Surgery #1

I was nervous to have knee surgery but over and over again friends and family reminded me that I was going to be better off for it. It would prove to maybe be one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made.

My friend Stephanie drove me to the hospital and 5 hours later I was leaving with crutches. I had a plica resected and some fat pad de-brided. A plica is basically a fold inside the capsule lining around the knee joint. The capsule protects the joint and contains the synovial fluid that lubricates the joint, and it also provides some support to the knee. The plica had become thickened from overuse. The surgeon (Dr. P) noted it looked as though I had previously torn my medial meniscus but it had healed on it's own so he left it alone.

With in days I was in a lot of pain but weight bearing after 4 days which was expected for this type of surgery. One thing I noticed, some of the physiotherapists working on me didn't even know what a plica was. After 1.5 weeks post op, I began physic therapy and one of the exercises was to sit on a recumbent bike and pedal slowly for 10 minutes - this was a big step for me. Within my first few revolutions I could feel something wasn't right (outside of what is normal for just having had a scope). Something was seriously catching the inside of my knee and causing a bad pop upon every pedal revolution and also when I tried to squat. I hoped with time this would improve but it would not until further surgical intervention.

It is amazing just how much a knee and leg can atrophy after a surgery - from not using it. I continued   physical therapy and after three weeks post op the surgeon gave me clearance to get back on the bike. As for that popping in my knee, "Oh it's just scar tissue" he said without doing his due diligence and performing a proper examination. My physio therapist (who I have a lot of respect for) figured it was some sort of trauma to the patella retinaculum. Looking back today, in hind-sight I believe she was absolutely correct.

So I started to lightly ride my bike, with pain but with in reason. Three weeks would go by, the knee heeled from the arthroscopy but my knee symptoms did not. Same as pre-surgery except now I had a serious catch/pop going on inside the medial part of my knee and I also developed some IT Band syndrome. Watching me pedal looked horrific.

Being the stubborn person I am, I continue to ride and I actually raced the Surf N Turf (Time Trial) once again and place first by 2.5 minutes - just 6 weeks post op. I wasn't able to walk very well for the next week and took 4 weeks off the bike. I was feeling pretty bad, both physically and emotionally. One of the lowest times throughout the journey.

Warming up prior to my 25km time-trial (6 weeks post op)

I decided to take a last minute mini-vacation to Miami, Florida and I met a lovely young Brazilian woman named Roberta. We ended up spending a lot of time hanging out together. She was out-going, friendly, caring and beautiful - exactly what I needed during this time in my life. We shopped, we went to the beach and she even took me on a lovely road trip to Key West where I got to swim in the luke-warm waters at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. She also got e birthday cake on my birthday, July 1st. This get away was exactly what I needed and proved to be therapeutic in many ways. After 4 weeks off the bike I was anxious to get back on again, and that is exactly what I did slowly ramping up the km's for the rest of the summer.

I saw Dr. P again and he didn't have much interest in further investigating my knee, suggesting I quit cycling and take up something else.  I was pretty mad so I decided to find some help elsewhere. I am not one to call people names but this guy is a total wanker. No offence to the elderly but he treated me like the rest of his elderly patients of which he mostly performs hip and shoulder replacements for quality of life reasons.

I was now working with an Athletic Therapist in Ottawa who was encouraging me to keep riding and keep doing my rehab, not to quit. He also suggested a great surgeon I could see in the future who I will call Dr K. Often I would be feeling terrible but I would leave his clinic in Ottawa feeling much better about myself and my rehab. I won't say his name because he has a high-profile job working with an NHL team in this area of the country but he is a real professional and tried his best with me.

With his encouragement and my hard work it didn't take long to get some decent fitness back and by August I could ride somewhat hard but I paid for it afterwards sometimes for several days or a week at a time. For the first part of the summer I was looking into changing bikes to get something more accommodating for my knee. I ended up selling my gorgeous S Works Venge, a decision I would later regret but I did buy a fabulous S Works Tarmac SL4 which was a sick looking machine and very light. Not as aero as the Venge, but lighter and a bit more comfortable to ride. The problem: our local bike shop cut the steer tube too short and I had to 'slam' the stem down to the headset and this would hurt my back during longer rides.

The bad knee pain an post op catching continued through the late summer and into the early autumn but unbelievably I am was getting my fitness back - probably from all the hard work I was doing and also training I did earlier in the year pre-surgery. The knee wasn't there but the engine still was.

I raced two Gran Fondos at Blue Mountain, Ontario and placed extremely well in racing at a very high level, 3rd place in the first one (50km) and 8th out of 1200 people in the other over 92km and I averaged just over 300 watts for the entire race.  I also raced a local road race in late September where some of Ontario's elite showed up and I placed a respectable 5th over all and 2nd in my Category over 120km and averaged 310 watts.

with my friends from the Belleville ChainGang. I am far right.

leading the peloton in the C25 Race

Looking very fit, after nearly winning the C50 Gran Fondo Blue Mountain. 8th out of 1200 people, missing 1st place by 1 bike length or .9 seconds.  

I tried to ride intermittently throughout the fall but with significant pain and as the snow started to fly I switched to indoors. I was also back into the weights although much lighter than I had the year prior. After the three races I was forced to take a few weeks off to recover from those efforts and it seemed like I was falling farther and farther behind. As a result of my hard work and great results, I procured sponsorship as a Giant Ambassador which was facilitated by my local bike shop and with that came some amazing deals on bike parts, kit, equipment etc. and an awesome new Giant Propel Advanced SL Aero Road bike which was even faster than my Venge.

In November I was referred to Dr K in Ottawa. During my initial consultation with him at his clinic in Ottawa, I was in the waiting area with my Girlfriend Roberta and a young teenage girl came out of his office crying. I thought to myself, this can't be good but to be honest my first meeting with Dr K was extremely positive. I was very impressed with his thorough examination, his questions and his kindness even if he wasn't the most out-going person I had ever met. He was very professional and seemed to want to help. Much different than the weenie in Belleville. We decided to do a diagnostic cortisone injection that would last 6 or 7 weeks to try to determine if the pain was coming from inside or outside the joint because at that point it was still kind of vague, despite the nasty catching that was still occurring inside the joint. He encouraged me to ride as much as I could during my up-coming trip with Roberta to Brazil but to keep a detailed pain log and that is exactly what I did.