How to bike, not wash, and not stink
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:25AM Most of my posts are serious and deep - it's high time I share something on the border of funny - despite it being the result of my painful remembering process.
In January, when I couldn't find a single reason to keep living, I struggled with staying afloat - doing simple things like getting out of bed in the morning, eating breakfast (I made myself eat), brushing my teeth, dressing appropriately for the weather, coming out of the house, etc. Two blocks were preventing me from doing my typical routine - the distaste for the bathroom and shower (an abuse happened in the bathroom, probably many times) and the distaste for the car (another abuse happened in the car, or maybe also several of them). One day I looked at my car and thought, to hell with it, I won't drive it, I will walk. I walked to work, it took me about 1 hour, and I felt splendid - alive - for the first time in weeks. Next day I looked around the garage and saw my bike, long forgotten and hidden behind boxes of stuff. I took it out, pumped the tires, and took a test ride. It felt great, except that my underarms got wet, and in general I felt sweaty and my clothes felt clammy and cold. I shared this experience with my husband and he, being the outdoor geek, told me a story about wool. He told me there is this company in New Zealand called Icebreaker that makes wool underwear and clothes, and that one guy went backpacking for 3 months in the same pair of underwear (!) and it never smelled bad (I couldn't find the original story, so here is a similar one). I went to investigate, stopped by REI, tried several jackets on, and bought one for myself. The price was high, $170, but since then I've been in my jacket for 2 months straight, and only washed it twice - the big idea here - I biked and I didn;t smell!
In the next weeks, I got hooked on wool - I bought wool underwear at Ibex, wool next to skin layers at Smartwool, got one pair of hiking pants (the ones you unzip into shorts), biking shorts and skirt, outfitted my bike with lights, fenders, and mirror, and literally started biking every day - stopped washing (I only take a shower once a week, but wash my hair maybe every 3 days) - and stopped stinking! Really, my body doesn't ooze that awful sweaty odor anymore, my skin got better (I have a very dry skin), and I feel better. When I'm biking, I'm forced to be in the now, to be present - and I get rid of depression. As an added bonus, I'm saving money. I canceled my gym membership (I can't stand gym now - my father used to lift weights every morning, I can't stand looking at men in the gym, pumping weights), I'm not buying gasoline for my car (neither do I spend money on repairing it), I've sold almost all of my clothes at Buffalo Exchange (and bought an awesome eVent rain Jacket at Second Assent for the whooping $179 that I made), and I'm not spending money on new clothes anymore - I literally have now 1 tank, 1 t-shirt, 1 hoodie, 1 rain jacket, 1 pair of hiking pants, 1 pair of leggings, 1 pair of biking shorts, 1 skirt, 1 pair of hiking boots, 2 pairs of running shoes, a bunch of old jeans, and a bunch of socks. Oh, and swimsuits and such (plus sun hat, wool hat, gloves). My closet is clean and smells wonderfully fresh, and I've gotten rid of some weight - of all this stuff that I no longer need, and I feel better than ever.
I left one suit and one dress, plus tow pairs of high heel shoes for special occasions, but aside fro that - this is it. My next step in this endeavor is - get rid of my inky tufts - through electrolysis. Then it will be - goodbye shaving!
Reader Comments (2)
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