Not much positive news to report recently. Training hasn’t being going well, with my knee issues recurring out of the blue at the end of January, after only a couple of weeks training. My right kneecap was scraping on cartilage during the ride, which was painful in and of itself and resulted in swelling and some mild pain for a few hours after a long ride. Not good, and most annoyingly, the last time I went to Marmotte, it was the left knee which was acting up.

I booked an appointment with Blair Martin to get an updated bike fit and a physio’s perspective on what was causing the problem, only to find out that I’m not using my arse properly! Cue fart jokes and the like…

It seems that I’m not using my gluteus medius, which is supposed to be used to stabilise my pelvis/upper body while on the bike, leaving my gluteus maximus, quads etc. to actually put power to the pedals. Since I’m not using it, my gluteus maximus, quads, etc. are doing dual duty of supporting my body and putting power to the pedals and, as my body adjusts to this awkwardness, the point of ‘failure’ is my knee. Ergo, I need to do some arse exercises!

After a few minor adjustments to my position on the bike I felt much more balanced on it and left with a few pre-ride exercises to do to activate my gluteus medius (the idea being that it gets used at the start of the ride, and with each successive ride it remains in use a bit longer) and a few post-ride stretches to do as well.

So, after that enforced break from training I was keen to get back into it, but was warned to take it easy; no hills, no intervals and no indoor trainer. A week later, one or two minor tweaks to position and I was feeling good and wasn’t noticing any knee issues on the rides anymore. Just when I thought I could move to the next stage and add a little more distance, I come down with a cold/chesty cough. Since the general rule of training while sick is that it’s not OK to train if the cold is in your chest/lungs, I’ve been off the bike since last Friday as well now!

Comparing my training from my last trip to France in 2010, despite being way better prepared in November, I’m now in about the same state as I was in 2010. The only positive to come out of all of this is that I’ve been fairly diligent with food intake since Christmas, so I’m now 86kg instead of the 89kg I was in 2010. I went to France in 2010 weighing 86kg, so at least I have three months to drop a few more kilos. After all, climbing is all about watts per kilo, and at least I’ve been able to improve the kilo side of the equation, even if I’ve been unable to work on the watts.

Anyway, my cold has almost cleared up, so I hope to be back on the bike tomorrow for an day ride at least.