20 years ago Cam McRae and a few friends were looking for an online resource that reflected the aggressive style of mountain biking popularized by Vancouver's iconic North Shore. Unable to find anything that suited their needs, they decided to start their own and NSMB.com was born.
Fast forward to today and NSMB.com has become a highly respected editorial outlet that reflects an authentic, core, mountain biking experience. We were thrilled when renowned gear editor Andrew Major requested a pair of Esker Approach Insoles to review.
Spoiler alert - he loved them. Read an excerpt from his review below.
Esker is the brainchild of two long-time Sea-To-Sky outdoor enthusiasts, Patrick Long and Andy Boniface. Their goal is to make "more natural, versatile, and environmentally friendly, technical products" and The Approach insole is the first plastic-free production item to come out of their partnership. These insoles are designed by an orthotics expert and manufactured in Canada from Canadian wool, natural rubber, and linen.
The concept is to blend the performance of a quality off-the-shelf supportive insole that's good for myriad activities - cycling, trail building, hiking, skiing, etc - with everything woodsy folks love about wool gear. The promise is dryer feet, increased breathability, better temperature control, and reduced stink thanks to wool's natural properties.
The big advantages are the aforementioned wet and cold weather comfort (which I think could be even more of a factor in a shoe with a metal heatsink/cleat bolted on it), and the anti-odour factor, which is a real improvement even in my case where I use a boot dryer regularly.
