Top of calf sort of bottom of hamstring area.Went to the docs and she wasn’t interested.I,ve had it on and of for a year now and it’s getting a bit boring.It seems to come on in very cold weather.Anybody else got this?

have you changed anything in your riding setup in the last year?

I got something similar when I recently changed bike.

The new bike had a set back seatpost which meant I was bent over more and pushing forwards on the pedals. I  moved the saddle as far forwards as I could, but was still having problems,  changed to an inline post, move seat 20mm forward and the problem seems to have gone away…

Saddle height and cleat position (if you ride spd), perhaps?

Possibly hyper-extension due to saddle too high or pulling up on clipless pedals. Dropping saddle slightly or changing pedal stroke could help.

ignore all the advice on bike set up you might read (for starters you don’t mention if it only happens on/after a bike ride, and i suspect you haven’t been astride a bike for a whole year so it might not be anything bike related at all), it will all be anecdotal tales about what things fixed other people and about as useful as throwing a dart blindfolded over your shoulder at a blackboard of solutions as a way of pinpointing your issue

go and see a physio

I was hoping to be referred to a physio by the doc.Didn’t even offer me an x-ray!I have been cycling in the last year as it seems okish on my bikes.Walking in cold weather or sudden movement seem to bring it on.Crouching down is not great either.Perhaps it’s just old age and I,m going to have to MTFU.

don’t MTFU, go and get it sorted
knees are generally a poor design and all sorts of body issues work their way out through them, it might be something that just requires some simple stretches or exercises to make it better, however if you’ve left it for a year you might have some work to do, but a physio will know better

if it was me i’d go and see a physio off my own back, especially if the issue had been that long-standing

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wMgEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=phil+burt+pain+back+of+knee&source=bl&ots=fGRFGs2wq2&sig=7zhODQaBkvlvL9bMTGUT3bXK8QA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiciLycxqjZAhXUWsAKHe6EAfkQ6AEIZTAI#v=onepage&q=phil%20burt%20pain%20back%20of%20knee&f=false

I’ve had something similar since I crashed and gave my knee a big old impact. First week my hamstring was essentially useless, with the pain manifesting itself similar to how you described, but very intense. I always thought this was odd after having an impact pretty much dead on the patella, the only reason I could come up with was the swelling/impact interfering with the lateral insertion point of the hamstrings.
It’s still painful a month on, although activity levels seem to have no bearing on it.

I realise this doesn’t help you at all, but if we bounce ideas around enough we might get to the cause!

Yes, once or twice it has been very painful,ie when I,ve suddenly moved or got up.Most of the time there is no problem or just a bit of a niggle.Did some stretches last night which helped a bit.Not sure I should be doing them though.I’m a bit peed of with the Doctors attitude,I’d put of going for months to see if it would recover without bothering her.They want you to stay fit but they can’t be bothered if you get any injuries.Hypocritical in my book.

Have once or twice thought the whole knee area is a bit unstable.

I’ve got a knee problem and it seems down to the calf on that leg being tighter and also soe tightnes in the ITB area.

However I think it is really because my gluts are rubbish from years of sitting at the computer so I am working on that and it is feeling better.

A decent physio will be able to watch you move and probably highlight any deficiencies that might be manifesting themselves elsewhere.

How much does it cost to see a physio?North of England prices that would be.

Out on me bike yesterday for a couple if hours.Apart from one or two shooting pains in my top left of knee,everything felt fine.It’s a mystery.Toyah.

this is one of those instances when (gasp) you’ll actually have to ring around and ask yourself, if you have any friends that have seen a physio ask them for recommendations, especially for one that understands the sport you do (not necessarily a sports physio)

bear in mind that the initial appointment might be longer and more expensive than any follow ups because they’ll need to ask a lot of questions and poke you around a bit to try and ascertain the problem

(a quick google for a random Newcastle physio puts an initial 30min assessment at £37.00, knees (even second hand ones) are considerably more)

Must identify some friends then.