Air is dead. Thousands of tiny little beads are here to stay. Or at least I hope so. I picked up a pair of Nike’s newest tech, the Joyrides, earlier this month. I was in need of a comfortable pair of shoes that would last all day. Me being me, I used this as an excuse to buy a new pair of sneakers.

Finding them was a pain in the ass. Wearing a size 13 can make things a bit difficult. And people really wanted the shoe, making it even more difficult. Thankfully a nearby Finish Line had them in stock.

Trying them on was an interesting experience. You could immediately feel the beads move as the weight of your body pressed down into the shoe. It was funky. I was very unsure about them. I had read a review that described them as “sloppy” feeling and I was seeing why. I started walking around the store, talking to the guys working and they agreed that they were kind of weird feeling. I was unsold, especially with a price tag of $180.

I put my Air Max 270s on and continued to browse. And it started to hit me. Man these Air Max 270s aren’t the most comfortable. The Joyrides seemed to hug my foot in a way that I wasn’t even recognizing while they were on. But I wasn’t ready to admit what I know now. I moved to a pair of the VaporMax Plus. Wow, talk about stiff. And next to no cushion. What’s going on here?

Feeling a bit defeated, I decided to walk around to other stores and pick up some other things I needed. At this point, I couldn’t get the Joyride Flyknits out of my head. I talked myself into spending the money (surprise surprise) and taking the plunge. I tried them on one more time and this time I didn’t take them off. They felt so much more supportive and have an incredible cushion to them. And its not just from the beads, the entire sole is just a cushion.

Over the next few days I wore them at a conference that had us walking over 15,000 steps a day. The shoes stayed on my feet from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. They felt great all day long. I was thoroughly impressed. I then felt the need to run in them, wondering if the increased impact would cause the “sloppy” feeling I had read about. I didn’t notice any shifting in the beads and my footing felt quite secure the entire time. I can feel pretty uncomfortable in a sloppy shoe while running ever since I broke my ankle. I didn’t even think twice about it with the Joyrides. They continued to feel incredibly supportive with a great cushion.

I love this shoe. I will absolutely be buying more shoes with the Joyride technology. They’ve already released one other pair with it and I know the highly anticipated new Odell Beckham Jr. shoe features it as well.

Now I will say if you enjoy a shoe more like the Metcon, a bit more stiff, you will probably not enjoy this shoe as much as I do. I had been using a pair of Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 36’s before this, which I still find great and comfortable, but just not as great and comfortable as the Joyrides. If you do get a pair, wear the hell out of them, let them adapt to your foot. Then put them to the test. Do that and I think you’ll love them.