jeneralist 

At least I'm not feeling like I'm missing much riding this week: Philly is currently experiencing temps around 40*F, with 40mph winds.

Of course, now that I've been having this go on for 3 months, I'm remembering things that were warning signs that I didn't pay attention to beforehand. This didn't really come out of nowhere; there were plenty of mornings when I'd wake up and have my legs feel not right for the first few steps of the day. Or times when I'd feel something odd going up stairs. But I never thought that I was on the edge of something that would keep me off the bike for an extended period

I've got another appointment with the Sports Med doc in about a week and a half. I'll keep you posted.

And, in the good news side, at least I'm no heavier that I was this time last year! With limited choices for exercise, I'm worried -- as a 'Theena can be -- about putting weight back on.

Masque

I have two rules about knees that have served me very well:

1. See an osteopath, since they are trained as MDs and then additionally to see the body as a connected system and not a collection of parts. I had a knee issue that was solved by adjusting my ankle - and it wasn't my knee specialist who caught that and fixed it.
2. See a knee specialist once a definite in-knee problem has been identified.

These rules have served my family very well and relieved serious problems for others.

I hope your return to form is quick and pleasant.

jeneralist 

Update: well, it ain't my tendons/meniscus/cartilage -- it's nothing mechanical. Turns out to be more on the medical side of things.

Doc took some of the fluid off my knees. They didn't find crystals (which would be gout, pseudogout, etc -- thank you, @indyfabz -- but they did find inflammatory cells. So now I'm on medication to calm things down in there.

For now, it looks like I won't be posting a long ride travelogue later this summer (although I'd love to be proven wrong about that). Going to file this under "rebuilding year" and work on getting back to my base.

Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement.