Not Your Grandmother’s Wool—Smart Wool Socks Perfect for Cooler Riding Conditions

I promised myself this fall and winter would be different; I’d stop thinking of excuses to not ride and just start riding. So I piled up on winterwear: under-helmet beanie, tights, long-fingered gloves, and of course, warm socks.

As a winter sports enthusiast, I own plenty of wool socks of differing thicknesses. The problem is, when I slip my wool-covered feet into my Sidi Dominators, my feet feel restricted and confined by the lack of flexibility of most wool socks. This, coupled with the cold weather, numbs rather than warms my little piggies.

Enter Smart Wool Womens PhD Cycling Light Mini socks. These socks breathe, flex, and feel like cotton. They lack the mild abrasiveness of most wool socks. They kept my feet warm through biting forty-degree weather and twenty-mile-an-hour winds. I wore them biking on my home turf, Denver’s Front Range, and even took them on vacation to two of mountain biking Meccas, Moab and nearby Fruita, where they performed beautifully.

One caveat: I wore these socks trail running and because trail runners are bigger than regular sneakers, the socks had room to bunch up. Wear them for cycling or everyday use, but break out thicker socks for hiking or trail running.

Smart Wool: one less excuse to not ride.