Fit-Gear: Orange Mud Transition & Seat Wrap Review

It zips, it clips, it's ingenious...it's the Transition & Seat Wrap

Genius, Orange Mud, Genius. You've made changing after a race loads easier by creating the Transition & Seat Wrap. No wardrobe malfunctions a la Janet Jackson. No slipping towels especially when you're bare under there. No waiting until you get home--even when it's 2.5 hours away--to swap out those damp, sweaty and stinky clothes.

And for anyone who cringes at the sight of damp car upholstery--aka, my mom--you'll appreciate the Seat Wrap component to Orange Mud's dual-purpose towel. It's large enough to completely cover the seat, and one end zips together to create a hood that slips over the seat back to prevent it from sliding when you sit down, a common problem of a basic towel. My mom can attest to that one: She'd have the car equipped with four dry towels, two each for my sister and I, so we'd have one to sit on and one to lean our backs against. I haven't told her about this towel yet, but I can already see her smiling. It's like the Orange Mud developer read her neat-freak brain.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Seat Wrap idea, too. But these days I'm rarely wearing my swimsuit home from the pool or beach, and if I am, I'm walking or riding my bike. I'm just digging the Transition component to the towel more. For a girl who lost her perfection at deck changes 15 years ago (dang, I'm getting old!), this is a welcome addition to my race-day backpack.


I once had the deck change after a swim meet perfected. It may have taken six years to get it right, but by the time I swam my last relay, which was also the last event of the evening, I could get out of my swimsuit and into my warm-ups in less than five minutes, without using the locker room, and without making it obvious that I was changing on the pool deck (we all did). But if I had to perform a change like that today, my towel would be falling down, I'd be taking forever and most likely flashing body parts, and I'm sure someone would recognize that I was, in fact, failing at a deck change.

The key to a perfect post-exercise change is a towel that's securely wrapped around the body. Orange Mud's towel stays put with a built-in belt clip that's adjustable and easy to secure. Far better than the wrap and tuck and hope it doesn't unfurl halfway through dressing. Plus this towel is long enough and wide enough to cover everything you don't want seen even when you're changing in the transition area or outside your car.

While I may have been hooked on the Snuggie as a warm pre-race get-up, I can probably get far more use out of the Orange Mud wrap. At the races, at the trailhead, in the parking lot. It can dry you off, cover the car upholstery, act as a blanket on the long mornings when your wave is one of the last to start, provide some privacy when you don't have time to wait in a port-a-pottie line (gross, yes), or be worn as a skirt or kilt if your bar nights involve wearing costumes. Hey, that last one was Orange Mud's suggestion, but it's a funny one.

To see how the Transition & Seat Wrap works or to order one for yourself, check out orangemud.com. And poke around at some of their other products like the running hydration packs, which look pretty cool judging from the pictures alone.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the Transition & Seat Wrap for free from Orange Mud as coordinated by Deep Creek Public Relations in consideration for review publication.