 Here we go. First impressions of the Soccany Mad River TR. Frankly, my first trail shoe ever from Soccany. Usually I'm more on the roadside when it comes to Soccany, but they did not disappoint. And real quick, just so you know, I have not forgotten about the Hoka Mafate 2. I just haven't had a chance, frankly, to get the first impressions out the door. That'll be coming sooner rather than later. Okay, let's dive in. First of all, I don't even know where to begin. All right. First, I just want to mention it's a neutral trail shoe from Soccany. And we're going to go with versatility for the keyword. Why? I just have to mention before I forget, I didn't even realize this when I was lacing up. So today I did 10 miles or 16 kilometers with basically 3,800 feet of vertical climbing up a 14,000 foot mountain in Colorado. And as I was lacing, I didn't even see this extra eyelet chain. And so we're going to talk more about this when we get into the upper, but this eyelet chain that lets you, it's very versatile, and it lets you personalize how you lace up this trail running shoe to fit your midfoot, depending on how you like that lockdown. Very cool design. I love it. I love it. And let's get a few specs out of the way. Here we go. 4 millimeter drop, 23 millimeter stack. I did the heel, 19 in the 4 foot, pretty low on the trail running scale, but I'll talk about how Soccany pulled that off here in a minute. As far as weight goes, we're looking at 9.7 ounces in my size or 276 grams, approximately. So not the heaviest shoe out there on the market for trail shoes. In fact, most of my Solomon's are just a little heavier, but also not as light as, let's say, the Wild Horse 5 from Nike. So yeah, not light, pretty much right down the middle for trail running shoes in my size. And for men size nine, we're looking at 10.9 ounces or 309 grams. For that upper, it's a booty style upper, meaning it's one piece of material from the tongue to the, the sidewalls of the shoe. So it's just one piece of material in there. And if I had to describe the material, I would almost put it in the category, just feeling it with my finger as a, as a wetsuit kind of like it's, it's, I can tell it's going to be very water resistant, but also very, very comfortable. That booty style is just like, I love it. And what I mean, like a lot of shoes are kind of transitioning to this booty style, meaning it's a little more seamless. So there's not as many seams through the inner cavity of this trail shoe. And as I already mentioned, holy guacamole, what are you trying to pull off here, Soccany? Basically there's eyelet chains, there's two of them. So you can decide which one you want to use. There's the inner eyelet chain and the outer eyelet chain. I use the inner one today worked great. But before the 50 mile full review, and you better believe I'm taking this shoe to 50 miles, I will release it up with the outer eyelet chain here on the side. And I've even seen pictures of some folks, mixing it up. So doing alternating between the inner eyelet chain and the outer chain in order to make sure they're really, once again, using the versatility of that eyelet chain to personalize how they're locking down their foot in the shoe. What else as far as the upper? Basically, as I already mentioned, I stayed pretty dry. Just dipping your toes into the creeks, you're going to be fine. I'm going to talk about one drawback here in a minute that I think Soccany could improve on the upper here in a second. But overall, really, really nice work on this upper. I just can't even tell you how comfortable it is. And we're looking at a power foam midsole from Soccany. And I was very concerned when I saw the 23 and 19 stack heights, because that's pretty low, but very responsive, plenty of cushion. And remember, I was going to say, how did they, how did they pull this off, Soccany? I think they put a lot of extra effort, thought and work into making sure the insole is spot on. Nice cushion through this insole, good form to it, helps support the arch a little bit through that, through that insole. And just to make things a little sweeter, they, they drill, they put holes in the insole to help with water draining when you're crossing these creeks. Hence, if you're going to name a shoe the Mad River, you better be allowing the water to drain out of the shoe. So I think that is a pretty innovative idea. I don't think I've ever seen that before. It actually probably helps with breathability as well through that midsole ride. So good work there. And okay, moving on to the outsole, maybe the most exciting part of the Soccany Mad River TR. Where to begin? Okay, basically you have this tread pattern, the lug pattern. And for uphill climbing, you see this green, this, these two green strips of outsole rubber here in the forefoot, they are pointed toward the back for uphill climbing. So you're kind of, it's like, it's like, it's like what a cat licks you. I gotta, I gotta drop that analogy. Basically what I'm trying to say is the outsole pattern is directional in the forefoot pointing to the back of the shoe to help you really grip the dirt going uphill. And then they changed the direction of the grip of the lug pattern in the heel to help you with braking on the descending. I felt like I was in complete control on my run today up on a 14,000 foot mountain uphill and downhill. And I didn't even frankly notice it as I was lacing up that this lug pattern is directional depending on which, which, which way you're going up the mountain. So great work, Soccany on being really innovative with the directional pattern of your outsole. I love it. I think it's really going to help because we, you know, you usually lean toward, okay, I want good grip going uphill, but don't forget you got to go back down. What goes up must come down. And so again, I just felt like I was in complete control. And then the other crazy thing, Soccany literally in the shoe box that arrives with the shoe gives you directions on how to drill holes in the bottom of the shoe. And it has patterns of where to drill once again to help with water draining out of the shoe. I haven't done that yet. We live in a pretty arid climate here in Colorado. So I don't see the need quite yet. I might do it, but basically you can drill holes in the bottom. And they're encouraging that again to help with water draining out of the shoe. And in addition, they also have some spots on the outsole where you can put screws in the bottom for running on ice during the winter time. Soccany, I don't know who's in charge of your outsole department, but you crushed it. I think you just, I'm very excited about this outsole as you can probably tell. And we're going to go for the positive and the drawback. The positive definitely is this outsole, probably most, mostly this, this directional lug pattern to help with breaking just a little bit on the descending. When you're picking up speed, I really like that. And then the only drawback that I have for the shoe, oh yeah, is that I think Soccany you could actually add a little bit, a little bit more over rubber overlay through the toe box, just a little bit. My foot stayed pretty dry, but again it's called the Mad River for a reason. I like that there's breathability there, but I think I would prefer if I'm going to use this shoe for creek crossings and wet conditions that we add even a, maybe another inch of rubber overlay through this toe box, just to help keep even more water out. Again, crossing those creeks up in the high country for the fit went true to size for length, no issues with the fit as far as the length. However, I will say just a little bit wide in the toe box. So if you are, have a four foot that's bigger or wider, this shoe is going to be perfect for you. If you have a really narrow foot, you might be swimming a little bit in the toe box area of the Mad River TR, keep that in mind. And as far as the comfort goes, I don't think I have to say it again, just amazing all around. Okay, I guess I'll say the ride, oh, it was awesome. It was like, it was not complicated. Is that, can I put it that way? It just was a simple, I didn't have to overthink my foot strike or how I was landing on the ground. I just ran. So it was like a nice simple ride, but very comfortable through the ride. So good work Soccany and how will I use the Soccany Mad River TR moving forward? No doubt on undulating hills. Okay, so trails that are not quite as aggressive as what I did today, but I will not be afraid to take this up another 14 or not just for the climbing abilities, but again, for that descending, just this tread pattern. You nailed it again, Soccany, but if you live in an urban environment, you watch the weather forecast, a big storm, a rainstorm is rolling in and you want to mix it up between pavement and dirt. Like you're going out to some trails or a park and then you're coming back, but you know, like, Oh boy, I don't know if I'm going to get this run in before the rain hits. This would be perfect to run through the rain in. Okay, it'll be the water will drain out, no problem at all. And for that price for the Soccany Mad River TR, are you ready for this? Are you? You better sit down. I got it. I'm going to set this down. 110 dollars, 110. What am I missing here? I think that they could charge easily 130, if not 145 for this shoe, at least based off of my first impressions. Build quality seems to be there. We shall see how this outsole holds up. I am bullish on that price at 110 dollars. Great work, Soccany. I don't know how you're doing it, but again, very comfortable. I would pay 130 easily for the Soccany Mad River TR. And my conclusion on performance, I'm going to put this in the top three trail running shoes for me, thus far in 2019. That's saying quite a bit because I've run in a lot of trail shoes this year. I'm putting it in the top three so far for comfort, for ride, for versatility. Remember versatility. So again, Soccany, high five to you. And question of the day, who out there lives in areas that get a lot of rain, or you live in an area that has a lot of creek crossings? You just have to deal with water all the time. Maybe it's Alaska. Maybe it's the Philippines. Maybe it's Norway. Maybe like in Colorado, we actually don't have to deal with wet conditions that often. So this shoe doesn't match my landscape or my environment quite as well as some of you folks out there. And yes, it is available down below from Running Warehouse. Again, I'm bullish, I'm bullish, I'm bullish. But that's the question of the day. Hit it up down below. This is the time to shower. Maybe you live, gosh, maybe you live by the beach and you run on the beach a lot. This could work. This could work. I just thought of that. Interesting. Anyway, all right. That is it for today's second video. Again, stay tuned for the Hoka Mafate 2 very soon. And that is all I'm going to wrap it. I got to go get water. It is hot in the studio today. All right. See beauty, work hard, and love each other. Thanks for being here. See you tomorrow.