Gear Girl: March 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Winter Running with Goldstream Sports - Gear Girl gives it a go!

Gear Girl visits Goldstream Sports

Icebug running shoes: All grip and no slip

It’s that time of year. The roads and parking lots become obstacle courses of glazed iced making walking, let alone running, feel like you should be suited up in football pads and a helmet.

My go-to winter running shoe are banished to the closet. The last time I ran on them, the rubber tread had frozen and when I hit the black ice on Cushman Street I did a Three Stoogesesque slip in front of a row of cars stopped for the light. I did not slide under a car; everyone got a good laugh, but I was spooked.

I figured I was doomed to run on a treadmill until the ice melted. Then my favorite running store, Goldstream Sports, gave me a pair of their studded Icebug running shoes to demo. They are a darling fuchsia, water resistant and have 34 small metal studs protruding from their tread. Goldstream Sports carries several different models.

I take the Icebug Pythos2 for a spin on my hilliest running route, climbing an icy road up a long steep hill, over some rolling hills on mushing trails and back down on a road covered in hard pack.

Even the dogs are slipping on the icy road and I slow down to a shuffle in anticipation. No need. The cleats dig into the icy crust covering the snow and I power around the curve. No slip, not a whisper of a slip. I don’t feel the spikes through the shoes and they are as light as my summer running shoes.

I start down a long hill on black ice, still no skid. It’s hard to get my mind to trust the information coming from my feet and I find myself still holding back. Overriding my survival instinct, I open up my stride and run freely.

These shoes are hot-pink miracles. I land sure footed with each shoe’s small metal spikes digging into the ice and giving me extra force as I push off. I feel I am running faster now than on bare pavement. It feels a little naughty---like racing on a bike without a helmet---and I love it.

By the end of my run, I am convinced that every runner in Fairbanks should own a pair of these.

Though they are designed for running, I have been wearing them everywhere. I feel invincible in them. I can sprint across any parking lot in town with a latte in hand and remain upright. Thus, I have expanded my initial edict: every person crossing a hard-packed road should own a pair of Icebug shoes.

Some cautions are due. These are not indoor shoes. They are slippery on tile, especially any flooring with a gloss to it. Also, they will mark wood floors, so definitely take them off before treading across anyone’s Himalayan cedar planks.

Also, you aren’t going to sneak up on anyone in a pair of these. On hard surfaces like asphalt, Icebugs make a sound similar to a dog with long toenails clacking across a hardwood floor. I kind of like it.

Finally, they are on the expensive side. This pair sells for $165 and they are worth it. Investing in a pair of Icebugs is like buying insurance to keep you safe until the ice melts. I think of my friend who I saw limping earlier in the week because she slipped during a run and sprained her foot. The first big 5k of the season is only two weeks away and it would be horrible to hurt yourself right before the season. The long days are here and calling us to come outside and run. These will keep you off your fanny.

Goldstream Sports offers free high-tech testing of your running/walking gait
so they can recommend the best shoe for you (the studded shoes will rip up the treadmill, so no video testing for those).

Ben captures video of your run on the treadmill
with a neutral shoe to observe and analyze your
foot-striking pattern; then again with a recommended shoe
to keep you running your best, pain and injury free.

Goldstream Sports offers awesome trails for testing out gear
and for public use 'cause they're awesome!

711 Sheep Creek Road
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709
(907) 455-6520
Mon-Fri: 12-7 * Sat: 10-5 * Sun: Closed

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Gear Girl conquers the Ice Tower - Climb on!

UAF Outdoor Adventures - Ice Climbing Tower

I am climbing the ice tower at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the first time and feel like a combination of Edward Scissorhands and Spiderman. The ice axes are light and quickly come to feel like an extension of my hands while the spiky metal crampons attached to the climbing boots work like magic Velcro to ice.

I am stuck in a sprawl against a tower of ice. I look down to see how far I’ve come and fight a wave of panic. I’m about halfway up, maybe 20 feet off the ground and I feel like I’m going to throw up the blueberries and kettle chips I snacked on before the climb. I tell myself it’s only the adrenaline flooding my body and that I must make a move.

My face is centimeters away from this giant mottled ice cube, and the coolness radiating from it calms my stomach. I take a deep breath and command myself to get a grip. The sun is setting pink on the horizon and, up this close, the ice reveals swirling patterns of blue and milky white. The fear fades, replaced by thrill as I reach my axe for the next crook in the ice’s façade and I patter my feet into new holds.

“Excellent pick,” yells Frank Olive, the assistant coordinator of UAF’s Outdoor Education Center and the most patient man on the face of the earth.

“Good job, mom,” comes from my 14-year-old. My husband and a friend are also cheering. I feel a little ridiculous but it helps. My inching gives way to a confident scamper.

As I pull myself up on the next move, the ice gives way and a chunk of it hits my helmet as I fall off the wall. Frank is holding the rope so tightly, it gives only a couple of inches and I realize I’m safe before I had time to be scared. I reach up again and find a better hole to latch my axe into and continue on.

Statistically, I am safer now than I was on the car ride over. I have an expert literally watching every move I make. I am in a climbing harness attached to a thick climbing rope looped to the top of the tower and back to the belay controlled by Frank on the ground. The Outdoor Ed Center supplied all the equipment and the instructors tie the knots, do the belaying and coach climbers along.

As I near the top, my hands and forearms start to cramp and I know I am making the rookie mistake of relying too much on my arms instead of my legs. Still, it is mentally difficult to relax the death grip I have on the axe handles. Before I started climbing, Frank told me the key to ice climbing is to keep the arms and feet arranged in a triangle so the legs are doing most of the climbing. I am able to get the feeling of this a couple of times on my way up and it does make it much easier.

When I reach the top, I shake out my arms and feel the elation of a kid at the top of a tree. Now I am having a seriously good time. Then I repel down and try a new route.

This is the most fun activity I've tried this winter and if you live in Fairbanks, you have to try it. The instructors give thorough directions, make you feel safe and help you to the top. Climbing the ice tower costs about as much as seeing a movie and has the benefits of a massive endorphin rush and a strength workout like no other.

The wall is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 4 until 8, and Saturday from 12 to 4. ** See Spring Break hours below. Check in at the yurt next to the Student Rec Center and they will outfit you up. Dress as you would for a ski or run but bring a jacket for when you are waiting. Go soon because the wall closes when the temperature reaches 25 and above.

For more information, call (907) 474-6306 or check out the website: http://www.uaf.edu/draw/outdoor-ed-center/outdoor-ice/