“Click, clack, click, clack”.. You are standing in line at Amante Coffee and you peer behind and expect to see a horse, or maybe a girl in high heels. Actually maybe it is a tap dancer. You first look down  and notice glossy white shoes, high socks, and the most muscular legs you have ever seen on a chick. As you continue to gaze up you soon realize that this hairless girl is actually a transvestite! The perfectly smooth legs had you thinking one way, but the tight spandex shorts quickly revealed the other! You continue to scan upward and soon realize that this transvestite is actually just a male triathlete. Not as weird as it could have been, but still, why is this guy getting coffee wearing that outfit?!

This blog is a letter to the general public trying to explain our actions. You see, here in Boulder stopping for coffee in your click, clacking cycling shoes, or shopping at Sprouts all sweaty on your way home from a long run at the Boulder Reservoir is not weird.  At least not to us. Triathletes spend more time in workout clothes than normal clothes and because of this we end up doing more than we should in our tight fitting, smelly clothes.

Let me explain it like this: Imagine you just got a sweet new tattoo on your face that says “I <3 Cosmos Pizza”. Hesitant to see what people think of your new face art, you would probably be embarrassed the first time you went into public. You might even wear a bandana or something to try and cover it. However the more times you went into public, the more comfortable you would get, until eventually you forget it is there at all. That is how triathletes are with their shaved legs, spandex clothing, and stretching in the elevator.

So next summer when you are at the pool tanning and see a person in a wetsuit doing laps, just remember, we know we look silly, but to us a PR is more important than your approval.

Ryan Petry