Well, Is It Really Awesome?

Well, as awesome as the Awesome Strap might look, it has to perform on the trail. Next would come the true test. I decided to ride one of our local trails, one that has plenty of roots, rocks, and bumpy shit to see if I could lose some junk outta my Awesome Strap. I don’t really want to lose my junk, mind you, but I needed to make sure I could trust a strap that calls itself awesome.


I headed out to my usual lunchtime riding spot, North Meck, and got ready for the test. This place is the rootiest trail I can get to for now, so it would have to do. That being said, there are plenty of bumps, jumps, and rooty goodness to put this Awesome thing through the works. No, it’s not some epic ride or anything, but it is just rough enough to jar the shit loose from the Awesome Strap (if that is at all possible.)




I hit the trail at full speed, making sure to touch every root in my path. I jumped every jump, and tried to bunny-hop a few squirells for good measure. I even clipped my elbow on a tree at high speed just to make sure I covered everything. During that first lap, I resisted the urge to stop and check to see if the Awesome Strap was holding everything in place, although I did give it a reach around once. It was pretty happy about that (I think I heard a squeal.)






When I finished the first lap, I stopped to check the status of my new bundle of joy.



Still tight as a shark’s ass.

I’m happy to report that the first test lap was a success. None of my stuff moved at all inside the Awesome Strap. As a matter of fact, the Awesome Strap didn’t change positions on my seatpost either. While I was riding, I hardly even knew it was there. The thing I noticed most was that my legs didn’t rub on it at all (I’m a Clydesdale, so my legs aren’t toothpicks ya know.) I also didn’t hear the all too familiar sound of my seat sack rattling around underneath me. This was a good thing.


I headed back out on the trail to do a little more “testing”, and I had the same results. Like I said before, this was no epic ride (only 3.5 miles per lap). This was a “controlled” environment for testing, since I could easily retrieve my lost items if the Awesome Strap failed to be awesome. Since the fine folks at Backcountry Research aren’t paying me to write this review (who the hell would?), I was trying to be as objective as possible. While they did give me free product, I still gave it a thorough evaluation. It wasn't love at first sight by any means (although it did look pretty cool, er awesome), and I was apprehensive about giving it a thumbs up just for the sake of getting in their good graces. More testing is in order though, even though I’m pretty sure that I will have the same successful results. Tune in tomorrow as I hit yet another local trail in a hopeless attempt to be awesome.