You paid a lot of money for your cycling shorts, jersey, and other apparel. You want to get the most out of it and have it fit comfortably every time you wear it. There are two sure-fire ways to shorten the life of your cycling clothes; crashing and washing them improperly. Knowing how to wash cycling clothes will help ensure you get your money’s worth out of them. Not crashing in them… that’s another article.
Why Different Than Regular Clothes
Cycling clothes are different than your regular clothes because they are made of lighter weight, more delicate materials along with having many more seems that receive a higher stress load. Regular clothes aren’t built for performance so can take a beating but washing your cycling kits with a bit of a different approach will help to keep the materials in their original state along with keeping all the stitched seems together.
Why You Don’t Need To Go The Whole 9 Yards
Some companies recommend a specific way to wash your kit but these recommendations generally error on the side of caution and were catered toward the older Lycra materials which were more prone to stretching and coming apart. Some would say to wash them in a mesh laundry bag along with the zippers zipped up and with no other clothes on a delicate cycle and to hang dry them. You can do this to have the utmost certainty that they won’t degrade wash after wash but this is a lot of effort for marginal gains. The newer materials and stitched seems are durable enough to handle more of a beating than that and with much less effort.
So How To Wash Cycling Clothes
First, before your cycling clothes ever make it to the wash, you should have them in an airtight bag or container to avoid stinking up the whole place until you wash them. Then when you’re ready to wash, you can do them in with your regular cold water clothes (you don’t want to do it on warm or hot because colors can leach and the heat can be hard on the clothes.) on a delicate cycle. The delicate cycle will keep the machine from spinning them excessively but if you forget every once in awhile, it’s not the end of the clothes. You don’t need to zip up the jerseys nor do you need to wash them in a mesh bag. They will last just fine. You can use regular detergent but use slightly less or use a lighter detergent. Also don’t use fabric softeners.
How To Dry Your Cycling Clothes
Drying your clothes can be just as hard as washing if you do it wrong. The safest option is to hang dry them but that’s not always feasible. If you have to use a dryer to dry them, use it on a low heat and tumble setting. Because of the quick drying material of cycling kits, they shouldn’t take long to dry.
How To Wash Cycling Clothes By Hand
Sometimes if you’re on a trip or are racing day after day and only have one kit, you need to wash it by hand. Never wear a kit more than once without washing it. Put everything that you’re washing, shorts, jersey, socks, gloves, etc. into a sink and first rinse them with cold to lukewarm water. Then use laundry soap if you have it available or any hand/body soap will work just fine. Just don’t use too much of it. Scrub the clothes in the sink against each other to get out all the grit and grime. Then rinse each piece of clothing a few times on its own to get all the soap out and give it a good squeeze but not wring as this can stretch the fabrics.
How To Dry Cycling Clothes By Hand
Now with your clean, wet clothes take a large, dry, and CLEAN towel and lay it out flat. Place all of your clothes on it so nothing is overlapping. Then starting at one of the short ends of the towel, roll it up all the way. Then twist either end in opposite directions to give it a slight wring. Don’t over-do it as this can also stretch the clothes excessively. A lot of the moisture will be absorbed by the towel. Then un-roll it and hang the clothes to finish drying completely. A coat hanger works well placed next to an air vent.
