Since my last report Aug 25th at Raging River several things have happened. I played with the new flow at East Japanese Gulch and bent my ring finger way back (ring will never come off now!). I also lost my rear shifter that same ride. However, today, I got my gravel bike back from Bothell Ski and Bike after they installed my new Fox 32AX gravel fork. I immediately took the bike to Blythe Park and began the test ride on the Tolt Pipeline from there and went all the way to West Snoqualmie Valley Rd where I went North and returned on Woodinville-Duvall Road to make a nice 26 mile test run. The fork performed great! I need to check a few settings out still to find my personal preferences. The fork only has a 40mm travel, but for gravelling, it takes out so much of the handlebar shock from rides and the palms and fingers aren't fatigued or knumbed from the steep or rough descents. The shortly spaced road lane turtles on the roads, while at downhill speeds, are easy to take with the fork also. Rumble strips are on my next test plan. If you like going off the double track or gravelling on possible primitives, this fork is great.

The pipeline trail is in great shape but the grass was slick with the new rains and I went down once during a bumpy downhill fork test. The climb from Blythe Park is brutal and some hike a bike will be needed with gravel tires. There are also a couple breaks in the trail where local roads connect separate trail sections. The rain held off this afternoon and it turned out to be a wonderful day and a huge success! The GPS Track and pictures for this ride are here.