Cycling UK Forum

I'm new to this forum and "sort of" new to cycling as I've just had to give up running - I wondered if there were any ex-runners who found themselves turning to cycling and going through the same process. So I don;t have specific questions - this is just an open ended starter for conversation.

I have done a fair amount of cycling on and off but that was for variety of exercise but I've never really enjoyed it that much compared to running. I was told a few months ago that I have grade 4 patellofemoral arthritis and that they aren't interested and/or able to do anything atm - I'm heading back for a second opinion and more info but for the time being I'm having to start making cycling a focus - I'm still not really enjoying it as I grieve the loss of my chosen sport but, what can you do? I just have to accept it and move on. I had some knee surgery in 2005 (microfracturing) and have had a great 8 years with my running but I'm 52 and ran practically my whole life so it's really hard to accept (I don't think many ppl understand how I feel - the first word I've always used to describe myself was "runner") - I had so many dreams of placed I would go and run - the lakes and forests of Finland was on that list. Begrudgingly I started doing more cycling which, surprisingly is ok for my knee (low/no impact) but it'll never mean the same thing to me as running - you don't have the freedom to go anywhere the way you can when running and road biking (in the rural area I live) still puts you in close proximity to traffic which I don't like - I don't think my knee would be up to off-road or mountain biking so my other idea to recapture that sense of wild and lonely freedom is to start open water/river swimming so I'll be buying a suitable wetsuit very soon. I used to run a lot in the winter, the colder the better so maybe Finland can stay on my list after all although I don't think swimming at night is an option; I used to run at night (esp. in the winter) but I also used to wait for the hottest part of the day in the summer to go running - the endurance aspect was the really addictive part - anyway - enough about grieving about my knee. I look at days like today when the temperature is hovering just above and below zero and I'm not experienced enough/uncertain about cycling when there is ice around - it would have been a beautiful day for a run. I don't fancy gym work but I will be joining the gym, mainly to use the cross-trainers and try the rowing machines to see if my knee will put up with that (I have a feeling it won't) - I prefer to exercise alone, off road and outdoors - running, I felt, gave me everything I wanted - I don't like being restricted to country roads as vehicles are still something to be wary of, indoor swimming is boring and the pools are always crowded, gyms are claustrophobic so I'm hoping cycling will give me some of the outdoor experience although I think open water swimming will probably feel more like running however I'm probably going to have to do that within an organised group context until I can hook up with someone who wants to pair up - I suppose solo swimming is possible when I've got a bit more experience and confidence.

Currently I'm cycling on mildly undulating rural roads around the Cheshire basin - typically 2-3 hours but feeling like that an hour of running equates to about 3 hours of cycling for my legs but doesn't really challenge me aerobically as running used to - the problem is that I can't put too much force through my knee - I'm going to try some spin classes and see how that goes. I'm hoping swimming will be more of a challenge in this respect although I need to work on my front crawl as an hour of breast stroke is murder on my knees for about 24 hours afterwards.

Maybe I need another satnav - I'd appreciate some recommendations - I don't have a smart phone. I'm new to this forum and sort of new to cycling as I've just had to give up running - I have done a fair amount on and off but never really enjoyed it that much compared to running. I was told a few months ago that I have grade 4 patellofemoral arthritis and they aren't interested or able to do anything atm - I'm heading back for a second opinion and more info but for the time being I'm starting to make cycling my focus (still not really enjoying it as I wish I could still run). I had some knee surgery in 2005 (microfracturing) and have had a great 8 years with my running.

Anyway I have a Black Edition TomTom XL and it's impossible, as far as I can see, to enter a circular route (e.g. for cycling away and back to my house) - I tried using the "Itinerary Planning" (you put in waypoints to define a route) - setting only the start and finish as destinations and everything in between as waypoints but the satnav ignores the waypoints and spends all of it's time suggesting u-turns and calculating new routes so I get no information about how far it is to the next waypoint - I found it surprising that it ignores all of the waypoints and insists on trying to reroute me back to my house - it's odd because I have selected the cycling option and I do, definitely want to go via the waypoints I have entered. I have tried selected one of the waypoints (about halfway round) and making it into a destination thinking that it would take me to that destination via the waypoints but again it ignored the half-way destination and kept on trying to re-route me back to my house (the final destination)- basically the TomTom software or this version/satnav seems to be largely unsuitable for my needs as a cyclist - admittedly it is the satnav I bought to use in the car but are there satnavs geared towards my needs as a cyclist?

Also - are there any satnavs with more intelligent routing options that can take into account elevation or at least warn about routes involving steep ascents/descents? Obviously there are times when I want this but my knee will not tolerate me putting huge forces through steep inclines. When there is a mountain spur my satnav will try and route me up and over the spur along narrow winding roads instead of taking me around the mountain spur on more major/A-roads.

TIA
Neil