Ready to feel wicked fast over varied terrain? Altra Zero Drop’s newest lightweight performance off road shoe, The Superior™ aims to have you blitzing up abandoned trails, skirting around hikers and headed straight into off-road euphoria.
On Performance & Design…
Trail running generally involves a lot of uphill hauls, which is when a lightweight, responsive shoe like the Superior™ really lends a helping hand. Low in weight, low-profile in the upper, and built on a zero-drop chassis, the Superior helps you experience the thrill of racing up and down trails without feeling weighed down by a lot of unnecessary features.
Like all Altra shoes, the Superior maps the natural design of the foot resulting in a roomier toebox that allows the toes to spread out more naturally. This natural fit not only enhances comfort, but reduces foot fatigue when you’re knocking out long distance runs. All the while the zero-drop platform helps develop muscular strength and lets you run like nature intended.
Our favorite design feature is the unique CheckerTrail Outsole. The outsole is a series of Multi-directional lugs that help gain traction on a variety of surfaces and help to make this a versatile trainer. Of course for heavy trail work you can always turn to the Lone Peak 1.5, and for the pavement days there’s an array of roadies from Altra.
The benefit of the Superior, and its CheckerTrail Outsole is two-fold. First it offers tremendous ground feel which minimalist runners will appreciate. But in addition, the unique checkered layout provides a glossy smooth ride over the tarmac. In other words, you now have one outsole to rule every surface that you cover.
Of course, just because we may be running through the great wide open, our trail runs aren’t always a walk in the park. Towards those ends, Altra’s Quick Dry Trail Mesh feels light on your foot, cool on hot days, and dries quickly when sweat or external moisture threatens your toes.
For the Superior, Altra has included a Removable StoneGuard Rock Protection liner. The liner is intended to keep the shoe lightweight while still providing protection so your off-road excursions don’t put your sole at risk. For the days you’ll cross more pavement, or the trail is light, simply remove the liner and go au naturale.
Notes from the Trail…
We did mention that this shoe doesn’t ‘weigh you down with a lot of unnecessary features’, however the Superior isn’t completely devoid of non-essentials. Both the men and women’s version feature elastic bands that reach from the base of the shoe, up to the laces. Like the shoe’s ‘trail rudder’ the features don’t seem to serve any legitimate purpose other than adding some aesthetic value to the shoe.
In future iterations we’re hoping the Altra design team beefs up the Removeable StoneGuard Rock Protection Liner. While it’s a great idea, in practice it failed to protect our feet from a diet of heavy gravel in a ten miler day along the levees of Sacramento.
Both pavement purists and trail truthers can fairly criticize this shoe for attempting to be all things to all people. Indeed a few tweaks either way could have made the Superior better adapted to one terrain or the other. Then again, if you want a pure trail shoe for heavy work, grab the Lone Peak 1.5, and Altra has a variety of road options to keep your feet happy. From our perspective, the Superior is a solid offering in that in-between zone that many runners will appreciate.
Last but not least, the Superior definitively requires you to size up. While it offers the same overall “natural fit” Altra fans have come to love, the Superior simply runs a size small. So be prepared to order a full size larger than your regular running shoe.
Bottom Line…
For many of us, our run to the trail involves a few miles of pavement before the asphalt gives way to winding gravel roads and Mother Nature’s red clay highways. For those runners, and for people simply looking for a minimalist athletic shoe that can tackle day hikes while still offering comfort in their urban environment, the Altra Superior seems like a perfect match.
*Gumption Gear Review purchased the item featured in this review from Altra and receives no monetary compensation for this or any related review.