Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

New Melones, CA
December 26, 2007

After my last trail ride on February 10, 2007, I knew my knees were finished and MRIs confirmed I had absolutely no cartilage remaining under either patella. The only option was to replace both knees, and that was done in June and July. It turned out to be a very painful and humbling experience, and the recovery has been very slow. I tried riding my bike around the neighborhood a few times in October and the knees told me in no uncertain terms they weren't ready.  

I've barely been out of town the past 10 months so I decided to take a drive out to New Melones, California on Christmas day. I took my bike should I get up enough courage to ride a trail. However, for the first time ever I forgot a critical piece of equipment, my helmet. It did not seem very wise to try my first trail ride in 10 months without a helmet so I rode on pavement for about 40 minutes. That didn't go too badly and the next day I did not seem to have any lingering effects from it. So today I went back out there with the intention of riding a trail for 30 - 40 minutes. 

I put some flat pedals on my backup bike, put on some new heavy duty knee/shin pads, and I set out in about 40 degree weather with freezing cold winds. I was pretty scared the first few minutes and every rock and downhill seemed out to get me. However, I eventually relaxed, felt pretty comfortable, and I ended up doing 90 minutes. Sure it was pretty slow and I used my granny gear quite a bit. However, I made every single hill climb, and I only stopped a few times to take photos. It was a lot easier than I had imagined it would be after being off so long. While pushing up the hills I had a strange sensation I had never felt before, no pain under my patellas! I hope I didn't overdue it. Obviously the implants are fine, but I hope the supporting tendons and ligaments were not too stressed. I'll know in a day or two if this was a mistake. If not I'll start working my way back! I only stopped a few times to take photos, here are most.

Knee implants

The low water level is the result of the drought last winter

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