I never set a goal for 2021, but I made sure that whenever the thought of cycling entered my head (e.g., Hmmm, the rain stopped, I wonder if I should go for a ride), I would go for a ride. It’s a good way to rack up the Strava numbers without the pressure of reaching a preset goal. Rode 2,400k and climbed 20,000m in 2021.
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Ha. That’d be nice, but it’d also get me fired in a hurry.
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Ok, bad phrasing. I should say, whenever I debated with myself whether I should go cycling, I made sure the pro-cycling side would win.
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Oh, I knew what you meant, I’m just being obnoxious.
But I’m definitely glad I had a few rides this past year that turned rainy, and it was still fine. I’ve been too apprehensive of riding in the rain. I’m still not going to set out on a rainy day, but I’m much less concerned about dealing with a bit of rain, and, as you say, that helps the arguments of the pro-cycling angel on one shoulder.
The main issue right now is figuring out when my recovering knee is OK to get back on the bike. The physiotherapist said the cycling motion is fine, as long as I keep the knee in line with the foot and ankle. But I’m not sure what that means for twisting the foot off the pedal, or standing at lights. I may look into if the gym at my university has monthly memberships, and try a stationary bike for a while.
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You might try clipping out with your other foot for lights to minimize this action on the leg with the bad knee. Maybe even switch to traditional pedals for a while? I sometimes ride with running shoes with my special pedals when I ride with my son. It’s not the best set up but completely possible.
Oh and maybe you can start lifting weights at the gym. We all should be doing some kind of weight training (I’m giving myself this advice as well!).
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This is worth looking into a fitting for you to your bike. It’s a bit costly, but worth it to prevent any further injury.
You could also start simple with short easy rides and slowly make your way into the mountains on longer rides.
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You might want to loosen the cleat tension on your pedal to minimize the pressure on your knee when you unclip. I’ve always ridden with a light cleat tension. It saved me a few times from toppling over when I forgot to unclip.
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Thanks all for the suggestions.
I resumed lifting dumbbells at home a couple of weeks ago, after around a month off because I was (overly?) cautious about how much to stress the knee. It’s sort of fun - it’s the first time in a few years that lifting has really hurt, and I’ve had quite a bit of pain two days later! But I’m still taking it easy with the different videos: “Ok, for this one go into a deep squat.” “Nope, won’t be doing that!”
Oh yeah, I’ll be doing that for sure. First couple of rides may even be YouBike on the flatter parts of Danshui, just to see how the knee feels, especially when coming to a stop.
I guess it’s mildly inconvenient that the twisted knee is also the one I almost always rest on at lights. But we’ll see. The physiotherapist gave me the go-ahead for starting to exercise more, and already in the past week I’ve noticed a lot of progress, so that’s good.
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