Prologue (part 1)

It has been an arduous journey. In 2012 I was the happiest guy in the world, I was living in a spectacular sea-side hotel, cycling on a Mediterranean Island everyday - and getting paid to do it; a situation I found myself in as a result of being deployed as part of an Air Detachment of the Royal Canadian Air Force Boeing C17 Globemaster Operations. There wasn't too much work to be done, due to having a great group of co-workers keen to keep our two jets flying and a scheduled that allowed us to split our group in two mini-groups that off-set each other. And good luck.

I logged about 4,000km during my 7 week in Cyprus, much of it over hilly and mountainous terrain with an average ride giving me a minimum of 3,000 feet of climbing. I was having the time of my life, one day I cycled 180km with 14,500 vertical feet which was basically from our resort on the far west end of Paphos all the way up to the top of Mt. Olympus in the Troodos Mountains and back. Basically from 25C with palm tress and beaches at sea level all the way up to high alpine and 18 foot high snowbanks and back. Everyone else drove and complained how long the drive too. I cycled it.

Petra Tou Romiou, Cyprus. The birthplace of Aphrodite

Nea Dimmata, Cyprus. North end of the Island near the Turkish border. 25C - March 2012

Cyprus Lines. Paphos, Cyprus.

Me, ready for engine start prior to flying from Cyprus to Kuwait February 2012

The day of my epic ride from sea level to the top of Mt. Olympus in Triodes. 25C to 0C over 90km. 14,500 vertical feet that day, 180km. This photo was captured riding the old road and just outside of the Presidents summer home. Triodes is a place where Cypriots come to cool off from the oppressive heat in the summer.  

Descending over 85km/h down to sea level, riding from South to North.

This was going to be my season. So I thought.

I returned home feeling great, I was healthy, very fit and I had missed the worst half of the Canadian winter and in just a few short days I was off to Tucson, Arizona for two more weeks of cycling bliss. If you don't know, Tucson is a cycling Mecca and an amazing place to go train in the winter. What ever the terrain you wish to ride, Tucson has it.  With guaranteed sunshine too! I was going to Tucson to train and build upon the tremendous base I had acquired during my time in Cyprus.

I arrived in Tucson in late March and met up with some cycling friends from Nova Scotia, Canada with whom I would be cycling/training everyday. One of the things I really enjoy about Tucson besides the great riding is that it is a 3-hour time zone difference from Ontario so it is easy to get into a routine of going to bed early and even sleeping in a bit. Every am I feel refreshed and ready to go again.

My first few days were awesome and I was really enjoying myself. Then it happened.

That night back at the hotel I noticed my left knee was quite tender on the medial side. I didn't think anything of it and I would just ride through it. Over the period of the next few days my left knee would get super tender especially when trying to apply power and it got to the point where I needed a trip to the Pharmacy (Walgreens) to get some Advil, and a compression sleeve to ride with. (see photos on Mt Lemmon).

During my second trip to the top of Mt. Lemmon my knee was really bothering me, I tried not to think about it too much because I was having an incredible time riding with my friends to the very top, 9,000 feet above sea level and then back to the valley and my hotel for a total of about 160km. (100 miles) return trip.

The next day I knew I was in big trouble. My knee really hurt. I was also getting sick, with a bad cold, fever and I felt really lousy overall. I figured I was just worn out and had hit the wall. I tried to ride solo the next day, an easy 80km route around Saguaro Nat Monument East but I was barely able to ride and I was coughing like crazy so at that point I made the decision to fly home early to rest before the spring Ontario Cup races. Little that I know that would be my last time cycling in Tucson.

Descending Mt. Lemmon with Ambrose Delaney

Riding 'The Shootout' with Scott

 

On my way to the top of Mt. Lemmon. This is a 29 mile climb but you pass 8,000 feet elevation twice.  Notice the sleeve over my left knee. Little did I know the disaster this was eventually going to be.

I would take a week off the bike when I got home. I was still sick with a severe cold, flu and injured.

Good Friday came and went and so did the Good Friday Road Race of which I was previously registered to race.  Fortunately the Cold and Flu went but the sore knee didn't. Off to the Dr I go, in April 2012.

According to the physical therapist (PT) I was diagnosed with acute inflammation of the medial left knee but they didn't exactly know what it was. I did not have a positive McMurray Test for meniscal tear and my ligaments were stable. Very stable. So what was making my inner left knee so painful? Why couldn't I ride a bike where there is no impact on the pavement? Weeks later and I was still unable to ride without pain and discomfort.

With in a few weeks I was starting to get back on the bike. Not against the wishes of the PT but perhaps I was riding a bit more than I should have been. I wasn't cycling very hard.  Since they don't know what is wrong with my knee how do they know cycling is going to hurt my knee? With the help of Naproxen 500mg which is a prescription strength NSAID medication, I proceeded to put some km's on my bike in the following weeks. Nothing like Cyprus but certainly not enough to keep me happy. My knee started to progressively but slowly get worse. One thing I did find was that by performing traction, it allowed me to pedal almost pain free for a little while, like 10 km. For those of you who don't know, traction is where you let your leg hand off the bike, unclipped and you sort of shake it to make the joint space wider.

By May long weekend my knee was still hurting and I decided to shut er down for a few weeks, after attempting a ride around the Niagara Parkway. I picked it back up around June 1st, cycling with pain but there was a race to be done - the CFB Trenton Annual Surf N Turf relay race of which I had been easily the fastest cyclist in a 25km time-trial during previous editions. So off I went and despite racing a 25 km hilly time-trial on a bad knee, I was fastest by over 5 minutes. But I am sure I did some damage to my knee because I wasn't able to cycle at all the following week.

I continued physic therapy to no avail. By this time it is starting to hurt to walk and I cannot run at all, nor can I golf. The twisting and torque from my powerful golf swing is putting too much medial stress on my knee. In early July I am referred to a local Orthopaedic Surgeon, I will refer to Dr P. He spends about 5 minutes with me during my initial consultation, gives me a painful cortisone injection and sends me on my way with the advice to do what I can, what the pain allows and in 3 months if I still have symptoms to come back. So off I with cortisone in my knee and I feel great!

I am able to gradually start cycling more and more during the coming days and weeks. The only time the knee is really hurting is when I try to climb too much. This is what happens with Cortisone in the knee, it magically makes you feel better for a period of weeks/few months.

I did a stage race in Nova Scotia in mid August and although my knee bothered me, I had showed up to the race over-trained and a bit fatigued and didn't do as well as I would have wanted.  I continued to cycle through the summer and into the autumn with no improvement in my knee. As the weather turned cold and the cortisone wore off, my knee started to hurt even more. Off to Dr P I went for another shot.