I need better legs

[laura*]

I used to have bad knee pain and a hard time climbing because my bike was way too long for me.

(Going somewhat off-thread...) Thanks for posting this. For many years now, about once a year, usually in the spring, my left knee has hurt when pushing on a pedal. The position and circumstances in which it hurts can only happen when riding a bike.

I had never considered that it might be related to bike size/geometry. But that makes sense! I have felt that the bike in question was slightly too long. A little muscle toning is probably all it takes to get my knee working differently enough to avoid the pain, but a shorter bike might avoid the condition in the first place.

[arielmoon]

Don't forget, knee pain can be a spasm in the quad pulling on the knee. This has been the case for me most of the time and I have had surgery on both knees. This is not to say that a poor bike is not to blame for the quad problems. However, I find that correct pedaling where your foot follows the full rotation, can help big time.

And I totally agree that riding hills will make you better at riding hills!

[beccaB]

Generally, I don't have sore knees from biking, but there were problems when I was a runner. I feel pretty lucky that I'm not having a great deal of problems with my knees, but I'm wary of dishing out too much abuse and paying for it later. There are some hills that I can seek out, and I knew I would see those words-"hill repeat" Ugh! Yes I know, I'll be stronger for doing them.

[oz rider]

+1 to bike fit and riding hills (or big ringing the flats/headwinds when the knees will take it if you don't have hills to beat up). Sadly for me, it really is a power-to-weight gig though. The good climbers always look like they need a feed.

[marni]

here in the Texas Plains I don't get tons of hill riding and am forced to doing short fast repeats on the highway overpasses. That being said, I do get in a lot of alternate training in the constant headwinds and I usually plan the ride to take advantage of that resistance by going out in a slightly harder gear and coming home in a slightly easier gear. The difference, between the hill country ride last year and year before is that that last year I hardly ever used my ranny gear. We'll see what this year brings at the end of March and into April.

[Catrin]

Don't forget, knee pain can be a spasm in the quad pulling on the knee. This has been the case for me most of the time and I have had surgery on both knees. This is not to say that a poor bike is not to blame for the quad problems. However, I find that correct pedaling where your foot follows the full rotation, can help big time.

And I totally agree that riding hills will make you better at riding hills!

Sorry for the hijack, but is there a way to tell the difference between real knee pain and when there is a spasm in the quad? Considering my over-use injuries of last fall and the fact I've a bit of arthritic degeneration in my right knee I want to take better care of my knees this season... It is this that helped me decide to stick with a triple on my Gunnar...

[bluebug32]

(Going somewhat off-thread...) Thanks for posting this. For many years now, about once a year, usually in the spring, my left knee has hurt when pushing on a pedal. The position and circumstances in which it hurts can only happen when riding a bike.

I had never considered that it might be related to bike size/geometry. But that makes sense! I have felt that the bike in question was slightly too long. A little muscle toning is probably all it takes to get my knee working differently enough to avoid the pain, but a shorter bike might avoid the condition in the first place.

I really screwed up my body trying to make a bike with too long of a toptube fit my needs. Now I would highly suggest a bike fit as the first step in identifying the source of the pain. If the pain only occurs in the beginning of the season, it could be a case of going too hard too soon.

[redrhodie]

Here's a video for a climbing workout. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ80b...eature=related. You'll probably want to modify these exercises for your knees. I'd lower the bench, and use no weights, and I'm sure it would still be hard.

[OakLeaf]

I'm still wondering what the OP's low gear is now. Everything that's been said in the other thread about steep hills kicking the person's butt is relevant here, too.