Hey, you smell. Why
don’t you Stuffitt? That’s not exactly
the phrase uttered in every triathlete home after a long day on the bike, on
the road or in the pool. After a 2 hour
run in the heat and humidity, that last thing a triathlete cares about is
washing your nasty gear.
Admit it. You know
you crammed that chlorine laden jammer in your duffel bag with all the
intention of washing it as soon as you got home from the pool. You know you also left it in your gym bag or
hiding in your floorboard of your car over the weekend and forgot about it. Now it reeks to high heaven along with
anything that was within 25 yards of your nasty funky clothes.
If you’re of the environmentally conscious type that tries
to use your training clothes for more than one workout, just because you lay it
out to dry doesn’t mean the smell magically disappears. It permeates every piece of clothing in your
closet, car seats or any upholstery in your house.
Why should your spouse or significant other have to put up
with your stench? They found a way to
co-exist with your endurance obsession and the time commitment it takes, and
now you stash your salty tri shorts under their nose in the hamper? If you don’t think they can smell that as
soon as they enter the house, you are delusional. I know this.
My wife has told me as much.
In the quest to balance life, triathlon and limit funky
odor, I’ve found many products out there.
Some laundry detergents are advertised for the workout community. Glad plug-ins also hold some appeal, but that
just masks a bad smell with an out-of-place smell. It’s like spraying on deodorant without showering
from an 18 mile run. It doesn’t solve
the problem.
Somehow you have to transport your sweaty gear from point A
(the workout location) to point B (washing machine) without killing your
family’s sense of smell.
I give you Stuffitts.
I tried the gear bag and shoe inserts out after some foul
race scenarios, and here’s the dirty.
They have options.
You can get shoe inserts, bag inserts, actual gear bags and a lot of the
shapes are interchangeable. Just because
you bought it for the shoe, doesn’t mean you can’t toss them in a gym bag.
If you do not like a cedar chip smell, they may not be for
you. The cedar chips are a large factor
in the design to absorb smell. The chips
try to extract the stink, leaving your clothes more tolerable.
You don’t have to wash the inserts. The antimicrobial design allows multiple uses
without the build-up of fungus and other undesirable life forms on the
Stuffitts. If you do try and wash the
Stuffitts if you think they are losing their effect, you risk tearing the fabric
and letting the cedar chips out. You may
notice a loss of the cedar smell after a while, but they have been tested to
work after 3 years of use.
If you must match, they come multiple colors. For the most part, the products are red and
black, so if fashion is critical in your home or gym bag, you have options.
After a 4 mile race in rain and humidity, I had a pleasant
mixture of sweat, dirt and water ground into my shorts and shirt. I’m a proponent of bringing a change of
clothes to get home, so off they went into the Stuffitt gear bag. True to form, I forgot about the clothes
until I was getting ready for the work week and emptying out gym bags. The true test, as any married man will tell
you, is to have your wife smell it and see if she passes out. As I held out the clothes for my wife to
smell, I braced for a verbal barrage of insults of how could my body produce
such stench. Instead, I got, “and that
was the shirt and shorts your wore this morning? Wow.” Did
I mention I threw my under armor shorts in for extra measure? Enough said.
The Warrior Dash in Kansas City
provided a fantastic cesspool of a pond with dead fish lining the shores. Being in the next to least heat on the last
day, the final mud pit had washed off every armpit and shoe soul that had run
the course. It was a safe bet I didn’t
want to wear those clothes any longer than I had to. Sadly, the Stuffitt bag was not large enough
to contain the fish bait tainted clothes.
I did use a plastic bag in a duffel bag and lined the duffel bag with
Stuffitts she inserts. I tossed that
concoction in my truck and didn’t mess with it until 6 hours later. I’m here to report, my wife didn’t throw up
and I retained consciousness when I opened up the duffel bag. The clothes were still wet, but the bag
smelled of cedar and upon extraction, the shorts, shirt, socks and under armor
shorts smelled no worse than a minor crop dusting
at the office.
It’s safe to say, the Stuffitts I tested out will remain a
permanent fixture in my transition bag for the season. Lord knows how long I leave my crud in there
after race day. The last thing I do is
unpack the filth after a race.
Unfortunately they do take up more real-estate in what
usually is already a jam packed transition bag.
Mine is usually filled to capacity, so I will need to be creative. The nice part is, the shoe inserts are
smaller and with two separate Stuffitts, I can jam them into a bag in any
crevice I can find.
Don’t skip over Stuffitts when you’re looking to cure used
gear funk.
*Writer’s note, Stuffitts donated the shoe inserts and gear
bag for this review and in no way influenced the review for good or bad.
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