PSA: Found a cheap trick for brick wall transitions on the swim-bike leg

Last week at the YMCA pool in Denver, I realized my wet socks were eating up 90 seconds in T1. Started slathering my feet with cheap baby powder before the swim, and it cut my transition time to under 40 seconds in my last practice run. Has anyone else tried this or found a different hack for that brick wall feeling?

2 comments

2 Comments

brianm271d ago

Man that wet socks thing is brutal. I tried the baby powder trick after a guy at my local tri club swore by it. It works way better than I expected, my feet slide right into the socks now. One thing I learned the hard way is to not go overboard with the powder. A little shake is plenty, too much and you get this weird paste situation halfway through the bike.

richardh4420h ago

brianm27 nailed it with that paste problem... I did the exact same thing my first time trying baby powder. Ended up with this goopy mess between my toes and had to stop ten miles into the bike to scrape it off. What finally worked for me was switching to cornstarch instead of baby powder. It's cheaper, doesn't clump up as bad when it gets wet, and still lets my socks slide on easy. I just keep a little shaker bottle in my transition bag now. Also helps a ton with chafing on long rides if you're prone to that.