Monday, September 16, 2013

First Time at Annadel & Rockville...Ouch, My Knee!

Took the drive with my buddy mike to Annadel State Park near Santa Rosa to meet up with a local mtb group for a ride on some new-to-me trails.  Riding the rigid SIR 9, I ended up with over 15 miles of some good riding with ~2000 feet of climbing, but unfortunately on the final decent toward the parking lot, I had to hit the brakes to avoid someone in front of me who had done the same, and I started to go over. I instantly grabbed the tree next to me to keep from completing the low speed endo, but instead when I dropped to the ground, my foot came down between two good sized rocks causing me to twist and slide a bit down the side of the hill. Then end result was a bit of swearing and a sore knee. I thought I must have struck it on something do to the sharp pain, but no blood. Uh-oh. We would all rather deal with a flesh wound that will heal quickly as compared to an internal wound that could mean surgery.
I tried to walk it off, and even stopped by Rockville and road several miles there. The knee pain shot up with any twisting motion (like unclipping) so I avoided that and finished the ride.

As I am writing this long after the fact, I can now tell you that I limped around for a couple weeks until my insurance kicked in. Eventually an MRI showed I have a slightly torn meniscus (who doesn't) and a severly sprained MCL. There was evidence of fibrous tearing but no 'rip' so rest, PT and all should eventually be well....though this knee hurt all the time before this (always the right knee for some reason) so cest la vie, life goes on!