Last year I did two century rides in between a lot of bike trail riding. Towards the end of the cycling season I started developing pain in my right knee on the right, outside part of the joint. I attribute the injury to over exertion since I rode in extreme gears, but I could be wrong.

I had a professional bike adjustment, switched my riding style to easy gears, and took it slow. Cautious of my injury from last year I took a few weeks to take some less than 5 mile rides when the weather got nicer. I had some tightness in my knee but there wasn't any significant pain. This past weekend I did a 15 mile ride, took it real slow.. the moment I went up one of the hills, my knee was back to hurting the way it did last year. I don't want to spend a lot of money at an orthopedic specialists office if I don't need to, so I'm wondering if any experienced riders have gone through anything like this before and perhaps could give me some good advice?

Thank you!

Where is the pain? Typical rule is pain in the front, saddle too low, pain in the back saddle too high. That said I am in PT right now for pain behind the knee cap which is chondramalsia which is a softening of the petella cartiledge. I am working on proper strengthening and taping. I also find keeping my cadence up around 90rpm helps significantly.

the pain is in the front of my knee on the middle of the right side. I should look up a chart to see what it's called.

consider having the bike fitted again but ask the fitter to pay special attention to whether your foot is overpronated or under...
either way, when you force your foot to lie flat when on the pedal will cause the shift to work its way up your shin, into your knee. I presume that the area you are thinking about is your ACL/pcl area.

https://www.cptips.com/knee.htm