The Injury
In Feb 2008, a few of us went to Savandurga. It was an awesome ride when I was at the peak of my fitness. naah! that's what I thought. On the way back couldn't pedal as I had terrible pain in my right knee. The ride back was horrible, held onto a lorry, a jeep whatever that was possible, walked for a few kilometres, ran along with the bike. Phew! Finally, reached home to find out I wasn't able to climb stairs at all.The pain was so bad that I needed someone's help to climb stairs for the next 2 days. This was the first time ever something like this was happening to me. I thought this to be a isolated incident, may be due to dehydration and alcohol related as I had alcohol the previous night. Gave my knees some rest for a few weeks.
The Haunting
Then in August, me and a friend(Sreenandan aka Avundi) of mine set out to climb Kemmangundi peak, this is the ride that hit me real hard. First, 30Km was a breeze and then the tingling sensation started which soon turned into a feeling like a needle being poked against the knee. Felt like kicking myself for ignoring the signs that I had a few months back. Somehow managed to climb, and then had to cancel the second leg of biking to chikmagalur. The pain was so bad that, I wanted was to get back home as soon as possible.
The Report
After the trip the first thing I did was to show it to a doctor. The doctor enquired about any previous injury or a fall etc. Then I mentioned about my dad having gout. Its kind of disease where in there is a buildup of uric acid in the joints. The next thing I did was got some blood tests done as suggested by the doctor. Nothing seemed to figure in that report until I got the MRI scans. Then came the shocking news, found out that I had a L5-S1 disc that had reduced in height. The report mentioned about something called a degenerative lumbar spondylosis and even had a tear in the knee. What more to ask for!! :)
The silence
The injury affected me so bad psychologically, felt down and out. Only people with back injury know the pain. You cannot do the chores. Everything that you try and do has a restriction tag attached. You think twice before you lift something, can't sit at a stretch in your seat and being a software engineer requires you to sit at the desk for long hours, shouldn't climb stairs, shouldn't bend forward...the list continues. Had physiotherapy for about 10days and continued my exercises.
And the Road
Yesterday when I was talking to sharath(one of the Tour oF Nilgiris participants and a organising members of the tour), he called me out for a ride towards bannerghatta. It was too tempting to say a 'NO'. So agreed to join him and a friend of his Rohit who was riding first time. He had just purchased the bike (Firefox Target) about 3 days back. I had my own fears about my knee and told sharath that I wouldn't be able to ride fast. But he assured me that it would be a slow ride as his friend was riding for the first time. Decided to start at 6am?
As always woke up late, finished all the important things quickly, got dressed in a jiffy and I was still late damn! Reached sharath's house in about.......30sec :) he stays next road. Ate some sandwiches at his house. I had to eat something as I hadn't eaten much the previous day. Rohit reached shortly after me. I hadn't taken out my bike in weeks and it had that old funny noise that everyone hates. Sharath helped oiling my bike. Rohit's firefox break shoes had some problem, it was rubbing against the wheel rim, but it was manageable.
Then we set out, went through jayanagar 4th T block, 9th Block, jayadeva, arekere and without much stoppages reached the road that leads to kaggalipura. The GPS read 14.9Km in about 40mins. The weather was pleasant and it wasn't humid. That was a sign of a good ride ahead. Took a right towards kaggalipura, stopped nearby the hill for some loading. I was so unplanned wasn't carrying anything expect my bottle of water. Had a bite of ritebite from the stuff sharath was carrying, a sip of water.