My Forum

Not stoned?

Barefoot Bob doesn't exist you know.  He was invented by a guy called Rob who works in the Vibram's marketing department.

Ok I made that up but still.... Vibram five fingers are nuts. I saw a guy at mile 60 of the Lakeland 100 in a pair, they were all f@~ked up and falling to pieces and the guy looked like he wanted his mummy. He was clearly in so much pain. Trying to scramble up the rocky fell.

Plonker.

I bet he was cursing Barefoot Bob over and over in his mind as I skipped past in my luuuuurvly overly cushioned, "incorrect" footwear.

Plonker!

"Barefoot technology"

What a load of BS that is.

Now rammed down our throats by Nike, Merrell etc to protect share prices.

So Nike is going to sell me a pair of shoes and charge me twice as much for a shoe that has half the materials, build cost, cushioning and technical design?

Either way how can barefoot technology be barefoot if I have a pair of over priced  shoes on!

Am I the only one who thinks this is utter BS?

Worse still, we now have endless numbers of barefoot running fan boys preaching this BS to the world like it is some of new religion.

Passing/ramming down peoples throats hearsay research that they read in a book (Born to Run?) or in a magazine. Blindly believing every point as fact.

I am not saying that minimal shoes are wrong and that cushioned shoes are right. I believe in factual science and accurate research (of which little to none has been provided) and I hate to see Joe public getting ripped off by corporations blindly believing this garbage and hand over their hard earned cash.

The barefoot "fashion" (lets be honest that is what it is!) was the large trainer manufactures answer to being called out on the whole over, under, through pronation BS that research *has* proven is also utter BS!

Rant over

Hmmm you sure M/L was the correct size?  Maybe you got your chest measurements wrong? You said in your post you were 43-44'

This is the sizing chart for the packs and Salomon sizing is on the small size :-

SIZING:

• XS/S : 31-38 inch chest
• M/L  : 38 - 43 inch chest
• XL : 43 - 46 inch chest

I tried on both and found the M/L to be a tight fit and my chest size is 42' so went with the L/XL which I could adjust right down to fit comfortably. As opposed to be right on the edge when adjusted right up with the M/L and had no room to adjust.

Add on a few layers (I had 5 layers on during the recent TP100 race!) and you will find the medium would be very snug possibly even too tight.

They are £107 btw on chain reaction cycles right now with free postage.

Nice blog, v. enjoyable read.

Hills, horizontal snow, more hills, bogs, more hills and wind blindness.

I can't wait!

p.s Did you see many people with poles? I plan to use mine for the UTMB later in the year on the latter sections of the race and therefore want to train with them in a race.

Though I know some races ban poles in the UK, plus I don't want to be the only guy who has poles! They can be quite annoying and trip people up etc.

I bought the latest version of the S-Lab 12 for last months TP100 race. I managed to squeeze in all my kit and the kit list is the same as for UTMB.

If it helps.. I packed in :-

food/gells
map
1 x fleece top
1 x t-shirt
1 x long sleeve icebreaker tops
waterproof jacket
waterproof trousers
gloves
2 x 600ml bottles (in side pockets)
blister kit
beanie
cap
2 x buffs
spare socks

All in all I am very happy with it and plan to use it on the UTMB later this year and I see many, many people with the S-LAB 12 on ultras. Of course this is no proof there is nothing better out there but it does prove its a safe bet!

If you want to try a few packs before you buy, order a few off Chain reaction cycles, the postage is free to receive and also free to return.

So no cost to you if you like none of the packs.

I *think* wiggle is the same but maybe check. Though I don't think either company sell UB stuff