nagging pains

[Donald Specker]

I've been developing what would now qualify as chronic pains due to riding. Perhaps someone can
offer advice. I'm a 47 yr old club rider - 30-60 mile rides, fairly intense. The recent pattern is
that I ride well and feel fine, but after the endorphins wear off after a day or so, the pains are
there. It's frustraing because I'm inproving as a rider, but have had to take time off between rides
to recover (never fully though). Here they are:

On each leg, a tender spot on the outside of the thigh, fairly high up. I've tried stretching, seat
height, etc., to no avail. Is this the infamous IT band?

On my left leg, which has never been as good as my right, pain at various points, including the
ankle, and muscles on the lower top part of the shin. That leg may be shorter than my right and is
coming under more stress.

I've had several knee surgeries, and am a large-boned 195 pound rider. Maybe riding is too stressful
for my body type and old basketball injuries? I'm considering changing my Ritchey-Pro SPD pedals for
Speedplay and getting a 12-27 to replace my 11-23 cassette, and hoping that helps.

Thanks.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Donald Specker" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I've been developing what would now qualify as chronic pains due to riding. Perhaps someone can
> offer advice. I'm a 47 yr old club rider - 30-60 mile rides, fairly intense. The recent pattern is
> that I ride well and feel fine, but after the endorphins wear off after a day or so, the pains are
> there. It's frustraing because I'm inproving as a rider, but have had to take time off between
> rides to recover (never fully though). Here they are:

You're 47 years old. Welcome to middle age. Stuff starts to hurt as the aging process results in
muscles that are not as strong, ligaments and tendons that are not as flexible, cartiledge that is a
little more worn...

> On each leg, a tender spot on the outside of the thigh, fairly high up. I've tried stretching,
> seat height, etc., to no avail. Is this the infamous IT band?

It can be the north end of the IT band- usually people have IT pain above the to the outside of
their knees. It could also be bursitis. I had some pain in a similar place on my right leg, over the
trochantor, that went away when I rode one of my bikes with a slightly wider Q factor. In fact, the
pain only occurred after riding one particular bike which had a very low Q factor (132 mm). A
slightly wider BB sees to have cured the problem- all my bikes have a Q factor of 140 to 143 mm.

> On my left leg, which has never been as good as my right, pain at various points, including the
> ankle, and muscles on the lower top part of the shin. That leg may be shorter than my right and is
> coming under more stress.
>
> I've had several knee surgeries, and am a large-boned 195 pound rider. Maybe riding is too
> stressful for my body type and old basketball injuries?

Perhaps your *style* of riding needs to be modified- higher cadence, smaller gears, smoother
pedaling, etc. It's also possibly that the knee surgeries changed your pedal stroke somehow.

> I'm considering changing my Ritchey-Pro SPD pedals for Speedplay and getting a 12-27 to replace my
> 11-23 cassette, and hoping that helps.

Change one thing at a time. I'd look at position first, then shoes and pedals. If you have one leg
shorter, a shim under the short leg may help. Orthotics might help.

 

[Peter Rollason]

Orthotics and a bio racer measure - did the trick for me. Also some calcuim supplements helped with
shin splints.

Try some gym work on the Gluts - one of those machines you sit at and squeeze you knees together -
general leg raises can also help with knee rebalacing.

Main thing is try loads of stuff - don't give up - most of the things that worked for me - worked
pretty quickly - so you needn't spend six months in the gym - if there is no improvement after say 3
weeks - try something else.

Pete.


"Donald Specker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've been developing what would now qualify as chronic pains due to
riding.
> Perhaps someone can offer advice. I'm a 47 yr old club rider - 30-60 mile rides, fairly intense.
> The recent pattern is that I ride well and feel fine, but after the endorphins wear off after a
> day or so, the pains are there. It's frustraing because I'm inproving as a rider, but have had to
> take time off between rides to recover (never fully though). Here they
are:
>
> On each leg, a tender spot on the outside of the thigh, fairly high up. I've tried stretching,
> seat height, etc., to no avail. Is this the
infamous
> IT band?
>
> On my left leg, which has never been as good as my right, pain at various points, including the
> ankle, and muscles on the lower top part of the
shin.
> That leg may be shorter than my right and is coming under more stress.
>
> I've had several knee surgeries, and am a large-boned 195 pound rider. Maybe riding is too
> stressful for my body type and old basketball
injuries?
> I'm considering changing my Ritchey-Pro SPD pedals for Speedplay and
getting
> a 12-27 to replace my 11-23 cassette, and hoping that helps.
>
> Thanks.

 

[Donald Specker]

I've received some very valuable insight - thanks!

Regarding Q factor - that seems to be the distance that the pedals are situated from the center of
the frame. Is the most common way to increase that via a longer BB axle or different pedals?

Thanks again.

"Peter Rollason" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Orthotics and a bio racer measure - did the trick for me. Also some
calcuim
> supplements helped with shin splints.
>
> Try some gym work on the Gluts - one of those machines you sit at and squeeze you knees together -
> general leg raises can also help with knee rebalacing.
>
> Main thing is try loads of stuff - don't give up - most of the things that worked for me - worked
> pretty quickly - so you needn't spend six months in the gym - if there is no improvement after say
> 3 weeks - try something
else.
>
> Pete.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Donald Specker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I've been developing what would now qualify as chronic pains due to
> riding.
> > Perhaps someone can offer advice. I'm a 47 yr old club rider - 30-60
mile
> > rides, fairly intense. The recent pattern is that I ride well and feel fine, but after the
> > endorphins wear off after a day or so, the pains are there. It's frustraing because I'm
> > inproving as a rider, but have had to take time off between rides to recover (never fully
> > though). Here they
> are:
> >
> > On each leg, a tender spot on the outside of the thigh, fairly high up. I've tried stretching,
> > seat height, etc., to no avail. Is this the
> infamous
> > IT band?
> >
> > On my left leg, which has never been as good as my right, pain at
various
> > points, including the ankle, and muscles on the lower top part of the
> shin.
> > That leg may be shorter than my right and is coming under more stress.
> >
> > I've had several knee surgeries, and am a large-boned 195 pound rider. Maybe riding is too
> > stressful for my body type and old basketball
> injuries?
> > I'm considering changing my Ritchey-Pro SPD pedals for Speedplay and
> getting
> > a 12-27 to replace my 11-23 cassette, and hoping that helps.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
>

 

[John Forrest To]

"Peter Rollason" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:BEDSa.5776$47.911996@newsfep2-
> Try some gym work on the Gluts - one of those machines you sit at
and
> squeeze you knees together -

That machine trains the leg adducters, not the glutes.

JT

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*******************************************
NB: reply-to address is munged

Visit http://www.jt10000.com
*******************************************

 

[Paul Kopit]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:20:26 GMT, "Donald Specker" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I've received some very valuable insight - thanks!
>
>Regarding Q factor - that seems to be the distance that the pedals are situated from the center of
>the frame. Is the most common way to increase that via a longer BB axle or different pedals?

An uncommon way is to insert 3mm thick washers between the pedal and crankarm. You get wider Q
and your shoes don't marr the arm surface. A wider bb can ruin your chainline. You need
another crankset.

 

[Raptor]

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
> "Peter Rollason" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:BEDSa.5776$47.911996@newsfep2-
>
>>Try some gym work on the Gluts - one of those machines you sit at
>
> and
>
>>squeeze you knees together -
>
>
> That machine trains the leg adducters, not the glutes.
>
> JT

Sqauts and lunges do the glutes - the whole leg in fact. They can be done with weight or
isometrically.

To the OP: consider moderating your intensity. Are the efforts hard on your legs or your cardio?
Modify to transfer the load.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

[Donald Specker]

I live in a hilly area and the rides are hard on both the heart/lungs and legs. However, the legs
really feel pretty fine during the rides, it's just the delayed after-effect. I'll look at a bigger
range cassette and try to spin more.

"Raptor" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
> > "Peter Rollason" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:BEDSa.5776$47.911996@newsfep2-
> >
> >>Try some gym work on the Gluts - one of those machines you sit at
> >
> > and
> >
> >>squeeze you knees together -
> >
> >
> > That machine trains the leg adducters, not the glutes.
> >
> > JT
>
> Sqauts and lunges do the glutes - the whole leg in fact. They can be done with weight or
> isometrically.
>
> To the OP: consider moderating your intensity. Are the efforts hard on your legs or your cardio?
> Modify to transfer the load.
>
> --
> --
> Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
> could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP
> in charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

[Matt Temple]

In article <[email protected]>, Tim McNamara
<[email protected]> wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Donald Specker" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I've been developing what would now qualify as chronic pains due to riding. Perhaps someone can
> > offer advice. I'm a 47 yr old club rider - 30-60 mile rides, fairly intense. The recent pattern
> > is that I ride well and feel fine, but after the endorphins wear off after a day or so, the
> > pains are there. It's frustraing because I'm inproving as a rider, but have had to take time off
> > between rides to recover (never fully though). Here they are:
>
> You're 47 years old. Welcome to middle age. Stuff starts to hurt as the aging process results in
> muscles that are not as strong, ligaments and tendons that are not as flexible, cartiledge that is
> a little more worn...
>
> > On each leg, a tender spot on the outside of the thigh, fairly high up. I've tried stretching,
> > seat height, etc., to no avail. Is this the infamous IT band?
>
> It can be the north end of the IT band- usually people have IT pain above the to the outside of
> their knees. It could also be bursitis. I had some pain in a similar place on my right leg,
> over the trochantor, that went away when I rode one of my bikes with a slightly wider Q factor.
> In fact, the pain only occurred after riding one particular bike which had a very low Q factor
> (132 mm). A slightly wider BB sees to have cured the problem- all my bikes have a Q factor of
> 140 to 143 mm.
>
> > On my left leg, which has never been as good as my right, pain at various points, including the
> > ankle, and muscles on the lower top part of the shin. That leg may be shorter than my right and
> > is coming under more stress.
> >
> > I've had several knee surgeries, and am a large-boned 195 pound rider. Maybe riding is too
> > stressful for my body type and old basketball injuries?
>
> Perhaps your *style* of riding needs to be modified- higher cadence, smaller gears, smoother
> pedaling, etc. It's also possibly that the knee surgeries changed your pedal stroke somehow.

This is a really important observations. I'm 56 (can that be?) and I ride about 150 miles a week.
I've found that very small changes in seat angle, seat height, and crank lengths can have an
unexpectedly large physical impact. I use cheap mountain spd pedals and I don't think they've ever
been the problem. But too low a seat definitely
is. and it's tough on knees. I've had hip and lower back issues but I've never had any knee
problems. I'm inclined to spin rather than hammer, if that has any impact. What do you call
fairly intense? It's a loaded word. I ride 30 -50 miles on saturdays and my average speed is
about 17 - 18 mph. Intense for me, but not for others.
>
> > I'm considering changing my Ritchey-Pro SPD pedals for Speedplay and getting a 12-27 to replace
> > my 11-23 cassette, and hoping that helps.
>
> Change one thing at a time. I'd look at position first, then shoes and pedals. If you have one leg
> shorter, a shim under the short leg may help. Orthotics might help.
good advice. also, change things in SMALL increments.

Matt

 

[x]

RE/
> I've found that very small changes in seat angle, seat height

I've got a two-bolt micro-adjustable post.

1/4 turn on the angle adjustment: definately noticible

2/2 turn: can be the diff between comfort and discomfort.

3/2" of height adjustment: a world of difference, not necessarily "good" or "bad" - the situation
needs TB taken into account....
-----------------------
PeteCresswell