Century in 2 Weeks and Cranky Knees

[SadieKate]

Hey, Yellow, since when is standing on the hills backing off! You're a heck of a hill climber but you may need to force yourself to keep your butt on the saddle and twiddle. I know, I know, it is so fun to stomp over those hills but you got some steep little grades up there. I watched you crank into the distance so you have a witness here. Go get a bigger cassette and learn to spin up those hills. Lower the gears and up the cadence! You should see the gearing most people ride in the hills (more like mine); your group is on the extreme end with those tiny gears. Don't use their gearing or speed as the standard . Save the stomping over the gears for later in the season. Come down to Diablo and see what those girls ride. Matter of fact, you can probably see them this Sunday.

Said in sympathy for your pain and your desire to pound those foothills into submission and my wish that I could ride up those hills like that .

SK

[annie]

Yellow,

Too much, too soon? Overtraining is sooooo easy to do. Sounds like maybe that's where you are. A little too much stress on the knees and now they are letting you know. ouch! Might be best to back off a bit, ride shorter rides, with easier gears and spin, spin, spin. Try and have as little pressure on your knees as you can and still keep moving. Sounds boring and slow, I know. But it's better than starting out the season hurting and maybe risking a worse injury. Of course, that's coming from one who's recently joined the 50 + club (years old, that is) and I know it takes longer to recover than it did 20 years ago.

Good luck! Hope it gets better before it gets worse.

annie

[yellow]

Well, here's what happened today:

Lots o'pain starting out as I got warmed up. Then not too bad (800 mg of Ibuprofen before I even started, but that was mostly for menstrual cramps that would have left me otherwise on the floor).

More pain when I spin (on my "giant" 24!) than when I'm cranking a little more slowly on the hills.

No pain at all when standing while riding (I did this a lot today, contrary to what SK recommends ).

I think it is overuse...using my simple logic, it would hurt more with more rpms cuz everything is getting used more.

If anything my quads and other muscles around the knee are overdeveloped and perhaps I work things a little harder than I should because of my thunder quads (chalk that up to telemark skiing and skate skiing and lots of weight training to support those two activities). I have been through gait analysis, etc, etc and my previous knee problems are due to a shorter IT band on the rt than on the left and general hip deterioration (from years of running).

So I'm still at a loss about what to do in the next two weeks. I don't have the $$ to get any work done on the bike before the ride. I guess I'll save for that after I finish paying for this round of dental work.

[SadieKate]

Yellow, when I stand my knees don't hurt either. It's the after. By the way, in your "giant" 24 what measured, counted, RPM cadence do you hit?

[SadieKate]

I have found that the book "Bicycling Medicine" by Arnie Baker, MD is a great resource. Bicycling Medicine
From your description, it may be patellar tendinitis. He says it takes a relatively long time to resolve with continued riding. Tendonitis may result from repetitive bicycling stress may follow a one-time injury or result from poor bike fit, specifically: low saddle, forward position, big gears and long hills. Some people's anatomy predisposes them. He says to sit back farther in your saddle and spin at no less than 85 RPM. Avoid hills, especially long climbs, avoid long cranks and limit floatation to 5 degrees. It ought to be cheap to have your saddle fore/aft position checked. Don't know if you can use cleats that limit floatation and I would think your small bike has short cranks but you should look. They should be 170 or smaller (though cranks shorter than that can be darn tought to find).

However, there are a number of front of the knee issues Arnie Baker talks about including quadraceps tendonitis and pre-patellar bursitis. You might want to invest in the book to read all about them. I'm wearing out our copy because he has so much terrific info.

I can bring it on Sunday for you to peruse, but I'd invest now since you have so much at stake. I wish I had remembered it yesterday.