After a VERY long winter recovering from surgery and a seemingly longer hiatus from Muni’ing (8 months) I’m finally back on the wheel. I’ve ridden about five times and King Muni-Man and I had our first Muni ride out on the trails yesterday!
My surgery went well and I generally feel solid riding but it will take some time for me to get back to where I was. I had an ACL reconstruction and a bone shaving. My femur and tibia have been reshaped by a superb surgeon and I couldn’t be happier with outcome. I managed 15 years between my last surgery and this one so hopefully I’ll get a good 10-15 years this time too.
My first couple of rides (on the streets) were a bit unstable and I’m improving quickly but my riding now requires a bit more concentration than it did last year. I have the feeling that this may be due to a loss of muscle memory and decrease of strength. When we Muni’d yesterday I found it challenging to concentrate on both my riding and seeking the most rideable lines so I UPD’s more often than I would have liked. Last year I was able to link to the saddle and power through the rougher terrain, yesterday I couldn’t link as often because I found I needed both my arms to maintain my balance. Consequently my feet bounced off the pedals a few times on the bumpier parts of the trail and I found myself, a few times more than I would have liked, lying on the ground contemplating my addiction. (grin)
King Muni-Man is now 7 yo. It’s hard to believe this will be his 3rd year of riding. He has an awesome new uni this year as he’s outgrown the old one. It has a Yuni frame on a Monty trials wheelset and Lasco cranks. The saddle is smaller (junior) sized Miyata that I was very fortunate to acquire thanks to Amy at unicycle.com. Kris Holm is still KMM’s hero as much as ever, especially since Kris sent him a birthday card and autographed picture last year (Thanks Kris!). I setup his trials skinnies in the back yard a couple days ago and he wants to spend all his time riding. Unfortunately he still has a month of school so, in spite of his blatant protests, I’ve had to put a limit on his riding time.
That’s all for now. I just thought I’d let the old timers know I’m back in the saddle. There sure are a lot of new posters on RSU. I guess the sport is still growing.
That is great to hear, Jason! Eight months is a long time. I have just started riding again after my ACL reconstruction. Mine had no complications and was done a very short time after the injury so my road to recover was a little shorter than yours.
I rehabbed heavily and was surprised how strong my legs were, but there are other issues. My biggest problem now is pattellar pain in both knees, especially the surgery knee. My doctor said this is a very common problem after surgery and should go away. I also realized that on my last two rides I had my seat almost 3/4" lower than I usually set it, and my knees hurt bad as a result. That would have made them hurt even before the injury.
I have a little trouble on small bumps sometimes when my leg just won’t make a quick enough burst to go over it and I forward UPD. I think I will be running brakes soon for a little more safety on big downhills where I used to not mind doing a huge flying forward bail off and hit the ground running way below. I have lost the desire to do that particular manuever.
Are you wearing a knee brace? I am using an Innovation Sports Edge and am extremely happy with it. I don’t like it for walking and running and don’t use it for that, but when riding it really doesn’t bother me at all.
The worst part now is when you are a little sore after a ride and think, “oh my god, did I screw it up?”. A few days later it feels fine, but it is just a scary the next time. Of course you have to push it a little to make it strong and a little soreness is just part of it.
Glad you are back riding with KMM and I am sure he is really glad.
Good luck!
Scott
Grant,
I Muni all the time and I tore my ACL just riding backwards in a parking lot. I could have done it just as easily stepping off a curb crooked. The best way to avoid knee injury is to build up your quads and hamstrings, and all the supporting leg muscles. Weight training and doing things like running figure 8’s are really good, but of course it is hard to find time to do that and ride also.
If you have had a auto graft, where your reconstruction was done using a portion of your own patella tendon, then patella mobilization exercises are very important to ensure proper tracking of the knee cap. I was pretty consistent and religious about my petalla mobes.
I do use a brace. It’s an old, 15 year old CGI brace, and it’s never let me down. I only wear it while I’m riding, and I’m told I will no longer need it after this summer.
I too suffer from some soreness and stiffness. I think it’s okay to push things a bit but you also have to listen to your body.
Grant,
My knee problems are old and have very little to do with unicycling or riding Muni.
Mine was a hamstring autograft, which my doctor prefers in a case like mine to minimize the pateller tracking problem. Of course I had to rehab my hamstring which was tough at first but it responded well when I started doing more eccentric (neg rep) exercises. I have not had patella pain until very recently and I have not been good about the mob exercises. I need to raise my seat higher than usual and slowly work my way down to the low height I like for muni.
Sometimes when my knee is sore, I rest it for days and it doesn’t feel better until I work it hard again either riding or on weight machines, while other times just resting it is better. I listen to my body but sometimes I don’t know what the hell it is talking about.
Hey Jason,
That’s great news! So when’s the next time you’re coming to Hawaii? I got a new Trials and MUni. There are also more riders now. I think we can hit some trails this time.
You have TWO new unis Daniel! You’ve been a very busy boy, what did you get? Right now we have two trips planned for Hawaii, one in December and the other in March and I would like to bring a couple of Unis on at least one of those trips. I was just in Hawaii a few weeks ago but, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ride so I spent a lot time in the ocean rehabing by knee while enjoying all the fish and sea turtles at the same time.
Thanks for all the encouraging comments everyone. It really is great to be back in the saddle.
