Jzaharek53

HobbesOnTour

Well, that's a pain!

First things first, on a long tour like that, you have to listen to your body. Popping pills is a temporary response and potentially dangerous if you do that daily on a long tour. You could be doing long term damage to yourself.

Secondly, you say that you have trained? Does that mean cycling similar distances to what you are doing now with similar weight on the bike?
If yes, then what has changed since your training? Weight? Distance? Speed? Footwear? Pedals? Roadsurface? Shoes? Had any work done on the bike? Hills?

If no, then you're finding out why it's a good idea to do some shakedown rides. You'll have to learn how to ride the bike comfortably. (Sorry, don't mean to be a smartass, but that's waht you really need to do).

Thirdly, check out the bike. The issue is only on one side, correct? Check your crank & pedal. Check the saddle, not height necessarily, but where it is pointing. that may be putting strain on one side of the body.

Next, get checked out by a medic. Are you European? If so, you should have free emergency health cover in another European country. If not, you'll have to make a choice of whether it's worth paying for or if your insurance will cover it.

Finally, listen to your body. Cycle and try to isolate when and where the pain is originating. Make adjustments accordingly to saddle (height, angle, direction) and possibly handlebars.
Explain your situation to your partner. Change your pace/distance to suit your needs. If you can stay put for a day or 2, or head for somewhere more interesting where your partner can amuse themselves while you rest.

Welcome to the world of touring! It's the adversity that you remember and gives the most satisfaction when you overcome it!

I remember one time heading off on a long tour. don't know what I was thinking, but at the last moment I had the idea that if I raised my saddle I'd generate more power and travel faster. So I did. Day 1 my ankles were tender. Day 2 my ankles were very sensitive. Day 3 my ankles were in agony & I could barely walk off the bike (on the bike was ok). Day 4 I could not walk.
At that point I realised the folly of my ways! Lowered the saddle, soaked a pair of socks & strapped them tightly around my very swollen ankles. It took about 2 weeks to recover fully. Lesson learned!

andrewclaus

Good advice above. We're not doctors here, and even if we were it would be folly to diagnose over the internet.

Taking pills to mask pain is like removing a smoke detector during a fire.

Rest and recover. Remember the acronym RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Be flexible and listen to your body. Battle plans never survive first contact with the enemy.

For future trips, a good tip I use is to train to 30% of the needs of the trip. For my last big trip, my goal was to cycle 600 miles per week, an ambitious pace for me. I "trained up" from my normal 100 miles per week to 200 miles per week (over the course of half a year), and it went exceedingly well.

spinnaker

Why in the world are you coming to bikeforums asking a question that should be answered by your doctor? Even a qualified physician isn't going to be able to answer your question without seeing you.

alan s 

spinnaker

Common sense always makes the most sense.

spinnaker

This is what I love about touring in Europe. Even though you might not need it, it is sure nice to know that train is there to bail you out. And taking the train sure beats slogging all day through a driving rain.

raria

Apologies if someone already asked this. But have you done 4 consecutive days of riding the lengths your riding now in your training?

Sometimes its not the bike just that your body is not used to day in day out riding. Remember also if your camping then your body may not be recovering each night sufficiently.

Jzaharek53

Tourist in MSN

If you try to keep riding, gear down and use very little torque. I say this because several years ago I was on a fully supported tour in Europe. One gal in the group was a nurse practitioner and she blew out her knee. (She described what she did in all the appropriate medical terminology, which I of course did not understand any of.) But she did not want to ride in the van each day, kept riding but at slower speed and with high cadence. That way she put very little stress on her damaged knee because of the lower gears. I am not saying you should continue to ride, but I am saying that if you try to continue try the lower gears. I gave her a roll of vetwrap but she never used it. (The elastic wrap that vets use is cheaper than the stuff humans use, but works the same.)

I do not know enough about your situation to know if you were doing something to try to lessen the pressure on your knee which cause the achillies tendon or if there is something else going on. But I would not be surprised if you were trying to use different muscle groups that caused your second problem.

Last spring on a short five day tour near home, at the end of the first day in the campsite I added a knee brace that I always take on tours in case I need it. My friend I was traveling with asked about it. I said, I managed to keep up with you today, but my knee does not feel very good, so starting tomarrow I am going to ride at a pace I am more comfortable with. So, won't be riding with you. Rest of trip my knee was just fine, I quit trying to over-exert myself by trying to keep up with a stronger rider.

I have not stood on the pedals to accelerate from a stop or to power up a hill for over a decade. Instead I gear down and spin up the hills, or get off and walk. Since then my knees have been a lot better.

CliffordK

Maybe a few details?

How far are you riding a day? Terrain? Gearing? Weight?

Is it possible to completely unweight your bike... transfer it all to your riding buddy? Box up what you don't need and ship it home?

You may get better with a couple of days rest, but you still need to do some serious changes to your trip.

• Lighten the load?
• Decrease weight?
• Decrease mileage?
• Decrease speed?
• Perhaps take the train from city to city, then ride the bike around the city and to surrounding small towns.
• More rest days?
• Call it a false start, go home, and try again later?

I'll take drugs for the occasional break-through pain. Get off the bike and the back is killing you... Knock down the pain at night, and hopefully it is good the next day. But, I won't use the drugs to keep doing what I've been doing that cause the pain. Maybe use them one day?

badger_biker 

You covered a lot of my thoughts and some great points. From someone with tender knees that were both scoped my advice after getting a medical diagnosis is spin, spin, spin. You may even want to stop at a bike shop and see if you can get a smaller inner ring or or larger rear cogs to lower your gear ratio. If the weather over there is cool try to keep the knee covered with a knee warmer or something - that is a big help for me. I don't know if you can adjust your routes but riding along the rivers is generally pretty flat to give yourself some easier days to recover. Best of luck to you.

CliffordK

Those neoprene knee sleeves can feel comfortable. I can't say how much they really do.

In the end, you'll have a lot of personal choices on how you wish to deal with this, pain tolerance, and whether you think you'll do any long-term damage.

fantom1 

I have had the achilles thing. About two weeks into a trip both achiles started hurting really bad after about 10 mins of riding. No rhyme or reason, I had ridden thousands of miles and was in good shape. After about an hour it would go away.

I was too far removed from anywhere to do anything, so since it wasn't life-threatening I just pushed through it. Really painful though, but it did eventually get better after about a week and a half. I kept them warm all the time and tried to stretch before getting on the bike.

As for the knee- I wouldn't keep riding for that, you might do permanent damage. I've had knee issues too that resulted from using pedals with too much lateral play. I switched to Dura Ace style locked in tight and never had another issue. That was road cycling though.

Did you switch pedals or something? Have you tried a shim for either leg (it sounds like one leg may be shorter than the other, which is pretty common)?

Jzaharek53

All in consideration! Thank you

Doug64

Where is the knee pain, i.e., front, back, or inside outside of knee?

If you have access to the internet, check this site out: https://www.bicycling.com/training/a...my-knees-hurt/

travelinhobo

Taking something into consideration means you'll do it your way. We're trying to help. The first guy who responded said it best. If you really did train long enough and correctly, then this shouldn't be happening. Doesnt make sense. Ive been on many tours (my first was also Europe) and never had pain or discomfort from riding. And why is everyone mentioning standing while riding? Who does that on a tour??

saddlesores

if you go back to your other thread you'll see the problem(s).

Rare Cannondale

"...I will be embarking on a 3,000 mile cycling tour of Europe from Portugal to Slovenia. Let me tell you that I have no cycling history or experience at all ..."

"....It's is a 57cm frame and I am 5'7". I fit a 53cm. I have to lower the seat almost all the way ..."

"...I have to lower the post 95% of the way down for my legs to extend properly...."

when it came time to purchase my bike,... I found a “1999 Cannondale T700” For $250 and it was perfect for what I was looking for. I couldn’t believe it. Now, I don’t have any knowledge about bikes,....After having the bike shipped to me, I eventually got to the point where I was researching my bike because the frame size was just a little to big and I wanted to see if there was another one that could potentially fit me...."


you've embarked on a 3000-mile tour over some rough terrain with no real training. your body isn't ready.

your bike is too big for your body, so assume you're leaning to the side when you push down, favoring one side more than the other.

CreakingCrank

saddlesores nailed it.

Your knee pain is clearly from overuse ... likely aggrevated by an improper fit. Regular riding strengthens the knee joints (thickens tendons and ligaments), then specific touring training builds from there. You appear to have skipped those very important steps. You should halt the tour or drastically reduce the distance, either by shortening the route or covering some of the miles by some other means of transportation. If you must continue, please do as others have suggested ... gear down and spin, reduce daily miles, more rest days, ice every night, listen to your body. You can do real damage to your knee if you try to tough it out.

alan s 

saddlesores

so the bike does not fit, and you are damaging your body.
you are 20 years old. wanna spend the next 60 years limping?

you are a few days into a long tour, and already in pain.
assume still somewhere in portugal. it's decision time!

continuing the current tour under these conditions is unwise.
first, can you switch bikes with your riding partner?

take a few days, a week, to rest, you and your partner can check
the maps.......find a less extreme route. no climbing, shorter days.
more time spent seeing the sights on foot, less time in the saddle.

google you some bike shops in amsterdam, see about renting
a bike from a shop there. one that can store your bike...or
sell it on commission.

how about a tour of holland and northern germany?

Tourist in MSN

Today while doing a long exercise ride, I thought of one more thing you might try. This is specific to your Achilles tendon, not the knee. I found that my foot was happier when I moved my cleats back about 10 mm from where the ball of my foot was. (I use shoes and pedals with SPD cleats, I do not know if you do or not.) This means that I am using the foot muscles less to push down on the ball of the foot than if my cleats were further forward. The downside is that I have more toe overlap with front wheel and fender.

CreakingCrank

From the picture in his previous post, it looks like he's riding flats. Even so, he can shift is foot forward and accomplish the same thing. He might also try adjusting the foot alignment on the pedal, if the knee pain is one the side of the knee.

fietsbob

Did you seek a doctor? in Europe you won't go bankrupt, for seeking medical care, even if not a citizen.