xterra solstice

after the xterra in idaho i caught the flu or something equally as bad. i knocked me on my arse but i shook it in like two days and we decided to make the trip down to la grande oregon for the xterra solstice. we left thursday after work, drove the 2.5 hrs to yakima to drop off the kids and spend the night then woke up early and headed out for the next 3.5 hrs to la grande.
when we got there eric did a quick swim and then i suited up to pre-ride. i headed out around the lake and then came across this rock section that i couldn't figure if we were going to go up or not, so i didn't. by now eric had driven the car around, and was parked at the top and we saw tape there, so we knew we must at least have to ride down it back to transition. so i decided to ride it. and i crashed. i was down 3/4s of it, it wasn't hard, but okok, eric was standing in the middle of the trail trying to take some action shots and i was about to crash into him and then instead off the side of the trail i went, knee right into big hard rock. uuugh. it really hurt, and i was shaking. i asked eric to drag my bike back up the little hill. i got back on and figured i'd be able to shake it off, no biggie.
i continued with the pre-ride, going up into the cow pastures, towards the pipeline trail. i got to one gate and was fiddling with the chain when the cows they started a mooing and started getting curious. i started to get scared that they might come and get me so i got through that gate as quickly as i could. my knee was still hurting, but i figured still too soon, need to just work through the pain! the descent down the pipeline trail was sketchy, it reminded me of Maui but i got down it, through some mud and then saw eric. we got in the car, i complained about how my knee was hurting like crazy and we drove up the road for a mile or so.
we started the rest of the pre-ride, which ya know i like a good fire road just as much as the next person, but i was dying. i was in my grannyest of grannys and my knee was killing me. eric was chatting away and i was just trying to get up that hill. then we hit the flats and it was hurting just as bad. then we got some down hill and that hurt, until we got to another flat and it hurt even more.
we got to suicide hill and all my confidence was lost and i just walked down the damn thing. the whole thing. and it was really long.
we kept riding, and i kept complaining, and eric kept riding along. i just wanted to be done with the pre-ride but i was going so slow it felt like it wasn't ever going to end.
so i decided to not race. totally a bummer. i had zero fun on that pre-ride, my confidence was in the gutter and i was in pain. i've crashed before and hit my knees like that before, but nothing that kept hurting like that. ugh. what a mess.
eric had decided to not race too, since apparently he had the chills and was all dizzy while we were out riding since he had been sick, too. we had originally thot we would just drive home that night but instead decided to stay over. we met up with cori for dinner which was way fun, she is a total riot and then we spent the night in la grande.
we got up pretty early and it was cold and windy. my knee was aching still, but felt like a 4 compared to the 10 it was the night before. we drove to kennewick and found the state patrol trails and rode around for about an hr and 1/2. the knee was doing ok until about 45 minutes in when we started doing some hard climbing or something but the trails were so fun, i was feeling really good and had some confidence back, so we kept riding.
later we made it back to yakima for the night and i slept in until 10:30 on sunday. i cannot remember WHEN the last time i did that was. it was so glorious.
i'm bummed i didn't race, especially since i took a day off from work and we drove all the way out there. but as of tonight, my knee is totally messed up. it doesn't hurt as long as i am not doing anything. i don't know much about knee injuries so i don't know when to go to the doctors vs just let it see if it will get better. i'm icing and adviling. i don't think its swollen any more, so i think that is good. any other advice?? i think, too that i have a sinus infection, so going to head to the drs this week for that. maybe i'll have them look at the knee while i'm there.