Last night, I picked up Blue from Rich, making today the maiden voyage for the new Fox F100 RLX forks. I hope my expectations are not too high. But after running Fox forks on Blue for the last two years and spending the last two weeks riding on some crappy $150 Manitous, I doubt I will be disappointed. Spent about an hour last night dialing in all the settings (sag: 9/16''; PSI: 80; rebound adjustment: 6; blow-off threshold adjustment: 6), and I'm ready to ride.

Of course they feel great. So plush and smooth. Ah baby, all hail the technology of suspension. However, because of its different geometry and gearing, Blue always takes a little getting used after we've spent time away from each other. Countering this and muting the differences on hills, Blue is noticeably lighter than the Hoo-E and has lockouts on both suspension systems. Blue felt good, but I was little off-balance on the downhills. Blue sits up a little higher than the Hoo-E, so you've got to focus a little harder on your weight distribution while descending. Uh, as we know, focus is not always my strong suit out there on the trail. I've still got the annoying clunking in the rear wheel at high torque, but as I mentioned, I'm running these Spinergys into the ground so I can justify some new Bontragers. Ain't no clunking gonna slow me down.

Fog over EG	Sunless Sunshine Valley	My defiled slot in the MBC

As usual, I busted a full backside EG (made the Crack), then pushed up the Cabrillo to the horse hills where I got turned around a couple of times in the heavy fog and ended up doing some backtracking down to the hospital. From the hospital, I rolled to Sunshine Valley and took that back to McNee, then on to the base of the Gray Whale Trail (GWT). Making the back turn, I flicked on the lights (running both lights tonight) and made for Moss Beach County (MBC) and the Fitz. I shrieked down the White Whale (missed the cement pole this time, see September 25: 2004: Are you now . . .) and headed out to Mavericks. What a trip. It was so foggy out there that the visibility was about 10 feet, and I had to slow to about 5 MPH just to stay on the trail, which I could barely make out in the pea soup. It was creepy and eerie. The lights washed out everything and the sand the fog melded together and I literally could not tell where I was going. I finally made it out the ocean and it was very unsettling to hear it pounding, very close, but not be able to see it at all. My mustache and beard were dripping wet with moisture.

Aside from the Scooby Doo creeps at Mavericks, I had no trepidations about riding in the dark tonight. Usually, I have a couple moments of nervousness when my lights catch a stalk of pampas grass the right way or I hear some movement in the bush, but tonight. I felt very comfortable and relaxed.

Two separate deer sightings tonight; one of the deer was a buck with a nice rack.