Left knee hurts, help!
 

Okay the past week or so my left knee has been hurting on and off. I ride fixed clipless, with a brake. I never skid. I have a 16th and a 18t cog that's a suicide hub. I stopped riding around September for school. At the end of december I started riding again but only on the 18 cog so I wasn't backpedaling. Few days ago I finally tried the 16 cog and my knee has been hurting from backpedaling. But here is where it gets tricky. I did a ride with the 16 with very light back pedaling and my knee didn't hurt. But today I went out on the 18 cog and halfway through the ride my knee started hurting, so I'm confused now.

I thought the cleat might have moved but it hasn't. Are my knees just weaker now and do I just need to build up the strength little by little?

Use your brake more and resist less. See if that helps. I used to ride brakeless when I was younger but as I got older I realized that the resistance to slow down and skid actually stresses your body quite a bit. Started using the brake and more gentle resistance and problems went away.

when in doubt cut it off.

What's your front chainring size?

Chances are you're trying to resist a big gear and knees don't like that.

Somethings funky. Why no backpedaling with the 18 (which would be easier), and backpedaling with the 16T (which would be more difficult)?

I like to ride low gearing and just spin like a mother ****er. It's more comfortable, It's faster off the line, and generally a little quicker except for in flat out drags.

But I suspect your problem is bad form, and weak off season muscles. Not gearing.

He said he rides 52x16 (87.8 GI).

Drop a half dozen teeth in front or add 3 or 4 teeth in back and report back. I get 92gi with a 700x23 tire. Way to high, unless your name is Graeme.

I mentioned that the 18 is a suicide hub.
Thats why I was so confused yesterday when my knee started hurting on the ride with the 18.

Pain can come and go. You probably strained it on the mastodon gear and didn't give it enough time to recover fully.

I ride a big gear because I do some races at the track in the summer. I'm going to continue using the brake more and resisting less with my legs. I was considering gearing down to a 17 for training and racing in the wolfpack crash race.

My right knee gets sore occasionally. Usually means something needs adjusting, or I was unbalanced in my left foor/right foot efforts, or after an especially hard ride. #oldness How were your rides? Any tough hills? Do you remember a specific ouch moment?

What happens on the velodrome has very little to do with what happens on the street. In this case, by riding too high a gear, you've stuffed up your knee which will stuff up your racing. Gear down, way down and concentrate on developing your technique and your cardio fitness. Build your strength doing intervals and by finding some hills.

This never happened before, but I'll take your advice on gearing down and doing the other things you mentioned.
Thanks for the replies guys.

An update on my knee pain. The last day I posted was friday, and I got a cold the same day. I stopped riding until this monday. I rode really easy on the 52x18. Tuesday and Wednesday I went to a bike shop to test ride a bike and did 25miles each day to the shop and back. Yesterday my knee was hurting a bit on the way to the shop. After 7 miles it started getting worse. When I started pulling up with my heels the pain would go away. I made it to the shop and test road the road bike I was interested in. Five minutes into the test ride and my left knee got a really bad cramp. Ive never had a knee cramp on the bike, or any cramp whatsoever while playing sports in high school. The pain was so bad that I had to ride back to the shop with only one leg. I asked to test ride the bike again after they made some adjustments to the handlebars and seat. Went out and tried again but my knee was hurting horribly so I turned back. I left the shop and slowly rode home. The first few miles were bad but near the end I started going faster and the pain went away. I went to class last night and managed to walk around. Right now my knee hurts horribly if I stand up and walk, but if I'm not moving it doesn't hurt. If I pull myself up I can stand on it and the pain goes away after like 3 seconds. I can put weight on it as well and it doesn't hurt too bad. But moving my leg or walking feels horrible. I'm going to take an Ibuprofen right now, hopefully it helps.

Go to a doctor

and don't ride there.

52x18 is still 76 gear inches. You should consider actually gearing down to something reasonable for street use and build back up as your knees allow.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...imer-for-Newbs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome

I don't want to be that guy that jumps in and diagnoses every injury but it sounds a lot like ITBS.

I read the link and also on webmd, doesn't sound like I have that.

Don't go to a doctor though, go to a physiotherapist. Doctor's will just tell you to stop using it and prescribe painkillers but the physio will give you exercises, ways to strap it if necessary etc

I still say you would be better off just cutting it off.

+1

Most "doctors" are just quacks trying to peddle pharmaceutical prescriptions.

Add glucosamine and fish oils to your diet.

Too late, cut it off. Gotta save some weight on my damn steel bike.

1. Go see a Physiotherapist
2. Gear down to < 75gi
3. Go get a fit from a professional/licences fitter with good local reviews