Not much for me to say about today’s ride. Its the longest I’ve ridden since I had my knees replaced. As you can tell it took a lot out of me.
The day took its toll on Chris as well. Here he is at the 27 mile mark.
The afternoon started with my replacing my rear tire and tube. Once I’d upgraded to my beloved Bontrager Hardcase tire, we headed out. The temperatures were in the low 80s, but the Perkiomen Trail is shaded for much of its length. Still, Chris is extremely sensitive to sunlight, so he dressed in long sleeves and pants, and brought along the Joe Cool sunglasses as well.
Our route took us from the Port Providence trailhead on the Schuylkill River Trail to Oaks, where we switched to the gravel Perkiomen Trail to past Schwenksville. This was a workout for both of us. While I am a hundred pounds lighter than Chris, my stamina isn’t up to his level. Fortunately most of the rises on the trail were little or brief. The only one I had to push myself on is the detour around a home – when the trail was constructed in 2003 one man vowed to keep the project in the courts forever rather than allow the trail through his access to the creek. So the county had to build the trail up and around his house, leading to an out of nowhere climb and descent.
Chris, ever contrary, argued with me about the legitimacy of the homeowner fighting the trail….
“I saw the trail and the guy’s house, and he was right to keep the trail from cutting in his backyard.”
“Dude, now isn’t the time or place. Did you ride that climb? I tasted my breakfast getting up that.”
“Wuss.”
After ice cream at the turn around, we headed back. Although it was technically downhill, we were both tired. I had a sore butt and hands, Chris had numbness in his butt and feet. In my case it was because I still need to work out the fit on Notung and get used to my new Brooks. For Chris, I cannot say the cause of his problems. He suspects a pinched nerve from his bike’s seat.
Having to stop for soreness and numbness means photographs. Here is Perkiomen Creek from the first big bridge, near Graterford.
Chris crossing the same bridge.
And the inevitable Notung photo.
At the end of the day I’m sore, dehydrated, and tired. In other words, I had a great time and I hope to do it again, but for a longer distance.
June 11, 2013 @ 4:54 pm
Good report. Do the butterfly bars help with the numbness issues?
June 12, 2013 @ 3:29 am
No, unfortunately. The biggest problem I have is my poor sense of balance. I need to keep my hands on the bars to remain upright, and too often I have the bars in a death grip. The butterfly bars were a cheap alternative to converting to a flat bar.
June 12, 2013 @ 11:08 pm
I put Sparrow bars on my Terry Classic. It gives me a nice upright ride with the hands in a very natural position. However, there is only one position unlike the trekking bars. But, they are comfortable and I like them a whole lot better than the flat bars with bar ends that were originally on this bike. My husband has problems with numbness and I was thinking trekking bars for him but also considering some kind of swept back bars like the Sparrow bars. Hard to know what will work best for him. He also has balance issues.
June 12, 2013 @ 7:50 pm
Deaver Here
Did the adjustment we made to the angle, help any?
You can move the spacers to under the stem to raise the bars even more.
June 13, 2013 @ 3:53 am
Deaver, thanks again for the help on Sunday. It was nice to meet you. However, adjusting the handlebars didn’t help my problem. I may adjust the height before my next long ride, and see how that goes.