The crew at Teva sent over a pair of their new shoe – the Links for our review. This shoe was created with the Teva Mountain Games in mind. With this being their 10th anniversary year they introduced their first bike shoe and a freeride shoe at that.

Let’s stop for a moment and think Teva and think shoe. Yep. A bit of a blank. Teva brings up the sandal with an ankle strap. Perfect for the river.

Alright, history lesson over.

The Links arrived and on they went. Fresh out of the box and safe for the house so I wore them all night. None of that new shoe burn.

Next morning. Off to the gym and so it went. They are my go to. Love them and use them a bunch. We went camping this weekend and they were perfect for all of the activities.

The colors are a bit much. They sent two pairs of shoe laces and the grey pair is going to be in full effect and soon. After two weeks of use there are no concerns with durability. Stitches and glue are holding up – as they should.

Next time up will be all about the bike. We will let you know how they handle the pedal and help push power.

Check them out here: Teva Links

If you have a sweatshirt or fleece from Volcom, Quiksilver, Element, Oakley, DC Shoes, NHS, Monster, Hurley, Fox then chances are it was made by Independent Trading Co. Independent Trading Co. has made custom fleece for the top companies in the apparel industry since 1996 so they know the drill.

Two weeks back our friend Will over at Independent and also of The Surf Gallery fame sent over three products for Outside All Day to review. We are going to do a series of reviews on these to give you a good idea of the product quality of these items but wanted to start you off with some initial comments.

Sherpa Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt
Think lambs wool inside a sweatshirt. The fog is up and you are still heading down to check the surf. You are heading out to pack up the car to make it to the trail head before the sun comes up and it is dark and cold. Bingo. The Sherpa Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt is the call. I have a few pet peeves about sweatshirts that go way back to AYSO. One is a cheap string that breaks on first use when sinching up the hoody. Second is a string that needs to be knotted up because the manufacturer didn’t plan for it to ever make it to the washer and drier. The good news is the Sherpa comes ready to be worn. With an outside pocket that has a inner pocket ready to accept your phone or iPod complete with an opening to run the headphone cord up to your ears this sweatshirt rocks. Fit is narrow/slender and has standard issue cuffs. The zipper is metal and slightly vintage. Not plastic and not wimpy so it gets a thumbs up.

French Terry Zip Hooded Sweatshirt
Love this light little sweatshirt. Our house has a raised foundation and has a slight chill in the evening hours. This sweatshirt is perfect. Comfy fit and ready to rock when you want to kick back watch some surf vids or read the newest issue of surfer. This is a standard issue item and everyone should have one of these. Light, perfect and has a iPod player holder and eyelet in front pocket and those super sweet probably fadish thumbholes on the cuffs. Kinda makes your hands look like they have a cast but sure love’em.

Hi-Tech Zip Hooded Sweatshirt
The first two are new takes on the old school sweatshirt the Hi-Tech sweatshirt is all new. Primarily a polyester threaded piece this has a zip-off hood, iPod holder with eyelet and thumbholes on the cuffs. This is for going out. Coffee run into town on Saturday morning. Meeting up for friends for the movies. Catching a plane up to San Francisco to see some shows. This is your go to.

After a few washes and scuffs we will report back.

Our friends over at Outside Magazine have posted their Summer Buyer’s Guide. If you are trying to figure out what sleeping bag to pickup for your affair with the Sierra or pair of boots for time in the Rockies then head on over to the buyer’s guide and get an educated opinion.

Product Review: DeSoto Arm Coolers
By Hanhster (the Monster)

While it is cool to be a female cyclist there are occasions when it is not so cool to advertise it with those nasty jersey sleeve tans… like say when you’re trying to look like an actual girl in a sleeveless summer dress at a BBQ or at your brother’s USC graduation (that tan line is in the family photo album forever now).

After slathering Neutrogena sunblock spf 55 on my arms couldn’t keep my arms from still getting way darker than the rest of my body (nothing against Neutrogena as I also tried other brands of sunblock and that didn’t work either) my search for another solution to the jersey sleeve tan began…and enter the DeSoto Arm Coolers.

I’ve had 2 weeks now of being able to wear these arm coolers on both training rides and races in sunny Southern California and my conclusion: Three Snaps! And here’s why…

I concur w. other reviewers that initially slipping into these arm coolers on a hot day for a ride feels strange but after a few minutes of moving you quickly overcome this strangeness and it starts to feel very natural. Also like other reviewers, I concur that they don’t actually “cool” your arms but since they start feeling pretty natural they don’t heat them up either. After a few 3+ hr training rides and a couple criterium races I did notice that my jersey sleeve tan line is now not as pronounced as before and since this basically shows that these arm coolers are doing the trick to fend off the sun that’s all I needed to know. I also like that these arm coolers feel a bit like compression wear on your arms holding it together and don’t slip down your arms like some cheapo arm warmers out there giving you that saggy arm wear look (chicks in particular don’t like anything that increases the “sag” factor). By the way, one way to tell the difference between these Desoto arm coolers and traditional arm warmers is that the DeSoto arm coolers are actually a bit porous almost mesh-like but not quite.

If your goal is to lose that jersey sleeve tan line this product will work for you. Let us know what you think of them too. I would say email me but as usual men run this website and they didn’t bother to give me my own outsideallday.com email address.
Word.

Rating = 5 (1 out of 5, 5 is the highest) I try to tell her people don’t understand the “snaps” classification but It has been proved otherwise…