No knee pain - how come?

[MightyMitre]

Did my very first mountain bike ride on Sunday on my ebay bargain mountain bike and it was great!

I went out with some of the blokes from my club who took me up hill and down dale and by the time I got home I was completely and utterly worn out!

One thing I did notice once I'd had a bath and some food was that I didn't have any knee pain. Normally when I do a road ride I can start to get a niggling pain in my left knee, sometimes as little as an hour into a ride.

But I just did a full 3 hours as an off - road virgin with loads of climbing and constant effort and not the slightest hint of knee trouble. Anyone got any ideas.

PS I'm sure not complaining...!

[Veronica]

You probably have a lower gear ratio on the mountain bike.

V.

[xeney]

Does your new bike fit better? I get knee pain when my seat is not adjusted right, or when the bike is too big for me. A seat that is either too high or too low seems to give me knee problems.

(I just figured this out about three weeks ago myself. I'm kind of slow.)

[jobob]

Are your feet clipped in on your mtn bike?

I've found that a small change in the angle of my cleat in relation to my pedal can cause a bit of knee pain over time (that is, if my toes point in or out a bit too much on my pedals, that seems to put some strain on my knees - nothing I notice right away, but over time it builds up)

So perhaps the knee pain you're experiencing on your road bike has something to do w. how you're clipped in. If so, then if you're clipped in on your mtn bike, you might have a slighlty different angle of you foot in relation to the pedal, since you might be using a different shoe, or a different shoe/cleat system alltogether. And if you're not clipped in at all, your foot is free to move about so you're not putting the kind of strain on your knee you would experience if your foot were clamped in one place.


Just a guess. That'll be 5 cents, please

Dr. Jobob

[SadieKate]

Oh my gosh, the possibilities! Yes, a lower gear ratio, a lower or higher saddle. . . also, a saddle forward or back a bit, a different Q-factor, a saddle not quite straight.

I tend to spin more on the trail because I mentally relax more and don't go for speed. I have one leg that tends to be a bit tighter than the other. Early season, I'll point the nose of the saddle to the side just a bit until I'm back in shape.

Were you using the same pedals, cleats and shoes that you do on your road bike?

[MightyMitre]

I normally use Speedplays on the road but I borrowed some Shimano SPD for off road and was pleasantly suprised. Thought the lack of float would annoy me.

Veronica - I think you could be right about the gearing. It was pretty rough terrain, nice and muddy and chalky so I was in the tiny weeny granny ring for a lot of the time.

Sadie-Kate - that's an interesting thought too. Unlike on the road I was much less bothered about speed. Just staying up right was major achievement. Even though I was off the back I wasn't tempeted to switch into a big gear and grind it to catch up with the others like I might have done on the road.

Think I might need to tinker with my road bike to stop the knee pain.