396

That's a pretty short title, eh?
I haven't done that in a while, me thinks.

I went out for another Pachaug ride yesterday (Sunday), but this time I changed things up a bit.
I went late in the day and rode from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm, until sunset.
Since I had one hour of riding time, I concentrated on my favorite whoops through the pine needled woods section, making the usual 2.7 mile loop out of that.
I did 22.2 miles, so that means 8 times around.
Funny, it seemed like more laps than that.
I guess the odometer don't lie.

I decided to go late in the day because for the past two weekends, the bright sunshine mid-day has made me squint like a mad man.
Light conditions were much better this time, I do say.
If this coming weekend is bright, I'm using two tinted goggle lenses at the same time.

How did the suspension work on the whooped section?
Since this section of trail is faster than most of the Pachaug loop, I can easily feel the imbalance in the front-to-rear ride heights (due to the lower fork oil level which allows supple fork action, but effectively results in a softer fork spring rate) whenever pressure is put onto the front fork, as when braking for a corner, or even just rolling off the throttle.
On the slower sections of trail, no big deal.
So, while the supple fork action is fine in the slower going, I still want to try to get a better front-to-rear balance with the spring rates, and the next step is to try a rear shock spring that is one step softer.
I'm guessing that it will make an improvement, but to what degree can ony be discovered by testing it.
So, I hope to have the softer rear shock spring installed for this coming weekend's ride.

-John