waterproof socks

My feet get cold easily. I probably have a medical condition. It's one of the many reasons why I can't imagine moving back to the Midwest, where I grew up. No amount of layers of socks made from cotton, synthetics, wool, baby seal or tauntaun guts (unless said tauntaun is really fresh, like warm saurkraut) can help me. I need an external heat source. The feeling of constantly-numb toes horrifies me so much that I would need to make a heavy investment in foot-warming apparatus before spending any significant amount of time up there again.

The only thing worse than cold feet is cold feet that are also wet. Since most of the cold water on might encounter while riding a bicycle is on the ground, it makes sense that keeping your feet dry would be important. Enter Dexshell socks. There are a few other makers of waterproof socks on the market but these are a little cheaper than the others and I got a pair for Christmas this year. I finally had the opportunity to put them to the test this weekend.

I joined some friends for an urban ramble on a foul Texas "winter" day of overcast skies, drizzily atmostphere, and frigid sub-50 temperatures! OK, it was not that cold, but cool enough to make getting wet miserable. We had planned to ride from a friend's east-side home to a park on the north side from town, then south through the city and back over to the house. I had time to do about half of that and learned that a rigid 29er with fat knobbies is not the worst road bike choice after all.

At one point, we made a point of going off-road, despite the soggy conditions and the fact that none of us was riding a bona fide mountain bike. We abandoned the world of pavement as soon as we could and followed a jeep road for a while, hoping it would eventually lead us back to civilization. Before we made our way back to pavement, we had to traverse a boggy area that resulted in wet shoes all around. Seeing the water, I realized that, given the misery that cold feet gives me, I would probably be scurrying home once I felt the water sloshing around in my shoes. So I took the plunge.

Cold? Yes! But dry. Dexshell socks held up to this first test. I learned that my toe covers and my shoes hold water well, and that cold water surrounding my feet for the next few hours certainly was not fun, but much better than being wet.

We kept riding and at one point I peeled off to head home. I stayed dry for most of the rest of the trip and lost feeling in my toes, as was expected. I learned that wet shoes are still cold shoes, so if you really want to keep feeling your toes, you need more than waterproof socks, but the socks are a good start.

[followed this concrete wall for a part of my journey. good message!]