"You know, you dress like superheroes. Nice costumes."

As bobsledders we wear special suits made of lycra or spandex that is worn more for aerodynamics than comfort. Far from warm, these "skinsuits" are extremely flexible and allow us the freedom to sprint and load into the sled with ease.

Since they are so cold, we wear our coats and tear-away (pants with snaps up the sides) around the track until we get to the starting line. Once there we'll remove our coats, pants and our bobsled shoe covers. This allows us to remain warm and our muscles loose until the last possible minute.

While most teams have specific race day speedsuits, some athletes have old training suits that can be beat up. We might buy these from other slidders or even others sports, including from speedskaters, skeleton athletes or even some skiing events. A popular trend nowdays is to purchase FastSkins from Speedo, the same suits worn by Olympic swimmers including Michael Phelps.

So bobsled suits, or skinsuits, are comfortable and work well aerodynamically, but they're not something you'd wear for a night on the town.