I Wrecked My Knee/For The Dover TT

See, it's funny 'cuz it rhymes!

But it's not funny because it's true.

So last Thursday I had a little knee/handlebar incident. It was your typical knee-to-mtb-shifter impact, cause by dropping the chain under extreme torque and leaving me almost unable to stand for several minutes. But I was able to get back on the bike, suck it up, and eventually it "loosened up" enough to finish the ride. So I had a massive bruise/puncture wound on my kneecap, whatever.

Of course, the bruise hurt a bit whenever my knee moved, so all my epic weekend mileage had a bit of a dull pain to it. But it was dull, you see? I managed eight hours of moderate intensity with only minor discomfort. So we're good!

Then last night I headed down to the Dover TT because I need to get in some seriously non-fun above-LT work... and while the Dover TT doesn't involve a number on your back, there's still a third party with a stopwatch which is close enough to a race to get me AMPED. (WATTS!)

The ride down was kind of a drag because I forgot my food at home and was kind of bonking, plus my knee was feeling at least as bad as it had on the weekend despite 2 more days of rest. I was almost feeling bad enough to turn around and go home when I got to Dover, but then I ate a Clif Bar and saw some of the MRC dudes, and I realized I did want to throw down, after all.

The results of said throwing-down were not very good -- 17 seconds behind my best time from last year, which sounds good only if my goal was "be as fast as last year," which it definitely isn't. I was beaten by a new Goguen, though, which is exciting. The only aero thing he had was shoe covers... so I've got no excuses.

Post-race, I started a 20-mile trek back to Somerville, and as soon as the adrenaline wore off something was wrong with my knee. "Tempo" became "soft-pedaling" which became "standing and turning my hip to push my leg over the top" which finally turned into "one-legged drills." By the time I got home, I knew that my awesome weekend plans (Sterling 4/5 Race followed by THE GAP RIDE) were toast and if I wasn't patient I could be flushing much of the MTB season as well.

In retrospect, what the hell was I thinking?

Comments

Big Bikes said…
That's weird man, usually the bumps don't lead to repetitive motion type issues...usually.

But then again you did wail the hell out your knee at HP, and you were crying like a big baby for what seemed like hours. I was about ready to get one of those Baby Buckets with the instructions on the side telling you how to properly dispatch a baby by inserting it head first in the bucket after filling it half way with water. I would have to get an extra large custom jobby though, because as illustrated by my photo-modeling your data-filled-enormous-cranium would not quite fit in the standard model.

Seriously though, ice up, rest up, and heal up.

-t
Nathaniel Ward said…
Rest, ice, rest, ice, rest, ice...you know how it goes. 5 days or a week off now is better than all of June off later. Bummer, heal up.
matt said…
take it from me (and nate)... rest now. f sterling and the other shit.

I hurt my knee march 1st... didn't rest. still hurts.
Luke S said…
This is why I'm scared of mountain biking, and will stick to equally life threatening collisions with pavement on small wheeled sticks. With long metal poles in my hand. In a thunderstorm.
jcox said…
this sounds strangely . . . familiar.
bang knee
ride on the road
feel soreness
bike anyway
continue to feel soreness
damn, this could ruin my summer!
mkr said…
You probably have residual swelling which is causing the patella to track wrong, and cause some groovy pain. I'd load up on Ibuprofen and ice it down. Also get a foam roller and start doing the IT band tango. I also use it to massage the hams, quads and calves.

You slugs oughta come out the the CBTT in scenic Concord. I'm also thinking about getting an informal/secret MTB TT going. Oh crap, did I just say that? I'm terrible with secrets.
Colin R said…
mkr -- I don't have a road license (seriously) so the CBTT would be like... $20 or something for me to do. Whereas dover is free. Plus I have an established/terrible PR there I can beat to make myself feel better.

The prob with an informal mtb TT would finding a location that *wasn't* full of dog-walkers/hikers on a weekday night. Nothing shuts your event down faster than pissed-off dog walkers :(

But if you have a location in mind -- I'm totally in. Provided I regain the ability to pedal someday.
Alex said…
Is this the same knee you sliced up before great glen two years ago?
Colin R said…
Nope, it's the other knee. Does this mean I qualify for old man status now?
gewilli said…
arnica montana - get some, the pellets and topical stuff - the stuff flat out works...

it is the only homeopathic stuff that doesn't stay in stock - because it is one of the only ones that you really actually notice working... but keep doing the ice and stuff...

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