Road Cycling - Sore knees

I just got back from a my first three day bike ride (220 miles) and everything went fine, except my knees were killing me. I had done 800 miles on mostly gentle terrain, but with some hill training since the beginning of the season in the midwest (late April) I don't try to push big gears, so I don't think that is the problem. I used toe clips on the ride.

In your riding experience, is knee ache something that just requires rest, a change to clipless pedals, something else or a combination of these factors?

I have tried some short rides to sort of work thru it, but have decided to just give my legs a week of vacation from the bike. They are starting to feel better, but I am newly addicted to cycling and it is hard to stay off my bike...especially since I bought a Trek 5000 upon my return from the ride. Any advice to avoid this in the future or work thru this now would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

My name is Doug and I am becoming a bike-a-holic

First off, welcome to the forum Doug! We are all bikeaholics here to some degree so you are with like kind! :)

Well that's a tough one, because it could be a number of different things. Rest is definitely a must...but obviously you can only rest so much when doing multiple day long rides in a row.

It could be your fit on the bike, ie your saddle position, leg extension, and foot position on the pedals. Bottom line if it were me I'd probably have my fit checked at the LBS explaining to them where the pain is. If it were bad enough I'd probably talk to my doctor or a sports meds dr to get their opinion on the cause.

I know that I sometimes have pain in the right knee only and I've been ignoring it for the most part. My wife even mentioned that I should probably get checked out, but for now I'm just putting up with it. I do notice it more when I ride longer distances and / or back to back days. It is always my right knee so go figure. :(

Hi Doug.

Search the forum and you'll see a lot of posts about knee pain and how to address it, there is not a single cause, although over-doing it is common.

Bill, is your bike setup symmetrically? The human body is rarely symmetrical, I setup by shoe cleats, brake levers etc. for left/right differently.

Hi Doug.

Search the forum and you'll see a lot of posts about knee pain and how to address it, there is not a single cause, although over-doing it is common.

Bill, is your bike setup symmetrically? The human body is rarely symmetrical, I setup by shoe cleats, brake levers etc. for left/right differently.

Thanks guys. I checked out the other forums and found some good stuff. Thank you both for your input.

DP

Thanks guys. I checked out the other forums and found some good stuff. Thank you both for your input.

DP

A quick update. Since I am in my first year riding a road bike I have a lot to learn. What I learned about the relationship of the leg/knee/ankle & pedal thru this process has been interesting. I took some of the advice I gained from some older theads and went to my LBS (local bike shop) for a fitting. I had done some research about what amounts to "shimming" your foot/shoe to better align your foot on the pedal and in doing so align the whole leg/knee/ankle/pedal & that is what we did - after we got the entire bike set up for me (seat height, seat fore/aft adjustment, stem length review).

My knees are still recovering from my first long multi day ride (mostly because I am having trouble staying off my new bike), but when we got the shimming done the pedaling on the trainer felt great...which told me that the alignment was correct & the LBS fitter agreed based on what he saw in my pedaling/mechanics.

Also, I learned that my tendency is to pedal a little too much toes down, which is a habit that now that I have cycling shoes and clippless pedals (and that I am aware of it) I will try to break. Needless to say, all of these factors play together to make happy knees and therefore a happy rider.

Do many of you have to "shim" your cleats or shoes (either inside or out) to improve your experience? I have seen LeMond fitness makes a LeWedge product for this purpose or you can essentially do the same thing with layering insoles to one side or the other in your shoes or use small washers on one of the bolts of your cleats to get the same affect. Just curious about what others do & I thought I would offer what I learned hoping it will help other newbies.

DP