How to make underpants last more than a month.

[Sime66]

1. If you're in the US and staying in a motel, most of 'em have microwaves. Microwave your scuds. Health City.

2. Apparently you can freeze them as well. Not much use unless you've got a freezer.

3. Spray them with Lysol. De-stinks your boots as well (up to a point).

4. Most important: underpants are people too. YOU MUST WASH EVERY DAY if you want your undercrackers to last more than a month.

5. There is no way to make 1 pair of underknickers last 2 months. I've tried. Not gonna happen. 5 to 6 weeks is the best you can hope for.

6. If you have diarrhoea, divide the above by 10-ish.

[Mickey D]

Holy Jesus man! Too much information!

I discovered X Officio undies. Expensive but top quality synthetic high tech super wicking fabric. Takes two minutes to wash, dries in about two hours or less. I carry 3 pair, they seem to hold up well but haven't been on the road more than a month at a time yet. Much better than cotton ones.

I use bicycle jerseys, same type fabric. Great in heat and cold! washes in minutes. Packs to nothing. Looks good, feels good on.

[*Touring Ted*]

Just wear your draws in the bath/shower !!

If you're short for time... Microwave your knickers dry !

In theory, I think 4 days is the max. Normal, inside out, normal & back to front and inside out & back to front..

[Nath]

As long as you use wet wipes to wipe your arse after taking a shit, no reason why you shouldn't wear the same pair of pants as long as you like when properly roughing it (no washing/showering or changing/washing clothes).

Wiping your arse with normal toilet paper is just plain dirty. If you got shit smeared on any other part of your body, would you be happy to just wipe it off with a bit of dry paper?

[GSPeter]

This raises a really important point about personal hygiene, both at home and on the road. How many months you wear your underpants is of course a matter of great interest, especially for interplatetary travel, so in the interests of science please let us know how long you last before they have to be surgically removed.
There is another thread for what type of underwear is cool/warm and supportive, with no seams to bite you raw, but I agree with Nath there is a need for preparation. You must be clean. The wet wipes can be found nearly everywhere, and make a big difference. At home I have a hose with a tiny showerhead that does the job just perfectly. Southern Europe they have bidet, Middle East and Asia have various plumbing, spouts and hoses, to keep you clean. Toilet paper is just not up to the job, and if you are travelling you have to lug it around with you, it’s never available when you need it most. Don’t ask me how I know! At home I think my girls eat the stuff, we are always running out, when I ask because the logistics of bringing the stuff home become too much my 17 year old replies
“Low cal, high bulk, what’s the problem?”
Maybe this is a no-no subject, but every traveller has these issues, and if you cannot keep clean you get very sore and stinky, which just might downsize your social life when you get off the bike. I would be very interested to read other peoples take on an assumed common problem.
Safe travels
Peter, in Oslo

[greenmanalishi]

What a thread, with some serious detail! The wet wipes are great and easier to pack than toliet roll. My skiddies are silk and wash in minutes and dry in around 10. I get four days out of them when camping. Back to front and inside out. 2 pairs last over a week.

One of the women I met at the Ripley last year told my gf about panty liners. I guess those can be just thrown away and a pair of skiddies should last months. I might give them a try or is that just gay?

[Mickey D]

Originally Posted by Nath

As long as you use wet wipes to wipe your arse after taking a shit, no reason why you shouldn't wear the same pair of pants as long as you like when properly roughing it (no washing/showering or changing/washing clothes).

Wiping your arse with normal toilet paper is just plain dirty. If you got shit smeared on any other part of your body, would you be happy to just wipe it off with a bit of dry paper?

All true, as Ted Simon rightly pointed out several times in Jupiter's Travels,
the western way of dealing with toilet duties is positively primitive. Ted re learned and changed his methods while in India after observing the locals.
Some funny stuff in there as well.

Baby wipes are essential when on the road. Not only keeping you clean but help to prevent Monkey Butt after a week of 400 mile days. Aloe baby rash creme is also magic to heal a badly Monkey'd up butt!

Sounds funny now but on the road it can turn into torture!

[Sime66]

Originally Posted by Mickey D

All true, as Ted Simon rightly pointed out several times in Jupiter's Travels,
the western way of dealing with toilet duties is positively primitive. Ted re learned and changed his methods while in India after observing the locals.
Some funny stuff in there as well.

Baby wipes are essential when on the road. Not only keeping you clean but help to prevent Monkey Butt after a week of 400 mile days. Aloe baby rash creme is also magic to heal a badly Monkey'd up butt!

Sounds funny now but on the road it can turn into torture!

Truth. You CANNOT make underpants last any time at all if you don't observe fanatically strict back-door hygiene. I hope I made this clear originally.

[farqhuar]

Guys, it's not the derriere that is the problem - it is the lower front around your groin.

Ever heard of jock itch? That's a layman's term for tinea of the groin - caused by sweat which stays in your undies and allows the tinea to multiply. If you keep rewearing your undies without washing you will get jock itch and it will take you ages to get rid of it.

Never scrimp on wearing clean undies every day folks, it just isn't worth it not to.

[markharf]

I need to suggest that the real cure to all that seems to ail those posting on this and certain other threads is.....to get out and ride more. If that means a trip to the other hemisphere, so be it. You'll find you're a lot less concerned about beard upkeep and undie replacement schedules.

My $0.02.

Mark

(from Buenos Aires, Argentina, "That Other Hemisphere")

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by farqhuar

Guys, it's not the derriere that is the problem - it is the lower front around your groin.

Ever heard of jock itch? That's a layman's term for tinea of the groin - caused by sweat which stays in your undies and allows the tinea to multiply. If you keep rewearing your undies without washing you will get jock itch and it will take you ages to get rid of it.

Never scrimp on wearing clean undies every day folks, it just isn't worth it not to.

You make a good point and it's good that you brought it up..

Being stuck in your riding gear with dirty undies breeds many a nasty thing. Jock itch is just one of them.

Red, itchy rashes are common making your wedding tackle itch like hell

The yanks I know swear by using "GOLD BOND" medicated powder on their groinal region.

Whilst you can't get it in the UK, we have "Culticura - Mildly medicated talcum powder".

A tin of this lasts over 6 months using it daily and not only will it stop you developing groin rot or jock itch, it will make your coin purse nice and soft and sweet smelling too

[AliBaba]

Wow, there are so many problems I'm not familiar with.


As a local boy in Chad once told me:
"Watch out for zhe girls, zhey have mushrooms!"

[Dodger]

The Scots managed to avoid washing the groin area for centuries by means of wearing a kilt .
Maybe those riding in a warm climate could do the same .

[greenmanalishi]

That cuticura sounds great I should stick some in my puncture repair kit, as well as stopping jock itch it should stop patches sticking to tyres after a punture repair.

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by greenmanalishi

That cuticura sounds great I should stick some in my puncture repair kit, as well as stopping jock itch it should stop patches sticking to tyres after a punture repair.

Now your thinking.....Dual purpose.

Just don't get confused and start rubbing rubber cement over your balls.