Review of Rocket Science Elite Transition Bag

The photos below show the empty Rocket Science Transition Backpack, I think it is referred to as the Elite Bag. It is made of very light but extremely durable material. After a full season of use, it still looks brand new. Any dirt is easily brushed off and it doesn't even smell.

Now I have taken (an out of focus) photo of all the gear I take to a Sprint Triathlon. In hindsight I should done this when packing for the Half Ironman in Geelong (a lot more stuff), but you should still get the general idea.

So above we have runners, cycling shoes, thongs, wetsuit, helmet, sunnies, watch and HR monitor, towel, goggles, backup goggles, anti chafing cream, papaw cream and hair conditioner. The last two items are to assist getting the wetsuit off, which I'll discuss more if I ever get around to reviewing my wetsuit (love my wetsuit).  I don't take any nutrition with me to a Sprint Distance race. I find simple sports drink (usually Powerade) in my drink bottle on the bike is fine for a race that lasts just over an hour.

One half of the bag is devoted to storing your cycling shoes and runners. These are typically going to be the smelliest items (and runners are prone to getting dirty), so it is a good idea to isolate these away from everything else. As you can see in the photo below, I also put the anti chafing cream in with the shoes. There is plenty of room for heaps of other stuff in these compartments (the thongs are actually under the runners), but naturally you need to decide what you're happy to have stored with your shoes.

The other side of the bag has several layers of compartments. In the photo below you can see I have unzipped two mesh separators and also opened the wet item container.  The wet bag is fully waterproof and also contains any bad odours. I use this to carry my wetsuit, 2 pairs of goggles, papaw cream and hair conditioner. After the race, I can also add any dirty clothes to this bag as well

The wet bag is fully waterproof and also contains any bad odours. I use this to carry my wetsuit, 2 pairs of goggles, papaw cream and hair conditioner. After the race, I can also add any dirty clothes to this bag as well. And it is very easy to turn this bag inside out and for easier cleaning.

Below you can see the wet compartment with all my swimming gear just before a zip it up.

There is also room underneath the wet bag. The photo below shows the wet bag folded out with my towel sitting in the space below. If you look closely, you'll see 3 press studs that connect the wet bag. After the race, I detach it and only carry the wet bag into transition to collect all my stuff. The goggles, dirty towel and wetsuit all get shoved into the bag.

After folding the wet bag back inside and then zipping up the mesh divider, we come to the next section. In the photo below you can see special pouches for my sunnies and watch & HR monitor.

When I do Duathlons in Winter, I also put extra warm clothes into this layer (ie. cycling top, vest, arm warmers, gloves, etc) in case the weather is cold and/or wet for the race. However in this case, the overnight forecast was 20 degrees (68 farenheit), so warm clothes were not going to be needed (in hindsight I should have packed a hat).

The next photo shows this layer now zipped up and it is easy to see the two halves of the bag. Sometimes I'll even store stuff in this in-between section for easy access.

Once we zip the two halves together, we have a back pack. Despite it looking quite big, I still find it quite light even when fully packed.

We drive to most races and after parking I put this on my back and walk my bike to the race  venue.

The bag also has helmet and water bottle compartments demonstrated in the photos below. However my aero helmet is quite big and I typically just the wear the helmet and I usually put the water bottles on my bike as soon as I get it out of the car (so I won't forget later on). If we've parked a long way away, I'll ride to the race venue with the bag on my back. Although I typically hate riding with a back pack, this one sits snug and firm and is no problem, although my opinion may differ if I ride with it for over an hour.

In general I love this bag. In fact it was the purchase of a different Rocket Science Transition Bag for Elaine (the Messenger Bag version that I may get around to reviewing) that first brought the Rocket Science brand to our attention. Previously I would take 4 or 5 different bags as I wanted to keep everything separate, but this approach made it very different to transport stuff from the car - which probably explains why I have historically turned up to races very early to get a good parking spot.  Now everything fits neatly into one bag which is very easy to carry, plus I still get to keep everything separate as well - a perfect solution.

There are numerous other pockets on the outside to store all sorts of things, a mobile phone holder on the backpack straps, an MP3 player pocket with special ear phone cable hole. But to be honest I rarely use any of these extra features - it generally gets used as described above.