She was hard to find and even harder to live with- A story aboot love

Many of you may not know, but nestled in the bunker at mister freedom headquarters, is an ultra top secret stash of some of their rarest items, only available to those that own at least 6 pairs of their jeans, 6 jackets, 6 shirts and sign a blood oath… at least this is how I wish things would have been in obtaining my road champs :/ My journey started back in March 2020, when the world stopped. Many of us (myself included), were unemployed and had a whole lot more time than we could have ever bargained for in our hands. I stumbled upon a video of a resole on some road champs on YouTube by a young boot maker we all know as Brian the bootmaker and I was hooked. I searched everywhere for a used pair and could not find one. To this day, these are the most elusive pair of boots I own. Being that I could not try these on and I had no idea how to use a brannock device, or find one for that matter as most stores were closed, I decided to research more to see if I could figure out my size from the online boot wizards. The more i researched, the more i realized, there was probably no way i was going to get my hands on a pair of road champs, but i tried anyway. I got on the waitlist hoping for the best (still on it 4 years strong), and still no new updates. That was when I was going around talking to people and telling them I was thinking of joining the dome for 2023-2024. One of my buddy’s friends said, “hey, I know a guy that’s been trying to sell his engineers, you should talk to him and see if they’re your size”! When I reached out, lo and behold, they were a new pair of road champs in my size! They had been sitting in his closet for who knows how long. We negotiated and the rest was history. I don’t care that they don’t fit perfectly, I’m never letting these out of my site.

Impossible to order as they have not been in production since 2019. Pure luck 🍀

I wore them literally everywhere. To the office, to the club, on a hike, on a bike, on coffee days with my buddy Mike, you name it. On a more somber note, I wore them to my grandmas funeral in February. The dome at times, was the only thing I looked forward to and got me out of some seriously dark mental head spaces during the early part of this year. Anywhere I went, these boots were with me and were loved and cared for. They are just as much a part of me as my two legs.

Contrary to what folks might say about cowhide, these boots were hell to break in the first two months. I would compare them to a close second in breaking in, to some of my horsehide boots. Mister freedom really did their research. I started off by giving them a good cream conditioner inside and out to help soften the stiff leather a bit. After that, I put in a quarter insole and wore them all over for the first two months. The weather in San Francisco is very mercurial and can change on a whim. Regardless of the conditions, these guys were on my feet. They went through rainstorms, wind, sand storms near the beach, snow etc. After two months and seeing that the leather began softening and stretching out, I poked a hole in the instep strap to hold them on my feet better and that was the last thing I did. I would check them at least twice a month and give them a thorough brushing to remove nasty debris and that was pretty much it. I conditioned them around 4-5 times throughout the dome, especially after rain and snow. Overall, I’m blown away by how the leather has aged. They are extremely stubborn and the dye on these engineers really is tough and resilient. But every time I would brush and condition them, I would see them in a new chapter of rich brown hues and character. I don’t know if the pictures really convey the chocolate browns in the leather (as I live in a small apartment in SF that barely allows me to have a couch, let alone lighting equipment), but these road champs are truly a sight to see. The dye has come off rather unevenly in areas, making the leather look marbelized. It’s truly incredible. I hope the natural lighting and overcast skies captivated what an incredible pair of boots they have become.

I think the design is unique and timeless. MF wasn’t really trying to copy a specific look, I think they used the past as a framework and ran with it. That’s why they don’t look like anything else out there. Construction is solid on these. Stitching was great, finish(when it all started) was a deep matte black with a slight satin sheen over the top. This dye job is extremely stubborn and unpredictable. It will wear however it wants and not necessarily in high wear points. If you look at the inside of the vamp on some of my pictures or even the back of these boots, you will see that they are aging unevenly which I think is pretty cool. They have leather lining which is pretty soft once broken in. The vintage soles have held up and only really need the heel cap replaced. If there is anything I would change about these, in my extremely biased opinion, I would bring in the instep just a bit more. It looks cool! But unless you have feet that have rainbow styled arches, they don’t really hold your feet in place. I could have punched another hole in the instep, but I don’t know if that would have remedied the problem or made things worse. In addition, the buckles look really cool, but seem a bit unrefined for the price point. They sometimes would get stuck when I went to unstrap them. Clicking is really nice and barely starting to show its true character. Because the last on the road champs is a more low toe box design, don’t expect there to be rolls like a pair of clinch boots. But, the clicking is still beautiful, even, and the low toe box still gives you plenty of room.

The soles are built like the tanks they were probably made for. Very durable, a bit on the stiffer side, but minimal rubber chipping off. Traction is decent but not great. Step on a bit of oil after a rainy day and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Overall a decent sole.

Overall, I am happy I finally got myself a pair of these. They say you shouldn’t try to meet your heroes so you won’t get disappointed… I still love my road champs, despite the fact they aren’t made with skinny, flat feet in mind. Maybe, one day, mister freedom will opt to make different widths for these. That would be incredible as it seems boots in the US only continue to cater to folks in the D width and above. Nevertheless, I will still wear these guys and love and care for them. Even though they genuinely calloused the hell out of my feet and made them almost bleed. But that’s a part of any adventure. You never really know what you’ll encounter along the way, you just gotta have the will and willingness to get there, and clearly (even though some days I was ready to throw in the towel), I do. I’m happy for this to have been my first dome in my holy grail of engineers. My unicorns that evaded me for 3 years. It just couldn’t have worked out a better way for me to finally have these boots in my collection. My heart is full and I am grateful.