I wonder if anyone could help with a worrying problem I’m having after new shoes and cleats and a 126 mile off road ride.

It started after about 80 miles I started getting a mile pain in my right knee at the base of the kneecap it got gradually worse towards the end of the ride to the point I could only pedal out of the saddle without excruciating discomfort. The left knee had also started to develop a similar feeling however it never got as bad. After the ride the knee really stiffened up and going down stairs was painful. However after a day or two I was back to normal. At the time I put this purely down the new shoes and cleats and spent some time adjusting them, even though they felt fine anyway.

I was back on Saturday after resting my knees for two weeks, I felt perfectly fine and getting back on the bike I felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever. However after about 20-25 mile into the ride I started to feel a twinge in the right knee again. Starting with a mild sharpish compression like pain to the base of the kneecap. It got worse and worse as the miles went by and after about 35 miles I the pain was so excruciating I had to stop. The pain was so sharp below the knee it felt like something trying to get out! Again my right knee also suffered but not to the same extent.

Once home the knee didn’t quite stiffen up as much as before but the sharp pain made it extremely painful to walk down stairs, going up was fine. Two days later and it’s still painful downstairs but getting gradually better.

There was no swelling or pain to the touch.

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? The fallout from badly setup cleats? The fallout from a stupidly long ride? I normally ride on average 30 mile at a time, so 126 miles was extreme. Or simply the wrong shoes? They Specialized BG Comps.

I’ve read lots of stuff about all sorts of thing but just wanted to get some opinions as I’m getting worries that something more permanent has begun 🙁

Paul

hello mate

I feel for you – most likely its the cleat position aggravated by a massive ride – i sometimes get sore knees if i use diff shoes as try as i might the cleat is never the same – noticeable wihen using normal shoes vs winter gtx boots…

reckon you need rest and time off the bike – i am off the bike with a virus and i hate it…

good luck
paul

Yeah I’m trying to see it that way too.
The bit that worries me is the sheer sharpness of the pain, that feel like someine is sticking a knife in me from the inside out. Then it goes away and doesn’t bother me until I get back on the bike.

Frustrating thing is time off the bike mean lost fitness, it’s hard enough keeping up the the people I cycle with that commute everyday and are basically never off their bike.

Now I wouldnt give advice on aches and pains, as its not something that can be diagnosed over the net, you need to see your doctor.

That said, I had almost exactly those symptoms in about feb this year, also after a massive day ride in Afan in the snow, and something had broke loose in my knee and caused inflamation and it took some forced time off the bike before it felt better, eventually a marble sized loose bit worked its way out of the joint a was on the side of the knee, it was quite comfy then, I had an athroscopy last tuesday to remove marble, good news is I went out for a nice gentle ride on Sunday (swapped to flat pedals though) and have no pain even with the stiches still in….

Your symtoms are the same, I could run up stairs but couldnt come down them, I still doubt you have the same issue and reccomend you go through the usal procedure of going to your doctor.

There was a thread along a similar line last week on here. The gist of the advice from one poster was to make sure that the ball of the foot is inline or behind the knee cap when the leading foot is at 3 o/clock/9 o’clock.

I’ve been suffering some mild knee discomfort since putting a new seatpost on and following the above advice meant moving the saddle further forward, but it did solve the problem.

In your case as others have said, look at the cleat position though. One big improvement I found with SPD’s was to run the cleat a little in front of the ball of the foot. This drops the heel, for me eliminated any knee twangs and made downhilling a lot more fun!

as said above all painb is different. mine is aminly caused through lack of stretching.

cycling is not=oriously bad for shortinging leg muscles & tendons as you never fully lengthen them.

doesn’t sound like this is it – but stretching can help.

Do you have enough float – and in the right direction ? As your knee lifts the foot tends to rotate outwards a tad.

Had something similar some years ago, but the problem was using a new cleat (slghtly different design) with older pedal – cleat angle was fine, but floatless. Back to old cleats – no problem.

Might be of interest: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/article/health-knee-care-and-maintenance-part-2-17445

So, let me get this straight….

You have new shoes and new cleats.
You go out and batter yourself on a ride much much longer than you would normally ride until your knees start to hurt.
Then you continue for another 46 miles (126 – 80)…

to the point I could only pedal out of the saddle without excruciating discomfort

.

Is that correct?
If so, I don’t think it’s your knees that are the problem! 😉

SB

The only time I have ever had knee pain on the bike was with new shoes. I adjusted the cleats fractionally and it went away completely.

If you never usually ride any distance you might get away with bad cleat position, but you won’t over that sort of mileage. Seriosuly, fiddle with the cleats. 🙂

Yeah it all sounds a bit crazy but I was nearly home 🙂 when the pain got that bad.

Interestingly the pain has all but gone, and I’m now running down stairs without any pain. I can still feel something so I’ll give it some more rest and then go back to my old shoes to see if it goes away. After sticking the left sole back on of course!

Paul,
Just pullin’ you’re leg. 🙂

I hope you’re OK. Good luck.

BTW – I usually phase new shoes in over a number of rides, starting off with shorter recovery rides and building up. I usually go for the same make of shoes too, and take time to set cleats up exactly the same as the old ones.

mhuk thats a good link, thanks for that.

I have started getting pain on the front of my knee-cap, think i’ve figured out I have my cleats too straight, arent letting my feet rotate outwards. Mate of mine told me about sitting on the desk trick, same tip in the link to bikeradar, hope that works.

There's also an interesting read about knee pain here:

http://treadly.net/2007/06/11/seat-height-and-my-knee-injury/

If your knees hurt also make sure you ice them (Saver sell blue gel packs for £2) while you work out how to resolve the issue…

If you do any of the VOM/ quad strengthening exercises only do one leg at a time as doing both legs at the same time puts a lot of stress on your back (the one where you sit on on chair and raise your leg out parallel to the floor). Another one is lie on your back, knees bent at 45 degrees. Straighten one leg out and raise it to same height as the bent knee and lower to the ground.