Mount to Coast T1 Review

My size 12's came in weighing: Left 10.3 Ounces, Right 10.4 Ounces
Sample size weight: 9.0 Ounces
Heel Stack: 36 MM
Drop: 4 MM
Upper: High-performance woven fabric, DuPont™ Kevlar® fibers

Neutral shoe 
Outsole: Vibram
Lugs: 4 MM
Price: $180 USD 

The upper material is a woven fabric, made from DuPont™ Kevlar® fibers.  Per the Mount to Coast specs; Crafted from a high-performance woven fabric and reinforced with aramid fibers that are five times stronger than steel.  In my 66 miles in the shoe, they have proven to be 3 things: As strong as advertised as I have had no rips or tears and yet the upper has been very comfortable.  Sheds water/moisture tremendously.  I did a lot of running in muddy and wet conditions and the shoe did excellent and shedding and drying out.  It is very breathable and comfortable upper. 

The geometry of the upper allowed plenty of room for my toes to splay, but not too much room that my feet felt sloppy.  It is an excellent upper fit for my foot shape.   The tongue is gusseted and made of a material that is stated to help siphon water, which with all of the water running I did, seems to hold true.  The heel had good lock down, I had no issues with slippage. 

The lacing system is where this shoe can bring some difference of opinion.  As arrived, the shoe comes laced with a dual lacing that Mount to Coast calls "tunedfit".  Similar to the R1 and R1R, it has a lacing system that is intended to be able to tighten or loosen the forefoot and on the T1, the midfoot has another cinch cord.  Unlike the R1 and R1R the cinch cord for the forefoot doesn't have a connector for extra lacing/cord lock.  So, you have to weave it under the tightened laces of the forefoot.  The midfoot cinch lacing system has a "lace garage", which worked great.   

*My preference with this lacing system would be to improve on 2 things. 
1. Have some kind of connector (Like on the R1 and R1R) or second garage for the extended laces after tightening for the forefoot quick laces. 
2. Develop a way to remove these laces without having to cut them, to improve in options and interchangeability of the shoes.  If I am running clean trail, the quick laces may be great.  If I am running sand, may want a different option to avoid binding the locking clip.  It would be nice to have a way of switching back and forth, without destroying the laces. 

I did 33 miles with this lacing system (see pt 2) and the shoe did overall very good.  The only thing I noticed is at times, I might not have had the quick laces as tight as I should have to feel fully secured in them.  This is not my first quick lacing system and I had issues with another one (Salomon), so it may be partly user error.  I will give some credence to that potential as I just may not be good at using the system as intended. 

Another concern I had with the quick lacing (cinch cord) system is that when I was running through the mud and I had caked mud/sand on the forefoot laces, it was difficult to make adjustments to the tightness of the lacing.  The laces can jam up a bit when trying to move them when there is foreign material on the lacings going through the locking mechanism. 

When the shoes arrived, they came with a spare set of ribbed laces.  To get a feel for the difference of how the lacing systems feel with the shoe, I did 33 miles with the quick lace system and 33 miles with the ribbed laces.  

The shoe was great with the quick lace system, but when I switched to the ribbed laces and was able to control the lock down a bit more (again, may be a user error on the quick lacing) this shoe went from great to pure synergy on the trails.  It was like putting a final piece of a puzzle in, everything connected for me on foot.  

The outsole is Vibram Megagrip, Litebase, with Traction Lug technology.  The outsole performed great on the trails I hit during my runs.  I was on dirt, mud, water, rock, roots, sand, elevation change, switchbacks, leaves, some pavement, some bridges, and weeds/grassy single track. 

Positives: Felt confident with connection to all surfaces.   Water shedding was top notch.  I did not get mud build up on the bottom of the shoes (an issue I had with the Zegama 2) as I think the lug pattern is slightly further apart than some other patterns allowing mud to fall of due to lack of attachment area, ran through sand well. 

The wear on the outsole seems to be very good so far, I have just a bit of wear in my high wear area after 66 miles, so I expect very good long term durability out of the shoe. 

Concern: My only concern is the open foam area and how it may interact with rocky conditions.  I ran numerous miles in rocky conditions and it overall did well, but I did have some "impressions" underfoot from the rocks.  It was never a discomfort and at times I am fine with the connection to what I am traveling over underfoot, but if the rocks are more jagged, I do wonder if there is a chance of discomfort and also wonder about if the foam will get torn up, but I also like the reduced weight. 

I  would not want a rock plate to be clear, I honestly prefer to have enough rubber and foam protection, but that is a preference that could change from runner to runner and trail to trail 

Mount to Coast uses their LightCELL foam for the midsole of this shoe.  I have experience with this foam in their R1R (review found: https://www.weeviews.com/reviews/3968/mount-to-coast-r1r ).  I am a huge fan of this foam and the underfoot feel of this shoe on the trails and on pavement, was great.  This is the most responsive while retaining a nimbleness trail shoe that I have run in.  The Zegama 2 is very responsive, but it is heavy and not nimble in my experience (just as a comparison).  

For me, this foam is the star of a shoe that already has a bunch of high end talent. 

I hit trails at Memorial Park in Houston, Huntsville state park (Home of the Rocky Racoon)(about an hour North of Houston) and White Oak state park in Arkansas.   I hit a hair over 66 miles in the shoes, covering dry to damp to wet and muddy conditions.  I covered single track, black top, foot trails, dirt, rooty trails, rocky terrain, bridges, greens, grown over trail (I might have gone exploring), sand, through streams, in rain, after rain and in the sun. 

The shoe has proven to be a very nimble, well cushioned trail shoe that was very fun to run in.  It is currently in pole position for a 50K I have in August and is penciled into pole position for a 100K in November.  I have no concerns over the shoes ability to go long miles on the types of trails those 2 runs will offer me. 

The only real drawbacks for me on the shoe are the quick laces didn't work great for me, but that could be me.  And then there is the every increasing price of shoes.   Would I pay $180 dollars for this shoe in today's market?  Yes, I would.  I would do that because the shoe is showing to be a durable, nimble shoe capable of long miles, training miles and will be my race day shoe for trails.