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They get mushy, period.  No matter what your particular brand of cycling sport you can be sure that after each and every round your cycle gloves are going to become a breeding ground for bacteria – it’s all that lovely sweat, not to mention the stuff you wipe from your nose and the pollution in our more urban areas.  So you gotta care for them otherwise you could be wiping all those bugs back onto your face, which could cause spots or worse. Biking gloves bacteria is bad news.  And besides which, wearing washed gloves feels nicer and makes them last a lot longer!

Caring for leather cycle gloves

If they are leather or a leather/cloth mix, turn them inside out and put them on.  Cold water in a bowel and give them a wash as if you were washing your hands.  Rinse well, then take them off and turn the right way round, to rinse them out again.  Squeeze them out – don’t wring them – right down to the wrist to get all the water out you can, and then lay them on a dry cloth flat to dry out.  Don’t put them near a direct source of heat.

A dab of leather cream once they are dry will keep them supple.  String back cycling gloves need the same kind of care, usually because they have a leather palm.  I have found that you need to lay them out flat so that the string doesn’t stiffen, not that it matters too much.

Caring for synthetic cycle gloves

With synthetics, generally treat them like your most delicate cycle gear.  you can throw them in the was with them if you want but be careful of the velcro straps!  Lycra doesn’t like it… You could try using one of the little bags that some soap tablets come in.  Again, try to dry flat and away from heat.

How often should you wash them?  The juries out on that one.  Some people like to wash them every couple of hundred miles, some people every couple of months.

What I do know is that you must wash them.  I wear a wedding ring and under both rings they got very itchy, a bit like athletes foot, when my gloves built up too much sweat and grot.  It was agony!

And yes, you can get athletes foot on your hand…

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photo credit: Stig Nygaard

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