Road Bike Racing - knee pain

Hey anyone out there got any ideas to help me... my knee has been acting up due to riding. I have no history of knee problems. I wear my cleats as far forward as possible and I have been told that this may be the cause of my pain (located just under the kneecap). The first time I felt anything was during a race this summer. It happened suddenly, with no early warning signs, in the middle of a race. Wham! Severe pain. I thought I had pulled my quad. I couldn't pedal anymore, not due to being tired, due to the fact that my leg would not move. My leg was stuck... like I was the tin man and I needed oil or something. It took a couple of days before I could ride again and since then I have had some degree of pain each time in the saddle. Anyone out there experience something similar? Any suggestions? Could it have something to do with my cleat placement? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?

Saddle height would be the first thing I checked. When I was racing I had problems with knee pain and found that pain in the back of the knee was usually caused by the seat being too high. Vice versa for front knee pain.

So check that and take a look at what kind of gears you're pushing.

I think you should see a Doc,have him refer you to a sports specialist. They will have seen this before.

I have arthritis in my knees, and this bothers me when I cycle. I also have problems walking and runnng. My doc recommended that I take Glucosamine (500 mg) and Chondroitin (400 mg). They come in one pill, and doen't need a prescription. You can get them at any drug store. It takes 8 weeks for them to kick in, and after 6 weeks I have noticed a significant reduction in knee stiffness and pain. My doc says they lubricate the joints and restores cartilage. This is a dietary supplement, not a drug. You have to take three pills a day with food for two months, then you can switch to one a day. At Walmart, 250 tablets cost me $29.95. This stuff has been around a long time, but has recently come into favor in the medical community.

Look at your saddle height. You should be able to almost fully extend your leg when your foot is at the bottom of the pedal stroke (leave a small amount in reserve here because we all have days when we're more or less flexible than yesterday).

Also ensure you're warming up properly before going all out. Cold joints are a common cause of injury, particularly knee injuries.

Sounds like torn cartilage to me.

It could simply be that your cleats are not mounted properly. Example...people do not walk with their feet pointed exactly straight ahead and normally also walk either on the outside or the inside of their feet. Guess what? You pedal the bike the same way...yet many folks jam the cleats on perpindicular to the shoe using the markings on the bottom of the show as a guide.

I'd suggest that you see the bike shop that does fitting (and not an inseam measure type, but a computer type) and see if they do cleat fittings. If so, have them check yours..you may need something like a spacer (LeMond LeWedges are the best) between your cleat and shoe and have the cleat positioned properly for your pedaling stroke.

To get a base on your seat height, take your inseam x .88. That would at least give you a check point to see if you are way off, now.

I recently experienced pain in my left knee from a cycling accident, and I did take time off, but when I got back into cycling when I got my bike back from the LBS and started riding, the knee pain was back.

Today, I took a gamble and raised my seat height. I know that sometimes, pain in the front of the knee is caused by a lowered seat, so I decided to raise it to see if I would have problems. I did my full 31 mile ride this morning after raising it, and I had no problems, not even a twinge. Have you tried raising your saddle just enough for a fuller extension of the leg and less pressure on the knees?

Koffee

Thank you all for your responses. I will take them into consideration and work on the problem.

My knees bugged me untill I got speedplays. The extra float really helped. Now I can ride all day with no knee pain.