Playing cat and mouse (Vienna)
Sometimes, a little incident can set the mood for the whole day. Having pitched my tent at a nice and quiet campsite in the little town called Melk, I was confident I would get a good night's rest in preparation for the final push for Vienna today. I did sleep well enough, but several times during the night, was awakened by a sensation, almost a gut feeling, that someone or something was moving close by. It didn't sound threatening, but kept drawing my attention,even when sleeping.
In the morning I discovered I hadn't been imagining it, for upon taking down the tent I found that one of my cycling shoes that always stay outside of the tent was filled with grass. At first I considered the possibility that one of my fellow cyclists had played a prank on me, but shaking the grass out, saw a little mouse fall out too! She scrambled into safety, and I felt grateful that she hadn't had time to give birth to a whole family!
It did seem quite coincidence to me when a few minutes later, walking into the campsite restaurant to treat myself to a proper breakfast, the first living thing I saw was cat. I am not ver prone to reading a lot of symbolism into every little thing that happened, but this did seem like an omen if there ever was one!
Starting the cycling, I quickly realised the symbolism, as the pain in the knee that has been disappearing and reappearing all through the trip was once again there. If I concentrated very hard on the right cycling technique, I could cycle for tens of km's basically painfree and then, all of a sudden, it would come back, almost paralysing me with its intensity.
Now this problem with the knee has never happened to me before, and all in all, I have been remarkably healthy on all my trips, one more reason why the sudden appearance of such a debilitating pain is so hard to accept. Today, I was trying to be clever, even pushing the bike up the few bigger hills there were, and as a result, mostly managed to avoid the pain. However, the couple of times it did appear, always lasting for up to half an hour, made me wince and reluctantly lower the speed even more than I already had. I also realised that being afraid of the pain is really wearing me out, making me cower from it, limiting my movement ranges and dramatically lowering my speed. Thus, the pain was actually playing with me just like a cat will play with a mouse: Releasing me for long enough that I would think it was gone and I was safe, only to return the next moment.
Still, I did manage to get to Vienna today, even if the 120 kms took me the whole day. More importantly, for most of the day, I could ride on without gritting my teeth against the burning sensation spreading from the knee to the surrounding tissue and muscle.
Still, crossing into Vienna from the neighbouring municipality was a relief, and taking the obligatory picture, I felt more emotional than I remember feeling for a long time on these trips. Perhaps it was the awareness at the back of my mind that no matter if I get through this trip with careful pacing and improved technique, it is quite possible that my cycling days are coming to an end?
In the morning I discovered I hadn't been imagining it, for upon taking down the tent I found that one of my cycling shoes that always stay outside of the tent was filled with grass. At first I considered the possibility that one of my fellow cyclists had played a prank on me, but shaking the grass out, saw a little mouse fall out too! She scrambled into safety, and I felt grateful that she hadn't had time to give birth to a whole family!
It did seem quite coincidence to me when a few minutes later, walking into the campsite restaurant to treat myself to a proper breakfast, the first living thing I saw was cat. I am not ver prone to reading a lot of symbolism into every little thing that happened, but this did seem like an omen if there ever was one!
Starting the cycling, I quickly realised the symbolism, as the pain in the knee that has been disappearing and reappearing all through the trip was once again there. If I concentrated very hard on the right cycling technique, I could cycle for tens of km's basically painfree and then, all of a sudden, it would come back, almost paralysing me with its intensity.
Now this problem with the knee has never happened to me before, and all in all, I have been remarkably healthy on all my trips, one more reason why the sudden appearance of such a debilitating pain is so hard to accept. Today, I was trying to be clever, even pushing the bike up the few bigger hills there were, and as a result, mostly managed to avoid the pain. However, the couple of times it did appear, always lasting for up to half an hour, made me wince and reluctantly lower the speed even more than I already had. I also realised that being afraid of the pain is really wearing me out, making me cower from it, limiting my movement ranges and dramatically lowering my speed. Thus, the pain was actually playing with me just like a cat will play with a mouse: Releasing me for long enough that I would think it was gone and I was safe, only to return the next moment.
Still, I did manage to get to Vienna today, even if the 120 kms took me the whole day. More importantly, for most of the day, I could ride on without gritting my teeth against the burning sensation spreading from the knee to the surrounding tissue and muscle.
Still, crossing into Vienna from the neighbouring municipality was a relief, and taking the obligatory picture, I felt more emotional than I remember feeling for a long time on these trips. Perhaps it was the awareness at the back of my mind that no matter if I get through this trip with careful pacing and improved technique, it is quite possible that my cycling days are coming to an end?
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