Categories: Accessories and GearRiding Ugly

There Ought to be a Rule…

Keep this on the massage table

We all know where I stand in the cycling sock department, white and not too tall, any color sock as long as it’s white. If you have diminished calves and need to somehow hide that by wearing too tall socks, that is sad but not a crime. I always thought I was less flexible on color than height. Today I’ve changed my mind.

I was in the car when I saw a cyclist in a long sleeve, all white Rock Racing kit. Rock Racing, interesting choice, not a team I would want make believe I rode for but it was tidy. This was matched with a white helmet and white shoes and for an elitist snob like myself it was all fine. It would have been all fine barring the white knee length compression stockings! I don’t even know what compression stockings are or what they supposedly do but for his sake they had better not be just white knee length cycling socks. He had better have a severe medical condition to justify that look.

Doctor: You have a condition known as “Catholic School Girl”. If you don’t wear white knee socks your legs will fall off or you will become wildly promiscuous, but in your case most likely the first.

How can one misstep so quickly change everything? I’ve seen other cyclist in high compression socks but matching them to an all white kit is somehow saying, yes, I still have it going on here, I look Pro. FFS, I now regret not turning the car around so I could have pulled along side and asked what he thought he was doing. Or at least taken a photo for this article. Or issued a V-ticket for visual effrontery. Or nudged him off the road into a ditch.

There ought to be a Rule! Rule #28 needs an addendum with this compression thing out there. Eddy had no idea this was coming. If the Velominati are to keep ahead of these trends we better get on this now, before it is too late.

Gianni

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Gianni says:

Mar 12 2015 at 1:41 pm

@Geoff Mochrie

many people have to wear compression socks as treatment for varicose veins . So what’s your view about that then

Good on them. I just think it looks shiet when riding a bike. Wear them 22 hours a day, just not the 2 when cycling. I have some bitchin' varicose veins and have never thought twice about them. Maybe I should be wearing compression socks.
Gianni says:

Mar 12 2015 at 1:51 pm

@MangoDave

@Steampunk

Compression socks are for long haul flights. Period. Maybe post-ride, but then don’t wear them with shorts. And you’d better have just completed double digit hill repeats on the Stelvio.

@all – I highly recommend doing this for long flights. I never thought about wearing stupid compression socks until I ended up with a DVT and pulminary embolism after a 7 hour overnight flight a few years ago. Now I’m on blood thinners for life, which sucks ass, especially since I have to worry more about the consequences of crashing. There was a medical study a while ago that suggests well-trained endurance athletes are more susceptible to DVTs than the general public, presumably because of slowed heart rate and blood pooling while resting.

That said, there’s no way in hell I’d be wearing them on a ride. I can barely stand the look of the taller socks that are in fashion in the pro peloton these days.

Our posts just crossed in the ether. I have a friend that had the DVT and is wearing his compression socks all the damn time. Luckily he lives in Wyoming so rarely gets to wear shorts and he only ride MTB so who gives a fuck what he looks like. He does look like hell on a mountain bike too, the compression socks barely make a dent in his shabby chic look.
Teocalli says:

Mar 12 2015 at 1:57 pm

@ChrisO - has your physio got you using a wobble cushion? If you don't know what they are just type it into Amazon. Not expensive but great for a balance workout. I used one after my achilles rupture. I still use it now and again. Surprising how a few minutes one legged on one of them works over your calf and improves your balance after a while.
El Mateo says:

Mar 12 2015 at 2:28 pm

This article echos my sentiments exactly. At the 2 races i've attended this year i have seen far too many CSG's (Catholic School Girls). These guys & gals were not newbies either. Don't get it and don't want to. The only way to nip this is to shame those that have clearly lost their way.
wiscot says:

Mar 12 2015 at 2:39 pm

@wilburrox

I happen to like black sox too. White and black. But that’s not why I’m posting this am. Sorry if I’m hijacking a good thread.

The CIRC report. Is it even worth discussing? Does anyone really give a rat’s a** about this? I was reading a Velosnooze article this am and they quoted one pro, “it was just all political bullshit, anyway”. Amen to that. I can’t help but think that “doping”, “PEDs” or whatever we want to call it, is so much more prevalent in HS and college sports and BIG money football and baseball, etc that cycling is WAY overdoing the falling on the sword kinda sentiment.And this business now of thinking that maybe the athletes need to be available for testing in the wee hours? WTF… 24/7 365 if you wanna make a living in this sport. And for what?? For 99.9% of participants the financial part of the equation is not gonna have ‘em retiring comfortably early. I swear, if the folks responsible for this part of the business would just quietly go about doing what they do, and getting better about it, progress will continue to be made and attn can be focused on the events, the competition and the cyclists. I don’t know, maybe all this introspection and political BS is necessary part of getting better? But if so, let’s say it WAS necessary and now it’s time to move on… just a thought, cheers all.

I hear ya. I was pissed off at the report too - it even made the BBC world news on PBS. Yet again, cycling, which as a sport is, I believe, doing WAY more than most sports to clean itself up and institute good testing. Meanwhile most major US sports (or to be precise, the NBA, NFL and MLB, would shit their pants if a biological passport was introduced or the regular testing that cyclists get was imposed. So McQuaid and Verbruggen didn't know? Yeah sure, and Bud Selig had no idea McGwire and Sosa and Bonds were juiced to the eyeballs. But, just as Armstrong was the feel-good vehicle for the sport to redeem itself after Festina, Sosa and McGwire helped baseball after the strike.

As for amateur doping? That's beyond pathetic.Doping to win a Cat 3 or 2 race? A masters event? Fuck you if you do that. Back in my racing days (the 80s in Scotland) I suspect the worst doping was the unauthorized use of an asthma inhaler. Beyond that, I believe it was clean. If you won a TT even from a full field of 120 riders, the prize money for first place might get you the equivalent of $50 if you were lucky. Most of the time, your winnings might cover your gas.
piwakawaka says:

Mar 12 2015 at 3:04 pm

@Teocalli

@ChrisO – has your physio got you using a wobble cushion? If you don’t know what they are just type it into Amazon. Not expensive but great for a balance workout. I used one after my achilles rupture. I still use it now and again. Surprising how a few minutes one legged on one of them works over your calf and improves your balance after a while.

First you take him riding, we know how that ended, now you want to throw him on a wobble board, vendetta maybe?
piwakawaka says:

Mar 12 2015 at 3:06 pm

@wiscot

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/09/doping-cycling-uci-commission-epo-worldtour

FFS!!
Chris says:

Mar 12 2015 at 5:31 pm

@brett

@ChrisO

@Chris

Sounds like you are both ready for Keepers Tour then…

You would have thought so, but midway through the second set of over/unders tonight my legs said "shut up @Chris" and promptly fell off.
wilburrox says:

Mar 12 2015 at 7:27 pm

@wiscot

@wilburrox

I happen to like black sox too. White and black. But that’s not why I’m posting this am. Sorry if I’m hijacking a good thread.

The CIRC report. Is it even worth discussing? Does anyone really give a rat’s a** about this? I was reading a Velosnooze article this am and they quoted one pro, “it was just all political bullshit, anyway”. Amen to that. I can’t help but think that “doping”, “PEDs” or whatever we want to call it, is so much more prevalent in HS and college sports and BIG money football and baseball, etc that cycling is WAY overdoing the falling on the sword kinda sentiment.And this business now of thinking that maybe the athletes need to be available for testing in the wee hours? WTF… 24/7 365 if you wanna make a living in this sport. And for what?? For 99.9% of participants the financial part of the equation is not gonna have ‘em retiring comfortably early. I swear, if the folks responsible for this part of the business would just quietly go about doing what they do, and getting better about it, progress will continue to be made and attn can be focused on the events, the competition and the cyclists. I don’t know, maybe all this introspection and political BS is necessary part of getting better? But if so, let’s say it WAS necessary and now it’s time to move on… just a thought, cheers all.

I hear ya. I was pissed off at the report too – it even made the BBC world news on PBS. Yet again, cycling, which as a sport is, I believe, doing WAY more than most sports to clean itself up and institute good testing. Meanwhile most major US sports (or to be precise, the NBA, NFL and MLB, would shit their pants if a biological passport was introduced or the regular testing that cyclists get was imposed. So McQuaid and Verbruggen didn’t know? Yeah sure, and Bud Selig had no idea McGwire and Sosa and Bonds were juiced to the eyeballs. But, just as Armstrong was the feel-good vehicle for the sport to redeem itself after Festina, Sosa and McGwire helped baseball after the strike.

As for amateur doping? That’s beyond pathetic.Doping to win a Cat 3 or 2 race? A masters event? Fuck you if you do that. Back in my racing days (the 80s in Scotland) I suspect the worst doping was the unauthorized use of an asthma inhaler. Beyond that, I believe it was clean. If you won a TT even from a full field of 120 riders, the prize money for first place might get you the equivalent of $50 if you were lucky. Most of the time, your winnings might cover your gas.

The amateur and master side of equation... pretty clearly just about everyone thinks WTF if someone's doping simply to win bikes races. That's a no brainer for sure. And @ChrisO makes good point: cats coming up thru the ranks distorting results via pharmacological tech and then falling aside when no longer as readily available w/o getting busted? That's bad juju.

But here's what's gonna happen: medical/pharmaceutical science and understanding of aging will progress faster than doping policy. So, better quality of life and longer healthier life expectancy will be available via Dr's scripts. Folks will be "doping" no more to win bike races then they eat cereal for breakfast on Sat mornings so they can watch cartoons. They'll be "doping" because they want to liver longer healthier lives. And they'll want to compete in sports because they are living long healthy lives.

I can't help but think that you are right on the money when it comes to baseball. And add Cal Ripken's ironman run to the Sosa- McGwire HR derby fest as an element of revitalizing the game post strike.
ChrisO says:

Mar 12 2015 at 8:42 pm

@Teocalli

Yep, a balance trainer, same principle. Plus some simultaneous arm-leg extensions while balancing on one leg.

Along with the swimming and gym work I've been doing, even on the treadmill, maybe I should take up triathlon - they never fall off do they?