Leah was shopping for some crazy mountain bike socks for my Christmas present (I like to wear them with casual clothing) but had a hard time finding socks that were crazy enough. She tried REI and when she asked the guy where the “crazy” bike socks were he told her, “This is a family store, we don’t really carry that kind of stuff” (no embellishment required, that’s verbatim what he said).
She also went to Performance and all the socks they had were mostly black, white, and grey. She was able to snag a couple pairs of solid colored Performance brand socks (red and blue) but was otherwise disappointed. All this makes me wonder: Did something happen to Sock Guy? Is he recovering from a serious cycling-related injury? Are his sock-making elves on strike?
An alternative explanation is, of course, that I am horribly out of touch with the current style in bicycle-related clothing. I mean, is it possible the socks I have with chickens on them that say ‘Ya Chicken!’ on the bottoms are no longer de rigeur? Is neon-orange passe? Personally I’m disappointed. Mountain bikers are not known to be conformists in their recreation choices so it’s unfair to expect them to make conservative footwear fashion choices. I say bring back the Sock Guy and his flair for the unconventional – I have an idea for some aligator themed socks I’m dying to tell him about…
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