From now until whenever it is that I can pry open my coinpurse and shell out some ducats for a new set of forks for Blue, I'll be riding the Hoo-E. The plan is to buy new forks for Blue, take the old forks off of Blue and send them to Fox for a rebuild, then put them on the Hoo-E. Timekeeper, please start the clock on this project. My bet is the whole shee-bang won't be done until turkey time.

I set out to do at least a double Quarry, and possibly more. This was going to be a hills day. Climbed the first Quarry hills with only moderate difficulty, but immediately on the way down, I noticed a disconcerting level of unsteadiness. After some monitoring, I determined that the rear brake pads were worn down and were no longer making good contact with the rim face. Testing revealed almost no rear braking power at all. After gently picking my way down the hill, I decided to stick to the flatter trails today and replace both sets of pads before the next scheduled trail ride.

Top o' the world Ma	Business as usual in The Crack	A view from the coastal trails

From the Quarry, I rolled up to the Inspiration Point complex and rather easily pulled The Crack. I then wheeled around and headed south down the coastal bike path and trails. I went a couple of windbreaks past the BMX track, but not all the way to Strawberry Ranch. The Hoo-E rolled very well, but could definitely use the two extra teeth on the big ring that come with an XTR crankset.

Another beautiful early fall day on the coast: clear and mild, with a strong wind out of the northwest. No animals of note.