Training & Nutrition - I don't think my calves are working

Lemme rephrase that... I don't think I'm working my calves at all or very much when I ride. Its been almost two weeks since I started riding and I've definitely improved even in that short amount of time. I'm up to 5 miles a day now and adding about a mile a day. The tops of my legs right above the knee hurt during and after rides... like normal exercise muscle pain. However, during my rides and after I don't feel any pain whatsoever in my calves. Is that normal?

BTW, I ride a Trek 1200 road bike with clipless pedals.

kind of - running to cycling conversion is something like 5 times. That is, 5 miles cycling is approximately 1 mile running. So you're possibly not doing as much work as you thought you were. However stick with it keep slowly increasing the distance and remeber to enjoy yourself.

Only things I'd suggest are
check your position on the bike - saddle high enough that your knee is slightly bent at the bottom of the stroke. When the cranks are horizontal your knee's over ball of foot and ball of foot over pedal axle.
cycle further/more

If you want to give your calves a good workout ... walk. Even better - walk in sand, or walk through snow with heavy boots. Unless you are cycling long distances or at a high intensity, you won't see much difference in the muscle development of your calves by cycling alone.

Thanks, both of you. I don't know why but I used to think that cycling was supposed to work your calves very hard. Thanks for clearing that up.

Cheers.

Just remember that cycling will be mostly dependent on the bigger muscle groups- it's more efficient. Calves do work in cycling, but not as much as your quads (which is why you feel the soreness above the knees after your rides).

Koffee

... running to cycling conversion is something like 5 times. That is, 5 miles cycling is approximately 1 mile running...Man is that some very wrong advice as well as bad science. The actual answer is it depends on how fast you ride due to wind resistance.

Even if he rode for 20 miles at a paltry 10 MPH it would approximate 4.8 miles of running.

Man is that some very wrong advice as well as bad science. The actual answer is it depends on how fast you ride due to wind resistance.

Even if he rode for 20 miles at a paltry 10 MPH it would approximate 4.8 miles of running.How do you figure it out?