Remedy for Stinky Inline Skates

My previous Verducci skate boots didn't seem to care if they got wet, but my 'new' ones apparently hate it! These boots just may need to go through the wet-dry-stink cycle a few times to get it out of their system. My 'old' boots were already well worn when I bought them second-hand, so somebody else must've done the honors for me. My current boots are several years old (they still have the old 5x80 frame spacing), but when I bought them from Bruce after A2A last year, they were still shiny on the outside, and the leather on the inside was still furry. Hardly been worn. I mean, Bruce is a skinny vegetarian but I'm pretty sure even he would have left some dings if he'd skated in them much. The boots smelled like a rose until one of our Chief Ladiga Trail excursions earlier this summer, where some hefty pop-up storms gave us a soaking. I prefer to keep my skates in the trunk of my car 24/7 so that if the chance to skate comes up, I'm ready. However, shortly after the Trail soaking, my car started to smell like a dead skunk. After a few times driving to work, convinced my deodorant or laundry detergent must have been useless, I realized the funk was in the trunk. Febreze is no match for this stench. I even risked separation anxiety, leaving my boots on my apartment balcony when I went to work, on days there was minimal chance of rain. My balcony doesn't get many hours of direct sunlight, however, and that exercise didn't help at all. I considered buying various smelly objects to place inside the boots, but as Roadskater says, I didn't want them to smell like the Motel 6. Yesterday I decided to bake my boots in the rear-window of my car while I went to work, leaving the windows cracked an inch or so, to avoid gassing myself on the way home in the event my experiment exacerbated the condition. Having my workstation at the reception area enabled me to keep a look-out for skate-thieves or rainclouds. IT WORKED!! When I got into my car after work, the reeklessness was awesome. On the way home I stopped off at a local park to skate, and there was still a little residual odor left - okay, if I stuck my nose inside my skates (not a great idea). Today I repeated the exercise and I am happy to report - the smell is gone :-) Perhaps there's no UV filter on my rear window? Or perhaps that doesn't make any difference?

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