About two and a half weeks ago I injured my right knee during a cyclocross race. I'm still not exactly sure how it happened.... I don't remember coming down on it hard or banging it into a barrier. After a few trips to the doc.... it is still giving me fits and is swollen up like crazy despite being on prescription anti-inflamitory drugs. My doc said it was "Jumper's Knee."

I haven't raced on it since screwing it up... but I have been doing some riding. (Including the Hilly Hundred this past weekend). On my road bike.... while riding, the pain from my knee is much less than when walking on it or riding either my MTB or my cross bike. So much less that only a few times do I feel the pain is holding me back on the road bike. But, sometimes I'll get tears in my eyes on the other bikes when pushing hard.

The injury occured while riding a cross race on my MTB (no cross bike at the time), Eggbeater Candy pedals, and Specialized MTB shoes. I now use the same shoes and a set of Shimano SPD pedals on my cross bike. I'm starting to suspect that the injury might have happened from the different knee positioning on my MTB and cross bike when compared to my road bike.

My road bike runs Time ASX Titan cranks... which have a low q factor, and Speedplay Zero CroMo pedals, Specilaized Carbon road shoes. My MTB has some Truvative tripple crank with external bearings.... my cross bike has an FSA Gossamer mega exo.

Anyone have thoughts on this? I keep wondering if the Specialized MTB shoes just aren't stiff enough for me to use while cross racing. Perhaps that extra flex is giving me problems. I know they are no where near as stiff as my road shoes. Maybe I should give some carbon MTB shoes a try.

How about pedal length? Who makes the shortest MTB style pedals? I know both the Candy and SPD pedals are more restrictive for float when compared to my Zeros.... I can't discount this as having a contributing factor as well..... what is really stumping me is that only my right knee is having a problem...

I'm just sick of the pain and want to be able to ride hard again.