Funky smells on riding gear can build up quickly in the wet season. High humidity and rain together with a growing medium provides an ideal bacterial breeding ground.
I've taken to wearing thin under helmet balaclavas, and now have enough for up to twice daily changes, if needs be. Sure feels good to swap out a salty one for a fresh.
On my recent trip to the GTR Up Country Dinner I ended up riding in rain and high humidity for about 5 hours.
I swapped out my best leather gloves for a older leather pair that I didn't mind getting wet. I had these gloves stored in my black colour rear top box which gets unfortunately hot like a solar cooker.
I have been struggling to remove the funky smell from the older pair. This is despite multiple washes in vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and clothes detergent. The latter two I don't like subjecting leather to, but it was a last ditched attempt to de-funk.
As part of the recovery from the hydrogen peroxide treatment I applied a leather condioner (from USA) which has mainly a base of Vitamin E cream.
Unfortunately the leather condition was like a super tonic for bacteria and I was slack, not washng (santizing) my my riding jacket at the same time. Some residual bacteria from the gloves has moved in to the jacket sleeve cuffs.
The result after my wet riding was a firey fast spreading burning skin infection on both wrists and forearms.
So, before the start of my return trip I purchased a few plastic bin bags, made up a solution of hydrogen peroxide in the hotel room bin and dumped my riding gear together with the solution in the plastic bin bags. After a 30 minute soak it was off to the launderette to wash my gear.
I use this laundry peroxide:
For my bacterial rash I purchased some topical cream which combined cortisone and antibiotic together with some antihistamine tablets (total medicine cost ฿105) from a village store. These types of infections can be common in this climate but this was my first.
The rash has now gone after 6 days of applying the topical cream.
Once home I soaked and washed all my gear again.
I'll be doing more washing in the future! I'll also pay more attention to storing riding gear in the slow cooker top box (ideal for rapid bacteria growth).
I've taken to wearing thin under helmet balaclavas, and now have enough for up to twice daily changes, if needs be. Sure feels good to swap out a salty one for a fresh.
On my recent trip to the GTR Up Country Dinner I ended up riding in rain and high humidity for about 5 hours.
I swapped out my best leather gloves for a older leather pair that I didn't mind getting wet. I had these gloves stored in my black colour rear top box which gets unfortunately hot like a solar cooker.
I have been struggling to remove the funky smell from the older pair. This is despite multiple washes in vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and clothes detergent. The latter two I don't like subjecting leather to, but it was a last ditched attempt to de-funk.
As part of the recovery from the hydrogen peroxide treatment I applied a leather condioner (from USA) which has mainly a base of Vitamin E cream.
Unfortunately the leather condition was like a super tonic for bacteria and I was slack, not washng (santizing) my my riding jacket at the same time. Some residual bacteria from the gloves has moved in to the jacket sleeve cuffs.
The result after my wet riding was a firey fast spreading burning skin infection on both wrists and forearms.
So, before the start of my return trip I purchased a few plastic bin bags, made up a solution of hydrogen peroxide in the hotel room bin and dumped my riding gear together with the solution in the plastic bin bags. After a 30 minute soak it was off to the launderette to wash my gear.
I use this laundry peroxide:
For my bacterial rash I purchased some topical cream which combined cortisone and antibiotic together with some antihistamine tablets (total medicine cost ฿105) from a village store. These types of infections can be common in this climate but this was my first.
The rash has now gone after 6 days of applying the topical cream.
Once home I soaked and washed all my gear again.
I'll be doing more washing in the future! I'll also pay more attention to storing riding gear in the slow cooker top box (ideal for rapid bacteria growth).
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