Saturday, February 17, 2018

Salomon Speedcross Vario 2 GTX

So I came across a sale on this new shoe (well year old shoe?) called the Salomon Speedcross Vario 2 GTX, and it seemed like a shoe I needed to buy and try.

To start, the GTX in the name is Gortex, so it is a Winter/wet weather style shoe. You can certainly feel this when trying it on, as it is more plush than my other Salomon shoes.

The laces are regular old school, tie these yourself type laces as opposed to Salomon's quick lace system. At first I was a little sad, but then, it was really easy to tie them, as all my other shoes have laces. The placing of the laces allows for a good snug fit, essential on a trail shoe.

The lugs are big, and I was afraid it would be a shoe more suited to soft ground. Ultimately this turned out to be false, and they were equally at home on the soft stuff as on the hard rock. 

The fit? Standard Salomon fit, though with the caveat that they are plush (as I mentioned) so may feel a little more snug. Salomon tends to fit tight in the arch, and offer a little more room for toes up front. These shoes are no different. One thing I did notice is that the insole makes for a lot of this tightness in the arch area, and when removed, they open up quite a bit. Finding a thin more neutral insole would certainly make this shoe better suited to bigger, wider feet.

Now it is certainly bright. I happen to love it. If you like dark, bland shoes, then sorry.
I started my trial run with a good bowl of oatmeal, as this was going to be a longer run.


Then off to the woods. The temperature was a balmy -6C, but the woods offered good shelter from the wind. The sun was shining as well, so I wore a thinner top, but still put some good thin wool socks on.

The trail I chose had good climbing, lots of sharp turns, roots, rocks, ice, puddles, soft ground and hard granite expanses, basically all the good things to test a shoe.

It was my long run day and I know that in an easy 5km run, most shoes feel good to me. So I opted to push over the hour mark. 

The Vario 2 GTX offered great grip, continued to feel nice for the whole run and even felt good when I could open up my stride on the rails to trails section at the end, pushing a low 4min/km pace.  

At the 9km mark I stepped in a puddle that went over the ankle of the shoe, which meant water got in. Up to that point my feet were perfectly warm (not too hot) and dry. Now wet I wondered if I would have to call things a day. But ultimately I kept running til my total got to 15.5km and at the end, my foot was fairly dry and happy. That Gortex is wonderful stuff. 



I guess by this point you can tell that I like this shoe. Not as racy feeling as my Salomon S/Lab SGs, not as plush as my Sense pro Max, but for this time of year, an awesome shoe that was far more responsive and peppy than I was going to give it credit for. When i first put them on I thought, hmm, kind of heavy, but any doubt of their effectiveness went away before the first kilometer was over.

If this shoe fits and you want a winter option, then it is certainly a great value. 

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