Woke up to find that my knee wasn’t on fire, so I planned my first big ride since the injury. About 50km, but I had the opportunity to camp halfway if things got dicey. As it turned out, it wasn’t so bad. The knee was still sore, and I could feel dull pain building up slowly if I put too much power into my pedal stroke. I had set myself a few rules to keep the knee in check:
- Big hill? Get off and push the bike
- Flat? Go slow. I would go to my usual gear and then shift down 3 or so until my cadence was high and pressure on the knee was near nonexistent.
- Feel pain? Stop and take a break. I would do this every few kilometres sometimes.
- Going downhill? Stop pedalling.
All in all it was a pleasant ride. No wind, no rain and mostly flat ground nestled in the centre of a valley. After maybe 30kms I hit a steep and long ascent which I simply walked up over the course of an hour. Pushing a bike up is always less efficient than cycling up, but in my case it spared my knees so I was willing to take the hit.
After hitting the peak I was treated to about 15km of steep descent leading down into my destination, the small forested village of Varmahlíð.
My knee was intact, which was good news and I hoped that it was a sign that I could continue on my tour, albeit at a snails pace.
Varmahlíð had a neat little campsite tucked away in the forest and with a beautiful sunset forming I set up early and spent the rest of the evening darting around taking photos.
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