Are a bee\’s knees better than mine? I don\’t know; but my own knees are getting a bit creaky and cranky.

Yesterday I had quite a long wait at a bus stop; and to pass the time, I started to do lunges. At repetition number eight, the areas around both knees suddenly began to hurt; so I decided I\’d better knock it off.

Does that mean I\’ve been pushing too hard on the bike? Cycling, after all, can be rough on the knees if you try to push too hard a gear, too soon. On top of that, I\’ve had some arthritis in my knees for many years.

At the same time, cycling is the bee\’s knees for having fun; and as long as you don\’t push too hard a gear; and your saddle is the correct height; you can pedal for miles without knee pain.

Muscle soreness is another story. Some soreness is inevitable if you\’re working to improve your pace; or to develop better force. Maybe that was my knee problem yesterday; but I didn\’t want to take chances.

It made me hesitant about doing on-bike force exercises this morning. I began my ride, though; and the discomfort I felt during those lunges seemed absent; so I went ahead and put in some force intervals. It didn\’t seem to cause any problems.

Tomorrow is a holiday — Thanksgiving — so I can sleep a few hours later before I go for a ride. The weather outlook is good; and that\’s something to be thankful for. I think I\’ll keep it rather leisurely; and then I\’ll fix me a can can dinner.

Naughty?

I\’ll skip the dance, though. It looks like it\’s hard on the knees; and it\’s also too risqué for me. At the time the can can first appeared, it was considered most scandalous!

One version I heard of its history says that the can can originated among laundresses, who were showing off whose linens were the whitest. Maybe that\’s true; but I didn\’t imagine those laundresses doing more than flipping their skirts up to their knees, if that high. After all, that was the nineteenth century.

Apparently many people thought the can can was the bee\’s knees, because the dance is still around. But I\’d rather be riding my bicycle than showing off like that. In my book, it\’s cycling that\’s the bee\’s knees!