When to wash your bibs/workout clothes

[cborsbach]

Hi all,
this may be a bit gross for some, be warned…:

When do you all wash your bike kit? If you’re like me you are on the bike 5-6 times a week and have a similar amount of bibs accumulated that are all “good enough” for (indoor) training.
For energy-, water- and soap-saving I’d want to only wash my sports-kit 1-2 times a week. However I heard it’s recommended to wash immediately after the workout to prevent germ buildup, which makes sense.
Now, I don’t just pile my dirty bibs in a corner but do let them hang to dry after my workout, I just don’t put them into the washing machine until a few days later.

Edit: To be clear, I use a fresh bib every time I ride, I just wash them all at once after about a week in one go.

Now, is this super gross? Or sensible WRT to the mentioned savings? What d’yall do?

Thankfully I have no issues with saddlesores whatsoever.

Related: I DO dry my shoes on an electric shoe dryer after every ride.

Thanks and happy training and washing!
Chris

[Henry_Lee]

I generally wash my indoor kit once a week and just hang it between sessions, smells lovely

[russell.r.sage]

I hang mine in the closet of my pain cave to dry over night and then toss the dry bib in the sports hamper. Wash once a week. I use a bit of bleach every other week or so for fresh smell. I hang them to dry after the wash.

[Carbman]

I wash mine after every workout. But if you don’t want to I’d at least recommend taking them in the shower with you and rinsing them out well.

[Boombang]

Same as OP - hang to dry out fully then wash weeklyish using Halo Sports Wash.

I only have a couple of pairs of shorts that fit me currently (doing rehab for an ankle injury) so only doing 3 sessions a week and no running in between. Nice reminder to order some more, especially as they are on sale at the moment.

[biberg]

I’ll hang dry my bibs between workouts, but I try to do a wash after about 3 workouts. Ran into a bit of a biological issue when I went more than that. Ended up using athletes foot cream on my undercarriage.

+1 on the shower wash too

[tim_nh]

Same as OP. Ride, hang kit overnight to dry, put in wash pile, wash about once/week. I used sports clothes specific detergent for a long time, but switched to the, zero additives, all-natural detergent I use for everything else and haven’t noticed any difference in the last few months.

-Tim

[jdman]

Wash after every workout…I have about 12-15 pairs of bibs…my Castelli bibs (which I have 6 pairs) are used for my longer turbo rides. If you don’t do this then that is where issues with saddle sores occur…In the UK I don’t know ANY of my cycling friends who would wear kit twice before washing. I even have 4 skinsuits for TT incase I race a club race in the week and both days at weekends

[alvaroe16]

This is blowing my mind.

• I have 6+ bibs and use a new/fresh one every day.
• After my workout, I take off the bib and throw it in a laundry basket waiting for cleaning. Hanging them seems like a new option…
• I wash all used bibs (4-5) at a time in individual garment bags (to protect them) in the washer using Sports detergent about once a week.
• I use hot water and low spin speed on the washer.
• I air dry the bibs for about 24 hours or so and then fold them into a clean bib box for storage.

[Cleanneon98]

Soon as I’m done my ride I throw it in the wash. I don’t care about saving water or detergent or electricity as much as I care about bacteria not growing on my chamois after letting it sit there for days.

[jchappers]

Another one for washing all kit + towels immediately after each wko. Can’t think of any reason to let all that dry out before washing it!

[Craig_G]

Another for weekly wash. I air dry after working out, the main issue with bibs getting funky is if they stay wet / sweaty. I have a small fan that I run to keep air circulating over the used kit to dry it out faster. Also air dry after washing and leave the fan running to dry them out faster.

Every ride is with fresh kit.

[Macy]

Bibs go straight into the wash. They’re never there long, with a wife and two teenage girls… Laundry my household job anyway, so into individual wash bags and in with the rest.

I stretch tops and socks a bit longer, especially this time of year. Tops are generally only on for the warm up, and/ or getting blasted by two air movers.

I, and one of my daughters, suffer with eczema so non-bio washing gel, with the occasional bio wash if anything (from the whole family) is getting smelly in the pits!

[Craig_G]

It would be interesting to try and correlate washing schedules with household size.

I live alone and do laundry once a week. I always wear fresh kit when I ride. Washing kit each day would be wasting water in my situation. In larger households where laundry is done multiple times a week it seems reasonable to sneak the kit in and have a more frequent washing schedule.

[Henry_Lee]

I’m honestly amazed everyone wears fresh kit for each indoor session!

[jchappers]

washing kit and a couple of towels on a 30 min ‘delicates’ cycle probably uses less water than I’ve drunk hydrating from the wko!

[MikeMckinney]

I rotate two pair of trainer bibs - hang dry inside out after each workout. Run through the washer generally every other Monday. This has worked well for me for a few years, no more or less saddle sores to when I was in the wash after every ride camp.

[mountainrunner]

adding my nickel (inflation means >2¢)

Wash after every wear except if I feel like it was not a really sweaty time, like perhaps a 30min Taku or equiv outdoor spin. If it’s a hard workout, then the bib and thin base top are soaked. I hang the bib / lay out the similarly soaked base tee and socks on the edge of the bathtub or drying rack in the laundry room for several hours (or overnight if a night workout) and so they’re dry before dumping them into the workout-clothes-only laundry bag. Some outer layers could get a second wear before washing (generally based on the smell test and if really wanting to wear the specific item again), but these aren’t worn on the indoor training rides. Washing is my chore and includes running (cycling indoor or out ±x5/wk; running ±x3/wk) and wife’s workout kit (twice a week) and happens generally twice a week on cold water, lowest spin, inside-out for winter outerwear, all zippers zipped, & then hang dry. in winter, there’s a bit more clothes and bulky at that, of course, so washing is often driven by washing machine capacity and drying rack capacity, which are close to the same (keeping in mind the clothes washer isn’t an American-sized beast). seems to work well for longevity of cycling and running kit.

[PhilippePhlop]

I only wear newly cleaned bibs.

But i don’t wash them right after my workouts.

But for all my sporting gear…i discovered a silver bullet just over a year ago, it got rid of all the funk (bacteria) that wouldn’t come off after my washes… for once facebook ads really helped me.

Lysol Laundry Additive, Eliminates Bacteria, 2.7L: Amazon.ca: Health &...

This thing is MAGIC. If you have things that have been funky for a while, let it soak in a solution with that in it (don’t remember the ratios) and then throw it in the wash with a half cup measurement of it. It’ll come back out without the funk. I had workout clothes i was on the verge of tossing and that gave it a new life.

Needless to say, i use this every few washes on the bibs

[ABG]

Fresh bibs everyday ever since I started to ride.
I threw out all bibs older then a year after my sit bone cyst.
New process is to hang bibs on bike with a fan on them to dry them out.
Put all bibs and training clothes into a bag and wash with normal clothes and hang dry.