Doh!

https://www.cuore.ch/shop/us/en/TEAM-USA-ACCESSOIRES-UNISEX-CYCLING-AERO-SOCKS-LONG.html

late reply to this but if you look at USAC rules, trip socks would not be allowed, unless maybe they are full socks. thinking of nopinz here, those would not be allowed if called out on it.

 It is forbidden to wear non-essential items of clothing or items designed to influence the performances of a rider such as reducing air resistance or modifying the body of the rider

But if that's the case, Wiggo's socks shouldn't have passed either. I agree passing off nopinz specific trip socks (or just the aerocoach strips) would be tough, but so long as the socks don't come up past mid calf...

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right, is it okay if they are full socks, not just sleeves. looks like wiggens were actual full socks, though one can really see how far they go . integrated things seem to pass whereas non-integrated things do not(UCI: wheel cover....)

on the tunnel post, rockdude took first at VOS TT in his age group using the sleeves. seems a clear violation to me, but I could be misinterpreting the rules. I wondered how these things perform, but if one cant use them, then there is no point in wondering

I think in a race where a good number of your competitors are going to be doing something illegal (how many people in that VOS TT fit in a Jig? Had legal forks/seatposts? 3:1 bars? Were riding Tri bikes?) you are pretty safe. Hell most people wouldn't even know what trip socks were. I'm not sure at what point you would have to start worrying about it.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

for me it is more a matter of knowing I am violating the rules.

I am guessing the masters were not UCI so 3:1 stuff doesn't apply, just USAC which says no aero enhancers

I know what you are saying, it's just a matter of where do you draw the line? If you follow the rule by the T you could argue a lot of things we wear are only for aero enhancement. Are socks with trips ok? Not sleeves... or are sleeves ok as long as they aren't compression? Are skinsuits (like the new nopinz/bioracer) with trips ok?

I (and many more before me that it was much more pertinent to) just have a hard time finding the defined line.

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agreed

but if you get protested, what happens?

I think it goes back to, is it integrated or stand alone for one purpose only? large part of problem here is the "I think" just as you said. I don't know

I guess soon all TTers will look like triathletes with compression socks. oh the humanity. every year we look just a little more silly, but only to ourselves as general population wont notice any difference :)

I'm not sure what happens if you get protested. My only experience with someone protesting was in a juniors race where the winner got DQ'd for having too big of a gear after another racers dad protested. That's not exactly apples to apples though.

My guess is probably nothing (or at most a slap on the wrist) up to the nats level. Plenty of State TT racers (in TN at least) last year were riding Shiv Tri's and Felt IA's and nobody batted an eye, and I would assume that were more of an issue than having trips. But again, who knows.

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apples oranges. nothing in USAC stops shiv tris(other than common sense that they are not fast) there are no usac 3:1 rules, just equal size wheels so all those shiv tris and IAs are legal in USAC TTs. trip socks, however, seem/appear to be/maybe violate actual USAC rules. they enforce USAC rules at USAC events, at least some here in WI. ie no restarts in a TT. I flatted 3 mi in. went beck changed wheel, they let me restart but gave time from original start, ie 25 min slower than actual riding time without telling me in advance(I should have known the rules,it sucked to go from 1st to last but so be it). I think if someone called out someone here in WI for wearing them, the head ref would DQ them. she does not delve into gray areas.

i dunno then :( We are (hah obviously) out of my wheelhouse.

Would be nice if they made things a little clearer, we can dream I suppose.
I was always under the impression that USAC just took UCI rules regarding equipment and went with it (on a paper at least) level. I guess that's what I get for assuming though.

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they used to, on occasion, for master nats, or elite and junior nats. just not for weekend warrior events.

only thing listed for master nats this year is double diamond and equal size wheels