Feeding the Hungry Rock

On August 21st, Marcus and woke up at sunrise and set out for our first overnight bike camping trip of the year. The destination was Starved Rock State Park. This 100mi ride from Chicago would be my longest ride of 2020 so far. In fact, my last ride over 30mi was to the dunes and back, which took place back in October... yeah, a whole 10 months prior to this. (I suppose the pandemic really got the best of me.) Well, I'm not exactly sure of what happened to my bike, or my body, in those past 10 months, but this ride turned out to be a harsh lesson in bike fit.

The further south you ride through Illinois, the hillier it becomes, and we were met with our first real climb about 30mi in. Not long into the climb, I began to feel that familiar pinching sting behind my knees. I decided to ignore it as best I could and cranked on. We reached the hill's peak and began our descent. We don't get this opportunity often, so I shifted into the high gear and pedaled hard all the way down, maintaining a speed of 36mph for quite some time. Flying downward at this speed is a rare thrill, but that feeling was soon overshadowed by the excruciating pain behind my knees. Once we leveled out, I gave in and pulled over to make some adjustments. The pain behind my knee led me to believe my saddle must have been a bit too high, causing my legs to overextend, so I dropped it about an inch and carried on. This gave some temporary relief, but as the miles rolled by, the pain returned - gradually migrating from behind the knee to the front of the knee. As soon as we reached a shaded point in the trail, I pulled over to make another adjustment. At that point, I figured I must have dropped it a bit too much, as pain in the front of the knee is usually telling of a saddle that's too low. I raised it up about half an inch, hoping to have found a happy medium. Unfortunately, I came to realize that the damage couldn't be undone at that point. Both the front and back of my knees were now on fire, and there was just no way to relieve the pain.

At 50mi in, we stopped for a mid-ride lunch. Hoping to make a quick recovery, I did some stretching, drank about 5 pints of Sprite, and ate what seemed like the best veggie burger I've ever had. I then hoisted my post-meal belly back into the saddle and rolled onward into a headwind... only to realize that there was no hope left for these ravaged knees. At mile 80, I threw in the towel. I don't often do this. In fact, the only other ride I had abandoned was the 2011 Gravel Metric. It was the year that a monsoon hit DeKalb, and lightning was striking so close to the route that we couldn't safely continue without fearing for our lives. I knew I wasn't going to die this time, but I couldn't bear to grimace through 20 more miles into a headwind (and risk causing permanent damage). Fortunately, Samie and Lauren just arrived at the campsite by car. I made the call, and Samie rushed to my rescue. 20 mins later, I was hobbling around camp enjoying a cold beer while Marcus finished off the remaining 20mi. I couldn't help but feel disappointed for giving in to the pain though. I was really determined to get at least 100mi in that weekend, but I think I made the more intelligent decision, or at least that's what I'll keep reminding myself. But what the hell happened to my bike? or my knees? Was the saddle really so far out of adjustment? Is this just what it feels like to get old? The bike never did fit great, and part of me just wants to get rid of it and start from scratch, but just last year I rode to Milwaukee on this same bike without any issue. It's still a mystery. Dialing in a bike can be a long and painful process of trial and error though. If you don't get it right the first time, you may not know it until it starts to hurt, and at that point it might be too late.

Fortunately, the thing about pain is that it's easy to forget. It's already difficult for me to recall just how much this ride hurt. When I think back on the day I don't remember the pain, but rather the scenic trails, the perfect weather, the abundant wildlife we found along the river, and the great food we enjoyed around the campfire. All in all, it really was a great ride.