Can old, cruddy cleats cause knee pain?

More knee pain... 'tis the season!

I've had my bike for ~6 months now and spent the money on a good professional fitting with someone I trust. I've been biking many miles quite happily.

Until 2 1/2 weeks ago. Midway on a flat ride: horrible knee pain on the upper outside of my knee.

I'm a reformed masher, but I wasn't mashing and I wasn't going up any big hills. I took 2 weeks off the bike, was able to run 5 miles without pain, and then... Sunday... got on the very flat bike path, and the pain returned. I skipped the nice hill loop I had planned. :/

When my mentor had knee pain, she went to her fitter, who quickly figured out a crack in her shoe sole was the source of her problem. New shoe, no pain. My cleats are from 2002. They are from my mountain biking days and are pretty beat up. And when I turned the left (problematic) one over, I discovered the little clip-in piece (forgot the correct name for that) was caked in mud, probably from a rainy race I did. I can't believe I was even able to clip in.

Picture is below. It's hard to tell, but the mud is thick in there.

Before I park the children with a sitter and drag myself 30 minutes back to the fitter, does anyone think this mud could be causing all my problems? It's just so strange that I've been fine for so long (doing up to 40 mile rides) and suddenly be crippled... grrr... But I sure do like the idea of new shoes. :)

Yes. It could be the position of the cleat on your shoe (anterior/posterior). You also need some lateral movement (I believe) but don't quote me on that.

Maybe. Why not clean the cleat and go for another ride? That's likely what the fitter will suggest anyway before putting you in new shoes.

What you've decribed sounds a bit like IT band issues. Do you ride a triple? Is it your right knee?
That's just a wild guess, but I thought it might be worth asking.

Hmm, I do ride a triple but I stay 100% on the middle ring. I can't remember the last time I shifted off of it. LOVE the big ring... but then I mash.

It's my left knee. Very strange that I could run 5 miles without a twinge! Luckily, it seems to repair quickly -- only a tad sore today.

I clipped the shoe onto the pedal, but it didn't seem like the mud was interfering with anything. I'll clean it and take it for a ride anyway, though I'm paranoid about making the pain worse. I made an appointment to see the fitter on Thursday.

Thanks for your insights. :)

Thanks for clarifying. I had trouble with my right knee that my fitter thought was caused by my triple. The "tread" or width of triples can be too wide for some, which ends up causing IT band irritation. The right knee is often more irritated because the right pedal sits slightly farther from the bottom bracket than the left (because of the chainrings).

Anyway, I mentioned it on the off chance that you might be experiencing the same thing. Like you, my knee pain didn't start right away. I ended up getting a compact crank, and the problem was solved.

That said, yours could be due to any number of things, including your cleat. It could just be that you need a pedal system with more "float," or perhaps your SPD just needs to be repositioned. Hopefully, your fitter can figure it out.