Cycling shorts: comfort vs bacteria / fungus? I picked up endurance cycling a few years ago (30 - 100 km rides), and bought a few pairs of padded lycra shorts because that's just the thing to do. I wash them after every ride -- at least soap in the shower, if not a proper machine load -- but I'm finding that I still get a flare-up of jock itch after every ride that takes a day or two to clear with medication.

Over the past week I've been trying the experiment of riding without the padded lycra; just normal shorts, and have had no jock itch whatsoever. I'm also pleasantly surprised that I don't really notice a comfort difference with pad vs no-pad; I guess my sit bones have hardened up :)

Questions:


Is this normal / expected?
Is there something else I should be doing pre-ride to reduce jock itch?
What is the point of padded lycra, and is it worth putting up with infections?
Should I just throw out my lycra and wear simple running shorts instead?
Normal detergent should be enough even with cold water. I do have sports wash but don't use it every time. Getting stuff properly dry (ideally not machined-dried if you want it to last) is crucial though, and keeping it dry for a while seems to help too. Some sports fabrics can feel dry when they're not completely.  Washing stuff out in the shower is a bit of a last resort - OK when touring but not really enough, and hard to get the pads dry in a reasonable timescale.  I'd rather wait a day until I've got enough stuff to fill the machine.

I didn't bother with padded shorts until I was doing 70km pushing hard, and now up to about 4 hours saddle time even cheap foam-padded ones are adequate.   You seem to be in a similar position, so you could try buying another cheap pair or two, and always thoroughly (machine) washing them and thoroughly drying them.  Store your existing shorts thoroughly washed and dried. If you start pushing the distance further you might find you need (gel) padding after all.