Saturday 21 August 2010

the knee story

no cycling posts for a while you might well observe. and this a race weekend. what have i been up to? up and down the glens, trying out unrelenting hill circuits around the house and generally readying myself for long days in the saddle?

all of these. it may be that i'll never be much of an endurance cylist and it's very likely i'll never show off the most skills but this year especially i've got my legs into a state of brutalising strength so muhc so that i can;t cycle with anyone as they can't cycle long enough, far enough or fast enough. all good then for the racing you might say.

which is true. except for one small detail - i'm having difficulty walking. i'd noticed niggling pains in my left knee and an increasing tendency for it to give way until last month i stopped being able to walk uphill and was struggling to walk home. i could still cycle but walking? no way?

i tried getting a quick mri/arthroscopy but it turns out in the world of orthopaedics i'm no young enough, female enough or pretty enough to be done any favours. with no strings left to pull i'm left flailing in the world of gp. i'll keep you posted.

so where does this leave me? getting fatter and unfitter and it's not pretty esp as this is the best summer i've had for years. am i bothered? to an extent yes but at the same time i have to accept my best days are behind me and i'll be, even in a best case scenario, cycling less years in future than i already have done. as such i've been enjoying the bike more and more with the certain knowledge that i'm enjoying a finite activity and this has communicated itself to the rest of my life. doing something is always better than moaning about something you can't!

5 comments:

Niamh B said...

a valuable lesson swiss, thanks for sharing it so eloquently!

Marion McCready said...

bad news on the knee, hope you find out what's causing it. i've barely ridden a bike for years, used to love it as well

Dominic Rivron said...

Hope you get sorted. Another niggle refugee (as you know - I won't go on about the groin strain again, actually it's quite a lot better, but I can still. .. argh! no! I'll shut up) I've recently discovered wild swimming. A mate and I have been having great fun in the River Swale. (Roughly, it is to swimming up and down a pool what road cycling/running is to mountainbiking/fellrunning). And a bit of fat is quite useful what with the cold water.

swiss said...

i used to be quite into swimming - but a 2/3 wetsuit makes all the difference here! last time i was out was years ago in the linn of dee. after that the surfing took over (which in turn kind of stopped due to dodgy shoulderness!)

the onyl drawback i've found here is mainly the saftey issue but as we're about to get ourselves a canoe t can help out with that.

overall i can't say i'm impressed with this wear and tear thing that's going on! lol

kate said...

that's a very philosophical approach to knee niggles. chin up old bean and keep enjoying the miles that you can.
....have you tried bribery ;)