I arrived home from London this morning after a 24 hour long haul flight via Singapore. The altitude and cabin pressure during the flight flared up the swelling in the knees again but this time more in the right knee than the left so that is a little odd. My week in London was hectic to say the least however I was able to rise early in the mornings to get a lap around Hyde Park or Battersea Park and the knees responded well to these activities until disembarking the plane in Singapore to realise that a good part of that work had been undone.
On all but my last day in London I was able to take a walk around Hyde Park or Battersea Park and each time I was able to increase the distance of the walk and the pace at which I completed it. I kept each walk logged on Strava and at the same time checked in to see what everyone else had been doing back home. When I saw all of the rides logged for the 3 & 5 Dams Challenge, I was green with envy but I was probably better being far away from it all in London that I would have been in Perth and having to watch it all from the sidelines.
I must acknowledge all of those who braved the long hills and managed to complete their respective course. I would so have loved to have been able to do it with them all (officially or otherwise) but it will have to wait until next year's event - assuming I can avoid being cleaned up by a car again.
With the legs feeling far better for the exercises around London and being both physically and mentally tired from a draining week of meetings and the like, I was more than ready to get back on the plane and head for home. Unfortunately I was far from the same frame of mind when I arrived in Singapore with swollen knees that, again, had clearly not enjoyed the flight. I had slept for the best part of the 12.5 hour journey and had not realised the problem until I walked off the aircraft in similar pain to that which I had felt in Hong Kong. However I was able to walk some of it out as I moved around the terminal.
A lengthy stop-over (6 hours) and a good dose of pain killers and I was ready to brave the much shorter flight to Perth (5.5 hours) and complete the uncomfortable slog to get home. The flight from Singapore to Perth was the only flight of the four that had a near empty plane and I made my way down the back of the aircraft and happily utilised an entire row of seats as a bed. The knees were still not happy but it did offer some level of comfort to the rest of me.
By the time I arrived in Perth the swelling had really flared up and made it difficult to move. It had been the first chance in several days to redress the wounds and they badly needed it. I decided to leave them uncovered to help dry them out and rallied up Jord to come for a walk to try and reduce the swelling and get the knees working again.
A nice 8 km walk through Burswood and Belmont Park and the knees were much happier and I summoned up enough courage to try the stationary trainer for the first time since before leaving Perth. It was fantastic to be able to roll the pedals over with the trainer disengaged and not feel the stresses on the joints. This is a sure sign that the knees have definitely improved enormously and I will attempt to get out on the bike for a short and very easy ride on Saturday morning.
Thanks for reading and see you back out on the road soon.
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