I had a total right knee replacement (Corin Rotorglide) in October 2008 and have struggled over the last year trying to increase my knee bend so I can pedal a complete revolution but with no luck – it seems my knee is stuck at about 90 degrees and one needs approximately 120 degrees to ride comfortably. During the last year, in an effort to at least ride I bought a pair of crank arm shortener’s , these allow several different pedal attachment points along the length of the crank arms spaced about 22mm from each other. I found that I could ride with the cranks set up at the 113.5mm point. I was hoping that over the months I would increase the crank length bit by bit until “I was normal” once more.
I was doing well riding about 4 - 5 times a week and increased the crank length to the next step of 131.5mm however, I guess this was too much of a step and I began to lose heart and dread the rides as they were too uncomfortable but I didn’t want to take the physiological “backward step” and adjust the pedals back to “square one”. My problem I have realized that I am too much of a poser; I don’t want to be seen as “a gimp”. I started to invent all sorts of excuses not to ride and then, thankfully the Canadian winter arrived, so it was easy for me to forget the bike. I kind of resigned myself that perhaps cycling was something that is no longer on the cards for me, let’s face it I’m 57 with an artificial left knee, 12” pin holding my left femur together and new right hip (hip was replaced in 2007 – piece of cake compared to the knee!) – Hey, there are far worse things in life I guess – move on!
Where am I going with this, well you guessed it I am missing the bike, I am also inspired by people like Alex Simmons who’s recovery from a difficult injury with all its complications make me ashamed of myself, so I aim to get my artificial butt back out there however, I have a few questions:-
1)If a stick with the reduced crank length how much power will this cost me, in other words, will I be able to ride with “the boys” again? To be honest I thought the smaller cranks would really feel odd but it’s strange, it never did. I guess I need to choose my gearing a bit differently and try to “spin” more?
2)With the shorter cranks it seems to me that the seat height would also have to be increased to get the same leg length as it were, from the old adage, seat height, “sit on the bike, place your heel on the pedal, your leg should be nearly straight”.
3)$75,000 question, riding with artificial joints what is the long term effects – am I going to wear them out? I asked my surgeon this question and he looked at me as if I was form Mars and said use common sense??
4)I am setting sail on the wind trainer today from an absolute unfit state so I am proposing easy spins for 2 weeks at L2 – L3 starting at say 30 minutes and keep adding 5 minutes until I am up to one hour. Do you think I should do this every day? After that start into L4 building up to 2 x 20mins by which time, hopefully the Canadian winter will start to recede and I can start back out on the road.
Any help, pointers would be appreciated!
Bill.
I was doing well riding about 4 - 5 times a week and increased the crank length to the next step of 131.5mm however, I guess this was too much of a step and I began to lose heart and dread the rides as they were too uncomfortable but I didn’t want to take the physiological “backward step” and adjust the pedals back to “square one”. My problem I have realized that I am too much of a poser; I don’t want to be seen as “a gimp”. I started to invent all sorts of excuses not to ride and then, thankfully the Canadian winter arrived, so it was easy for me to forget the bike. I kind of resigned myself that perhaps cycling was something that is no longer on the cards for me, let’s face it I’m 57 with an artificial left knee, 12” pin holding my left femur together and new right hip (hip was replaced in 2007 – piece of cake compared to the knee!) – Hey, there are far worse things in life I guess – move on!
Where am I going with this, well you guessed it I am missing the bike, I am also inspired by people like Alex Simmons who’s recovery from a difficult injury with all its complications make me ashamed of myself, so I aim to get my artificial butt back out there however, I have a few questions:-
1)If a stick with the reduced crank length how much power will this cost me, in other words, will I be able to ride with “the boys” again? To be honest I thought the smaller cranks would really feel odd but it’s strange, it never did. I guess I need to choose my gearing a bit differently and try to “spin” more?
2)With the shorter cranks it seems to me that the seat height would also have to be increased to get the same leg length as it were, from the old adage, seat height, “sit on the bike, place your heel on the pedal, your leg should be nearly straight”.
3)$75,000 question, riding with artificial joints what is the long term effects – am I going to wear them out? I asked my surgeon this question and he looked at me as if I was form Mars and said use common sense??
4)I am setting sail on the wind trainer today from an absolute unfit state so I am proposing easy spins for 2 weeks at L2 – L3 starting at say 30 minutes and keep adding 5 minutes until I am up to one hour. Do you think I should do this every day? After that start into L4 building up to 2 x 20mins by which time, hopefully the Canadian winter will start to recede and I can start back out on the road.
Any help, pointers would be appreciated!
Bill.
