A Clue! A Clue!

"We are gonna play blue's clues, cuz it's a really great game! Yeah!" Get out your handy dandy notebooks because I might have figured out why my left knee is being such a pussy lately. But first, lest we forget.. Keep the barf bag handy before clicking. Lots of this stuff over there:
Below are exhibits 'A' and 'B'.

Above, notice the damage which was done in the Bob Beal Criterium crash of 2007. The pain I feel [on rides over 3 hours] occurs between 3 and 6 o'clock relative to the scar's position. Sometimes it feels like I can put my finger right on the spot that's injured or overused.

Below, left cleat of my shoe with a suspiciously extended float limiter. With the screw extended so far towards center, my heel's movement to the outside is quite limited. In contrast, the right cleat has quite a bit more float in it, in both directions. As you can see the crash has shredded the cleat a little bit and possibly spun that limit screw to where it shouldn't be. I never noticed it until tonight.. that my left foot had such a small amount of float, that is..

So what are the odds that my crash injury and my cleat abnormality have been contributing to this knee pain and weakness? Why is my right knee fine and dandy.. even though I sometimes nurse the left and lean harder on the right? Maybe it has nothing to do with miles or intensity or hours or cadence. Maybe there's simply something out of whack in there because of the crash, and maybe it's compounded by the limited float of the left cleat- which is something I should have noticed- dang. I'd never put the two shoes side by side until tonight, when I noticed the odd position of the limit screw.. Hmmm....

Tonight I installed some new insoles- the kind you heat up in the oven. Made the shoes feel a little tighter, but the arch support is wonderful. My arches have been floating in mid air for a long time and I think it's been a real drain on my leg strength. These insoles have a "Tempurpedic effect" meaning that every square centimeter of my foot feels like it's supported equally. They also gave me something close to what I would have achieved with LeWedge. Let's see how it goes with tomorrow night's intervals..

Changed the Powertap hub batteries tonight and did a little 45 minute spin. Good times.

Funny new catchphrase overheard on Sunday's smackdown: "ten-speeding". Makes you LOL don't it? How about the old term "English Racer"? which in the 70s.. meant any bike with giant 27" wheels and drop handlebars. The epitome of coolness in the eyes of a 12 year old.. Having an English racer made you the shit in my neighborhood (which was College Point- a part of Queens, NY) An older friend of mine gave me his old yellow Atala when I was 13.. and as Paul Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story.."

Have a GREAT day.