Bruce Lowekamp

Brief history: I started cycling seriously last October. Built up endurance at a steady pace and was doing 3 90 minute rides a week in zone 3 at the beginning of Feb. Then I went and did a 2.5 hour longer ride, and got some slight knee pain halfway through, that became much, much worse on my next ride two days later. Although I think I built up the endurance at a reasonable pace (the 2.5 hours really wasn't THAT difficult), somehow I never heard about the importance of stretching until I ran into this wall, so I think I have a classic overuse injury in my knees (particularly the left). Since then I've been stretching religously three times a day (brief warmup by walking in place when I don't ride first). I also have bought a new bike (I'm assuming I will make this problem go away) that the LBS spent a couple hours adjusting to make sure it fit, including a RAT adjustment to align my cleats. I've also made sure I don't move my knees out when pedaling. My natural cadence seems to be about 80; I'm trying to raise it a bit more, but my understanding is that's OK. AFAIK, I've checked everything I can with my equipment and technique.

My question is how I should advance my cycling again. I took about 10 days off with just stretching, icing, and antiinflammatories. Last week I went on four rides, with a 10 minute warmup and cooldown in the low end of zone 2, with some zone 3 work in between. I experienced some mild soreness in my knee that I would classify as not really painful. On Saturday I went on another ride without a rest day from my Friday ride (had alternated otherwise), so I just did 45 minutes in zone 2. Woke up Sunday and found my knees were really very sore, which they hadn't been doing, but I also realized because I had been busy on Saturday, I had only stretched once, very briefly. I took Sunday off (yesterday) and am taking today off, and after doing three complete stretching sets on Sunday, felt better and woke up feeling 95% Monday morning.

My real question is, if I only ride on alternate days for a while to make sure I get enough recovery, how much soreness should I experience in my knees when I ride without worsening my problems? My understanding is I need to stress the tendons slightly, then let them recover. Is this the "mild soreness" I'm experiencing with the riding I did last week? Is it worth going to a doctor or physical therapist over this? I'm fairly sure it's primarily patellar and iliotibial band problems, and the stretching seems to really help short term, and I think it's helping long-term as well. I feel like it would be stupid to go into a doctor's office and say I had a problem three weeks ago that I think is mostly solved. I thought maybe a physical therapist would be more understanding, but the ones I've called have said they only take referrals from doctors for specific treatments. Of course, I'm also getting a bit tired of trying to find time to do so much stretching---I probably need to identify which stretches really help and only do those multiple times a day.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, but I really want my knees back so I can go riding...

Thanks,
Bruce

Billy Ray

You note that you started cycling in October. Have you been cycling seriously this whole time or have you only gotten serious recently?

"Mild soreness" is a pretty personal concept, but if it is what you really consider "mild," I wouldn't worry about it.

Two thoughts:
1. Cycling every day actually seems to help me. My knees tend to get rusty if I take days off. I try to cycle every day--even if that just means turning the pedals for 20 minutes and "moseying" around the neighborhood.
2. Which cleats are you using? Cleat selection seems to aleviate 95% of knee pain. You might want to consider Speedplay (I don;t use them, but they seem to help a lot of people with knee pain).

Good luck.

BR

Bruce Lowekamp

Thanks for the thoughts and questions.

I guess "serious" is as personal as "mild soreness." I averaged 4-5 times per week, generally about an hour from December on working to 1 to 2 90 minute rides per week in January. (luckily, Williamsburg averages 45 in January)

Right now I'm using SPD cleats with a 7% float. The RAT adjustment they did at the LBS was to align them, and they found that I naturally held my ankle at a slightly different angle than I thought I did (apparently my ankle and knee disagree somewhat on the ideal angle).

Thanks,
Bruce

alanbikehouston

Richard Ballantine wrote about problems with his knees. He was riding in level areas, and during his recovery, he stayed with "easy" gears, and avoided going over about 70 inches. Some of the new bikes with the 53/11 setups have people riding gears up to 130 inches and then having knee problems. Those setups will have four gears above 100 inches, and seven gears above 70 inches. And, if those gears are there, folks will use them.

Avoid high "load" situations, such as steep hills, or riding directly into a strong wind. Gently spinning at 60 gear inches or 70 gear inches well allow you to build up the muscles in your legs while not further harming your knees.

Billy Ray

Bruce,

You may just need to build up the muscles around/supporting your knees. If you started in December, you really haven't been cycling too long and it sounds like you may have hit it a little too hard. I would focus on spinning with moderate resistance for 5-7 hours each week (if you have that much time). Stay away from hills as suggested above. After a while, work in smaller hills, etc. As much as it sucks, cycling involves using muscles you never used beofre and it takes time for your body to get used to it.

Good luck.

BR