8 months is a loooong time!



J

jason

Guest
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 but 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.


Cheers,
Jason


--
jason - Just some guy
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did you tear your acl while municycling? Perhaps municycling is more
dangerous than what i was looking for...

-grant


--
tennisgh22

The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a
capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety
labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
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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.


--
S_Wallis - Back in the saddle

"I am always doing that which I can not do,
in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso
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S_Wallis wrote:
> My biggest problem now is pattellar pain in both knees, especially
> the surgery knee.


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.


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jason wrote:
> *
>
> 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.*
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.
jason wrote:
> *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.
> *
Sometimes when my knee is sore, I rest it for days and it doesn't feel
beeter 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. :)

Scott


--
S_Wallis - Back in the saddle

"I am always doing that which I can not do,
in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso
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Welcome back, Jason. Consider doing some bicycling to get the strength
back without the stressful UPDs. Good luck with the summer riding.


--
U-Turn - Member of Generation XO

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.

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'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
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Hello Jason,
It's good to hear from you again. Glad to see that you're "back in
the saddle".

- Frank


--
Frank A. - off everything, for now

"Man's maturity: to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child
at play." - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, Beyond Good and Evil


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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.

Daniel


--
daino149 - How's it going, Texas?

there ain't enough body armor in the country for me to try that. -- Ken
on the mtbr forum in reference to MUni
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daino149 wrote:
> *Hey Jason,
> That's great news! So when's the next time you're coming to Hawaii? *


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.


Cheers,
Jason


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