maybe check out baseball socks. it's just a personal project, but i noticed this summer when i had to deal with my son's uniform socks that they're pure wool - and i can attest that they don't shrink or run even when you wash them in the kind of cycle they need after a double-header inside a teenager's cleats in a heat wave. knee length too, and thin enough to be comfortable . . . i've never had to buy him a pair, but i seem to remember the last time i looked they weren't very expensive at all. i'm already a fan of filching his batting gloves to cycle in,

i dunno; never had a road bike. but in winter i think speed drops to the back of many people's priority lists. personally, if i'm going to wipe out in freezing cold winter rain, i'd rather not do it at road-bike speeds, but i'm a chicken.

whooo. i relate to the challenge aspect of it. i started doing this commute at the beginning of september, because i have a finite contract duration and darn it, i wanted something worthwhile for the time. it was also sort of fun to say 'let's see how different this ride will feel after 4 and a half months.' i went around assuring people i had no intention of riding when the weather turned mean, but it's mean now by our standards and weather's been about the only thing that never has made me turn back at the door. now it's so exciting to discover how possible it all feels, i can't imagine not at least trying to ride every day. i really think that if the weather is ever so bad i don't want to bike through it, it'll be the kind of day when it's too bad to go to work at all. i'll just stay home and bake cinnamon buns.