My wife and I have been on the lookout for wetsuits here in Ottawa for some time. We started seriously looking about 2 months ago, and weren’t really able to come up with too many options. Pretty much everyone carries the same brand: Orca. I tried on three different Orcas and really wasn’t too happy with the fit of them – the ones that fit my legs didn’t fit my torso and the ones that fit my torso didn’t fit my legs.

Being in the internet world, I looked to Google for help. The problem was that all the sites that turn up when searching for wetsuits in Ottawa are for diving/scuba shops. Searching for triathlon wetsuits in Ottawa gives you a great resource that helps you determine if you need a wetsuit, but doesn’t help you see which stores carry which brands. Basically, searching was useless, and I needed another way to find a wetsuit. Going to the websites of all the stores that I know proved to be useless as well – nobody updates their sites, or if they do, they don’t have the details of what wetsuits and in which sizes they are available.

Enter Lake Placid – we’ve been training there quite a bit, and given that it is a very triathlon friendly town, it took nothing to find the right wetsuit: a 2XU (pronounced “two times you”). Their brilliance is simple: 2XU makes a wet suit in a size called “medium solid,” which is, as you might expect, for someone that isn’t that tall, but is of fairly solid build. That’s me.

I searched all over for a 2XU dealer here in Ottawa – couldn’t find one, and after inquiring/visiting about 5 stores, I found a shop in Kingston that carries them. In the end – I bought one in Lake Placid, as did Kathryn. They both fit perfectly (though Kathryn isn’t wearing a men’s medium solid).

Lesson learned here: can someone in Ottawa please become a 2XU dealer? and seriously, stores here in Ottawa, get your sites up to date as well… For many people these days, the internet is their first source for this basic type of research.