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Got a chance to do some serious bike riding today. Kiddo's in school, didn't get the chance to go to MPOR in Clay City, so I called up a buddy and we went riding on about 300 acres of some rugged hillside. He had some logging done so there's some nifty access routes along the ridges and down into the creek bottom. Lots of stubs/stumps so it's tricky, but we cleaned some stuff up and ended up with about 3 good ridge-running & hill-climbing passes.

Had a blast and today I gained a deeper respect for the latest performance enhancements made (RB, USD forks). Creek's got plenty of various size rocks ranging from baseball to watermelon - this is terrain I hadn't encountered until now, and these forks are at HOME in this stuff.

Leave it to me to talk about an injury and I'll start babbling about the ride . . . ANYWAY . . .

Throttling up a rocky hill (in second gear and @ about 3-4k RPM, no kidding), hill starts to level out, switch to third w/ a little extra clutch and and a fistfull of throttle - YEAHHHH - the 220 jumps ahead trying to throw me off it's back. 'Course I've got my knees locked onto the rad guards, standing up just a bit, BIG smile on my face and big warcry . . . and just about the time my front wheel decides to come "down to earth" it hits one of those stumps.

My reaction was ALL wrong, I would've been fine to ride it out but instead my left leg comes out for what my feeble brain figured was for support. I stiff-legged it like you would coming down - in the wrong fashion - from a rebound in basketball. Except with a sort of twist and fling. UUUMMPPH.

I managed to get off the bike and then after a short spell sort of walked it off. I rode a little more, with much less enthusiam.

I'm walking with a slight limp. Not much pain unless I try to either straighten my leg (more pain) or squat down (too much pain!) If I'm not careful and turn or step a certain way my knee wants to buckle to the inside.

I'm nowhere near dire straights here but have some concern over the tendancy for the knee to want to buckle. Any comments, suggestions, case studies, experiences would be helpful.

I've heard the stories with the ACL and so forth, but it's not like I can't get around (just a little more gingerly). I'm probably fine just need a little reassurance.

BTW - did I say that well-modified KDX ROCKS!!??

If you did tear your ACL I can attest that you would be well aware of it. It is exreamly painful and requires more than a short walk to feel well enough to ride. I tore mine about 8 years ago on the basketball court and it was really sucky. sounds like you might have strained it or maybe even a small tear. Its no laughing matter, I would get it checked out, cause you never know. Good luck.

Damn jeb, I miss one ride!

Rick wrote:Damn jeb, I miss one ride!

I'm gonna holler for you next time I go up there (hopefully that's fairly soon, turkey seasons opens up next weekend and there'll be hunting on that mountain). It would be about an hour from Independance - not too bad. Great riding, not a lot of acreage, good enough for a couple of average joes with some KDXs!!

xagentman wrote:If you did tear your ACL I can attest that you would be well aware of it. It is exreamly painful and requires more than a short walk to feel well enough to ride. I tore mine about 8 years ago on the basketball court and it was really sucky. sounds like you might have strained it or maybe even a small tear. Its no laughing matter, I would get it checked out, cause you never know. Good luck.

Thanks, that's kinda the thing I'm glad to hear and hope to continue to hear. I didn't know if a more serious problem could be present in the absense of a lot of pain. Knees are something I have managed, somehow, not to wreck too awfully bad.

Did you freeze your a$$ off? It was snowing here earlier!

Rick wrote:Did you freeze your a$$ off? It was snowing here earlier!

I dressed for the occasion! Proper layering works wonders . . .

and we kept busy getting our "trails" cleaned up.

Let me know on your next ride. Ill try to make it!

I've done just that sort of thing. It will feel better by next week. BUT....
If you do the same stunt again, it will injure much easier and last longer. I know.....

Takes about 6 months to fully heal and be able to take a full hit. That incident sold me on good knee braces. Don't let it stop you from riding, but don't hang it all out there either for a bit and you will be fine. Happy to hear you like the mods too!!

Torn Meniscus!

Same thing my brother did....

A good knee brace!

Ski, if you're not uncomfortable making a recommendation or two . . . what's working for you? By "good" I'd guess you mean orthopedic / post-op grade stuff (?)

I wonder if my doctor would "prescribe" an athletic knee brace - this would certainly be the time to inquire. I certainly pay the insurance company enough!!

Things did stiffen/swell up a bit. I'm most tender by touch in the lower part of my upper leg and the upper part of my lower leg - all above and below the knee, back and front, especially on the outer/upper portion of my calf muscle . . .

I can walk up stairs, slowly, without holding onto the rail but need the rail on the descent . . .

OK, enough cryin'!

I need to get serious about prevention i.e. kneebrace.

Indawoods wrote:Torn Meniscus!

Same thing my brother did....

I did the same thing about a year ago. Had to have it cut on, I was walking on it 2 days later and back to normal about a week later. Give it a few days then if it is not better get a mri and that will tell the tail.

A Knee Brace is good, but still will not help when you JAM the knee. ICE IT & be easy on it.

In pretty good shape today. 'Not gonna go for a jog but I'm gettin' around just fine.

What's most "tender" right now is nearly my entire calf muscle and quads/hamstring, very tight. Knee seems to be in good shape. I guess I torqued my lower leg and tweaked the muscles that connect to the knee, something a brace might have lessened (at least if the "hit" would have been harder).

All in all I'm fine

Good to hear your doing OK. Tom(radonc73) and i are talking about going to Haspin Acres the last weekend of the month on sunday if your interested...

^Rick - PM sent

Well, didn't think I would be continuing this thread but . . .

I've been riding since the mishap with a brace and have done OK, riding cautiously. Brace use was restricted to riding and anytime I thought I might cause twisting action on my knees . . . and then on Mother's day it collapsed on me as we were playing catch and I turned/reached for the ball.

Turns out the orthopedic doc says an ACL tear, possibly cartilage damage. First thing he wants to try is physical therapy (and an MRI to get a better picture). Reconstructive surgery - an allograft (cadaveric material) - is a possibility depending on how the PT goes.

Today was the first day of PT as well as the MRI. I honestly wasn't very impressed with the whole physical therapy thing besides the therapist being quite a cute gal (I didn't mind her fondling my knee). The MRI tech allowed me to get a sneak peak at the MRI shots (that didn't help - I'm clueless as to what I was looking at). I'll find out more details Wednesday.

I'm sure there's a few ACL victims out there in kdxrider cyberspace . . . 'be interested in experiences with or without surgery.

Sorry to hear that. The MRI report should tell if you tore anything. I am sure your ordering doc. should have it in a day or 2. I hope all turns out well.

That stinks Jim! Its about time for another ride too....... And, ive almost got Andy talked into buying an 99 KDX 200 thats for sale localy!! He wants to buy my DR, but I like having it for a backup/buddy bike. I told him if he bought it and didnt like it, i would swap the DR for it. We'll see......

Unless things are dire - and I doubt it - I'll continue to ride (I've ridden more since I've hurt my knee than since I got the bike in September, enjoying all of those mods). I've been taking it easy (in fact I was taking it easy at Haspin Acres ) and only after banging around a bit do things get a little tender. I still walk OK, just get a little fluid in there and takes about a day for it to dissipate. When my knee gave out on Mother's day I WASN'T wearing the brace, so I wear it more often . . .

If surgery is recommended I'll elect to wait until it's too cold to ride . . .

Meaning that we need to plan our next ride - like RIGHT NOW!!

How about Monday 18th or Tuesday 19th? Monday would mean I'd want to be relatively close, maybe like Buck's Run in Bedford (< 1 hour for you). If it's Tuesday I can go about anywhere . . .

I'll start a thread under the ride section.

Geez, start a thread about a bum knee and end up talking about a ride . . .