After three days of riding, I wake up 137 mi / 220 km from my origin – Melbourne, Victoria (Victoria, by the way, is a state in Australia since I am certain that some of you do not know this).
I'm not sure whether this would be considered a “good pace”, but I'm happy with it.
Something I'm not happy about? My knee. My knee is having me actually think that I may have to abandon this trip in the interest of not doing permanent damage to myself
I can hear the conversation with my doctor now, “You seem to have some irreversible damage to the cartilage in your knee. To be honest, it's amazing you're even walking. You haven't ever done any sort of long-distance bicycling trip without proper training, have you?”
I really don't want to become one of those people who hates hiking uphill and downhill.
Something needs to be done.
Apparently any number of things could be the source of my current disability: seat position, seat height, foot position, the way I'm pedaling (there's probably a cycling term for this), the way I'm not pedaling, or probably something else that hasn't even crossed my mind.
I should have had those mates of mine at the bike shop (also, have I mentioned that they call bicycles “push-bikes” in Australia?) fit me on this thing before I made my hasty exit.
Protip: don't be like me – make sure you research proper bike fit before your trip.
For now, I raise my seat and just try to ignore the pain shooting through my leg on each and every upstroke. Is that what you call it? An upstroke? If it's not, then I'm confident you understand what I'm saying.
The pain in my knee is worrying to the point of “this might be serious” so I select Ararat as a nice sounding town to spend the night – and tomorrow – in recovering.
On the agenda for tomorrow? A trip to the pharmacy to find a knee brace (do those work) and ibuprofen.
Should this preliminary mission prove successful I will fill the rest of the day with sloth and gluttonous acts whilst indulging myself with daytime Australian TV (which consists mostly of Master Chef and Dr. Phil.
Oh, and a bee stung me in the neck today.
- START: Red Kangaroo Roadhouse, Victoria
- END: Ararat, Victoria
- DAY'S DISTANCE: 25.4 mi / 40.9 km
- TOTAL DISTANCE: 162.2 mi / 261 km
All the best Mac. I did exactly the same on my first long distance bike trip – also done with zero training. Sorry to say you might find that it takes more than a day to come right though. Hey you never did tell us which bike you bought in the end.
I got the Fuji Tour! I’m working on a post about all my gear, but it’s taking a bit longer than I would like. Maybe by the time the knee is better I’ll have it ready 🙂
Best wishes as you encounter these obstacles – hope the rest day gets your knee ready for additional abuse.
Thanks! If I’ve learned anything it’s that all of life’s problems can be solved through bullish stubbornness – knee issues included.