Velobici Thermal Over Sock

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Velobici Thermal Over Sock

Paul Horta-Hopkins

February 2013

Velobici helping to keep the cycling blues at bay

You know you’ve had a long, cold ride, when you finally peel off your socks and there they are: your toes. Pale, blue, cramped and frozen. “Don’t put us in the shower yet!” they plead, “we’ll only get chilblains and make you wish you stayed indoors.” Well Velobici and their Thermal Over Socks have come to the rescue.

We received the Velobici Thermal Over Socks at the beginning of February, just in time for the temperatures to take a sudden nose dive and remind us what winter is all about. Winters on the South Coast tend to be fairly mild affairs, a little snow or ice, but generally not that cold. Thankfully the temperature dropped below the norm, allowing me to get some proper conditions to test them. Thanks weather!

A weekend of long rides with the Handsling Racing Team and a couple of solo rides, all completed in temperatures that struggled to get above zero degrees centigrade, gave the Velobici Thermal Over Sock plenty of scope to prove their worth.

Velobici Thermal Over Sock

Constructed from a Meryl/Polyester/Lycra mix to create a material they call VB/PRO VR1, the Thermal Over Socks have a nice, soft feel to them. Being a ‘one size fits all’ item, they have plenty of stretch. I’m a Euro size 42 and the fit was fine, a little loose, but not enough to cause any bunching up in the shoe.

As we mentioned in our preview, Velobici are a UK firm that still manufacture all their products in the UK. As well as their retro styled Roadwear collection, they also produce some very nice casual ride clothing, with cycling details.

The Velobici’s are thin so that they can be worn over another sock, relying on the layering principle as well as material choice to keep the cold at bay. I paired them with a pair of De Feet Wooleators, a good pair of all year round sock, even if they are black and so must only be worn under tights on the road!

For their first outing I wanted to see how the Velobici Thermal Over Sock compared against my usual cold weather choice, Sealskinz, which use a three layer mix of synthetics and Merino wool to create a very warm, but bulky sock. The plan was to wear Sealskins on one foot and the Velobici Thermal Over Sock on the other.

Getting the thin Wooleator and Velobici socks into my Specialized BG shoes wasn’t a problem, in fact not as cramped as with the Sealskinz. This hopefully means that being less restricted, my foot would stay a bit warmer. Endura neoprene overshoes on next and time to ride.

With ice in the ditches and a wind blowing out of the North, it was cold. Proper cold. The kind of cold that has you wondering just how many layers you can actually ride in. Three hours later and with my bike computer struggling to get above half a degree centigrade I figured it was job done.

I had expected to feel some cold during the ride, but both socks had done their job. On to the ‘touch’ test, removing both socks and using my hand to feel just how cold my feet were; very scientific! Well the Velobici’s won. Although during the ride I could feel no major difference, to my touch one foot definitely felt colder. On a longer ride this would have been more noticeable; in fact a few days later a four and a half hour ride left the Velobici’s still doing their thing, keeping my extremities toasty. Well done Velobici Thermal Over Socks. Highly recommended.

Velobici

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