Start Measuring
Firstly, all you kids, kindly get off my lawn. Especially you kids who wear too tall black socks with white cycling shoes. Get off my lawn and stop racing in my favorite bike races. There’s no call for that. Why should my Milan-Sanremo enjoyment be ruined by this? It’s a sunny day, no snow, no rain, white socks not good enough, eh? Riding along the Ligurian coast from Milan to Sanremo without two seconds consideration about sock selection, eh? Just thinking about Sock Height not good enough, EH?
Winnipegcyclechick’s stellar treatise on sock height should be required reading for everyone, even non-cyclists. People should have this knowledge. Mongols on the Steppes; Тийм ээ, тийм, би энэ оймс өндөр мэднэ.*
While we have lost the battle on sock color the final battles on height continues. We can use the VSP generator between VSP runs to work on other important 1st world problems. To this end, straight outta the Velominati bunker we have this: the sock height calculator.
S = A/π – √B ± (B/A) / (1/CS¹)
Where:
The term CS¹ has become most controversial in peer review but most agree a correction factor should be available for individual taste.
*In English: Yes, Yes, I know of this sock height.
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If we're going all science on this mofo:
inner ankle protruberance = medial malleolus
top of inner tibia = medial condyle
bottom of calf = distal gastrocnemius
Ever since my ruptured Achilles and consequential muscle loss on the right, my calves are still different (since 2011) - so do I need to wear socks of different heights?
If I'm reading this correctly, having great shame actually leads to *higher* sock heights. Surely that can't be right.
It's important to note that there are sock merchants who only sell socks within the proper length range, 10-12cm. People like alpine.cc, or handlebar mustache, etc. sell socks for every whimsy, but all the proper length. Knee socks are for ladies of the night, and ankle socks are for long distance runners.
@Teocalli
Yes, two different lengths.
@Owen
Oh yes, calf shaming. it's a problem. People, ahem..., try to compensate for their lack of calf by overcompensating with too tall socks. Twiggo, for starters.
Would I make this up? Who would go to this kind of trouble to fabricate all this. That person would have to be insane, FFS!
Seriously? too much work just trying to punch in those variable in..i'm just gonna wear whatever socks i can get my hands on..can't give two s*** about what others think.
@Owen
And, chapeau sir for actually reading the post down far enough to correctly get that. You are bucking a trend.
@Rusty Gramm
Ankle socks are not just for runners. Do you ankles get cold in the summer? FFS
It's much easier than all this.
Golden Ratio, Fibonacci Sequence, whatever you want to call it.
Top of the sock should be 38.196% of the distance from the bottom of your heel to the center of your knee, leaving 61.8033% exposed.
This all goes to maximizing the V (naturally). Don't believe me? Go compare this to riders in your favorite reference photos.
See? It's like science n shit.