Over the last 19 months since my knee surgery, spending time on my bike has not only helped strengthen my legs but also provided a lot of sanity and a good measure of my progress. I have ridden over 8,500km on my bike since surgery (yes, I’m that nerd who keeps track of things like this).
I wasn’t really surprised that I grooved my way into a saddle since I’ve always enjoyed riding from a youngster as it was our mode of transport to and from primary school (7km round trip). So for cycling to be a big part of my rehab post-surgery fitted me well.
About a month ago I decided to take my bike riding to the next level and try my hand at racing to get my competitive juices flowing again and test myself against other girls. I have missed being involved in sport competitively with my knee only allowing me to play one season of women’s footy and one half marathon over the last ten years; and I could only get so competitive with myself in the gym and social rides on the bike.
I had my hesitations about competitive riding initially, as crashing and damaging my knee was in the back of my mind and there is no way I want to go through this whole recovery process again.
Nervously I approached the start line in C grade of my very first criterium race. The racing official told us that we have 30mins of racing then the bell would ring and we had just one lap of the 1km circuit to race to the line.
So off we went riding the circuit taking our turn on the front each lap to share the load. It was such a buzz. I could feel the adrenaline pumping throughout my body and even when my heart rate was through the roof you could not wipe the big smile off my face. It was fantastic, I loved every minute of it. As the 30mins approached and I heard the bell ring I knew this was when the real race happens and the intensity was going to lift to another level. Unfortunately my inexperience in racing showed and in my eagerness to race to the line I sprinted way too early only to have two other girls behind me race past when my legs had nothing left before the line.
I crossed the line and immediately wondered why on earth did I wait this long to try racing? I loved it and couldn’t wait for the next race. As it turned out, the two girls who passed me before the finish line were from B grade which made me the first C grader. Winner! After that win, I have been promoted to B grade. Now with two seconds and a third in the last few weeks I’m eagerly eyeing that top step. With that goal in mind…what knee pain?
