Knee pain
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Knee pain
Hi All,
I rode a 65 mile ride this past sunday and now my right knee hurts. I had trained conservatively for this ride by riding 3 to 4 times a week (aside of my daily commutes which are 2-3 miles). Started riding some 20s, then some 30s, a 40 miler, a 52 miler and then finally the 65 mile ride. I had ridden mostly with converse and mks clips and straps. For the 40/50/65 mile rides I rode Shimano SPDs - which I have ridden on other bikes (mtn, road,ss) since the early '90s. During the big ride I started to feel a dull pain on the outside of my right knee. I have Shimano a530 pedals which has a platform on one side. I tried pedalling unclipped on the platform side but the pain was still there. I know my cleat alignment is good. Monday I went for a 6 mile ride just to loosen up the legs, immediately my knee hurt. Ditto yesterday. Now im taking a couple of days of the recover but feel that this is due to pushing a fixie rather than cleat issues. I think its an accumulation of the stress of riding a fixie exclusively almost every day for the last 15 months.
I only have room for one bike in my apartment in NYC and as much as i enjoy riding fixed i may have to sell it for a geared bike. I love riding distance (caught the bug on this ride) and would like to start regularly riding longer distances.
What do you guys think? Am I being paranoid? Smart? I'm very close to putting it up for sale and buying a Pacer.
I rode a 65 mile ride this past sunday and now my right knee hurts. I had trained conservatively for this ride by riding 3 to 4 times a week (aside of my daily commutes which are 2-3 miles). Started riding some 20s, then some 30s, a 40 miler, a 52 miler and then finally the 65 mile ride. I had ridden mostly with converse and mks clips and straps. For the 40/50/65 mile rides I rode Shimano SPDs - which I have ridden on other bikes (mtn, road,ss) since the early '90s. During the big ride I started to feel a dull pain on the outside of my right knee. I have Shimano a530 pedals which has a platform on one side. I tried pedalling unclipped on the platform side but the pain was still there. I know my cleat alignment is good. Monday I went for a 6 mile ride just to loosen up the legs, immediately my knee hurt. Ditto yesterday. Now im taking a couple of days of the recover but feel that this is due to pushing a fixie rather than cleat issues. I think its an accumulation of the stress of riding a fixie exclusively almost every day for the last 15 months.
I only have room for one bike in my apartment in NYC and as much as i enjoy riding fixed i may have to sell it for a geared bike. I love riding distance (caught the bug on this ride) and would like to start regularly riding longer distances.
What do you guys think? Am I being paranoid? Smart? I'm very close to putting it up for sale and buying a Pacer.
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Riding fixed isn't inherently worse for your knees than riding geared, it's being in an inappropriate gearing that will trash your knees. I run on the low side (70GI) and over the course of the past 12 months have learned to spin really fast comfortably so that I can easily outpace guys I ride with pushing 78-80GI set ups. The upside is that I never have knee pain because there is never a lot of stress on my knees and I'm quicker from a stop than just about anyone else. The downside is that if I ever get in a sprint pissing match with a roadie, a competent cyclist who actually trains will almost always be able to pull away from me.
For commuting and general riding purposes, I find this gear to be ideal and like I said, with training to learn how to spin you'[re easily as fast or faster than just about anyone short of the hardcore roadies you come across.
For commuting and general riding purposes, I find this gear to be ideal and like I said, with training to learn how to spin you'[re easily as fast or faster than just about anyone short of the hardcore roadies you come across.
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It may simply be a matter of over use, but someone with a bit more experience with knee pain should probably chime in. For what it's worth, other than pushing too high a gear fixed riding shouldn't be mechanically different in any way from riding a geared bike.
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Sounds super low. Are you spinning too much? That might cause a lot of knee pain as well. If you're not riding in a place like a lot of hills low GI's don't make much sense...
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I also sometimes have knee pain, but it might be because I have only been riding for the past two weeks.
My gearing is 49/18 with 172.5mm cranks. If I ride mostly flat, with some hills would it be better to go down on the cog tooth count (say a 15t or 16t) or up? I want it to be easier to pedal.
My gearing is 49/18 with 172.5mm cranks. If I ride mostly flat, with some hills would it be better to go down on the cog tooth count (say a 15t or 16t) or up? I want it to be easier to pedal.
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cleat position, saddle height and fore/aft position, crank length (changes?). Only adjust one at a time though.
I had this same pain for awhile after I switched to 170mm cranks from 165s. Overuse is probably the ultimate cause though.
I had this same pain for awhile after I switched to 170mm cranks from 165s. Overuse is probably the ultimate cause though.
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im thinking overuse as well. I know my cleats, saddle and seatpost are all good. thing is, how is 70-80 miles a week overuse? i quess on a fixie it may be...well for me at least!
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f*ck land i'm on a boat, motherf*cker.