When my wife and I rode in the Seattle To Portland ride this summer, I began to experience a great deal of pain in the exact same area, but on my left knee. After riding 206 miles, I simply thought I had over done it. But we had put in hundreds of miles over the spring and summer in preparation for the STP.

Seeing a doctor, I learned about Patellar Tendonitis - inflamation and abrasion of the Patellar tendon that stretches over the top of the outside edge of the knee cap. It is caused by over development of two of the four quadracept muscles in your thigh muscles.

When doing a lot of riding, you tend to develop the two larger of the four quads faster than the others. This can cause the stronger muscles to pull the knee cap to one side or the other which creates a lot of stress on the tendon and draws the knee cap (patella) to one side and rub against the end of the femur (thigh bone) - voila! Lots of knee pain. The doctor recommended several excercises to strengthen the remaining portion of my quracept group - in addition to a strong anti-inflamitory med to get the initial swelling down and in prep for future long rides.

I would recommend a quick visit with the doctor to dicuss these items. Hope some of this helps. I have not experienced any more major occurances of inflamation since July.

Not to discredit a good bike fit either, I would double-check with a local bike shop about having someone look at your bike geometry and make sure it does in fact fit the rider.