Finally Decided on my New Trail Shoes

After way too many hours the decision is in.........Brooks Cascadia 6's.  I tried a pair on at Soles in Motion Dartmouth and was really impressed with the feel.  After doing some research and finding many mixed reviews I believe they fit my needs for comfort and durability.

When they come in I will post a review.  Picked up the trail shoes for a great deal at 33-off.com.

Update:

So I am very happy with these shoes.  I have probably got 300+ km on them so far and they are holding up great.  Especially happy that I have not had any real IT Band Syndrome issues since I started wearing these shoes on long runs.  Although they may be tanks coming in at 11.7 ounces I still find them relatively light when bombing down some single track.

Positives:

These shoes love to climb.  Although I have read many reviews talking about how the 6's didn't meet the usual Cascadia standards I can't comment on that.  These are my first pair and I find that the traction up hill is awsome.  When heading downhill too I feel quite confident when it is dry to push it on the hills.  Probably the biggest benefit is how much protection they provide when stepping on roots or rocks.  You really don't feel anything.

I have spent a fairly large amount of time on single track and many of the trails have lots of sharp rocks, branches and roots.  Even though I have banged the shoes around a lot the upper shows little signs of wear.  The quality is obvious, which is clear even before you start running in them.

Negatives:

There is one huge one and being on the eastern shore it is a major issue, wet traction.  Although the shoes can grip well on the trail even when there are wet leaves and needles, rocks and roots are another thing, they suck!  Yeah after several times falling on my ass I have made the smart decision to avoid rocks on the downhills when it is wet.  Even on a flat section I had one massive slip that led to me smashing my knee of a huge boulder.  Guess who won that one?

The other issue that I have began to notice and is probably the big difference between the 6 versus the 7 is that some of the round lugs have started to wear.  This had been noted by several others who have tested out the 6's

Overall

Despite a few of its issues I am happy to say that I will likely be a regular Brooks Cascadia blazer over the next couple years.  These shoes so far have met my needs and I feel they will be great shoes as I increase the distances of my long runs.

At the same time I am beginning to look for winter runners and also some shoes that are more adapt to wet rocks and roots.