Medial quad pain

I was hammering this weekend and slowly noticed a pain within the inside bulge of my quad above the knee.  I was getting close to the end of my ride and maintaining the intensity in an inverse proportion to the pain.  

At about 2.5h into the ride, I come across this gate on my ride (blocks a road closed on the weekends) the gap between which narrows down to only allow 1 cyclist at a time through.  I am usually very generous at these gates, yielding to those approaching, then slipping though before coming to a complete stop.  This time (very rare), no one was going to let me though, and I would have had to stop except that I hopped the curb, rode a short section of grass, then ramped up the wattage to blast away.  This was a mistake as whatever was mildly wrong with my quad, suddenly became a huge, burning issue.  

I pretty quickly realized my day was done and immediately turned around (back through the same gate, this time with no fanfare.)  After a half hour, uphill, I got home and kind of tested my leg, but could not find anything of issue.  Today, I wasn't even noticing it until I did something that focused weight on that part of the muscle and I got a flaring pain.  I can put out about 1/2 the full strength before I feel anything, but immediately at that point, the leg goes into limp mode.  

Is this just a over exertion? Pull?  It doesn't seem like something I need to worry about.  

P.S.  I really wish they wouldn't talk about the wattage the pros are putting out during the TdF.  I would have rather NOT known that the wattage I am clawing to hold for a 2-5 minute climb, they are holding for 4-6 hours.