...should get an update out

Blog has been a bit stagnant. Not really sure why. I have been riding a bit and things are busy as ever around the house. Guess it is just waiting out the Spring stretch that gets most bloggers a bit quiet, holding their breath for warm weather and dry trails. It has been a bit of a roller coaster this year. Every time the trails get to a stable, dry enough to ride, condition it has snowed or rained again. Pretty frustrating.

I got in 2 rides this weekend and another ride earlier in the week. With all of the weather dodging I am stacking in as many rides as I can when the trails are clear. So my riding is also on the roller coaster. Seems like I go a week or so without riding and then will get 2-4 days of back to back riding. Gotta say that sometimes I really miss the consistancy of riding in Northern California. But for now living in N.Alabama I have to take it any way I can get it. Fortunately there is some diversity in trails so that even when some trails are soaking wet others can be ridden, mainly because they are entirely made of rocks.

As of last week I received my X-Fusion Vector HLR back from the factory.

Looks like the new internals have fixed the obnoxious clunking during the hysteresis. I am happy to report that this shock is working great. My DH runs have been butter smooth and climbing traction is unstopable. As far as function this is the best shock I have run to date. There is definitely something to the Hi/Low speed compression control. It allows for good small bump sensitivity while still being able to take high speed and big impacts without spiking. Looks like Fox's new DHX RC4 has moved to this platform as well. But at this point companies like Avalanche, Elka, Cane Creek, and X-Fusion are already 2 steps ahead. Each with their own spin on the technology and tuning preferences. I am favoring the X-Fusion since the canister pressure and volume are externally adjustable by the rider. Elka and Avalanche are only tuneable by the factory. At any rate, time will tell if X-Fusion is durable enough to get 2 thumbsup.

Just over a week ago I got in the first night ride of the season. I got off work and the weather was warm, too nice to pass up. So I called up Matt and we headed out for a spin. Unfortunately the planning was lacking so my light wasn't charged up. I got by with an LED headband though and we had a nice ride. I do like the focus, intensity, and pace of a night ride. Nothing quite like it. Hopefully I will be able to set a more regular night ride up with Matt out on the Arsenal trails this summer.

This just in...
It snowed again this morning. Melted as soon as it touched anything, but snow none the less. It isn't really cold(about 36F, but feels warmer to me), but I guess up in the clouds it is cold enough. We are still trending up in temperature. Saturday afternoon was my first short sleave ride of the year. Things are looking up inspite of the snow this am.