Subject: RE: First Tri on 4/26 need advice on gear Hi J,
I did my first sprint tri last year and here is my 2 cents worth of advice. For clothing on the swim, I wore a tight fitting top and a pair of tri shorts. A friend recommended the tri shorts to me and I found they worked well. I am recommending them to my husband for his first tri this season. They are nice that they still give some cushioning on the bike, but don't act as a diaper in the pool. Be sure to practice in the pool with them a couple of times. It feels a little different. Once I got out of the pool for T1 it was a cold 50 degree October morning so I put on a windbreaker that worked great. Taking the time to layer at the transition is worth it, and it doesn't take that long. I also wore a pair of ear covers that wrap around the back of the head. I know they are not the coolest looking thing, but with wet hair and a cool breeze, it really helped keep me warm. Don't know if that is an issue for you, but be aware of the potential for water dripping into your eyes if you have enough hair for that to be an issue. I didn't take the time to put on socks and by the end of the bike my toes were cold. Just something to think about. Maybe toe booties or socks if it is cold. I didn't have aero bars and it went fine. I was actually surprised by how many people were riding mountain bikes with road tires. The courses are short enough in sprints that I don't think it merits the money.
Two pieces of gear you might want to think about are a race belt and a time chip band. Both are pretty cheap ($10 or so ). The race belt is nice because it gives you the flexibility with whatever you want to do for layering on top. You can jump off the bike and put your number belt on over the top layer and go. As for the chip wrap, it is a neoprene Velcro wrap for your ankle to hold your time chip. (I believe if you have a Road ID band it can be used to hold the time chip ) If you don't have one of these the race organizers use cable ties or those plastic hospital ID bracelets to hold your chip on and that can rub or pinch if your ankles swell at all.
Best of luck to you
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