# Commuting Clothing Recommendations



## Red90 (Apr 2, 2013)

I'm about to move to a new house where the cycling commute would be under half an hour to get to my work place. Right now I live in the downtown area where both my wife and I only need to walk 15min to work.

We will both be looking at using cycling as a commuting method as parking is expensive and not easy to come by. Both of us work in an office setting where the attire is more business casual wear. Luckily I don't need to wear a suit, but often times I'm in dress shoes and a shirt. My wife typically is wearing skirt/leggings type of stuff.

We live in the pacific northwest where weather is wet, for a good several months, but no monsoon type showers. More of the prolonged light rain that doesn't kill you, but is always there.

My wife and I would like to be able to commute where I don't have to change all my clothes, take a shower and get all cleaned up when I get to work. 

I'm wondering what I should do for clothing. Should I get some kind of overpants to wear over my jeans/slacks, or should I just wear cycling tights and carry my pants to change at work, or get cycling specific slacks. 

Same for the jacket. I see a lot of heavier rain jackets, but wondered if I should just get a light shell to carry around when it rains.

The other factor I'm worried about is sweat. The ride is only about half an hour with moderate hills. I'm not so worried myself as I don't sweat that much, but my wife is one that as soon as she moves, she sweats. 

Just wondering what peoples experiences are before I start throwing a lot of money down for commuting gear.


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## Migen21 (Oct 28, 2014)

I'm in Seattle and commute almost every day, and am also a fairly heavy sweater (worse in the winter with the heavier clothes). 

I wear seasonally appropriate cycling specific clothes (bibs, tights, jerseys, layers, etc...), and shower and change at the office.

If I tried to wear wind/waterproof overpants and a jacket over my work clothes, they would be drenched with sweat by the time I got there. Of course my commute is closer to an hour (18 miles) and I do have a big hill to ride up (520 trail) on my way in. 

The ride home isn't so bad.


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## Red90 (Apr 2, 2013)

I'm just north of you in Vancouver, so similar weather conditions. However our hills are not as bad as yours. I'm a bit more lucky in that my route to work is downhill so even if I get back home a bit sweaty, it's not too bad and it's only about a 5 mile route. If I was cycling normally, it should only take just under 20 min. I was hoping that if I moved at a leisure pace, I won't break too much of a sweat and still be reasonably presentable when I get to work and just take off a set of overpants and shell. However I've never used them so I'm not sure how breathable they are or how it will feel. If they make my legs all drenched and are horribly uncomfortable I'll just change when I get to work.

I'm just trying to avoid having to carry a backpack of clothes.


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