A small triumph

This week's visit to the physio went very well. With vast improvements to my knee, the physio pulled and poked me about more than normal and somehow seems to have done some magic! I felt like I was walking on air when I left! Not surprisingly my knee became very sore again afterwards, but since then it's been a lot better overall.

On Friday night we went to the gym so I could tackle the exercise bike again. I used a different bike this time and managed to get going straight away, so I set myself a target of 10 minutes. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, I managed to keep going on the lowest level, so that was fab! Just to compare my progress to last time, I also went back to the type of exercise bike I'd tried the first time, which are apparently harder to get started on. It took me a couple of attempts to keep cycling long enough to set the programme to a low level, but I got there and did another 5 minutes, just so I could appreciate the difference to last time. I wanted to keep going, but knew I was likely to be sore afterwards, so decided to leave it there. As predicted, my leg was very painful later, but amazingly seemed ok again by the next day, so I'm delighted! Ant has threated to start videoing me if I keep showing off my mobility and sqealing 'look at me!' every time I manage something new, so I'll have to try and contain my excitement! I'm determined to get out for a short ride on my bike this week....so watch this space!

Looking ahead, Ant and I have signed ourselves up for the Brittany trip at the end of May, so I have a new target to aim for! Kirby came over in the week and inspired us with tales of previous trips and the plans for this trip. I'm reassured to know that there are longer and shorter cycling routes for each day, with the chance for a rest day as well, so I can see how I'm doing by then and plan my trip accordingly. (There's also a train back from the furthest point, so even in the worst case scenario I should be able to get home again!) It's fantastic to be planning ahead and to have a trip to France to look forward to.

The hunt for new bikes is also well and truly on now. We took a trip out to Crediton yesterday to see the bikes they had in stock in Crediton. Ant will probably get a bike very soon and they had the bike I've been considering in stock out at Crediton, so once I'm back on the bike again, I will arrange to go out and try it. The rain and gales forecast for today don't seem to have materialised, so if it stays dry this afternoon I might even try and get out on my bike today...eeek!

Having fun with Physio!

Well I know I said at the end of my last blog that I was hoping for gold stars when I went to see the physio. What I didn't quite bank on was finding myself back at home massaging my knee with star shaped ice cubes! The good news is that my knee now has much more movement in it. The exercises are clearly working and I'm definitely making progress. I still have a very tender area around my knee cap, hence being advised to massage the area with ice cubes (they didn't have to be star shaped, ours just happen to be like that!). I've also been given some exercises to start building up my thigh muscles again, which is good.

Last night I had a major breakthrough with one of my exercises! Hoorah! I can now stand on one leg and get hold of my foot when I lift my poorly knee up behind me. I was extremely excited about this and possibly overdid it a bit, doing it several times over and then heading out to the kitchen to demonstrate my new found skill to Anthoney! Not surprisingly my knee has been rather sore today...but I'm delighted to see such good progress.

I've also seen a bike I rather like the look of and the Bike Shed have a men's version of it in stock, which I was very excited to stumble across on Saturday. Roll on being ready to get out and test ride a new bike...that's got to be a good incentive to get better!

Pedalling nowhere...fetching my bike & fixing my bike

I am doing my best to be as involved with cycling as possible without actually being able to get on my bike! Here's a quick summary of what I've been up to:

Last Thursday I went to the gym to follow the physio's advice to see how I get on using an exercise bike on a low resistance. The answer is it didn't really work! I did my best, but I just couldn't pedal hard enough to get the machine started! Luckily Ant was there with me, so we had a good giggle about it and I pedalled away very slowly and gently on a switched off bike. It was particularly embarrassing due to a lycra clad guy on the bike next to Ant's who was furiously pedalling and puffing away, but never mind! Despite not being able to do much or for very long, I was surprisingly pleased to be on the bike and I hope it won't be long before I can start building up the amount I can do.

After my semi-successful attempt at going to the gym (and after aborting my attempt at swimming too and sitting in the jacuzzi instead!) I went to collect my bike. I'm pleased to say it's all now fixed and I didn't need anything replacing, so it was a cheap job too.

Then on Saturday we did our bike maintenance course, which was excellent. Bernard and Andy were great and took us through the basics, beginning with cleaning the chain. I'm sad to say my bike was the only one in the group that had a chain in need of replacing! We then had a good look through a basic bike toolkit and unravelled the mysteries of several tools, most of which I'd never seen before! After punctures came my most eagerly anticipated bit of the day - sorting out the brakes! We can only get our bikes in the car if we take the wheels off first, which is fine. Stopping the brakes rubbing after putting the wheels back on again was never fine. I'm pleased to say we now know the secret and can adjust our brakes to our hearts content - yay! In the afternoon we looked at gears, which I have to confess still baffles me a bit. We also went through buckled wheels and how to fix them with spokeys, very clever stuff! Finally and most baffling of all was the task of taking off the axel and greasing the bearings. To be honest, I'd somewhat lost my concentration by then and decided that if I ever need that doing, I'll give Andy a call! All in all though it was a great day and very useful. I would highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't know how to do the above things, as it's really not as difficult as it looks (says she who spent most of the day watching other people fix her bike...the real test will come when I need to fix something out on the road...watch this space..!)

I'm sure not many people say this, but I'm looking forward to seeing the physio again on Wednesday. I know I've made progress in the last two weeks and I'm hoping for a big gold star for doing my exercises every day!

In the meantime, I'm going to look into signing up for the cycle scheme at work and do some research on touring bikes...as soon as I'm ready to get back on the road again, I want to be ready to go, go, go!

Doctors Orders

As my leg has still been giving me trouble, I finally gave in and booked a physio appointment. As previously thought, nothing seems to be broken or damaged but I do have a lot of scar tissue and liquid on the knee. I've been given some exercises to do and have been told to put an ice pack on my knee regularly to reduce the swelling, so hopefully we'll start to see some progress soon. Apparently it usually takes 6-8 weeks for scar tissue to go though, so it could be a while before I'm back on track again.

I did ask about when I could realistically expect to be cycling again and after doing my exercises this week I have permission to try an exercise bike on a very low resistance next week, so at least that will be a start! I will see the physio again in two weeks time and hope to have made good progress by then. For now though, my leg is hurting after my first set of exercises, so am heading back to the sofa with a nice cup of tea!