Introducing the Bloody Bastard

There is nothing like the feel of a new bike under your feet....

In 2008 I got my first mountain bike as part of writing my Best Rides Philadelphia book. I needed the mountain bike to do some of the trail rides for the book. After the book was done I kept mountain biking mostly in the winter when I couldn't get on the road because of the cold or snow. The mountain bike I got in 2008 was a used Giant Yukon from the Trenton Bike Exchange. The bike was at least 15 years old when I got it. It was good mountain bike and served me well but was really showing its age and was too old to consider upgrading its components.

It's amazing how many different types of mountain bikes there are. Between wheel size, suspension choices and frame types there are thousands of decisions you have to make to choose a bike. After a couple weeks of searching online I finally went to a some bike shops to talk to people about what bikes were available for the type of riding I do. After riding a few I found the general style of bike I wanted then just had to find the exact model.

What I chose was the Jamis Hijack A1. This is a 27.5", one by hard-tail. I chose 27.5 vs 29 inch because 27.5 is more maneuverable and will be a little better for the times I'm in the woods on a single track. The 1 x 10 gearing simplifies the shifting as there is no front derailleur. With a 30 T up front and an 11-42 in back it has plenty of range for any hill I would need to climb while still moving quick enough on the flats. I thought of getting a dual suspension but it would have been twice the price and not really worth it for the type of riding I do. The bike only comes in one color "Blood Red" so it seems like naming it the Bloody Bastard fits it.

I got the bike in early March and did a few solo rides on the canal and LHT trail to tweak the set up and learn how it handles. This weekend I took it for a real test as Chris Bob and I went up the Perkiomen trail.

I had hope to get a few more people join us but most people had other obligations. The main reason for this ride, besides giving the new bike a good workout, was for Bob to do some training as he is planning a mountain bike vacation in July.

I meet Chris in Bordentown for the drive to Collegeville. My new bike has a through axle and is a little bit longer the the old bike so I had to make some changes to my rack. Luckily the pipes of my bed extender can be easily removed to allow the bike to fit.

Chris's dual suspension bike also has a through axle but I had an adapter that allowed us to get his bike in my car too although it was a bit of a struggle.

We got to Collegeville a few minutes before Bob got there. After admiring the bike we headed up the trail. The plan was to head up 12 miles to the end of the trail then do a loop around the lake in Green Lane before heading back. The Perkiomen trail is a well maintained scenic trail. Although we had to push the start of the ride back an hour because of some rain by the time we started it was mostly sunny and warm.

It was really a pleasant ride to Green Lane and sun was fully out by the time we got there. The last time I did this ride we started by Valley Forge and just went up to Green Lane and back, The lake in the Green Lane park is vast and scenic so I started this ride a little further north so we had some miles to tour the lake.

There are trails around the lake and based on my research they looked like they were flat trails around the lake as the few pictures on google showed gravel trails. When we actual started around the lake the trails were not marked very well. I had a map on my phone with the planned route and manage to get up to the trail.

It turned out the Red trail that I wanted to take was more a single track hilly trail than the flat rail trail I thought it would be. However we decided to do it any way because Chris didn't mind and it would give me a chance to test the new bike out on some real mountain biking trails. Once we got to the top of the hill the single track was a lot easier and Bob looked like he was almost enjoying it.

After a few miles we got to the a parking lot where there were a lot of horse trailers. The red trail then became a dirt road and was what I had actually had expected. This made the riding easy. The only thing that slowed us down was the many horses on the trail. We ran into may groups of people riding horses. We must have seen a least 40 horses or more. Most didn't seem to be afraid of bikes but there were a few that were so we had to stop a few time to let them slowly pass.

The only problem with the rest of the red trail was a river that we had to cross. Chris of course just tried to ride right through it and even with his wheel half way deep in the water he almost made it across before having to put his feet down. Bob and I chose to hike up to the road and take the dryer way. We followed the road the rest of the way to the top of the lake. I took a couple pictures of the lake but didn't really capture how nice it really was.

Instead of doing the trail back down the other side of the lake I stuck to the road. The only problem is that meant climbing up to the ridge. It was a long steep climb so I'm glad I had the mountain bike gearing. I didn't realize when looking at the map that the lake was surrounded by mountains. We probably did a few 300+ feet climbs on our way around the lake.

On the road we ran into a dead end and decided to head back onto the trail. We had another mile or so of single track popping over roots and rocks before getting to a boat house where another climb got us back on the road. From the road it was mostly downhill back to where we started the trip around the lake. We took a break to recover from the ride around the lake. I was happy with the way the new bike handled. It definitely rolls over roots and rock a lot better then the old bike and has more traction than the old bike so I can go up muddy hills with out slipping as much. It was also nice to have a functional shock as it absorbed the trail much better than the old bike. The bike was now fully broken in and a little muddy

Since this is a new bike I did protect it a little to keep it from getting too scratched up. On the down tube I add some helicopter tape. This is clear tape that is used on the edge of helicopter blades to prevent dust and rock debris from chipping the blades. It should help prevent chipping of the paint on the down tube from the rocks that get thrown up from the trail. I also added a pair of fenders. The front fender is actually attached to the down tube and prevents debris from spraying on me and the water bottle cage. Its just a piece of plastic velcoed to the down tube but seems to work pretty well.

After our break we made the ride back down the trail. The only tough part on the way back was a 12% climb that is needed to get over a ridge. It's short but steep but I didn't have any problem making it up with the new bike.

The only problem with doing the Perkiomen trail is that there is no real place to stop to get food. We did find an ice cream shop that had gatoraid about 5 miles from the end. The ice cream was good but it would have been better to find a Deli some where along the way.

By the time we got back to the parking lot we had gone 36 miles with around 1600 ft of climbing. This is long for a mountain bike ride. I was a little beat but was very happy with the way the new bike felt. It is definitely a big upgrade from the previous bike and is a lot more comfortable and easier to ride. Bob wants to do some more mountain riding this summer to get ready for his trip so I'm sure this bike will be out on the trail on occasion for most of this riding season.

This was a long but fun day. I will definitely do the Perkiomen trail again. Now that I know what to expect on the trails and roads around the lake I should be able to put together a route to avoid the bumpy single track parts and create a ride every body should be able to do.