Push thru, bike fit, or visit the doc?

[copaiba]

Being knock-kneed and twitchy butted all my life, I never knew that this condition made it unlikely that I would be athletic. I had always assumed I was " just being lazy." Well, turns out cycling brought out the worst of it. Walking, I can compensate for the odd angle at my knee but when my hips are stationary on a bike seat, the knee is on its own. Being a flat footed/severely pronated walker adds again to the problem. SO the knee isn't going to get better till I get the pedals canted on my bike and I get a custom insert for my shoes AND do some exercises cuz one of my hips just stopped rotating when I walk to (again) compensate for all the other stuff. Some of my clumsiness was also explained as a side effect of all this stuff.

[orcoz]

Hi all!
A quick update for you -
Last Friday I took my bike into the LBS to fit the bike. (Granted, they did this as well when we bought the bike, but hey, I'm ready for anything which will help) They wound up raising my seat over an inch! They adjusted my cleats, and moved my seat back a bit.
I couldn't wait to give it a try! On friday we went out for a short ride - I really worked on keeping my cadence up and feeling like I was "floating" on my pedals - no hard pushing.
While I felt my knee get tight after the first couple of miles, there was no pain!
We went for a bit longer ride yesterday with no problems, and I rode again tonight with no problems -- well my bottom/girlie parts hurt, but that's a different issue....
I'm still planning to see Erik, and then if the problem recurs I'll see the doc.
Yeah! I'm optimistic it's going to work out!

[mimitabby]

Great news, Orcoz. sometimes it takes just a little bit of an adjustment.
Glad they helped you.

[rij73]

Just seeing this thread for the first time, but I had terrible knee pain the first week of cycling and it turned out to be the seat was too low and also too far back. Seat placement is really simple if you're a professional, so I'm surprised your LBS didn't get it right the first time! I bought my bike over the internet, so had to figure out all the fitting stuff myself through trial and error and lots of internet info.

Hope the pain doesn't return for you!

[orcoz]

Just a quick update -
Rode in a century ride yesterday. Only made it 82 miles, but that was due to another in our group having a horrible allergy attack.
Anyway, not a bit of pain in the left knee! My right knee is killing me, but that's a result of me tipping over like a cow. Rode the whole way without lube in the shorts and could have kept going. YEAH!!
By the way, the LBS did fit me originally, and I think something must have happened along the way where the seat was lowered and I didn't realize it (maybe during a tune up, or even when I was cleaning the bike). But since the adjustment it's been night and day!!
DH went in and had his bike fit tweaked a bit too. We're really excited to ride tomorrow!!