Hi,
So I’ve been dealing with a certain problem pretty much since I’ve been riding on zwift and that is these red/pink spots all over my upper body and round my lower neck it’s a full blown rash. I know these come from sweat being reabsorbed but I don’t know what to do about that. I have 2 fans blowing at me while riding on the trainer and sweating is pretty much unavoidable. Does anyone have a solution to this? Thanks in advance
What kind of fabric shirt are you wearing? Is it something that holds the sweat or wicks it away with the airflow of the fan? If you are wearing cotton, that is going to just hold the sweat there and be soaked at the end of the ride as you would already see. Try wearing a cycling jersey, or a fast wicking fabric like Dri-Fit. Those will not hold as much sweat against your upper body.
Next option would be to Zwift without a shirt on. Do the fans product enough airflow to evaporate the sweat before it can be an issue?
If those don’t work, then your body is just not happy with sweat that you can’t get ride of. Beyond that, I’d suggest talking with your doctor for their suggestion.
No shirt, four fans and a headband. I use the poshei brand headband from Amazon they are thin but hold buckets of sweat. I really drip sweat anymore. Before adding two more fans I would have to mop up the trainer mat after every ride.
This may be a silly question but do you have a towel to hand while on the trainer? For me a combination of a big fan and patting myself with the towel every few minutes seems to do the trick
I ride with nothing on my upper body. Guess I’m gonna have to buy some more fans. Not sure where I’d place them though.
After zwifting I am usually quite sweaty, but I thought that was normal and to be expected. Guess The two fans I have right now aren’t doing the job well enough.
Everyone is different for both the amount of heat they produce and the amount that they sweat. So you need to see what works for you, fan-wise - some people might be ok with one small fan, while others might need multiple large fans.
I think you should ask a doctor about the rashes, or at least a pharmacist.
Simon,
Once I started the sweat band I gave up the towels. Towels usage caused me to be distracted and lose position in group rides. Plus they create more laundry, on top of the incredible amount of laundry that I am already generating from riding.
Tommy,
I have a fan on my back. Two of my fans are very powerful. One is a Kickr fan and the other a Rowenta Turbo stand fan. The other two are household table fans. My pain cave is in a windowed, walk-out basement. In winter the temp hovers around 60º F or 15Cº and in the summer the low 70ºsF or 20ºs C. So it is always a little chilly to begin with.
Some people’s skin is just more sensitive, but something that might make a difference is showering soon after finishing riding, another suggestion is to use a moisturizer on the parts of your skin that seem to be worst affected. Getting enough fans going should certainly help as well though (and potentially also improve performance, because it reduces the work your heart has to do in cooling).
I get sweat rash, mainly on my face, forehead and scalp. I find the most soothing and helpful stuff is zinc and castor oil cream, applied before a workout and after a shower, and head & shoulders shampoo for scalp.