It's an Independence Day Eve Miracle!

I still can't safely ride my bike on the street. The knee does allow me to turn the pedals, but doing so is not without some pain. I'm not yet street safe. There is no way I could stop quickly, turn abruptly, jump over a hole or even ride hands-free with the knee in its current state.

While I was riding the bike on the stationary trainer, I stood up on the pedals (without pedaling) to stretch my legs. What the hell? I told Soul Brother #1 to grab his camera and meet me outside.

I've been doing trackstands for the last 20 years. I was never the fastest racer in this region. I was, believe it or not, one of the few who could do a trackstand. That got me mad respect from everyone else. There's nothing like pulling up to a red light and staying clipped into the pedals until the light turns green. It's nothing if not empowering.

For the last year or so, trackstands were agonizing. I'd stand up to steady the bike. My weight would be shifted to my left leg. Then the femur and tibia would literally crunch together. I swear that bone-on-bone thing is one of the worst sounds in the world, especially when it's coming from your own body. The pain had gotten to the point where trackstands were becoming difficult (as were cheater fives since my weight would be shifted, again, to my left leg). While part of me believed these sounds and the accompanying pain were typical for a knee that had suffered a massive injury in the past, another part of me knew something was terribly wrong with the joint.

Well, now something is terribly right. When I did the trackstands this afternoon, there was neither pain nor a crunching noise. There was just the sound of my glee as my inner cyclist celebrated my first pain-free trackstands in years.