Back in the saddle...

It is a gorgeous but windy day today so I got out on the bike this afternoon.  I did a road ride on my MTB (geared) to see how my knee would feel.

I wanted a nice and easy ride but the wind took care of that. Had a strong 20mph wind the entire time. My knee ached when I had trying to put a lot of power down while seated but it was fine other times.

The only time it hurt was when I jumped some curbs. I got some sharp pains from the impact.  All in all it was a good. I don't think I am ready for a trail ride yet. Maybe next weekend.

I wandered around and explored some new roads that have recently been put in.  I am hoping it will allow me to get to a hike and bike trail that I haven't had access to yet.  I can get so close but there is no way to get down under the bridge to get to the trail yet.  I noticed some trails in this new neighborhood, maybe they will connect to it.  If I can get to this trail it will give me an easy way to cross 121.

I am going to do some more road rides next week and hopefully the knee will feel good enough to get out on a trail next weekend!

Lateral subluxation of left patella, initial encounter Chondromalacia, left knee

To make a long story short, I went down on my bike last Saturday and twisted up my left knee.  I felt it "come apart" and I had to limp/coast on my bike back to the trail head.  Of course these thing always happen at the farthest point from the trail head.  Luckily (for me and not for him) my twin brother had flatted out and he was walking back to the trail head too.  So I had some company.

Initially, I was pretty damn worried.  My knee hurt A LOT and I couldn't put much weight on it at all.  I was able to get into see my ortho last Tuesday.  He pushed, pulled, twisted, and x-rayed the knee.  He was confident that I didn't do any additional damage to the knee but just aggravated existing injuries. The lovely feeling of my knee coming apart was my knee cap dislocating.  This is the 2nd time in my life I have done to my knee.  This time was not anywhere near like the first but it still wasn't pleasant.

So 3 years ago when I saw him about my knee (Chondromalacia, "runners knee") because of some pain while running.  At the time he said there were 2 small spurs on the knee cap and minor arthritis. Now, those spurs not small and I have been upgraded to moderate arthritis. Bottom line, at some point in the next 10-15 years my knee will degenerate and I will need a knee replacement.

So because of the inflammation he wanted me to stay off the bike for 1-2 weeks.  I'm bad, because I have been doing some light spinning but I actually think it is helping my knee feel better.   I tried walking but that seemed my anger my knee so I just did really light spinning on my exercise bike and then tried the trainer for the first time last night.

I don't think I will get on a bike outside until maybe later next week.  While the knee feels a lot better and doesn't hurt while spinning (at least with little resistance) it still doesn't feel 100% stable and one slip or fall might put me back to square one.

So at this point, progress is good.  Knee feels a ton better after a week.  For right now, I am stuck inside on the bike.  Looking forward to getting back out on those trails though.

However, this injury and other factors have lead me to drop the 12 hour race that I was going to do at the end of May from my schedule.  I probably won't be back on my bike until the first of March and that was when my 12 week training plan was going to start.  And I will be behind from day 1 of the plan.  UGH.  My knee stopped me at the 6 hour mark at this race last year and I'm just worried that I will be back in the same boat.  I might regret the decision later but right now I am okay with it.  I just want to get back on the bike and enjoy riding.  :)

Here is an x-ray of my knee caps for you to enjoy.