Training & Nutrition - Pain behind knee(s) while riding...

About 4 days ago I rode a hard 45 minutes straight rather than doing true intervals. I was probably between 75-85% exertion the whole ride with maybe one or two short sessions approaching 90%. I felt good at the end of the ride other than almost puking.

The pain started right away on my ride the following day, but wasn't too bad - rode a little over 50 miles with a very noticeable but manageable pain behind both knees, toward the top of the calf, just below the bend in the knee. Day before yesterday I just rode to the beach and back, about 10 miles, and the pain was sharp, but mostly just in the left knee. Rode 30 yesterday and could not even use the left leg to provide any real power for about the last 5 miles.

The pain's bad when I'm riding in the hoods, worse in the drops, and barely noticeable when I'm sitting up without hands on the bars. Climbing in the saddle is the worst, but standing and climbing isn't bad. Obviously, I need to take a couple days off, and while it would be best to see a doc, I'm without insurance and am basically $h!t outta luck on that. At first I thought I had just overexerted my muscles, but as the pain has sharpened and somewhat localized, it feels maybe like a tendon problem (I've gotten the exact same pain on the inside of my elbows from climbing if it's been a while and I go too hard). Has anyone had these symptoms linger from a hard session? If so, what did the doc order?

Maybe your saddle is too high or too far back? Did you change anything? Shoes, pedals, shorts? Is this more mileage than usual for you? New bike?

Maybe your saddle is too high or too far back? Did you change anything? Shoes, pedals, shorts? Is this more mileage than usual for you? New bike?

The bike's relatively new, but I've got a good 600 miles on it. About 300 miles ago I changed my saddle out but my seat position feels great - I could almost guarantee that it's got something to do with the session I mentioned, just by the way it came about, but you never know. I've ramped up my mileage over the past three weeks, including a couple centuries, and another few rides over 50 miles, but the change really hasn't been drastic...

You really have to take knee pain seriously, even if it only revealed itself on a longer ride. Back of knee is most commonly a saddle too high or too far back, as a previous poster already said. That's the common wisdom anyway. Many people don't realize that a change in saddle can change your reach to the pedals even if it's at the same height as the previous saddle, depending on its width, shape.

Listen to longfemur. Lower the saddle. Some problems only show up on long efforts.

Listen to longfemur. Lower the saddle. Some problems only show up on long efforts.

Just lowered my saddle some - I hadn't realized it but after putting my new and old bike next to each other, the seat on my new one was definitely higher. I'd wanted to raise it a little, but not as much as I had it. Strange though, I've gotten two centuries in with the new height, but the pain showed after a short hard session...

interesting,if the pain is below your knee, im guessing u either have tight hams or tight upper calf, do you stretch before your long rides?? if not i suggest doing a good hamstring, and good upper and lower calf stretch. i hear bikers usually have stiff hamstrings, usually the tight hamstrings give you bad lower back pain not knee pain but its plosable that i would give you knee/upper calf pain. just a suggestion. hope you figure out whats wrong and the pain goes away.

I do stretch regularly and stay pretty flexible, though not always before rides. My hammies get stretched the best because I've had back problems that I keep at bay with a core routine and keeping my hamstrings loose. The calves I probably neglect a little more though - I'll pay attention to this.

I think I might have had the same problem as you a few weeks ago. I tried to ride more intensively on one particular ride because I didn't have time to do my usual route. I deliberately pulled up on my upstrokes harder than I normally do. I didn't have knee pain during or directly after the ride but i woke up next morning with the pain behind the knee. It was a tightness in the tendon which felt very hard and I couldn't bend the knee much. Unfortunately, it took 3 weeks to completely heal. After one week it felt like it was healed (good enough to walk without pain) but once I got on the bike I felt the pain again and probably aggravated it. I suggest not riding at all for 2 weeks.

Just reread your post and am pretty sure I had the same problem. It was climbing in the saddle where I consciously pulled up hard on the pedals. Unfortunatly the doc said there's nothing to do but rest until it gets better.

you can try strengthening those muscles, it would be hard tho. well i can think of some exercises but they involve a machine and i dont know exactly how to describe them heh. let me see if i can find a article or somethin