aldi mobile phone charger and will last a couple of days. It was better than nothing but couldn't dry wet through kit.

We now have a drying cabinet which is Ok especially as most of the fair weather cyclists are now in cars. The bike shelter was full a few weeks ago. Its half full now

 

[dee.jay]

Even I am now qualified to laugh at 2 miles I do 6 miles and try my best to extend it where possible

 

[cyberknight]

People can pay good money to sniff if they like that sort of thing , you could have a sideline to pay for upgrades

 

[Bodhbh]

When I had no facilities I used to have a bunch of coat hangers and a rail under the desk out of view. There was another cyclist in the same office who hung his stuff up in on the communal coat stand. He did get a few comments about that, although not directly. I think that's the thing, people might seem not to mind...

Nowadays I use some store rooms - they're just full of broken old printers, chemicals, unused office furniture and the like, no one else goes there so it bothers no one. It's worth asking around, I guess most workplaces will have somewhere like it - there's even a radiator in there.

+1 on the merino. I've been in situations either hiking or touring where I've not been able to wash or change for several days sweating like a pig and it still doesn't stink.

 

[Crankarm]

I take a clean dry set of kit to wear for riding home after work. Nothing more gross than putting on damp wet smelly cycling kit at the end of the day. Even more gross hanging it up for all to see and smell. Yuk. So mine goes in a plastic bag in my panniers and when I get home it all gets washed and dried ready for the next day. So simple when you get organised and realise the world does not revolve around you and it is just bad form to expect others to suffer your dirty cycling kit hanging up around the work place.

 

[dodgy]

Funny that in many companies, every car driving employee gets a minimum of 150 square feet of storage and cyclists have to scratch around looking for somewhere to hang a pair of shorts.

 

[DWiggy]

Can anyone recommend this?
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8501147.htm

 

[dodgy]

Can anyone recommend this?
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8501147.htm

Ingenious, never heard of one of these before. The video is cheezy, but reviews largely positive. Could be good for an office consortium of cycle commuters to buy and share, assuming you have somewhere to use it, no doubt it will require PAT testing :|

 

[DWiggy]

Ingenious, never heard of one of these before. The video is cheezy, but reviews largely positive. Could be good for an office consortium of cycle commuters to buy and share, assuming you have somewhere to use it, no doubt it will require PAT testing :|

I have been toying with the idea as its only me that would be using it, not sure how well it would work with a lot of kit in but just my bits so I'm guessing it should be ok?

 

[Rykard]

bought one at the weekend after niece in law said how good hers was.

 

[Deleted member 22722]

Can anyone recommend this?
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8501147.htm

Bought one of these last winter specifically to dry my cycling gear at home as we don't have a tumble dryer. It's fantastic and I haven't noticed the electricity bills increase since I've had it. However, I only use it when something takes a proper soaking and I need the item later that day or following morning (Gloves, Jacket, Shoes etc).

It would be ideal in the office if you could get away with using one. Unfortunately I doubt my employer (local council) would tolerate us using one as personal electrical items are not allowed due to H&S etc. Can't see them funding one for us either.