SKATE TIP OF THE WEEK
Inline secrets from the world's top skaters and coaches

This week's tip:

Deodorize Your Skate Gear

By Trish Alexander
Sept. 28, 2007

As much as I promote the use of protective gear, I have to admit, it stinks! I have more than a passing familiarity with this trait as the owner of a busy skate school. We have 40 sets of gear (helmets, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads), shared by scores of students and used day in and day out. Naturally, the gear collects dirt and sweat. And that's the problem. Left to its own devices, it quickly develops an aroma that could make a zombie scream.

No Good

One of our instructors tried a creative solution to the problem. After skating, he gave all of his pads a light misting with Simple Green household cleaner.

It worked fine for a few days, but then the itching started and he developed a rash. Take it from him: Save the Simple Green for your countertops or maybe your bearings.

Revenge of the Sweat

Here's another bad idea: Distancing yourself from the problem by stowing your smelly gear in the trunk of your car. Like an alien fungus in a sci-fi movie, the smell will spread. Eventually, it will lodge itself in your trunk and take on a life of its own. Once it does, the only way to get rid of it is to sell the car!

Smelly Underwear

When I worked at Eddie Bauer in the early '80s, we sold Helly Hansen Lifa thermal underwear to skiers and other cold weather enthusiasts. It worked well, but there was one problem. After extended use, the underwear began to stink.

Simply washing with soap and water didn't help. The underwear was made of polypropylene (basically, spun plastic). The polypropylene repelled water, defeating the efforts of soap.

Fortunately, we found a simple solution: vinegar, which penetrated the fabric and removed the stench.

I learned later that vinegar also does a great job with skate gear, which like the thermal undies, is lined with synthetic fibers. (The only thing it doesn't work on is gear, such as CW-X, that is made with anti-microbial liners.)

Follow the instructions below to keep your gear smelling clean and fresh:

Skate Gear Vinaigrette

Fasten the Velcro straps on the gear to keep them from getting stretched during washing. For a small load of skate gear, add 1/4 cup vinegar (distilled or white rather than the "red wine with garlic" variety) and 1/8 cup of detergent.

Start the washer. If possible, pause the machine after it fills with water and allow the gear to soak for ten minutes before running through the full cycle. If that's not possible, don't worry. Just set the machine to regular and let it do its work.

At the end of the cycle, throw the gear in the dryer for 15 minutes — or, if the sun is shining, put it outside to dry.

Tips

• You can lengthen the intervals between washings by letting your gear dry in the sun after skating.
• To help keep your gear dry, keep one-quarter of a sheet of unscented fabric softener in your gear bag. A small strip in your skates also works wonders. Just don't forget to remove the sheet when you skate!

...

Trish Alexander is the owner of the Skate Journey Skate School in Bellevue, WA. She started skating as a child and was a competitive ice figure skater as a pre-teen. She started inline skating in 1994 and two year later started teaching. She is certified to teach Level I, Level II, Master Fitness, Blade Fitness and Fitness Inline Marathon Training. She is also an examiner for the United Skate Schools Group. In a former life, she was a paralegal and private detective.

• Trish's Skate Journeys web page

Related reading:

• Skate Tip of the Week Archive
• Beginners Guide to Outdoor Racing
• Beginners Guide to Inline Skating