Low cost single speed?

[artwebb]

I just realized how off topic this has gotten. I asked for advice on one thing, now I'm getting into personal stuff I shouldn't be burdening others with. I'll just quit on this, especialy since I'm getting sort of whiny
Sorry, folks

[Fenlason]

I am ok with what you are writing.. and I was in the process of writing an answer for your earlier email.

we have been busy.. my mother in-law just died.. and.....

[Fenlason]

Art..My knees.. Back in High School I tore up the left one pretty bad.

The left leg got bent sideways..a lot [wrestling team] One of the school tuff guys came down to take on the wrestling team. Coach gave him to me. The guy put me in a full Nelson which was not "legal" I said something to coach, and he said "So". So I broke out of it and turned.. I.. I ended up on the ground.. while my lower leg was still standing. [or that is my memory].. it got bent pretty severely sidewasy..and my knee cap went up into my thigh.
At the time Doctors did not seem to take it serious. It would often give out on me. If I moved wrong.. or also if I turned, quite often the lower leg would not turn with me.. and down to the ground I would go..

It did improve somewhat with cycling and time. I mentioned it before enlisting, and they sent me to a "specialist" He was thinking the draft was still on.. said he could get me out.. but then realizing I had enlisted... let me in.

He thought my right knee was worse than my left.. I don't remember all that was said, but if I remember the back sides of the kneecaps are not right... among other problems.

Once in the service.. competitively running, judo and karate, kind of messed them up again / further. I was hoping to finally get my left knee fixed...and mentioned it when I went in to get a cut in my thumb stitched up. The next thing I knew they were sending me home. It was not what I was after.. but I had just finished my schooling.. and was ok with that.. except still no fix for the knee..

By that time I had a hard time walking around.. and for some time once home I did not do much.. but eventually I got back into cycling. Then after a few years of cycling I did a bit of weight training also. I did end up with pains that Drs. said was arthritis. In my knees and elsewhere.

Just the other night I was talking with one of my fellow biking friends. He was talking about his slowing down, and that he had pains settling in. Old injury sites hurting that type of thing. [I am 53 he 55]. I told him I am actually more pain free now, than I was 20 years ago.

I wish I could tell you exactly how this happened.. but I am not sure I can.

[Fenlason]

I will write more when I can..

[drafter]

I am ok with what you are writing.. and I was in the process of writing an answer for your earlier email.

we have been busy.. my mother in-law just died.. and.....

I'm sorry for your loss.

[drafter]

I just realized how off topic this has gotten. I asked for advice on one thing, now I'm getting into personal stuff I shouldn't be burdening others with. I'll just quit on this, especialy since I'm getting sort of whiny
Sorry, folks

Don't sweat it. Sometimes it helps to talk to people who are not so close.

[artwebb]

It does. And thanks for understanding.
Fenlason, i'm sorry to hear of your loss. Sort of makes my problems pale in comparison.
my biggest injury knee wise was getting kicked in the knee by a horse (don't ever walk behind one without your hand on it's rump, or better yet lots of room) Fortunately my leg was not fully weighted at the time. That was the left knee. The right I managed to drop a motorcycle on once, but mostly just dumb abuse. Trying to be a Motocross racer and falling off a lot likely didn't help either (I frequently came in third, third from last, that is) At 43, I sure was surprised to have Arthritis, but looking back, I had clicks and pops in my left knee at 28, and I did have a few years after the horse got me that my left knee would 'go out'. A few deep knee bends done sharply would make it pop, then I could walk on it again, and the pain would diminish over a few hours.
my knees actualy give me more greif riding than walking, was that your experience, too? I'm just not real sure a 1 mile ride each way will do me that much good,nor do I see me getting to do much more than that without a guilt trip from the wife, who neither supports nor seems to want to join me in becoming more fit and less pained

[Fenlason]

thanks guys..
she had cancer.. and now the suffering is over..and she was 85 and had a good life.. not that things will still be easy.

Art.. this is your thread.. and you may hijack it as you wish
for the most part it has settled down to a few people talking. it would have been awkward to start a different thread for each evolution of the subject.

[Fenlason]

should you walk or ride to work?

walking is good exercise also.. I like doing both. If your ride gets to easy.. you could always lengthen the ride. Esp. on the way home.. take the long way. You could alter between walking and riding... ride one day walk the next.

For either of you.. you and or your wife..having someone else to work out with.. helps immensely.

I am fairly active and fairly motivated, but it is still real helpful for me to have others to work out with. We are snowshoeing a couple of nights a week after work [2 or 3 times] There are some nights.. when one is tired.. it might be cold.. it is dark... it is can be real easy to skip a workout. Knowing there are others that have planned to go out with you.. helps to get you out there. we keep at it and go. We support and push one another

[artwebb]

Yes. She could certainly use a workout partner, and it wouldn't hurt me to have one, either.
I may just try walking for now, as the chepo bike is still within the no questions return period, while saving for a good bike.
It may be the best way to go

[Conestoga]

Fenlason, my condolences. And blessings to every knee mentioned here. Art, I'm still rooting for ya.

I think this is a very healthy thread, positive and supportive. I got caught up in it early on, and ended up editing and deleting some of my posts hoping to reduce the amount of non-useful info I produced. This is a public forum..

I wonder if it's possible to make a thread retroactively private? This one has a limited audience. Would that preserve the 'round the campfire' feeling without exposing too much "private fluff" on the forum?

[Fenlason]

Fenlason, my condolences. And blessings to every knee mentioned here. Art, I'm still rooting for ya.

I think this is a very healthy thread, positive and supportive. I got caught up in it early on, and ended up editing and deleting some of my posts hoping to reduce the amount of non-useful info I produced. This is a public forum..

I wonder if it's possible to make a thread retroactively private? This one has a limited audience. Would that preserve the 'round the campfire' feeling without exposing too much "private fluff" on the forum?

thank you

[Fenlason]

As I have said biking and weight training has made my knees more stable.

An important thing is to keep moving. Joints do get stiff and have less range of motion with inactivity. I do do a lot of stretching / yoga. Drinking lots of water is important. a healthy diet.. I drink a vinegar / molasses drink, several times a day. I also supplement Fish oil.. and flax seed oil.. among other things.

Much of my weight training is more of a functional nature.. vs body building isolation exercises.

I do a lot of balance work. I lost some of that in a head injury. I started by just trying to stand on one leg balanced. It works on your sense of balance, but it also works on all those little muscles.. muscles that you don't know you have..

I have done a lot of reading.. I will try to come up with some specifics..

[artwebb]

Sometimes I think I'm bipolar I get all exited about the bike, then get stupid when it reminds me how much WORK riding can be when you're not used to it. I did go for a 45 minute walk last night after logging off, and my knees hurt afterward, but this morning they felt almost normal. Probably I am pushing too big a gear on the bike, and need to drop one. As for taking the bike back, considering I was lucky enough to get a ridable one at a box store, that was a dumb idea. After all, as I get stongr I'll be able to use more gear, have more fun and won't be dependant on my car exept for shopping and such, and if I want to walk, too, that doesn't cost anything, either.
I also found some arthritis advice sites, and for exercise to deal with this problem both cycling and walking are recomended, eiter or, or both. Guess what we've all done that isn't? It starts with an r. So if I restricted myself to walking, I'd have no recomended way to increase the intensity for more cardio, whereas with cycling, yeah.
Funny that 'functional' training is all the rage nowadays when my training has almost alway been functional, rather than bulge-focused, something else we have in common, Fenlason.
Connestoga, I don't remember any non useful posts, and welcome back to the thread. As to making this retroactively private, there might be some 'lurkers' checking it out and getting some therapy of their own, vicariously. If no one else is embarassed by their thoughts here, I'm not either. I'm not a twenty something with an ego anymore, I'm a grown man (with an ego ) who can admit I'm not superman and I have feelings and can be stupid sometimes and a horse's a$$ sometimes and sometimes should apologise for my cement cramium. There might be others with arthritic knees who are getting something from this.
I might be full of stuff
I'm digging the 'round the campfire' feel' too, but I welcome anyone who's not an a$$ (at least not all the time) arond my fire, and if we need a bigger fire, the merrier.
Drafter, I'm appreciative of your input, too, and I wish I had more recumbent knowlege so I could make some recomendations on that line
Fenlason, I think I know what that guy did to you, as it sounds like the results of a technique I reserve for serious threat situations.
I wish serious practitioners wouldn't teach this stuff to tuff guys to be misused, and I'm sorry that trash used it to 'prove something' against you. I try not to show people stuff like that, and that's one of the reasons I don't teach people self defense techniques anymore, becuase a few of my sheep turned bad after some training. That's the danger of teaching others what you've learned. Not that they'll hurt you, but that they 'll hurt some innocent person. Whoever tought that guy that technique should not have done so, as he was very obviously not responsible enough to have that knowlege. I'm so glad you've managed a healing of this injury, regardless how long it took, and I hope that guy grew up enough to regret it, now

[Conestoga]

thanks artwebb. i'm glad you feel this way about your thread.

i don't see anything that would cause embarrassment.
it's just that i'm newbie and i am trying to restrain myself a bit so people don't
roll their eyes and ignore me when i show up on every thread.