Bill- how is yours comming along? MD explain things well for you? Hopefully yes on both

I got into an ortho doc this week. He didn't have much to add beyond what I'd surfed up and felt that I could start back cycling easily and see where it goes. He is a strong proponent of eccentric exercises, too. So yesterday I had my first easy little/85% speed 70 minute/13 mile ride in the flat singe track yesterday and all seems good so far. No sypmtoms before, during or afterwards, though I did ice it just for grins.

Regarding saddle height and achilles, I've seen/heard two perspectives. One is too high a saddle forces one to be too toe down much of the cycle, not engaging the calf enough, resulting in a loose/untensioned achilles that then "whips" taught cyclically when dosoflexion happens at the top of the stroke, and that is the abnormal stressor leading to microtears. I for one can attest that when mine was hurting, a hyper toes down posture actually lessened the discomfort as I was ankling less that way, thus keeping the achilles/peritendon more imobilized every pedal cycle, FWIW, but it was very un-natural pedaling technique. Conversely and more obviously, too low a saddle will force one into too low a heal pedaling posture, resulting in too much stress on the tendon, especailly if the ankle is already at max dorsoflexion and a hard push is done such as over a root or ledge. My take away is proper saddle height might be key in keeping this problem at bay. Oh and I did scoot my cleats far back and that too takes much of the load off of the tendon, but still feels kinda awkward still, but I've only done one ride that way so far. It is gonna be hard not to hammer the hills for a while still- arrrgh!