About 2 weeks ago I cased a landing on a stair jump and more or less landed on my left knee. No skin abrasions even. However, when I am on my road bike, especially when I'm climbing or pushing a big gear it feels like my knee is being pulled apart. I can run, play tennis, walk, etc with no real discomfort but as soon as I'm on the road bike it hurts like crap, especially after the 1st climb. For whatever reason, its not as noticeable on the mountain bike, but probably because I run a 3x9 on that vs. the 2x9 on the road.

I saw a doctor here at school and he was useless as is normal, and my insurance kinda sucks so I don't want to incur and large medical bills from the hospital or anything. My broken collarbone was like $900 for them to waste 6 hours of my life and give me a sling I never used... anyways anyone with a similar knee problem with any light to shed on this?

Are you warming up properly prior to putting in a big effort on the bike? I'd recommend spinning easily for a few minutes before trying to push any big gears or make a massive effort.

Yeah I spin about 4mi on flat on my typical route before I hit the big climbs.

It's not really a question of terrain for warming up, it's a question of effort. Going hard on the flat too early is just the same as going hard on the hills too early. What I'm saying is that you need to start slowly early on, and build up the pace as your legs feel stronger -- regardless of whether it's flat or hilly.

Is it a ligament that hurts? I fell rock climbing and banged my ligament in my knee, and couldn't ride for a week. It was slightly swallen. Kinda hurt to walk also. It was all good after a week.

injuries like this suck...i think time should fix this. as long as nothing was fractured, your knee is probably just slow to recover. i've found that biking puts stresses on my knees in places that don't really get worked just walking around. i've suffered from knee pain in the past which was only when i was on the bike. i just had to be deligent about streching (before and after), keeping my form in check, and just waiting it out. take it easy and when you notice it starting to hurt, call it a day and try again the next time.

also, unless it's absolutley necessary, try not to take pain killers. just listen to your body.

I think that's the best advice here in a long time concerning knee injuries. Raising and lowering the saddle is fine but if you start off injured that's another matter entirely. There are too many threads where people are taking strong painkillers for cycling. This is insane. If you're body is injured, taking painkillers will make it worse.

Here's my advice. Take a couple of weeks off and go slow from now on. If you start feeling pain, take another week off.