blahaha! Not I!

in all seriousness though. I go with the compression shorts undies. It helps keep all your junk secure IMO.

I was wondering that too.

During the IM bike leg do you switch into bike shorts, or just wear tri shorts? How about during a 70.3?

Thanks

I'm a free spirit, I like to be one with my bike shorts. Just like you have to toughen up your feet for a long day running, you've got to toughen up the boys to withstand long days in the saddle.
I'm not a big fan of chamois creams, that aren't lanolin based, they tend to dry out the skin, and cause more irritation. "Mad Alchemy"(just don't get "warming-embrocation", and put it on your boys, it would be like rubbing Ben-Gay on them) has some good products, Aquaphor is good, and "Bag Balm", which is my favorite, all do the trick.

I wear bike shorts when I'm out on the road, tri-shorts on my trainer, and just run the whole IM in the same tri singlet. Just be sure to put miles in with your gear before race day. I see so many people getting gear at the expo, and then racing in them the next day, OUCH!!! You've got to know where certain garments hit you wrong, so you can prep that area.

I trained for my 1st IM last summer and I used the De Soto shorts with the 400 mile pad. They seemed to work pretty well,I did many rides in over 100 degree weather and I didn't use chamois cream or compression shorts. This winter I have discoverd that they do not have good grippers for holding up leg warmers.

I use the DeSoto Four Pocket tri shorts. They have a thin tri pad and worked fine for training and for IM. Once you ride in them a bit, you get used to the thin pad and it ends up being better than a thicker pad.

The best pair of shorts is one that fits you well, and doesn't have seams in bad places. I'm in the camp of having gotten used to riding in tri shorts and now I very rarely ride in padded bike shorts. I use Chamois Butt'r on rides longer than 2 hours.

I just received a pair of TYR competitor tri short that are by far the best pair of tri shorts I've ever had. They beat DeSoto hands down and I like them better than my Pearls. And they were on sale to boot.

I'd seriously consider trying skin strong cream. I like it better than aquaphor and chamois butter.

D) None of the above.
You're doing it wrong if you're wearing bike shorts or any shorts for that matter. And you're compounding the error by wearing anything underneath. There are no good pair of shorts. [EDIT: I realize that later in my response, I write that you/everyone should wear whatever they like ... but I started by ragging on shorts. Fine, if you like shorts and compressions underneath, and they work for you, fine. Ride on. But if you want to come to the dark side, keep reading.]

E) Bibs.
The reason some of y'all dudes are wearing compressions under the shorts is to keep your junk from slidin' around. I get that. But that is the flaw with shorts: there is nothing to keep them in place and/or from sliding around (at least not as well as bibs do). The discomfort comes from friction - not pressure (not that you’re asking about gel padding, but I’m frequently asked that). To alleviate the movement, the solution is not to increase the layers between the soft tissue and hard saddle, resulting in more material friction, but rather to use something that pulls upward and keeps the chamois in place, directly against the skin. The sole function of the bib is the upward pull that compresses everything nicely (if not modestly) and stays put. Yeah, I know. You might get Man-Toe, but do you want to ride in comfort or are you in church?

The added benefits are you also get support around your waistline. I don't care how single-digit your body fat is: No one looks good in bike shorts, tri shorts, et al. Everyone will have a muffin top fold-over, and if you're even a little ample, riding aero turns the elastic band into a Gut Tourniquet. Bibs eliminate that altogether. You wrote that you're 'training'. My suggestions (sound less condescending than 'advice') is to head to your LBS and at least try on a pair of bibs (they're a bit more than shorts) and you will immediately feel the difference. You can train in them but race in whichever shorts you'd like. However, since you wrote you're training an IM, I'd also suggest making a full change in T1 and T2. Once I tried bibs, I knew I'd never go back. Although I swam in mine under the wetsuit, you'll have time to strip and slap on bibs (T1) and then change again into run gear (I was assisted by our very own BlueBirdBiker). Don't get caught up in what everyone else is wearing. This isn't High School. Especially for training and racing a full, comfort is the No. 1 (maybe No. 2 after nutrition) consideration. That goes for bike fit, running shoes, shorts. If you're uncomfortable, you won't enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, you won't train (and it makes for a miserable race day).

Just so you don't think my ideas are ungrounded, me at Canada 2011.
[IMG=350X200]http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x158/endurasports/IronmanCanada08.png...

Great points TriSooner. Can you (or anyone else) recommend some good bibs for IM type training?

Scott

I took Sooner's suggestions in my last IM and it made a positive difference. Riding for 6 hours in with a bib from Hammer Nutrition was much more comfortable than any of the try shorts I own. It also felt nice to change into different clothes for the run. Total time lost during the change was about 2 minutes and seeing that I missed winning the overall by 4 hours and my age group by 2 hours it wasn't much of a factor.

this is interesting. I love my desoto tri shorts with the 4 pockets too, and as the bib discussion has explained that it stops men's stuff from moving around, is there any use for them for women? I know they make bibs that are women specific, but for what purpose? The only thing I can think of is there wouldn't be any pressure in the waist area, I assume like shorts might do....not sure. can anyone enlighten me?

Bibs are simply brilliant

Sharon, since the primary benefit of a bib seems to be that it keeps the chamois in place better, I would think that this would benefit women as well?

[quote=dkhartung]Sharon, since the primary benefit of a bib seems to be that it keeps the chamois in place better, I would think that this would benefit women as well?[/quote]
my chamois doesnt move around

[quote=jtrimom][quote=dkhartung]Sharon, since the primary benefit of a bib seems to be that it keeps the chamois in place better, I would think that this would benefit women as well?[/quote]
my chamois doesnt move around
[/quote]

no shimmy in my chamois either