Sore Knee = Mountain Bike Withdrawals

During the Tour of Elgin Race 2 weekends ago, I started experiencing some discomfort in my left knee at around the 50km mark of the race. It wasn’t very painful and didn’t really affect my performance during the race, so I took an Aleeve and kept on going.

The following morning, I woke up and my knee was quite sore and I could barely bend it. I figured I had probably over used it and just needed to take it easy for a week or so. So last week I decided that it would be best to stay off the bike and just rest up. The knee starting feeling much better and only started being sore when I would try walking up stairs or walking for a long period of time. Last Friday I finally stopped taking some pain killers and really took it easy during the long weekend.

Tuesday morning I got to work and my knee was feeling quite good, so I decided to try and go up the stairs. Big mistake, by the time I got up the stairs and made it to my office, the knee was hurting again. On Wednesday evening, they were hosting a night ride/fundraiser for Wayne and Stephanie at Island View and I really wanted to attend but I knew my knee wouldn’t be up for it. I almost had myself convinced to give it a try, but that long first climb at Island View and a missing front wheel on my bike convinced me to stay home.

It had now been over a week and a half since I had been off the bike and I was starting to have withdrawals. Some of the best mountain biking of the season was now upon us and I was pretty bummed that I wasn’t able to ride.

After almost 2 weeks of taking it easy, my knee is feeling a lot better but it’s still nowhere near where I’d like it to me. So I’ve decided to book an appointment with a physiotherapist on Monday morning to see what exactly is wrong and what I can do to help me heal quicker. From doing a bit of reading, it appears that I’m having issues with my Illiotibial Band. I guess this is a very common injury for cyclist and hopefully he will be able to give me some exercises to allow me to stretch it out and get me back on the bike soon.