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For Those Who Are About To Ride, We Salute You

By Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

2006_10_17bike.jpg
Being a cyclist in Toronto isn’t easy. Between streetcar tracks, freely swinging car doors, parked vans and cellphone-hugging drivers it’s a wonder that most cyclists make it through the day. It’s even worse on wet days like today. So we thought we’d share BikingToronto’s guide to cycling in the rain.
The guy commutes 7km to work, rain or shine. So we think he knows a thing or two about wet weather survival. He has four tips and we think the last one is appropriate to everyone.

Stinky people aren’t popular. You need to prepare to not stink at work. Biking in the rain makes you very wet. Wet human smells almost as bad as wet dog, especially in an office environment. If you are one of the lucky few who have a shower at work, use it. If not, pack a towel in one of your pannier bags. It’ll help you dry out when you change in the bathroom. Also, keep deoderant and a small thing of cologne/perfume (don’t use too much!) in a desk drawer that you can use to de-stank-ify yourself.

Amen to that.
Photo by Flickr-Man from the Torontoist + Flickr Group.

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Comments

  • http://www.benwendt.com Ben Wendt

    I did my first rainy day commute to work today (I bike every other day).
    I just bought full fenders on the weekend, and they sure do they trick. My arms were a bit wet where they protruded from my poncho.

  • cynthia

    actually, cologne and perfume should never be worn in the workplace. 15% of canadians have asthma and other respiratory ailments which can be triggered by chemical fragrances.
    it’s better to smell a little funky than make a coworker seriously ill!

  • Patrick

    For the love of [...]!
    I’m sure a little bit of fragrance won’t kill anyone. Geez.
    I agree that dousing yourself in perfume/cologne will irrate people though.

  • cynthia

    won’t kill, no, probably not.
    but have you ever had an asthma attack all day long while you’re trying to work? have you ever had a boss running you ragged and you don’t have enough air to walk to the copy room and back? this can happen to many people if a coworker is wearing chemicals in the office. seriously.
    more and more workplaces are going fragrance free for this reason.

  • http://www.jillmurray.com Jill

    Actually, I do know someone who can be killed by even a trace amount of fragrance.

  • http://www.bikingtoronto.com Joe (BikingToronto)

    Thanks for the link Ron.
    There’s a lot more to riding in the rain, of course, but I hope my small post about it helps people manage their post-ride preparations. Riding in the rain is pretty fun, if done safely, but working while soggy is definitely not. Good prep-work can solve this. :)
    As for the smell debate, I included “don’t use too much!“, because a bit of cologne or perfume is okay, but if someone can smell you 3 desks away, you have on too much. I’m sensitive to smells too… while too much perfume won’t kill me to smell, I’ll sneeze like crazy and my eyes will be irritated.
    If you’re using the argument of people dying – more people are killed by cars than by guns in Toronto – but there is no public outcry about them. They are very useful and convenient, yes, but also very dangerous.

  • http://www.bikingtoronto.com Jo

    Hi Jill – I’m not trying to say your acquaintance doesn’t matter. It’s bad that fragances are fatal to them… is it all smells, or just some weird chemical that perfume companies put into bottles?

  • Gloria

    There’s no public outcry about cars because they are useful if used safely. I’m pretty sure people get all up in arms about careless or drunk drivers all the time.
    Honestly, do you think someone wearing a bit of perfume is worth you sneezing and watering in the eyes? There’s a reason why many venues like opera houses explicitly ask patrons not to wear perfume or cologne … if you trigger someone’s allergy attack during a performance, you can disturb many more people than you think.

  • http://www.jillmurray.com Jill

    Joe, most perfumes and colognes are made of a mix of “weird chemicals.” (Some of them even known neurotoxins). It can be any number of these chemicals or the combination thereof that can trigger illness.
    This is also true of many other grooming, cleaning, and industrial products as well as building materials, car tires, etc… so it’s not like personal fragrance is the only culprit… but it certainly ranks among the most frivolous and the easiest to eliminate from the workplace. (They’re already disallowed in Toronto shcools, for instance.)
    All of this is moot though, because covering up stink doesn’t work anyway. Put a frangrance on stink, and what you’ve created is stink * frangrance, or stink squared. The only person you’re fooling is yourself.
    That’s no reason not to bike to work though. Or walk. More businesses should have showers. And as you’ve said, a thorough toweling and change of clothes will go a long way.

  • http://www.bikingtoronto.com Joe (BikingToronto)

    Is deoderant okay? I mention that too, but everyone seems fixated on the cologne/perfume thing.

  • andrew

    it depends on the amount of perfume/scented product in the deodorant. also, some deodorants are alleged to be carcinogenic. the natural crystal kind are probably the best way to go. although only one of my colleagues has pushed for a no perfume/scented product workplace, ministry of finance’s hq is a no perfume/scented product workplace. as in, not in the building as per health and safety committee rules. more and more you’re gonna see this, along with no nuts or shellfish or any anaphyllactic shock inducing allergens.
    i would dearly love bike showers at work. i’m probably gonna shell out for a ymca membership so i can use theirs just up the street when i start seriously biking to and from work.

  • mary

    I use unscented baby wipes to clean up after a hot bike ride… they’re like a mini-shower.

  • Chris Dart

    Mary,
    Oh snap, that’s clever.

  • Hey

    Good god. I mean I always use the belittling stereotype of the filthy, smelly, dirty hippy, but are y’all for real? If you are that chemically sensitive taht you can’t handle perfume, there’s no way you can handle being in a city! Synthetic surfaces, vehicle emissions, the wonders of contained environments… If you can survive that but can’t survive perfume, you’re lying and being an obnoxious hippy, as well as a stupid smelly one.
    You should bone up on your chemistry before making unsupportable complaints.

  • Marc Lostracco

    I’m allergic to colognes and perfumes, depending on what it is. I can tolerate normal amounts, but not those few people who have developed such an INsensitivity to the smell that they don’t even know how strong it is. I can’t even tell you how many times someone has been near me on the subway and all of a sudden, my nose starts running like a faucet, even when I move away. Then I am the one that people give dirty looks to because I’m sniffling my watery snot in an attempt to control it.
    The same thing happened in my last workplace, but most offenders didn’t work with me often. Again, it’s not as much people bitching that they’re sensitive to colognes as it is people not knowing how to wear scents properly and tipping the scales for people who may have a real, physiological reaction to them.
    There’s a reason that products in the drugstore like shampoos and shaving gels come in fragrance-free versions. It’s not just for shits and giggles or because people complain too much.
    As for wet stank, what’s the deal with jeans? I got drenched today in freshly washed jeans (still wet) and now they have that dank denim smell.

  • Marc Lostracco

    By the way, “Hey,” I have really bad hayfever that triggers my lifelong athsma in a flash, but I have almost no reaction to the nasty car exhaust. Does that make me only half “a liar and obnoxious hippy?”
    They don’t serve peanuts on most airplanes anymore because even the recirculated fumes can be anaphylactic. Being so judgmental about allergies that you don’t suffer from is a bit dickish, no?

  • Gloria

    I hear you, Marc; wet denim smells TERRIBLE. I don’t know it is either … can anyone enlighten us?