Biking!!!!

 

Beginning a new adventure in biking to save the knees.

 

Yes, I've been instructed by my doctor to start cycling, either in the gym or on a road bike, to save my knees.

Bad knees run in my family and lately my knees have been crippling me. 

After having x-rays and meeting with my doctor, he said I need to start cycling to build the muscles around my knees to prolong the life of them and put off having knee replacement surgery.

He said that the doctors at TOSH (the orthopedic hospital here is Salt Lake City) have noticed that some patients who are scheduled for knee replacement surgery and start therapy (cycling) prior to surgery, have their knees improve so much that some opt out of surgery for a while.

This is my goal, to put off knee surgery for as long as I can.

I realize that it won't work for everyone but I'm going to give it a try.

 

Today is the beginning of this new adventure.

I have been researching all the different bikes and after reading reviews I've made a decision to purchase a hybrid bike from Amazon.  I know there is a risk but I'm willing to take it.  If I went to a bike shop, I'd know exactly what I'd be purchasing, but I chose to buy a bike on-line instead.

 

This is the bike I bought today.  It is a Schwinn Odana 700C.

The reviews seem good and for a beginning bike,  I think it looks great.

There is a newer model but I'm just fine with the older model and it's cheaper.  I'm all about saving money.

 



The doctor said I should clip my feet in to give my knees the most benefit of pushing and pulling.  I'm not doing that for now.  Once I see how things are going, I might invest in those kind of pedals and down the road, purchase a more expensive bike when I'm a more experienced biker. 

I'm looking forward to getting my bike and hitting the road. 

I'll post later about the bike when it gets here and how my biking is going.

Next step, get Steve a bike so he can ride with me.