Guess What's Back?

The best shoes ever! Adidas Barricade V's are back!

The shoes are available in two color choices for men and two for the women. Most of the time, I don't bother ordering women's shoes because the color offerings tend to be a little cheesy, but I love the black and pink.

When I heard these shoes were returning to the shelves, the first thing I did was go to my local tennis retail shop, Tennis and Golf Company, in Royal Oak, Michigan and ask about them. Well, I wasn't the only one. The shoe salesman said there had been nonstop inquiries about when the shelves would be stocked and people were pre-ordering multiple pairs.

I have to admit, I too, ordered three pair and as I wear through these, I am considering buying more. As you all know, nothing frustrates me more than how quickly sports equipment/apparel manufactures will move on to something new.

The Barricade V's are a heavy shoe. Since then, Adidas has gone lighter, narrower, and less supportive, in an attempt to improve what already was a great shoe for those of us who needed to have something feel a little more solid on their feet. They are very supportive in all the lateral movements that this singles player encounters in the average match. Even though they don't feel very cushiony out of the box, they have not aggravated my plantar fasciitis like my pair of Adidas Barricade 8s. Still, the insoles are easily replaceable. I am only a month into these shoes, but I hope they have the durability that I remember from the last time they were on the shelves.

I am so grateful that Adidas has brought back the Barricade Vs!

Stay tuned,
KS

Customized Adidas Barricades 8

"TAR NATION"

Blue and Gold

 

The jury is still out on how I feel about these shoes, especially since Adidas re-released my all-time favorite Barricades, the Barricade Vs, which has always been a very good fit for my feet. The Barricade 8s are not as sturdy like I need my tennis shoes to be and I've found that I cannot tie these shoes as snugly as I would like around the ankles. The eyelets are set a little weird, so if I pull them tight, it feels as though I am cutting off my circulation and if I don't pull them tight, they don't feel as secure as I would like them. Somehow they seem more narrow than I normal, yet, I keep jamming my toe and cracking toe nails. The sides of the shoe, under the ankle bones, are in a weird place that sometimes rubs my ankles the wrong way. Overall, the shoe is just bothersome in a way that makes it hard to focus on anything other than, "what the hell is my shoe doing now?"

Maybe it's just me...

It irks my soul when equipment companies change a good thing for the sake of change.

My last custom Barricades were the orange and yellow Barricade 7s. The color choices for the 8s are your usual tennis shoe colors. No purple. No orange. Forget designing an all-yellow shoe. And the options for the women's version are next to nothing.

Stay tuned,
KS

Nike Air Max Cage: A Shoe Review

At times I feel very fortunate that I am so tough on my sports equipment. It affords me the opportunity to try out different shoes and equipment. At other times, like in my hockey game last night when I got body slammed to the ice by a moose and I land on my elbow that is not covered because the elastic in my elbow pad fails to keep them secured any where close to that joint, being tough on equipment definitely stinks.

 After last year's dislocated ankle, my shoe rotation actually got way out of order and I found myself wearing holes in the outsoles of two pairs of Adidas Barricades roughly around the same time and scrambling to find a pair to replace them as I packaged them to go to the Adidas Barricade Outsole Guarantee's return center. I usually buy my tennis shoes online. Part of that is the convenience of shopping at all times of the night in my pajama's and part of it is I love to use Adidas' Customization website to put together never-before-seen color combinations. Ordering customized Barricades is a three-week process that include the highs of anticipation as I stare at the screen of my newly created shoe to the lows of ambivalence two weeks later when I've all but forgotten about the shoes to the frustration of coming home in the evening to see that "MISSED YOU" tag from the delivery company and knowing that I will have to wait another day or two to receive my shoes.

 Time was of the essence as I was about to embark upon my summer season having to go to the store and buy whatever stock shoe was available. I settled on a couple of pair of women's Nike Air Max Cage shoes, a pale blue pair accented with navy and a black and white pair with a splash of hot pink that reminded me of Good and Plenty candy. I used to wear Nikes a long time ago, but as most of you can commiserate, I hate when they change the design of a perfectly good shoe from one year to the next. All of a sudden a few years ago, Nikes became a comfortable fit to being incredibly very hard on my feet. Nike's tennis shoes' recent designs seem to narrow in places my foot doesn't naturally narrow. So, I switched to Adidas Barricades and have been wearing them ever since. I liked that they were a heavier shoe and felt steadier than a lot of other tennis shoes. They also came in cool colors and I could also customize them to any color I liked.

There was an All-American red, white, navy and metallic silver pair...

There was a navy, yellow with purple stripes and purple laces...

There was the Float Like a Bumblebee yellow and black pair...

My favorite was an orange pair with neon yellow strings and stripes that reminded me of summer...

And there were others. That Ode to Blue; navy, royal and North Carolina blue. The pink, black, silver and rose ones.

 But all good things must come to an end and my relationship with all of those pairs ended with huge holes in the outsoles. I'd done some quick research online and found many reviewers who claimed these particular generation of Air Max Cages did not cause the foot problems like plantar fasciitis that I am prone to due to my slightly flat feet. I always replace shoes' original insoles with insoles by Sof Sole anyway, so I was mostly worried about the fit. In the store, the shoes felt great. The toe box was a little wider than I remembered and the shoe didn't cut off my circulation near the instep. I bought the two pair and went on my way.

 At first, the insoles didn't feel like they fit right in the shoe, so I spent one morning practicing in the shoes while using the original insoles. The blisters that appeared immediately on my feet felt worse than walking barefoot across hot coals. The rest of that day, all I did was ice the bottoms of my feet. I found a pair of insoles that fit better and have been wearing the shoes all summer but I still developed a sore fascia on my right foot that requires me to tape before playing. Nike also has a 6-month Outsole Guarantee. I've heard from tennis friends that Nike can be much more discriminate in accepting and replacing shoes that are submitted for their warranty. Three months before I hit the six month mark, the outsoles of both pair of shoes, which I rotate frequently, were almost completely bald with excess wear on the heels.

I probably won't be buying another pair of Nike's anytime soon, but the Air Max Cages continue to draw my eye. There were no colors for the fall to compliment their fall clothes collections and I expect their will be more colors some time after the new year. For those who have the feet to fit these shoes, they certainly look good. And if you look good, you must play good, right?

Stay tuned,
KS

Technifibre Razor Code: A String Review

Last February, after a very targeted shopping session at www.tennis-warehouse.com, I was looking for something small to tip my total in the direction of being eligible for free shipping. I browsed wristbands and armbands, socks, towels, and bandanas, before finally settling on a package of string. I am a frequent string breaker and figured, stocking up on string is always a good idea.

I'd been using Technifibre's Black Code in 18 gauge, a pentagonal-shaped polyester string. I started using 18g to string my racquets after a wrist fracture left me super susceptible to wrist soreness and tendinitis. 18g is a thinner string than the traditional 16g or even the 17g. Also, even among 18g string, Technifibre's Black Code was one of the softest polys that I tested. Poly strings have an increased durability over synthetic gut strings. Black Code, to me, was a softer poly string that was a slight step up in the durability department. Although I was restringing frequently, I was not stringing as frequently as if I was using a synthetic gut string. I hit with a lot spin and can easily break synthetic gut strings within a week of playing with them.

While I was scrolling through the selection of Technifibre's polyester strings, I found a new string, Razor Code. I have to admit what initially attracted me to the string was it's light blue color. I frequently choose my tennis shoes, racquets, bags, hockey sticks, etc., based on their color first. Many a time, I've prayed to the sport gods that the hot pink hockey stick that my eyes longed for actually felt good enough to use. So, I added the blue string to my online cart and checked out.

I strung one of my Wilson Juice Racquets with the new string at maximum tension and went out to hit with a college-bound junior player. I did use a string dampener although I normally don't because as I was stringing I felt that this string was a lot stiffer than the Black Code. It took me less than fifteen minutes to decide I loved this string.

The thing I loved the most was that every flat ball I hit had a crisp, solid feel coming off of my racquet. I loved the extra "pop" I felt on my groundstrokes. The added power definitely defied the deadened feeling I normally got from traditional poly strings. Although I would have to attribute the control I felt more to my heavy pro-model racquet, I did feel more control on flat groundstrokes than I ever did on flat strokes with Black Code. I could really take a fast swing at the ball, connect, and keep the ball deep in the court without worry of it sailing long on me. The seamless balance achieved between power and control with Razor Code is remarkable.

In terms of spin, for some reason I have yet to figure out, it took a minute to hit my serve and any groundstrokes with kick or topspin. It seemed to me, that I needed to work harder to produce the same spin I could produce effortlessly with Black Code. It didn't take me long to adjust, but it was a weird first few hours with Razor Code. Once I did "find my spin", I found that the thinner gauge really helped bite the ball and topspin was very good, not as much as I experienced with Black Code, but definitely more than other gauges of string or other brands of poly. Disappointingly, for slice, I seem to, still (after hitting with Razor Code for five months now), have to strike the ball perfectly to really knife through the ball and get it to stay low.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most satisfied, I would have to give this string a three for durability. Although I hit with the string for many hours without it breaking, Razor Code lost tension quickly. In three weeks of hitting exclusively with the one racquet that contained this string, there was a marked difference between day one and day twenty-one, leading me to question my initial excitement with the string.

I had refrained from stringing the rest of my racquets with Razor Code because I was waiting to see if I developed any wrist soreness or other arm soreness that could be associated with the string change. A few college players I talked to who absolutely loved the string (16g or 17g versions), all developed pain in their tendons above their elbow almost immediately after using the string. But after a month of no-pain, I decided to take the plunge and put Razor Code in all of my racquets. It was then, I renewed the love I initially had for this string.

When the string job is new, this string is awesome. The quickly lost tension coupled with the price of this string ($200 for a reel, $16 for a set) makes me give this string just an average rating for value. Although it is not expensive as some similar strings, the lost tension means more frequent stringing.

Overall, I am definitely happy with this string.