6th April: Guides and Projects

Noodles > Guides: The weather has been pretty bad around here of late, so the Guides have be sloshing through puddles and generally getting abused one way or another.
What I found interesting was that in the rain the shoe sticks to painted lines in the road or on the sidewalk without too much trouble... but on say a marble tiled floor or just a tiled floor they don't grip at all! How do I know? Running for the metro I was a little too slow and the doors closed, so I had to stop... which ended up being a slide into the side of the train.

So once I picked myself up I ran up and down the platform skidding away like a five year old, then when I got close to home I did the same thing, ran down the street and then went into a skid, or should I call it a face plant? In the rain the shoes when I stopped very quickly didn't slide they stuck to the sidewalk and pitched me over. Intrigued by this I dropped Isaac a quick message to give him the heads up and he mentioned that these shoes pictured (The Freerunner V2's) apparently stick to marble and tile floors better than the Guides, something I'm not sure about as the only apparent difference as far as I can make out between the shoes is this:






a slight imprint on the tread of the rubber. I was thinking what difference is this going to make on a marble floor?? The answer: The Freerunners have Mystique Rubber and the Guides have Stealth C4 rubber.

So in conclusion: if you're running from the cops (for instance) and you're going to be crossing polished floors I'd grab the Freerunners V2. If you're kicking at the crag get the Guides... looks like I've got to get another pair of shoes for in town, I want to test the differences and see how they slide!

Projects:

Despite getting on with these shoes pretty well, I've got one small beef...

Nothing major, just a niggle I noticed when I was climbing on Tuesday night when I took my shoes off at the end of the night...


The inside vents dig into my instep and after a while really start to leave marks and make my feet ache. Other than that, I've worn them all of the sessions I've climbed and I've not ruined them yet!