SOCKS make you faster?

So as you have read, Kyle, came up last week for a visit and we rode a ton. And after every ride we would get back to the car/house and he would put on these really odd looking socks....and of course i made fun of him. That's what i do. He was convinced that these "magic socks" made him faster and helped him recover quicker from that days effort. Right, OK....your a moron.

(these are my stems, not Kyle's...that would be weird)

In his defense though, if you've done any sort of endurance sports in the last few years you might have seen people wearing these socks in competition, they basically look like old school basketball socks that come up to your knee...Dr. J style(not my wife, but the all time NBA points leader). I've seen them at Ironman, short distance tri's, marathons and evidently Lance Armstrong has been spotted wearing them between stages of the Tour.....so you know they must work cause that dude is old and he made hammer on those young dudes in the tour, except for the Pisterelo, but that's another story. All that to say, "Kyle, Dr. J....I stand corrected....your socks are magic and I will sing their praises."

So....knowing that Kyle is a LEGIT rider and has somewhat of a brain in that head of his.....I picked up a pair of these magic socks at my LBS and decided to give them a shot. I remembered to bring them just to test them out after our "leg burning" ride yesterday and continued wearing them on into the night, basically i didn't know how long you were supposed to wear them, so i went for the longest possible time frame i could. Then today i went out for the weekly ride at Donaldson and to my dismay...nothing. It was like i didn't even ride yesterday. My legs felt amazing, no deep burning, no twinging...they just felt light and sprightly(ya that's a word). Maybe it's all the superior training! or the Muscle Milk(they didn't have basic choco milk, i know, crazy) i had after the ride...but I felt great. Now I'm not normally one to drink the cool-aid so quickly so I'm gonna continue to give these babies test after test, but first impressions are the ones that count, and so far...I like.

Instead of me trying to explain all the "hows and whys" ill just post a few links from smarter people than me....here.....here...and...here. I can tell you one thing though...in two weeks when I'm driving to Leadville, i will be wearing these socks the whole way there, and everyday prior to the event. Grab a pair and test them for yourself....you might be surprised.