Ride TR2 Trail Running Shoe (Men)

I am super impressed with the performance of this shoe and it is exactly what I was looking for! I own several pairs of top-tier trail running shoes, and they are all fantastic shoes in moderate temperatures, but once the temp falls below freezing, they become completely different shoes. Their midsole foam becomes stiff and they are less bouncy. So I was looking for a trail shoe that I could run in subfreezing temperatures and not lose any responsiveness or bounce. The Ride TR2 is that shoe! There is no perceptible increase in stiffness when the temperatures get crazy cold. And for my needs, that one fact outweighs any minor criticisms of the shoe. I also feel like the shoe is way more stable on uneven/rough terrain than people give it credit for. On my first run, I took them 12 miles on rocky/mountainous single track. I had zero stability issues, zero grip issues, zero rock bruising, and zero rubbing or lock-down issues. When people state things like the Ride TR2 isn’t stable enough for anything beyond manicured gravel trails, it makes me think they’ve been wearing shoes with extremely wide platforms and heel cradles for too long. In my own experience, maximalist shoes cause my ankles to relax more over time. Then when I switch back to trimmed down technical shoes, I’m more likely to roll my ankle. Not because the shoes are inherently less “stable,” but because I’m not locking my ankle as much as I used to. I feel like this applies to the Ride TR2 as well. The platform is plenty stable for running on uneven terrain (or even bombing down mountains), as long as the runner has experience running on the more traditional, narrow platform. One minor detail is I think a 6mm drop would give it slightly more versatility on the trail, but the 8mm makes sense if you’re thinking about it as a shoe that road runners can use to transition to the trail. And it’s the perfect shoe for that.