Sometimes, things get better!

   What the heck! It's so hard to believe summer has come and gone already! It really feels like just yesterday I was coming back from an amazing bike vacation to Southern California. What happened in between? I really just want to forget about it all. Mostly I have avoided writing much this summer because I've been afraid it would turn into a whine-fest about not riding bikes or having fun; sometimes my state of mind was so uncharacteristically depressed or upset that I really didn't care to share my thoughts at all.

   On the positive side, I got the MRI done on my knee and, though puzzling, no abnormalities were found whatsoever! This is good news, but at the same time SO incredibly frustrating that I spent 5 months more or less babying the knee to avoid tearing the meniscus any further. Grrrr!!!

   Following that I booked an evaluation with a new Tahoe area physical therapist (no more Barton) to get an opinion on what the problem might be, not wanting to wait any longer to start real rehab if I could. It sounds like muscle atrophy and imbalance are causing patella tracking issues, which are easy enough to resolve with specific strengthening exercises, and in fact I started feeling much less pain the day after beginning the exercises. Go figure! I'm still going to see Ashwin at Great Basin PT in another week for his opinion, but since it takes a few weeks to get in to see him I thought I'd give this new PT a try. I randomly met her at a friend's house and thought she seemed to know a lot, so far I'm happy with the results.

   Last night I got to ride and finally not hold back as much, and it was incredible. Flying down singletrack freshly damp from a day's rainfall was exactly the encouragement needed to feed my soul and re-ignite the fire of passion for being on two wheels. The knee felt pretty dang good all throughout the ride and just a little stiff afterward, nothing a bit of ice and massage couldn't fix. On the mend again and I'm feeling as though the winter might not be a total loss after all. Following that, I just need to break this horrible curse of springtime injuries and finally get a whole summer to play again!