Categories: IrreverenceKitMusings from the V-Bunker

The Punter

Socks over the booties? Please say it ain't so.

They say you can measure the quality of a man’s character by his ability to admit when he’s wrong. That in itself seems wrong, since it would obviously be better to be right in the first place, but I’m probably missing the point because I’m Dutch and everyone knows Dutch people are 97% more righter 84% of the time than the rest of the world.

I must confess to a certain hubris when it comes to kitting up for a ride; I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve gotten accustomed to making good decisions about what to wear and how to wear it. But today I strayed from the path: my socks were carefully and deliberately pulled out over the tops of my overshoes. Not only is it the most concrete evidence that my socks are too long, it looked like I had two orange gaskets stuck to my ankles. Not to mention that this resulted in only a tiny amount of my shins being exposed between my knee warmers and socks.

Sometimes we must stray from the Path in order to understand where it lies; today I have wandered far indeed but have found my way back. Do not lose faith and always seek to return to the Path.

VLVV.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

osbk67 says:

Dec 2 2015 at 11:08 pm

@Oli

@wiscot

A quick Google image search found that shot straight away, and I have several other pics of him in various magazines/posters wearing proper booties to hand. It seems to me as if he wore Belgian overshoes in essentially dry races and proper booties when it was proper raining, although I’ve got a shot of him here in KAS kit with booties and it looks like the middle of summer! He is wearing armwarmers that look like socks though, so perhaps it’s colder than it looks – the Vuelta in April could be ugly.

I think in those days we all just subscribed to the point of view that cold feet were a very bad thing, but wintergreen and baby oil could take care of the legs. Also, the only knee warmers that were available were surgical bandages, separate leg warmers were non-existent, and full tights were too tricky to deal with in a race…

Surely you had a thick black pair of woollen "Tamahine"? brand made in NZ leg warmers in 1985?
tessar says:

Dec 3 2015 at 1:27 am

@frank

If the story of Goldilocks was based on you, it'd be all wrong. 'Just Right' in sock-length means it near-touches the calf muscle.
Craigyboywonder says:

Dec 3 2015 at 1:29 am

@Mike C

Great point, well put. Capri pants are for soccer mums, not cycling hard nuts.
Craigyboywonder says:

Dec 3 2015 at 1:33 am

@RobSandy

take the insoles out and tape the holes underneath, most shoes seem to be made for Italian summers!

Velotoze are great, but meant only for racing, says on the packaging don't expect them to last. you also have to put them on before you put your shoes on, still don't last that long though.
Oli says:

Dec 3 2015 at 1:58 am

@osbk67

I had a couple of Tamahine jerseys and a pair of their tights, but I seriously don't recall any leg warmers. I dropped entirely away from cycling between late '86 and early '92 - by the time I realised I was mad and regained my cycling life leg and knee warmers were everywhere...
RobSandy says:

Dec 3 2015 at 2:47 am

@Craigyboywonder

@RobSandy

take the insoles out and tape the holes underneath, most shoes seem to be made for Italian summers!

Velotoze are great, but meant only for racing, says on the packaging don’t expect them to last. you also have to put them on before you put your shoes on, still don’t last that long though.

Yep, done that, water gets around the tape. I wonder if another coat of tape is in order.

Also, I was expecting Velotoze to be slightly fragile, but I'd also expected them to last more than one ride.

That goes in the category of 'not fit for purpose' to me.
RobSandy says:

Dec 3 2015 at 2:58 am

@frank

@Ron

I was wondering why my one of my bigger cycling drawers wasn’t didn’t have room for my long sleeve jerseys anymore.

Apparently this is why.

That's amazing. I have 3 pairs of bibs, total, and 1 pair of bib tights.
wiscot says:

Dec 3 2015 at 5:26 am

@Oli

@wiscot

A quick Google image search found that shot straight away, and I have several other pics of him in various magazines/posters wearing proper booties to hand. It seems to me as if he wore Belgian overshoes in essentially dry races and proper booties when it was proper raining, although I’ve got a shot of him here in KAS kit with booties and it looks like the middle of summer! He is wearing armwarmers that look like socks though, so perhaps it’s colder than it looks – the Vuelta in April could be ugly.

I think in those days we all just subscribed to the point of view that cold feet were a very bad thing, but wintergreen and baby oil could take care of the legs. Also, the only knee warmers that were available were surgical bandages, separate leg warmers were non-existent, and full tights were too tricky to deal with in a race…

Agreed on the wintergreen. My pal John's Mum worked in a chemists. She made up her own recipe embrocation for us - baby oil, wintergreen and Merckx knows what else. Worked a treat but rather strong smelling to say the least! Knee warmers were unknown to us but leg warmers were - a common style were basically stretchy, ribbed acrylic jobbies with no grippers. Did the job but looked helloish when used with lycra shorts. I don't think I ever raced in full tights. Overshoes sucked - thin vinyl. Ripped easily and had very little insulation.
wiscot says:

Dec 3 2015 at 5:30 am

@osbk67

Here was I thinking Kelly started early in wool and never wavered…

Photo by E A W Koestal from “Kelly” by David Walsh.

And you didn't want to get wet wearing that shit. Wait, they're in Ireland. Rains all the time. What Kelly is wearing on his lower half, I have no idea. Single chainring up front and full mudguards says "winter ride."
frank says:

Dec 3 2015 at 8:11 am

@tessar

@frank

If the story of Goldilocks was based on you, it’d be all wrong. ‘Just Right’ in sock-length means it near-touches the calf muscle.

Oh for fucks sake, what are you on about?

Who are you, Brad Wiggins? Goldilocks means it comes just over the narrowest part of the ankle.