Asking as all my cycling kit goes in together on a 30 wash. However after a particularly long, hot and sweaty ride yesterday (including sitting around in sweaty shorts for 2 half-hour ferry crossings and an hour in the pub), I’ve got quite tender and pink arse cheeks (no photos). I do this quite often and quite regularly get this after longer rides.

I use chammy cream, and my liner shorts aren’t that old – maybe 10-20 rides. Just wondering if I need to be washing them hotter or a regular dip in Milton fluid or something.

I use Halo sportswash (which I think is basically soap flakes) at 30 degrees

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/halo-proactive-sports-wash-laundry-detergent-1-litre/

Seems to keep my kit clean / smelling good.

You wash your own pants??

Though from what you’re saying, the sitting around in sweaty shorts for a long time after a ride is most likely the cause, not the detergent.

“ndthornton – Member
You wash your own pants??”

i got the valet to check with the laundry and the answer was 30degs

^^^^you need your butler to pay a young lady to lick the sweat off (or young man up to you) def’ get your kit off sooner

Assos washing liquid. Very effective indeed. Expensive for a small bottle but you hardly need any so it lasts ages.

40 degree wash would be better although 60 is even betterer.

40C, all my gear.

I’ve found with my wetsuit in summer:

Itches around torso, doesn’t go away after getting showered – wash with a couple of cap-fulls of detol in the washing machine.

Red rash – most likely friction and hot/moist conditions, get changed sooner, use more chamois cream.

Also use sudocrem, it seems far more tenacious than chamois cream, and is anti bacterial.

+1 for Halo at 30 degrees, but get out of the sweaty undercrackers quicker.

Sounds more like sweat rash than some kind of issue with your shorts not being cleaned sufficiently.

I wash all my cycling gear at 40 with a non-bio detergent. 40 Super Quick setting if in a hurry to get it on the line, otherwise 40 eco, although no idea what ‘eco’ does apart from take bloody ages!!

40c, with a couple of spoonfuls of Napisan for depongifying purposes.

Mine are always washed at 30 degrees in liquid soap (on a gentle wash). That appears to get them properly clean, and means they don’t get worn out so quickly in the washing machine. As discussed above, it’s not the cleanliness of the shorts which is your problem.

Most likely the time spent sat around at the end of a ride. Wherever possible I get changed out of lycra as soon as I can – if I have a long drive then I take baby wipes.

Wash all my kit at 30C with standard washing powder. I would be surprised if there was a significant composition difference between the specialist products and that which you can buy in the supermarket.

The sitting around is generally mid-ride, but I’m buggered if i’m going to cut out the pub stops! Guess I’ll have to live with a backside like a sunburnt teenagers face – red, spotty and pouty 😡

It’s deffo nappy rash.

Maybe you are a 2yr old in disguise 😆

Some tourers use antiseptic cream in place of (or mixed with) chamois cream to help avoid that – might be worth trying.

Or when you go to the pub, surreptitiously give your backside a wipe/clean in the toilets…

I’ve been washing on 30 Degrees but with some of that Dettol Wash stuff…

About 500c if they’re lycra

Another vote for Halo, but I stock up on it in Sainsbury’s when it’s on offer (cheaper that £4).

What are your liners? I recently dug out a pair of Endura click liners and they were a sweatfest under the matching baggys. Normally under baggys id use Rapha merino padded boxers which have mesh sides and the fabric is not as nasty when damp against skin, either that or ditch baggys and go lycra-bibs.

30c, non-bio powder with a tablespoon or so of napisan chucked in for good measure.

Halo at 50 or 60 degrees. I stink though so like a warmer wash.

30C, non-bio, 60 min cycle, gentlest spin speed and no fabric conditioner

Biological powder 40deg.

I got Tinea Cruris in the summer. Running daily in 40 deg Greek heat for a week and only washing shorts in travel wash, followed by lots of long bike rides 4 hrs +

You can buy the cream over the counter

Halo sport wash is fantastic stuff at 30 or 40. Any hotter starts to mess with the fabrics – transfers, coatings etc.

Ecover non-bio normally, but halo if something’s particularly sweaty – I can turn a t-shirt horrendously stinky in 5mins flat esp. if I’m a bit stressed, halo seems to sort it. And no, it’s not just soapflakes, there’s something a bit more active but it doesn’t mess with water-repellent coatings

Biological powder

most manufacturers recommend against using Bio for clothing with ‘lycra’ in it. In scientific parlance it “wrecks” it.

30C, non bio or wool-specific stuff if I’m doing some nice Rapha/Vulpine etc (own a lot of nice merino riding and non-riding so tend to put it to one side and do a batch).

most manufacturers recommend against using Bio for clothing with ‘lycra’ in it. In scientific parlance it “wrecks” it.

Fair enough but I prefer to wear clean clothes. I have lycra thats over 10 yrs old and no ill effects from it.