Dodgy Knees...
Discussion
No, not aesthetically dodgy... 
Been riding every other night for about eight weeks - 15 miles of off-road, mostly fire tracks 7 miles climbing, eight down. (good ratio, huh?)
This week, my right knee starts to hurt - gently at first, then worse. Still sore today after last night's ride. It looks from searching the net that this is likely from over working the knee, not keeping cadence up and not allowing sufficient rest period between rides. I ride in SPDs but have done for years, also am fairly sure that my saddle is the right height.
Anyone else suffer from this - and what do you do to alleviate the discomfort?
I don't want to further damage the joint, but I also don't want to lay off for too long either - was just starting to lose a few pounds and was having fun!
Been riding every other night for about eight weeks - 15 miles of off-road, mostly fire tracks 7 miles climbing, eight down. (good ratio, huh?)
This week, my right knee starts to hurt - gently at first, then worse. Still sore today after last night's ride. It looks from searching the net that this is likely from over working the knee, not keeping cadence up and not allowing sufficient rest period between rides. I ride in SPDs but have done for years, also am fairly sure that my saddle is the right height.
Anyone else suffer from this - and what do you do to alleviate the discomfort?
I don't want to further damage the joint, but I also don't want to lay off for too long either - was just starting to lose a few pounds and was having fun!
saddle bum said:
Also get advice on saddle height, low saddle can cause knee probs.
Yes, High seats can cause knee pain too. I had my seat up about 1/2 inch too much and it was causing pain from the back of the knee. As soon as i lowered the seat to the right size i was ok. I have run spd`s since early 90s and i get pain on my knees as if they need to click but wont. I put that down to having my spd`s too tight when no one knew how they affected the knee.
I've had dodgy knees since my teenage years.
As has been mentioned, saddle height needs to be spot on but so does the fore/aft position. Although I love SPDs, I've found that the time ATAC system allows more float - side to side as well as rotational so I ride these on both my bikes.
Something that's sometimes forgotten when setting up a bike is the position of the cleats on your shoes. If the shoe allows it, the cleat should be angled such that your foot sits at its natural angle by default rather than perfectly straight-ahead.
As has been mentioned, saddle height needs to be spot on but so does the fore/aft position. Although I love SPDs, I've found that the time ATAC system allows more float - side to side as well as rotational so I ride these on both my bikes.
Something that's sometimes forgotten when setting up a bike is the position of the cleats on your shoes. If the shoe allows it, the cleat should be angled such that your foot sits at its natural angle by default rather than perfectly straight-ahead.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff