On the rebound…
I finally got to ride pain free yesterday. 18 days ago I did a 10 hour, 150 mile ride from my place in Atlanta out to the AL border and back. I started with a big group on the Sliver Comet Trail (a paved rails-to-trails path). We headed west for Rockmart where the trail ends, but there is a road route that continues to Cedartown where the trail picks up again for the last 10 or so miles to AL. I was left to my own insanity about 10 miles into that 20 mile road segment. The pace had been slow and the group navigating ate up a lot of time, so I was happy to be on my own with just my thoughts and my own pace.
It was roughly 5.5 hours total time out to AL and 3.5 back. The tail wind, my own pace, no wrong turns, and a certain urgency that the setting sun brings added to my hurried return. During that return I felt a dull ache in my left knee. I didn’t think much of at the time, but as the pain increased I considered bailing. One problem…no phone. I hastily headed out without my cell and besides I thought Namrita had gone to a team meeting so didn’t think there was anyone to retrieve me. I pushed on home, ate everything in the house, iced my knee and left asleep on the couch.
The next day I could barely move my knee. Start the ice and rest. The swelling subsided after another day, so I tried to ride again. I made about it 30 minutes before the pain was back. More ice and rest. The following weekend I was supposed to ride the Tour de Felasco, but only made to the lunch stop before limping back to the car. More ice and rest. I did yoga, got a massage, stretched, iced, elevated…… but no riding for one more week. Last Saturday I tried again, but no go. I did get the garage cleaned and my King Kikapu tuned up.
Finally yesterday after way too much time off I got to ride for an hour without pain. This will change my early season ambitions (like the Carter Park 6 Hour this Sunday), but maybe it will leave me a little more fresh for the big races in May, June, & July. Time will tell. BTW – I think the real culprit was a slipping seatpost that put in a bad position on a really long ride.
I’m still heading to FL to check out the race mentioned above, meet with my sponsors American Classic, get a bike fit at Chainwheel Drive and hand out some BURN samples at USF.