I used to just let it go and not worry about it but its been getting worse recently. I’m fine on short rides (6 miles under) but anything slightly longer (10+ miles) and I seem to get a lot of knee pain. Not during or straight after the ride but it usually kicks in after I’ve had my shower. It seems to be around the back and sides of the knee, most painful when I try to straighten my leg. Sometimes clicks. I’m guessing it’s common with cyclists so has anyone had something similar and how did you solve it? It’s on my road bike btw, and at the minute I use mtb spds/pedals (but considering SL soon as my cleats are really creaky so time to replace). Seem to have lots of side to side float and my feet don’t feel as though they’re pointed in any weird angles putting strain on the knees..

I did twist the same knee quite badly a few years ago and its never been quite the same since – stiff when its cold etc. So wondering if its just this and there’s nothing I can do about it..

saddle too high/low?

pushing big gears when you should be spinning?

over-enthusiastic stretching before setting off?

Hi Tom. This happened to me. I went to the physio. He said “Do you stretch?” I said “Um, well, er, sometimes, a bit, um, well, no, not really”. He gave me some stretches to do. I have been doing them. The time scale is 6 weeks but they have worked in 2. Awesome.

When I get that kind of pain it’s usually related to the wrong seat height; either too high which means a stretch and a drag as you attempt to get the pedal round, or more at the front when it’s too low.

Do a proper measurement of your ‘cycling inseam’; feet flat on floor, book pushed up into your perineum, measure height of book from floor, then use the equation:

Lemond Formula

Three time Tour de France winner Greg Lemond uses a formula to size bikes that was taught by French coach and ex-pro Cyrille Guimard. Guimard tested his Renault team members and discovered the traditional ways of setting up bikes resulted in a low saddle height. By raising the saddle he found the muscles were able to power the pedals better.

Lemond believes a combination of measurements are what establishes the right cycling position. These are saddle height, shoe cleats, fore-aft position, stem height and length, the right angle for the handlebars and brake levers. It is advised you get hold of Greg’s book, Greg Lemond’s Complete Book of Bicycling (1987) to fully understand his methods. However the formula for frame size and saddle height are as follows:

Bike frame size (in cm) = inseam (cm) x 0.65*
* The original formula is sometimes now adjusted to 0.67 to fit modern bikes. Originally bikes were measured as center-to-center (center of the bottom bracket to the centre of the top tube) but with today’s odd-sized tubing, sloping top-tubes and other non-traditional geometries, center-to-top is more accurate.

Saddle height (cm) = inseam (cm) x 0.883
This is measured from the center of the bottom bracket to the low point of the top of your saddle. It assumes riders are wearing standard cycling shoes and your knees are bent at 15 degrees at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

Cheers crikey, I’ll try and measure it properly then. At the minute it feels ok for me though after loads of slight adjustments, doesn’t feel like over stretching.

Karin, what stretches are you doing?

could be possible early tendonitus. try googling squates & lunges to strengthen inner leg muscles.
failing that & as mentioned above, too low saddle height can also lead to knee pain.

Been getting so much pain on the outside of my left knee that it’s stopped me riding recently. I checked my saddle height against Lemonds formula and found out that it was 15mm too high (which felt fine). Now attempting gentle rides with the saddle lower, stretching and foam rollering. Still bloody hurts though.

OK sounds like I might need to give it a proper look then! Do you measure your inseam with shoes on (to account for the thickness of the sole, cleats etc)?

I used to do squats but they also seemed to mess with my knees. And when I have this knee pain, which seems to come and go as it pleases, I can’t squat all the way down without a lot of pain.

A foam roller can be good for releasing tensions in the hamstrings, quads and iliotibial band, all of which could be causing knee problems.

If I’m not mistaken, back of the knee issues suggest saddle too high, front of the knee suggests saddle too low.

My knee pain was definitely caused by my cleats being slightly out of position. I can now only ride on flats and still get chronic knee pain especially up steep hills. Tried loads of physiotherapy and stuff but nothing worked.

Been suffering for a while myself – just had an x-ray to rule out arthritis (love locum GPs, they dont worry about budgets!)

Your knee pain is not typical of that suffered by cyclists in that its worse after riding not during.
From the small amount of info weve got here the past knee injury and the stiffness/pain on straightening the knee are probably the biggest clues as to whats going on.
It sounds like you might have pain coming from the knee joint itself (as apposed to patello-femoral or knee cap pain).
Sure pedal alignment/bike set up/muscle imbalance will all place undue stress on your knees with cycling but you need to know where the pain is coming from then look at these contributing factors.
As always its best to get it assessed properly rather than trying a trial and error approach to treatment which could waste a lot of time that could be spent riding

You stand up, bend one leg behind you, catch, hold and pull up with your hand (same side) for 30 seconds 5 times each side – this is a well-known stretch but here’s the bit I didn’t know about – you have to squeeze your bum muscles together. This ‘locks’ the top end of your quad so you are only stretching your quad. It should only hurt in your quad, and a little bit in your knee, but no-where else. (Actually, I must have had a very untoned bum because I did get sore for a day or two, but nothing to write home about.)

So, 5 x 30 seconds each side 3 x a day.

Best see the quack/physio as any internet diagnosis will most likely be a mile off.
Some things to consider. Which leg is your strongest? Which one hurts, weaker leg trying to keep up or stronger leg doing all the work? Has it always been the same leg or does it vary. You mentioned an old injury, did this sort itself or did you see a physio back then. You may have been inadvertently favouring your “bad knee” since.

Go and see a physio. It might seem a bit pricey but if you can get a recommendation for a decent one then it’ll be worth it.

As an example of why you should go a few years back I had knee pain in one knee and did all the faffing with seat height and so on to limited avail. I then went to see a physio who poked and prodded for a bit and then explained that years of slouching over computers was resulting in nerves in my back getting squished and inflamed and it was that inflamed nerve going past my knee I was feeling. He gave me some stretches, told me to sit up straight and did a bit of manipulation and I was sorted after a month or two.

Whatever it is though, trying to bodge a fix based on a guesses from the internets doesn’t seem like a sensible plan with non-replaceable parts 🙂