I had surgery for a torn meniscus and while the surgeon was in there he performed a lateral release. After the first surgery he told me that a lateral release on the left knee would help get rid of a lot of pain so I told him to go for it. Unfortunately both of those surgeries turned out really bad. I could barely step down from a curb without screaming, no chance in hell of getting back on a bike. The surgeon even told me to go ahead and sell my bikes, so I did. I ended up going from a pretty decent cyclist (cat 3 roadie) to a 260 pound fat ass.

About a year later I found another surgeon and he has been a life saver. He operated on both of my legs and told me that they would both be better but I probably still wouldn't be able to ride a bike again, at least nothing other than flat ground. A couple of months later I said the hell with it and I got on a bike. That was July 4th last year and I have been riding ever since.

I thought I was going to need to have surgeries pretty much every year until I turn 40 when they were planning to replace them. However, now that I have been riding regularly my knees seem to be doing quite a bit better. I still have pain but I can deal with it. The injections (orthovisc) should help eliminate the majority of the pain that I still have, at least for approximately six months.