I have written to you about this problem before, Dear Reader, so I wanted to give you a surprising update. At the end of my tour season in 2024 I banged my knee in Switzerland, resulting is a pretty painful week on the bike. Worse, the pain never went away and caused some mobility issues when not pedaling (thankfully). At the end of that winter I got an MRI and found out that I had a shredded meniscus.

Although I could ride, the irritation was constant otherwise, and I couldn’t squat or sit on my knees anymore, which I’ve had a habit of doing since my martial arts days 40 years ago. Flexibility became an issue, too, because I just couldn’t get the leg in some positions to actually stretch the muscle I wanted to.

I talked to everyone about it, and some people told me that I should just go and get an operation to snip away the frayed bits. Some people swore by this and one guy got it done without even having any pain in the knee. My doctor, on the other hand, thought that an operation should be a last resort, but also understood that I needed my knee for my job. I did some physio for a while, which may have helped or might not have, and I just kept going that way till I realized some weeks ago that, hey, I could squat again!

Somehow things have improved down there and I can even sit in seiza for short periods, which I thought was definitely finished. What has happened? I’m not really sure. I could say that it’s because I’ve picked up the training somewhat, but I don’t feel like that’s it. I haven’t been doing my physio exercises for months, so it’s not that. Maybe I’ve lost a pound or two?

My thinking is that my body has figured out that I wasn’t going to do anything about this problem and so decided to take matters into its own hands (or legs, in this case). Of course all this could fall apart any day, but I’ll enjoy sitting on my haunches till that day comes.