Life Spoke

I rode last Thursday with my friend Eric Birkhauser. Another hill ride south of Eugene. Some of the hills are pretty steep and I'm not used to the high gearing of the road bike (only two gears in the front 42-52 and six in the back 13-24). My thighs alone weren't enough to get me up the hills. I started pulling the pedals up through the top part of the stroke (remember I was clipped into special pedals with shoes that Shimano sent me for this purpose). It's difficult to explain but basically I was cranking on the pedal from 9 o'clock all the way to 6 o'clock (3/4 of the circle).
After a few long hills with this kind of work my left knee started getting sore. After the ride I iced it a bunch. I rested on Friday, and then Saturday I swam for 30 minutes. Sunday evening I got back on the bike, intending only to do flat riding with lots of spinning (high pedal RPMs and easier gears).
I rode west out of Eugene into a pretty strong head wind. Before I knew it, I was working almost as hard as I had been when climbing hills. It only lasted 45 minutes or so and then I turned across the wind. 30 minutes later I turned east and was getting a nice tailwind. Spinning on flat, narrow country roads my average speed was about 21 mph.
Everything was fine for a while; no knee pain, sweet sunset, light traffic. With only eight miles to go something changed. The pain had started back and went from a one to about a six in a single pedal revolution. I got home after 2:15 of riding and iced it for the rest of the night.
Yesterday I went to my buddy Kenji Carp. He's the physical therapist who fixed the same knee six months ago. I originally injured it training for the Philadelphia marathon three years ago. Kenji was happy to see me at 5pm. He'd tacked me onto the end of his busy schedule for the day.
After twisting my knee around and having me do some tests he found the problem. Basically, the tendon (sartorius) that connects from my hip across my thigh to the inside rear of my knee is the culprit. Luckily, he thinks between ice, stretching and a comprehensive hip strengthening regimen I should be in good shape to keep training. He shot a bunch of therapeutic UV light into the tendon area and asked me to come back later this week.
The source of the problem is complex but comes down to three things. The wallet I sit on in my left hip pocket might be tightening the muscle connected to the offending tendon. Also, I've been training hills that are too steep for the gearing I have on my bike. And the bike seat was adjusted too high. I fixed the wallet problem and just have to stick to longer, flatter rides for a month or so.
My excitement at such a benign diagnosis is only matched by my previous nervousness and uncertainty about it. I got home from Kenji's office, changed into mountain biking gear and rode over to Eric's house. We put in 17 miles on the trails south of Eugene. It was nice to get on my mountain bike and get off the road. I really love riding that bike and the gearing is so much easier than the road bike. We each went over the handlebars once, but were both fine.
I iced my knee all night after the ride and again today while I was at work. This evening I stretched a ton and worked out at home. I've been icing it off and on all evening.
For the bike, I dropped the seat and moved it back a touch. Hopefully these changes will take care of the problem until I can get a touring bike that's the right size and gearing for me. In the meantime, I'm going to stay off the huge, steep hills and do what I can to keep the RPMs up.

I wanted to mention that my fundraising is going incredibly well. If you're reading this you are probably one of the awesome people that have contributed. Thank you.
I have a lot of names to mention, so here goes:
Rich Bascue is my dad; he donated for his co-leader in Boy Scouts, Chris Hughes. Dorothy Merereau and Carla Nickelsen are long time friends of Dan Harrington here in Oregon. Anne Nodes and Marci Fourre and my mom's friends through artwork, they've known me since I was 13 and they both do beautiful stain glass. Alan Swartz is Marci's coworker. Molly and Emily Bernath are friends and climbing partners who I know from Rutgers, they're both doing a breast cancer fundraiser in Boston. Clayton and Liz Spurell are Tracey's friends from college and high school, thanks guys! The Ferdinando Family lives a few doors down from my parents; Joe and I worked together to fight a road widening project that would have ruined the rural feel of our island in New Jersey. Gavin Lau and Nick Wirth are friends from the EPA in NYC, both incredible athletes. Jason Kuo is the guy whose eye I almost gouged a few weeks ago in Washington, strong dude for sure!

Oh yeah, if you want photos from the mountaineering trip in Washington:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/abumyn/album?.dir=/61f0scd&.src=ph&.tok=phk96MFB1h5G3Gx3

Thank you so much, everyone. Having you all read this and donate is a huge motivation!

Drew

# posted by Andrew Bascue @ 6:38 AM