Adidas Adios Boost Shoe Review

Ryan's Review
I like lightweight shoes. I have toothpicks for ankles and a frame sometimes described as bird-like, so I appreciate shoes that cut the weight at the end of my slim leg pendulum. I also like shoes in the 8-10mm drop range, but unfortunately for me, most lightweight trail shoes gravitate toward the 4mm drop end. These make my calves explode.

So I tried an experiment with road shoes: Adidas Adizero Adios 2.0. These shoes are 8oz, 10mm drop, with a tough Continental rubber outsole. I loved them. I was running rugged mountain trails in the Golden, CO area and not feeling rock poke. My calves were singing praises. My only issue was the upper. I couldn't lock down my heel without tying the laces really tight, hurting my instep.

Adidas Adios 2.0

Enter the Adidas Adios Boost. Same specs (drop, weight, outsole) as the 2.0, but with two major improvements. First, the midsole: Boost technology does not use EVA foam; instead, it is made of thermoplastic beads that are fused together. This midsole is among the bounciest and most durable I have ever run on. It's like Hoka bounce without the stack height or extra give. Second, the upper has a stiffer lacing system that allows for heel lockdown that is so good I don't even run in my Adios 2.0 any more. It can't compare. 

Adidas Adios Boost. White Ranch Park, Colorado

This is a lightweight road shoe that you can use for running mountain trails. My first run in the Adios Boost was a 23 miler at White Ranch, featuring loads of steep, rocky terrain, cambered, snowy trail, and 4,000+ feet of vert gain. This shoe is up for the task. The next weekend I ran a 25 miler at White Ranch, again. I could bomb down the loose rock with confidence that the outsole and midsole would protect me, despite the fact that this road shoe has no rock plate. They're super snappy on the uphills and I've had some of my fastest mountain training runs in them.

Ride and Fit
The ride is firm on the Adios Boost, and it feels like an 8mm drop, but the claim is 10mm. Two drawbacks for trail running is they're not good in loose, dry rock/sand, and they're ice skates in mud. Compared to the Adios 2.0, they run slightly larger than size (maybe try 1/2 size down). The toe box is standard, and the heel is narrow. The low heel collar lets in a lot of debris, so you might want to use gaiters on dirty trail.

Pedigree
Hal Koerner won Hardrock 100 in Adios 2.0. Chris Vargo won Golden Gate Dirty 30 in Adios 2.0. Patrick Makau set a world record marathon 2:03:38 in Berlin in 2011 in Adios 2.0. Now with the Boost midsole technology -- both springy and durable -- if a touch heavier than EVA foam, this is a superb shoe.

Adios Boost sticking to rock on Beaver Brook Trail

Alaina's Review
Ever since I tried on the Adidas Boost shoes while working at Runners Roost, I couldn't wait to own a pair. The original Boost shoes are super comfy, but they are a lot bulkier than the majority of shoes I run in. When Adidas added the Boost technology to their lightweight Adios, I was sold. 

My first run in them was a 12 mile run on the Colorado trail. When I first put them on I was worried that they wouldn't have enough cushion to protect me from feeling every rock on the trail. I was quickly proven wrong. For how little cushioning there is, I was amazed at how much they protected my feet. I could still feel the ground really well, just not the jabbing rocks that I can sometimes feel in my Salomon Sense Ultra and La Sportiva Vertical K. They were very quick and responsive. I just love how the Boost technology feels.

Pros
Soft, yet springy and responsive
Good ground contact feeling, yet protective on all terrain
They just feel fast

Cons The only cons I have for these shoes are based on how they perform on trails, and obviously they were designed as a road shoe.
Very slippery on light, loose dirt/sand
Not great traction on ice/snow

Gear Review: Salomon Fellcross 1 Shoe Review

The Salomon Fellcross is inspired by fell running, which is popular in the UK. Essentially, fell running is where you are tasked to run from point A to point B and figure out your own best route there, rather than following a marked trail to the finish. As a fell runner, you will likely run through mud, bogs, and other soggy conditions on your way up and over hills.

Fellcross in their element

The Salomon Fellcross outsole has long, aggressive, multi-directional lugs -- aimed toward your heel in the forefoot and toward your toes in the heel -- that are spaced far apart in order to bite into soft ground and shuck the mucky hanging-on debris. This design is great for runners in wet, squishy, muddy conditions, as well as snow running. The Fellcross are terrific fall, winter, and spring trail shoes when the conditions get messy on the trails. The lugs will grip well in deep, powdery snow and wet, heavy snow better than yak trax or microspikes, which will move around and sometimes come up around the outsole of a shoe while running. If I'm in these conditions, I'll never choose yaktrax or microspikes over Fellcross. However, in frozen conditions, the Fellcross performs terribly. The outsole is made of material that will slip and slide over icy, hard packed snow as well as wet, slick rock. But in 3-4+ inches of snow, they will eat up the conditions marvellously. Also, The outsole wears slowly, so the high cost ($180ish) won't bite you by season's end.

Multi-direction Lugs

Big Lugs

Fellcross are less flexible than the Speedcross and the Hornets, especially in the midfoot. At 4mm drop, they will tax the calves up steep slopes, and without rocker technology, I've found my feet to slap the ground in the forefoot, even when concentrating on my stride. They do not feel light weight, but in the wet, cold, muddy, snowy conditions they are built for -- where you're covered from eyes to toes in heavy cold gear -- weight isn't that much of an issue. 

Lots of traction in the snow

Because of the shape of the inside of the shoe, the medial of my big toes have been chafed and calloused by running in these for longer than 2 hours, and I have a narrow forefoot, so this came as a surprise. 

As for the upper, I like the quicklaces (with garage area for tucking in the excess lace), but the quicklace requires some adjusting to get used to. Often my instep is bruised from over-tightening the laces in order to keep the shoe in place through mud. One huge plus is that the upper is solidly made. I've run in Peregrines in the mud, and the torque between the outsole and upper tears the fabric on the upper of the Peregrine, especially in the inner forefoot, but even after 200+ miles in the Fellcross, that area remains unharmed.

For 14er hiking/running, I often choose these shoes when there is going to be snow or mud, and they never disappoint. They are very warm, which is great when paired with some Smartwool socks, but in the late spring my feet cook in the Fellcross as they don't breathe well. I love the lugs right up front in the toes, especially when ascending 20%+ grade mountains. I feel like I can dig the toes in like crampons.  

Perfect Fellcross conditions

You can't see it- but even Cody and the photographer are wearing Salomon's ;)

In sum, the Fellcross are best in muddy or deep snowy conditions, and worst in icy or hard packed trail or road conditions. They fit true to size (I'm a 10 in most shoes, including Salomon, and true to Fellcross). I'm looking forward to trying the Fellcross 2 which use the Salomon Sense and Ultra endofit technology for better fit, but overall I'm happy with the Fellcross 1 for what they excel at.