Mike's Bike Blog

I received my order of free stuff from Fatty the other day. I've already taken the shirt and the water bottle out for a ride. Along with the free stuff I ordered a pair of Fatty's socks. Truth be told I don't think they came from Fatty's sock drawer, but are in fact a clean, unused pair of socks (at least I kept telling myself that as I was putting them on). I wasn't quite sure, you never know what you'll get when ordering off of the Internet. ;) This is the first pair of socks for me that go past my ankles since I was 11 years old. In fact most of my socks are sub ankle socks, they barely cover my heel and in a lot of shoes you can't even tell I'm wearing socks. I think they are made by Champion (purchased at Target).

Now back to the socks. I was a little worried about the fit as the sizing chart recommended a Large/XL but they were sold out. I opted for the medium anyway as the proceeds go to a good cause and I can live with a sock that is too small then I can with one that is too big and bunches up at the toes or heels. They fit good from toe to heal, but they are a little tight around my leg when I pull them up. Like a true Clydesdale cyclist I have big legs. I strapped on my cleats and headed out for my lunch ride. On the docket was Hill Repeats. It was a bit windy and overcast as I headed out on Limecreek Road to the big hill to see how many times I could get up the hill. I was hoping for 4 times.

My first time up was 4:25, a few seconds off from my personal best. This was the first time though that I didn't spin all my gears to get to the top. I wanted to see if I could get all the way without shifting all the way. Which I did. For the 2nd attempt I wanted to keep my heart rate down a bit and not spike into the 170's but down into my climbing repeat range. So on this effort I shifted down early into the hill. This time it took me 5:36 to go up, but my heart rate averaged only 158, so I pulled back too much. The effort did feel good though, it didn't leave me too gassed at the end.However, as I was starting my recovery after getting to the top my back wheel started to wobble. It was the inevitable sign that my tire was going flat. I pulled over and it was in fact going flat. I first thought about quickly changing out the tire, but by that time I'd have to head home. I then just called home for the support vehicle to come pick me up. I was about 10 minutes from home.

I'm a pretty superstitious person when it comes to sports, I think it comes from playing hockey. So this didn't bode well for the new socks. On their maiden voyage I get a flat and to top it off when I got home the left sock band was definetly way too tight cutting off circulation. I ended up pulling them all the way down, but I did wear them the rest of the day. Maybe they make better blogging socks then riding socks. When I do wear them again I can't pull them all the way up. The foot portion of the sock feels nice.

Looking at twinsix.com even the mistress sock would come up over the ankle too much. Thank you Fatty for the free stuff and I can't wait for the 2008 Jerseys to come out.