WASHING MACHINE
EAST – BYCYCLE, LOG #2
In March, Matt and Lene set off on an adventure heading east—by bike. From Bodø, they pedaled south and east, with Singapore as their final destination.
For the journey, they had to pack light and knew that their few possessions, including their clothes, would be put to the test. Whether it was wild landscapes, big cities, cold nights, endless warm days, or the constant demands of cycling, their clothes and equipment had to make the trip easier. For us, this is a fantastic story to follow while gathering evidence that our vision of owning fewer clothes, using them often, and for everything you do truly works in practice. While log #1 was about packing light, log #2 is about how to deal with washing clothes while on a long trip with limited laundry options.
Our previous update came in May from the hills of Montenegro where we were still finding our feet and adjusting to life on saddles of our bikes. 3 months on and we have since waved goodbye to the Balkans (and Europe). After finally setting our course East towards Asia, we crossed Turkey and Georgia before landing in Central Asia.
Currently we are sitting in Khorog, Tajikistan (the final post of civilization for a while) and eyeing up the daunting mountains as we prepare to depart for the so called ‘roof of the world’ - the Pamir plateau - cycling the famous Pamir highway. It’s safe to say that we are now fully absorbed in this simple lifestyle, living life day by day.
On another note; tour cyclists don’t have a reputation for being the cleanest people out there, so we thought we’d touch a bit on the realities of riding our bikes all day every day and trying to remain respectable.
A concoction of sweat, sunblock and dust from the road means that keeping clean and smelling good can be a challenge after a long day on the saddle. Lucky for us we have wool; in this case, wool in the form of nice t-shirts and wool fleeces.
Now, after 5 months on the road, we feel qualified to weigh in with our thoughts on how these products have performed.
Whilst our wool fleeces have been collecting dust over the last couple of months due to the high temperatures, our t-shirts have been put through their paces. Intense sun, salt from the continuous sweating along with everyday wear and tear and these t-shirts are still going strong and smelling good.
Generally we both have a couple of t-shirts on rotation for riding and can go for well over a week without smelling too offensive or needing to do the washing. We get by airing our t-shirts at the end of the day in the sun, whilst a fast down hill tends to be enough to air them out during the day. Magically there is very little smell. When needed, washing is generally done by hand in bathroom sinks and a clothesline is strung out wherever possible - this can be on our bikes, amongst the trees or inside a hotel room when we treat ourselves. We have used a washing machine from time to time but haven ’t found it overly necessary.
With this recipe we have managed to live 5 months on the road with just a few t-shirts and are yet to get a comment on our smell. We hope that people are not just being polite.
