these maybe silly questions from a newb, but...

[craigery]

Do you change clothes between events? I was looking at pics and people were wearing different thing for each event. Assuming that you do change, what do you do with your clothes so they dont get lost or stolen?

[Psydotek]

You mean between the swim/bike/run? :)

Generally you wear your cycling/running clothes under your wetsuit or at least as much as possible under your wetsuit (i have a sleeveless wetsuit so i don't wear my cycling jersey underneath).

Between each part there's a transition area where every participant has their own little "station" where you keep your bike and anything else you need during the race. Generally you come out of your water, run into the transition area, strip off the wetsuit, throw on your cycling shoes (and anything else you may need), and head out for the cycling portion. Then after that you come back into the transition area where you drop off your bike, swap to running shoes, then head out for the run.

The transition area is fenced off and only participants are allowed inside and usually your spot in the transition area is no larger than a normal sized bath towel next to a rack for your bike. It seems cramped on paper but is plenty large for all the stuff you need in a race.

In fact, one of the biggest parts of a triathlon is minimizing the amount of "changing" you need to do since the time you spend in transition is counted on your final race time. :)

[caloso]

Probably the single best tri-related purchase I've made was a good pair of tri shorts. They are like bike shorts but have a thinner, non-absorbant pad. My most recent race was an ocean swim so I had to wear a wetsuit. I wore tri shorts and a singlet under my wetsuit. Out of the water, run to T1, pull off the wetsuit, put on bike shoes and helmet and go. Off the bike, into T2, pull off the helmet and bike shoes, put on running shoes and ballcap and go.

[craigery]

Good posts. Thanks guys.