my knees can't be hurting because of fit. they feel fine with normal riding. they only hurt when i skid (which i do out of my saddle) - which is why i kind of want to believe this theory of 'our knees weren't made for this type of pressure'

Maybe i'll practice using less pulling and more pushing of the back foot...?

once again my gearing is 46x16 which seems to be fine in comparison to other gears i've seen people using.