Been riding almost 50 years. And although I sort of remember having sore knees way back when, none for decades. Seriously...decades. No change in seat height, cleats or anything for 5 years.

Then yesterday....have been off the bike for 2 weeks, but a decent base so far...out of nowhere, 25 miles in, my left knee hurts like hell! On the outside, towards the bottom. This was not a race or mountain assault. A fairly leisurely jaunt in 55º sun.

Doing the ice, rest and hops and barley rehydration therapy along with some advil. Just bummed because this weekend it is going to be 80º. (I'll probably ride anyway, or at least try.)

Damn, you turn 65 and everything falls apart.

You mean it gets worse! I'm looking at 65 in 11 months. <grin>

Hope the best for your knee.

I'm still wondering what they meant by old age being the golden years. I guess they meant you have to have a lot of gold to pay for medical expenses.

Very unfortunate. Did you climb more (even if not aggressively) than normal? That might do it.

Best regards for a quick return to form.

You may want to have an orthopedic guy check that out before pushing it again. If you partially tore something in there, and don't give it time to heal properly, well, let's just say things can go SNAP inside, which can lead to some rather unpleasant surgical solutions, and a much longer recovery time.
Don't ask how I know this.

No, actually took it fairly easy, since I had been off the bike for a few weeks. 50 miles, 2300 ft of climbing. Nothing quad-busting.

It didn't appear on a climb or a sprint or when starting off cold. Just....appeared out of no where. And hurt all night.

So, ice and rest today. A good excuse for avoiding yard work and dog walking.

I'm also getting up in age (57) and I use to have a really bad right knees years ago in my 30's, which I first noticed on my first 1,500-mile bike tour. A doctor told me I'd eventually have to get surgery. I've yet to have surgery and instead got into weightlifting to strengthen the knee. I still have issues, but my issues come from doing stupid things, i.e. overdoing it. And when I do, I keep looking for exercises to help rehab my knees. However, the foundation are squats and deadlifts. Doing high reps with light weights are good for building a foundation, but if you want knees of steel you need to work towards heavy weights. This helps to balance out the strength of all muscle groups, that one activity cannot, such as cycling or running....

Some good resources, but many others available.

Good 3-minute introduction to importance of strength training



Myth busting that so many repeat about us old guys lifting weights.

Pretty sure this is a stretching issue, IOW you need to stretch. Needing to stretch increases with age. That's simple, no problem. Just need a routine to do every morning. I had the same thing happen many years ago, had to pedal the rest of the way one-legged. Stretching fixed me right up, never happened again. See: IT Band pain (during ride)
I did stretch like this 3X day for a few days.

My knees get a little sore now in cooler temperatures unless I keep my legs covered. I used to ride in shorts at 60F and above. Now, it is 68F and above. It also takes me a lot longer to warm up.

I wonder if others have similar experience?

At 73 I get about 10 miles than have to stop and stretch for a minute due to pain in the knees. After a couple of toe touches I'm good to go for the rest of the day with little to no pain. Didn't need to stretch at all until I was in my late 60's. Everyone is different. Hopefully your's is nothing serious either. Get it checked out for peace of mind or find what works for you. Good luck,

Five year ago I had total knee replacement on one knee because of cartilage loss. That knee is now my "good" and gives me no trouble when hiking, skiing, and cycling. Recently the other knee began to ache. X-rays and doctor's exam revealed minimum cartilage loss but some arthritis. No surgery is imminent, but the pain persists. Cortisone injections and ibuprofen work well. There is nothing else unless I have the knee replaced. All this is a result of age. I'm 74. Fortunately, the pain occurs at night while in bed and around the house when I am just sitting around. On the bike, the skis, or on the trail, little or no pain or discomfort. It's just the way the arthritis is affecting my knee. You would be wise to see a doctor.

A nasty, almost bone-on-bone pain in my left knee started up about a month ago. I suspect that it was a consequence of using the smart trainer over the winter while ignoring a slightly misaligned cleat on one of my shoes.

Honestly, it never occurred to me to ice it or stretch or see a doctor. Now, after a few 12-to-18-hour weeks of road riding, mostly on my track bike, grinding through the hills of Baltimore County, the pain is pretty much gone.

At 70, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to depend on my natural capacity for healing, but so far, so good. I suspect that many people around my age who are comparably physically active would heal just as fast without stretching. Guess we'll never know, since if stretching has been working, it makes sense to keep doing so.

Been doing those stretches for a couple of years, because of my sciatica. But I could do better, no doubt.

Keeping with the ice/advil/rest for a while and see if it resolve. Hoping it was just an overuse issue due to time off the bike.

Never had it before, but then again, I've never been 65 yrs old before.

I do believe stretching is very important, especially as we age. I do full body stretches after every gym workout, cycling and running. A fun little test of flexibility is to try and do the Asian Squat. I first tried it when I started doing Ass-to-Grass (ATG) squats, instead of just going down to parallel.

See how far you can go...note your feet have to stay completely flat, as opposed to resting on the balls of your feet. I could not do it when I first tried it, let alone do it with weight on my back, but the body adapts quickly by just doing a little at a time. The secret is NOT doing a lot, rather just doing it consistently.


My next goal is to be able to do the Kazotsky Kick. That might take a while though....

Just tried the Asian squat per the video in the post above. No problem doing it. I don't stretch or lift weights, though, just ride my bike, and I'm pretty light at 5' 8" and 115 lbs.

It's the lateral knee stretches, like the figure 4 and hurdlers' stretches that help the most. There's a good chance that you had an inflamed bursa caused by a too-tight tendon. That should resolve quickly and be OK by Sunday.

Great! So Saturday's ride will be a little sore, but Sunday perfect!

It does feel much better today, and I picked up a knee brace at the drug store. And stretched this morning too. Thanks.

Just developed same problem and ride coming up on Sunday. Had been off our tandem for three months due to fractured pelvis and had been riding gently with e-assist for a few weeks. I’m 81! Will try foam roller. Don’t despair at your age!

The Mrs. and I are going to ride our tandem Sunday too. Only second time out for her, as she is a Goldilocks Rider. Not too cold, not too hot, not too early........you know the deal. We can leave from our house and do a 30 miler with coffee and cake half way.

I've had a little trouble with the IT band causing sharp pain on the outside of the right knee. I found that pressing on the band above the knee fixes it right up. Push hard with the thumb or I have a plastic ball massager that I run down the band, (outside of thigh. low spot between muscles).

That’s the way to do it!

That's fun! A section of our riding group is called Goldilocks - not too hard, not too easy. We also have Rabbit, Laugher, and Slacker groups. Thus Goldilocks is between Rabbit and Laugher.

I posted a ride last Sunday which had over 100'/mile of steep, short climbs for the first 10 miles or so.. Our tandem had a hard time with that, and my dear Stoker had sore tendons the next few days - the outer (lateral) hamstring tendons (biceps femoris), both legs. Never heard of that before. We've been doing a mix of easy spinning and strength work with them, is working. Should be OK for this Sunday (we hope). Besides hoping, this Sunday's route has easier climbs. We ride with Goldilocks on routes with lower gradients, Laugher on the steeper routes.

VMO squat progression -- start out small....

Stronger support muscles is less stress on the joints and hopefully less damage to the ligaments

Here is an update: Since Wednesday, I have been doing a lot of stretching, ice, Advil and mostly resting. Can't keep on the Advil long term as it upsets my stomach.

Today (Saturday): rode 57 miles, 4000 ft of climbing. Not hard, but decent pace. Wore a knee strap brace, drank 2 bottles of Perpetuem and one of Gatorade as it was 85º at the end.

Knee: perfect! No twinges or pains at all. I wish I knew what happened earlier, but I think I am back in business.

I'll continue with the stretching and thanks to all who offered advice. Ride On!

FWIW, I had knee pain developing late late year. I eventually went to PT and we started working on the various supporting structures; hips, glutes, etc. which I had never done. I was plenty strong in the quads and hams.
Four times a week I am doing some version of squats or clamshells or steps ups. I believe these have made a difference for me.