Hi guys, I've been having this lingering issue with what I think is my patella tendon. It's on the upper part of my knee cap. When I first started cycling I had issues with patella tendinitis on hills, but as I got stronger the problem went away. Flash forward a few years, I'm consistently doing 50-60 miles a week. With 2 days out on the road a week, and 2 on a spinning bike at a gym. I tried a much harder ride than I usually do, and did about 60 miles with almost 4000 feet in ascent (Topanga Canyon in Malibu). Part of the climb was brutal at 10-13% grade for at least a half mile. The climb took a lot out of me, and I had to stop and rest a couple times, but nothing hurt more than usual.

The next day I woke up to my right knee throbbing BAD. I barely could walk for a few weeks, with bad pain right on the top half of my knee cap. I had to get a brace, and I stopped training for almost two months, until finally the pain started to subside. I tried to do a light workout on a spin bike, and it flared up immediately. So I didn't work out for another 2 months. Now the knee doesn't really hurt during normal activity, and I can do light work outs on the spin bike with no real issue as long as I stay out of the saddle. If I try to do any kind of significant resistance in the saddle, my knee hurts in the same place.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Anyone know of any exercises I can do to help the healing process? I spoke with my doctor, who is also a serious rider, and he said it doesn't sound like I tore anything, and that I just need to give it time to heal. But now it has been 6 months, and it still feels pretty weak.

This is incredibly frustrating as you can imagine, any help would be GREATLY appreciated.