After the home brew night our rest day had rapidly become a hangover day, so we spent the day wandering about feeling sorry for ourselves and generally feeling a bit ill. My knee had started hurting the day before so I was trying to rest it as best I could and try to recover so we could be on our way again the next day. Unfortunately it seemed to get worse rather than better so we decided to just get in an early mornings easy riding before the wind would start at about 10am.
So the alarms went off at 5am ( !! ), we got up and had a nice breakfast of cold pasta and mince from the night before and headed out to find that the winds were already as strong as ever! Seeing as we had got up at such a silly hour and were all packed up we headed off into the wind, taking it as easy as we could, but after a couple of hours of going at walking pace the knee was still getting worse so I had to make the decision to take a prolonged rest. After a bit of a discussion it was decided that I would hitch or bus up on ahead to the next town and recover for a few days while Blenk and Jay caught up.
Despite the harsh conditions we were facing it was a really hard decision to admit defeat so early in the trip and have to miss a few days cycling and a couple of hundred kms. I really expected something to happen like this at some point in the trip but so early on was just so frustrating. I really wasnt in a good mood at this point! However, I knew that if I didnt get it sorted properly the problem could really drag on so it was best to sacrifice a small part of the trip now for the good of the rest of the journey (and my knee).
Once i´d come to terms with this we tried unsuccessfully to flag down one of the many pickups going by to take me on ahead so eventually I had to just say goodbye to the fellas and head back the way we came (with the wind), 21km back to Rio Grande to get a bus, while they went on ahead towards San Sebastian.
The trip back took no time at all, getting taken back to the town by the wind all the way, and I found myself back at the Hostel Argentino. I managed to get across what had had happend to Graciela in some terrible Spanish, and she immediately went and fetched her English speaking doctor friend ( and gave me ice cream and lots of hugs to cheers me up). The Doc was pretty sure I had just overdone it too soon, and said I just need to rest for a week or two. Not the news I was looking for, but at least it wasnt anything more serious.
I managed to catch the bus to Punta Arenas (in Chile) the next day, where I would wait for the guys to catch up. Here I spent a couple of really boring days hobbling around looking for some other travellers to talk to, there seems to be a hostel on every corner but no travellers anywhere! I did eventually find a nice place though and on my first night here got treated to dinner ( and wine and beers! ) by a nice couple from Alaska. I think I must have been looking a bit miserable, and hungry!
Anyway, the boys got here a few days after me, we had an emotional reunion and told me their own horrific story of their last few days (while I had been sitting on my bum
) which they will be posting up here soon.
As for the knee, after some more internet research it appears I have a case of Patellofemoral Syndrome, quite common amoungst cyclists. Its caused by a combination of doing too much too soon (im not sure how that could be with all the training we did
, poor hamstring flexibility, flat feet and having wobbly knees when cycling, all putting too much strain on the knee and causing bits of the knee to rub together that aren´t supposed to. So while the guys are about town doing the chores I am now spending my days stretching and doing exercises, trying to become as flexible as Dhalsim from Street Fighter ( i havnt mastered the hovering yet )!
News of Blenk and Jays stroll in the park from San Sabastian to come..
So the alarms went off at 5am ( !! ), we got up and had a nice breakfast of cold pasta and mince from the night before and headed out to find that the winds were already as strong as ever! Seeing as we had got up at such a silly hour and were all packed up we headed off into the wind, taking it as easy as we could, but after a couple of hours of going at walking pace the knee was still getting worse so I had to make the decision to take a prolonged rest. After a bit of a discussion it was decided that I would hitch or bus up on ahead to the next town and recover for a few days while Blenk and Jay caught up.
Despite the harsh conditions we were facing it was a really hard decision to admit defeat so early in the trip and have to miss a few days cycling and a couple of hundred kms. I really expected something to happen like this at some point in the trip but so early on was just so frustrating. I really wasnt in a good mood at this point! However, I knew that if I didnt get it sorted properly the problem could really drag on so it was best to sacrifice a small part of the trip now for the good of the rest of the journey (and my knee).
Once i´d come to terms with this we tried unsuccessfully to flag down one of the many pickups going by to take me on ahead so eventually I had to just say goodbye to the fellas and head back the way we came (with the wind), 21km back to Rio Grande to get a bus, while they went on ahead towards San Sebastian.
The trip back took no time at all, getting taken back to the town by the wind all the way, and I found myself back at the Hostel Argentino. I managed to get across what had had happend to Graciela in some terrible Spanish, and she immediately went and fetched her English speaking doctor friend ( and gave me ice cream and lots of hugs to cheers me up). The Doc was pretty sure I had just overdone it too soon, and said I just need to rest for a week or two. Not the news I was looking for, but at least it wasnt anything more serious.
I managed to catch the bus to Punta Arenas (in Chile) the next day, where I would wait for the guys to catch up. Here I spent a couple of really boring days hobbling around looking for some other travellers to talk to, there seems to be a hostel on every corner but no travellers anywhere! I did eventually find a nice place though and on my first night here got treated to dinner ( and wine and beers! ) by a nice couple from Alaska. I think I must have been looking a bit miserable, and hungry!
Anyway, the boys got here a few days after me, we had an emotional reunion and told me their own horrific story of their last few days (while I had been sitting on my bum
) which they will be posting up here soon.As for the knee, after some more internet research it appears I have a case of Patellofemoral Syndrome, quite common amoungst cyclists. Its caused by a combination of doing too much too soon (im not sure how that could be with all the training we did
, poor hamstring flexibility, flat feet and having wobbly knees when cycling, all putting too much strain on the knee and causing bits of the knee to rub together that aren´t supposed to. So while the guys are about town doing the chores I am now spending my days stretching and doing exercises, trying to become as flexible as Dhalsim from Street Fighter ( i havnt mastered the hovering yet )!News of Blenk and Jays stroll in the park from San Sabastian to come..
