woodcraft

Does anyone else find the pic with the different sock heights

painful to look at?

That is a kinetic chain that could use some help- maybe going barefoot.

WalksOn2Wheels

Sweet lord, yes. Are they riding horses or bikes?

Corbin

I'm now more concerned about how his knee is bowing. Looks painful.

10 Wheels

Take your pic....

DrIsotope

TIL: I'm a tennis player/gymnast. I buy my Swiftwick socks at the LBS, and that's the length they have them in.

texaspandj

My Eyes, My Eyes!!!

Rollfast

Then there are thorns, the surprise PACKAGE the neighbors pet left you that you didn't see at 6 am, the state health bureau and stores that forbid you in (but ladies can dance without shoes at the bar)...


Did I mention stickerweed thorns get everywhere in the house, even the cat brings them in, and every 3-4 years the ones Hitler and Goebbels developed at the local college extension building show up--like Passion Of The Christ type stuff?


This is a desert we stole from the mastodon fossils, built a dam and grew just the wrong varieties of grass in our yards and now when it's not cold enough and doesn't snow much the grass can't take back it's territory well and the price of water is going up so some of us killed the tiny lawns we had off to help our landlords...


Lord help us all it the fault next to the dam ever manages to start slipping again, although the 'hotspot' is gone and buttes are all we have left of them. At least the poor guy that fell in the concrete would finally be free.


Don't wear pointy, high heeled shoes and size your foot correctly, then don't buy cheap, foreign made shoes from that one country that wear out/turn over from your pronounced pronation that you got before the diabetes finished it off.


Simplemente.


There is no sand, and if you drop a glass or some Pyrex and don't get every shard up so that you cut yourself or it gets imbedded and you get crud and die...oh well.


Broken glass in the streets, don't get me started.


Oh, by the way...I've been told that it's not legal to bicycle barefoot here and with the pedals I use, YIKES.


I bike because running doesn't work out for me, would if there were gunshots, this was not a pretty neighborhood when I moved here 10 years ago and my first rental 32 years ago was down the street, where I once found a loaded handgun in my front yard. Nicer now but occasionally not.


I'm sure than running barefoot in the woods is fine because at least the canopy is nicer than the urban forest's.

Rollfast

Jackson Browne time?

T Stew

Yes, I know better. I suppose I was just trying to be polite about my tangent, and giving some warning.

Good thing I have thick skin (figuratively and literally) on the subject and don't mind getting picked on here. In fact I suppose I volunteered to get picked on, knowing full well just how argumentative folks are especially on the road forum.

I don't know what to tell you man, I'm certainly not trying to convert anyone, go ahead and continue being shod some areas I am sure it is more helpful. If it were me I'd be looking to move, but understand that isn't always an option.

But you (and a couple others here) are practically reading off the ongoing list we have over on the barefoot running forum of the common things shoddies freak out about that aren't a big deal. You do realize I have been at this for years right? I'm not making it up? If it was so terrible and I stepped in dog crap and glass every time I turned around I wouldn't be doing it either. Dog crap for example... I stepped in this way more with shoes than I have barefoot (maybe once barefoot, and that was inside when I'd have been shoeless anyhow), and it's way harder to clean off shoes than a bare foot, especially when you're not at home with supplies. 6AM, maybe you should have been using a flashlight so you could actually see where you step? I have no sympathy for those who step on easily avoidable things, that's called your own dumb fault. A fellow here at work a couple years ago tracked dog ***** all the way in from outside, up to the 4th floor, and across the carpeted office building. It was way gross. He didn't realize he stepped on it. I highly doubt that would have happened if he was barefoot, even if he still stepped in it. Glass is usually easy to spot, especially the newer broken pieces that are usually in a pile, and I hardly ever come across any. I have run right over some on a few occasions though, besides your foot being much tougher old weathered glass is surprisingly dull. Probably the worse I've run over was a piece of barb wire fence on the ground out in the country, went into my heel probably around 1/4" but got me in the thickest part of the heel and didn't even bleed and barely even felt it. But I work downtown, I've been all over the city barefoot. Between the usual 5k, 10ks, 1/2 marathons, and the fall marathon, I cover probably 50+ miles of various city streets streets from downtown to the burbs each and every year barefoot.

Illegal? Another very common misnomer. Where are you located, I can look it up, but I'm pretty sure there is no U.S. states where being barefoot is illegal in public, on a bike, or in a vehicle. But this misconception often goes all the way to the police who don't even know the laws sometimes. Outside of the states, no clue. Even good friends of mine thought driving barefoot was illegal, which is not, and since I got used to it find it much safer as well. State health code is another common line of BS, but I am not sure about every single state, I'd have to double check. In most states the only common barefoot health code issue is with people in the commercial restaurant/food service industry. Of course any business owner can make their own rules for their own property (no shirt no shoes, etc) that is completely up to whomever owns the land. Those rules are pretty old school now though, most came about to keep hippies out of there store, which isn't as much a problem today. I don't like to make a scene, so I always have some minimalist 5mm thick sandals I can roll up in a roll and carry in a pocket to go in somewhere, but I have been into a few businesses barefoot too (fast food, wallmart, ice cream shop, for example).

Yes pointy high heeled shoes ruin feet the worse, but people do not care. Look how popular it is among the female crowd just because it makes their legs look sexier. But almost all shoes are incorrectly shaped regardless of being pointy or blunt. Even the majority of so called barefoot shoes (and other minimalist shoes) aren't properly foot shaped, and still have molded contoured soles that can still effect gait (and anything at all on your sole kills your proprioception).
I have several nicely locally made minimalist shoes, I still only wear these when I absolutely must. I have not purchased a modern shoe in many years, save for the required steel toe boots for work when I am at a powerplant.

texaspandj

So.......that's a No on long socks?

cthenn

Tldr the whole thread, but has anyone yet said because short socks look horrible?! I mean since op said it so matter of factly that long socks were pointless... Short socks look really really bad. Fugly, even.

That's just my opinion, stated in the same manner as the OP.

FullGas

while I would never ride a bike barefoot, there are advantages to not wearing shoes at other times.

stimulating the soles of the feet is good for you.

google 'foot reflexology'....

AlexCyclistRoch

***sigh....***

Yes, Dan; we know......

ltxi

Not if you fall properly. Greasy chain rings can rip right through them.

Sy Reene

So it sounds like a shoe would work, but you just want one with a perfectly flat footbed? Maybe a little cushioning (but flat) in there somewhere? Couldn't you just buy a carbon-soled and oversized shoe, cut out some plywood or steel plate to match your foots outline and stick in the shoe?

And, of course you can leave the shoe permanently clipped onto the bike and just remove your foot. No need to store separately after your ride.

Dreww10

I used to be completely against the idea of wearing anything but no-show socks (wore cotton ones from a department store no less), but then one day, I saw a photo of myself on the bike and I realized how silly I looked. I'm 6'0 tall, but have a 34-35 inch inseam (ie pretty long legs and calves), so I looked like a triathlete, only worse. I was showing a ton of skin. Ended up buying some 7-inch cycling socks, which are longer than most would consider "standard" road cycling sock height, but in the grand scheme of the overall length of my leg, they're just right. So, I would say sock height is partially a matter of how long your legs are. What looks right on a muscular little 5'5 mountain climber with stumpy legs looks terrible on a tall guy like me.

texaspandj

So just aesthetics, and not pointless as the OP suggested.

Dreww10

Oh no, beyond aesthetics, the length is pointless.

gaucho777 

On the 1-6 scale above, either 2 or 3 is acceptable. Anything else is grounds for disdain ATMO.

On the topic of going shoeless, I was in Chicago recently and was surprised--no, disgusted--to see several people walking around downtown in bare feet. I can understand cycling without socks. I even went through a phase when I didn't wear socks. But waking around in bare feet in a busy downtown where people spit and drop gum and god knows what? The worst was a lady whose otherwise clean and clothed appearance gave no signs of insanity. Indeed, it was a weekend afternoon and, like her companion, she was wearing a Cubs jersey and gave the impression that she was on her way to the subway en route to Wrigley Field. Except she had no shoes! Likewise, back home in the Bay Area, I recently was riding on the local BART subway and looked over to notice college-aged woman engrossed in her paperback (fittingly, A Brave New World) when I noticed again bare feet on the train. I truly hope urban shoeless pedestrianism is not becoming a thing.

Hypno Toad

I realized I didn't make my vote on sock height (like it's important or anybody cares). I use all of these lengths of socks. However, 1 is saved for 90F+ days when road riding; and 6 is typically for days between 30F and 50F (& below 30F but with tights over the socks). If you don't like the height of my socks, don't look at my socks...

(Let's face it: long threads about socks are pointless)

texaspandj

hmmm, good pointless point.
Perhaps a degree to match sock height poll is in order.
Below 55°, wearing socks, ankle height of course.

joejack951

How offensive! Tights are like long socks that go all the way up to your crotch, where they meet with the OP panties all bunched up under his bibs.

Hypno Toad

T Stew

Possibly, but any shoe is going to be hotter than just a flat pedal, I've grown quite accustomed to having wind-whipped cool dry feet (well some really hot days they still sweat but still feel cooler with the air flow). I really have no interest in supporting the shoe market either, and your shoe idea is more jury-rigged, expensive, and probably less comfortable than my idea. I also don't like being restricted to an exact position the entire ride. Sometimes on longer rides it's nice to move your butt around on the saddle, hands around the bars, feet are no different around on the pedal. I like to give my calves a little rest now and then by going more heel-centric on the pedals.

Plus I wouldn't be that odd ball barefoot guy that I've grown to enjoy being

I am sorry to hear you get so surprised--no, disgusted, about what someone else wears on their feet. Why do you get so offended what someone else decides to wear, especially if it means dry and healthy feet, not stuck into foot and gait damaging foot coffins that are also the ideal breeding grown for bacteria and fungus? Should I be offended that you aren't wearing gloves, since you're 1,000x more likely to germs via bare hands, even breathing? But I do understand where you are coming from, it's so ingrained into our society now as status symbol of a 1st world country (unfortunately). I get grossed out when I see others bare feet often, not so much habitually barefoot people that actually have strong healthy feet but shod people remove their shoes and release all sorts of aforementioned bacteria and fungus, and reveal deformed twisted toes, hammer toes, bunions, etc, etc all caused by shoes. I may be lucky our downtown sidewalks and streets are pretty clean. I've never been on a subway but I've heard those are pretty filthy, I might cover up there. And I have been accidently spit on in a race once, by a girl running next to me that just turned her head and spit without even looking. Right on my leg. She did a half hearted apology but in the middle of a race I didn't even care. I survived. Do you go to the beach? Or are you a double standard kind of guy where it's perfectly fine to see a bare foot in one setting but in another the sight is horrible?

Corbin

You guys are cute. Not only do I not fully shave my legs. I wear $20 amazon shorts. Have a 24 pound 2016 $1000 bike (9 speed as you could probably figure). I wear a flappy jersey and an intro helmet (i.e. cheap) I also use the all so not pro 28c tires.

It's amazing how much one can judge a person off a post, how much elaboration is done so poorly.


I'm not the fashion police, I'm the logic detective. (though I will freely admit it does look stupid)

Bruised egos may continue posting below.