Lightweight Eats

One of our requirements when we moved last year was finding a place with a washer and dryer. If I weren't training, and we produced just one mildly dirty outfit per day per person, a washer and dryer would be a convenience.

But the thought of lugging three or four outfits a day of often soggy and always smelly clothing to the laundromat was just soul crushing. Did I mention that we'd have been doing the lugging on our bicycles?

But we found that we were running the dryer through its full cycle two, even three times just to get a load dry. It hardly seemed efficient. With all of my spandex workout clothing—which really shouldn't be dried—and the inconvenience of checking and restarting the dryer, we decided to do what any Bay Area hippie would do: got a drying rack!

We still use our dryer. Cotton t-shirts, towels and jeans all go through the dryer. Sometimes, a load donates just two or three pieces of clothing to the dryer, meaning we can combine dryer loads.

We aren't keeping track of our savings. I'm sure we're saving some money here and there from running the dryer less. More importantly, my favorite pair of spandex will last much, much, much longer.

Of course, a load can easily fill up a drying rack; a crowded rack doesn't dry as quickly. What if things don't dry in time? Well, then I throw what I need in the dryer for 10 minutes to finish it up. There's nothing better than climbing into a warm pair of long spandex on your way to a cold, wet, windy row.