by Earl, Acme Bicycle Shop LLC
Have you ever noticed that your hands begin to smell like your feet after a few rides? Have you ever tried to eat a sandwich after a good ride, in stinky gloves? “Kinda cures your hunger”.
Bike gloves often end up soaked from sweat, mud, tire dirt and or rain and after awhile they get a little noxious. If you forget to put them in the washer, they will impart that wonderful aroma to your hands the next time you ride. A little dampness from sweat and the smell comes right back.
I just read about a way to correct this if you don’t have access to a washing machine. You can soak the gloves for a couple of hours in a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar. Let them air dry and they will be just as dirty as when you took them off but… they will stink less.
Most of you know that I do a lot of long distance touring and I never carry any white vinegar. Here is how I handle the stinky glove problem. 1) I always turn my gloves inside out when I take them off. I lay them palm up in the sun while I have lunch or what ever. This goes a long way in keeping the bacteria from fermenting into an unpleasant smell. 2) I wash my gloves on my hands, just leave gloves on. Liquid hand soap, warm water and wash my hands, gloves and all. Rinse them well to avoid any allergic reaction to the detergent. It works better on the smell if you turn them inside out first. 3) I always carry at least two pair of gloves and after washing one pair, I wear the other until they get stinky. 4) When you do your laundry, put your gloves in with your clothes, I (being a male) just throw them in the washer and then the dryer with everything else. Some feel that gloves should be air dryed, hmmm, what ever works for you.
A Toast: Here’s to sweet smelling hands, ok, feet too.
