Hi Pete,
only noticed this post today. Sorry if I'm late
1) Both
2) Pain shifts from one knee to the other
3) Right Handed
4) See note below
5) No
6) See below
7) See below
8) Approx 5'8
9) 100KM approx weekly
10) Commuting/MTBing on country roads (not hardcore stuff)
11) 15 years with a huge gap in the middle. Restarted approx a year ago.
12) Almost gone now (see below)
The note :
Pete, I had huge problems with my knees, the following factors all contributed to less and less pain until it almost disappeared. Nothing new under the sun - most tips I actually got from this forum itself.
1. Switched to clipless pedals - I chose speedplay frogs due to their knee friendly free float feature.
2. Adjusted my seat height/position exactly up to spec. See some of my previous posts on this topic.
3. Made sure I'm using my correct crank lenght.
4. Started pedalling faster 90/100 RPM with less pressure.
5. I found a pedalling technique (this I found through personal experience and did not consult anybody about it - as far as I know, I could be wrong) where I use my ankles to help my strokes.
6. Stretch (just a short basic session) before I cycle.
7. Sometimes I do straight leg raises. Apparently cycling overdevelops a particular set of muscles and virtually ignores another set (don't ask me which ones though!) - and straight leg raises builds up those muscles. The imbalance can cause leg pain - according to my orthopedic doc.
good luck,
claude