Torrent 3

I love my SpeedGoat 6s. My favorite trail running shoe. Edit: To add some detail, I prefer the six over the five. Regarding other shoes I like the torrent three and Clifton nine as well. The speed goats sit at 300 miles and are going strong. Hope that helps.

Hoka Speedgoat 6 Hoka Torrent 3 Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 Used to mainly run the speedgoats. Picked up the Torrents on sale. And realized how much I liked more minimal yet technical shoes. I hardly run over ten miles anyways. Enter the Merrells. Which are amazing.

I am by no means an expert in trail shoes but I got the hoka torrent 3 as my first trail shoe and have been running them for the last year. Can highly recommend - they have a low stack height so really stable and had no issues with grip on any trail surfaces - they’re a bit slippy down wet tarmac so not great on roads when wet but otherwise they e got me through lots of miles of different trails!

The exact same problem on my torrent 3s is what drive me from the brand. Loved my original torrent and speedgoats but the quality keeps going downhill with every new model year.

Except the torrents (at least the torrent 3) terrible on wet surfaces, but climbing on dirt paths was wonderful.

First, there is nothing that wrong with using road shoes on trails. 25 years ago there was no such thing as trail running shoes and people did fine. If you do want specific shoes and like Hoka then: Hoka Challenger if they are smooth trails or mixed road trails. Hoka Torrents if they are rougher trails.

> How is that with these two models? Speedgoats are like the gold standard for a lot of hikers out here in the west. Do any major trail in the Sierra, Rockies, or anything in between and you'll see a couple pair. Their durability is typically their weakest trait, though that's sort of the compromise for their comfort and grip. I wear a mix of Hokas (Torrents and Speedgoats), La Sportivas (Prodigio Max), and Salomon (Genesis) and it's largely the same across most brands. Comfort and grippiness come at the cost of durability. It depends heavily on where it is I'm hiking, but I generally looking at 300-600 miles on a pair of shoes before the foam eventually crushes out. I'd try out the ones I just mentioned and see if you like them.

I’ve run the race a few times and it has a couple technical areas, but most of the course is packed dirt single-track that is very runnable. I think anything that gives you limited support and decent padding would work. I always used my Hoka Torrents to run it. The biggest issue you will face is temperature changes. I e run it in 90+ degrees in November and also in sub 30. If it rains, the trails become that sticky clay-like mud that TX is famous for. If it’s dry, then trails are pretty firm. Love that race.