Riding

The farthest distance in the world is knowing the finish line is close, and still having to leave early.

Today is Saturday, and Chengdu got a little sunshine, so I made plans with friends to go for a ride.

Back home, I feel exhausted. Honestly, if I could, I wouldn't update today. But I sat at the computer, dozed off for a bit, thought it over, and decided to write something anyway. Call it a diary entry.

As the temperature rises, people's energy picks up, and Chengdu is a place where you rarely see the sun. But in weather like this, my iliotibial band syndrome makes me hold back.

Ever since Mount Emei at New Year's triggered my IT band syndrome, I haven't had a single satisfying ride. At worst, the pain in my knee made me stop after only 15 km.

Lately I've kept up my rehab, training my glute medius and releasing my tensor fasciae latae. Clearly it's working. On my last few rides, even though each one was only thirty-some kilometers, it felt much easier than before.

So today I wanted to challenge my previous longest distance of 50 km. In the end we planned an 80 km route, starting from Xindu District and taking the Tianfu Greenway all the way to Luodai Ancient Town, on the outskirts of Longquanyi.

All the way, I stuck to the principle of riding slowly. When I hit 50 km, my legs didn't seem to be reacting at all, which made me happy. But I know that until the very last moment, nobody can say how it will end.

Sure enough, about 6 km from home, my knee started to hurt.

The cruel thing about IT band syndrome is that once it flares up, your whole body feels terrible.

And the painful part is that the distance to the finish at that point is awkward. If I gritted my teeth and kept riding, I could definitely make it home. But if I did, the pain in my knee would definitely get worse, and my recovery time after getting home would definitely be longer.

But it's such a short distance. Was I really going to call a Lalamove to take me home?

The farthest distance in the world is knowing the finish line is close, and still having to leave early.

In the end, I left the greenway early and rode on the road beside it, which let me avoid a few climbs that need real effort. Finally, 2.5 km from home, I got off the bike and started walking it.

I got home safely. I can't help sighing. Situations like this really affect my mood, because they limit what I can do to a large degree.

But looking on the bright side, this isn't something that can't be fully recovered from. This time I managed to complete an 80 km ride, which shows the rehab so far has worked.

I'm going to stop riding for now after today, and go out again when the condition is completely healed.