Pain, pain and more pain

[Andy Jennings]

Hi,

New member here but I have been going through some of this clydesdale forum, very good to see support for us bigger guys.

As the title suggests, I am having a few problems with pain.

Basically hand, sit bone and patella tendon pain and I would really appreciate some advice on getting some relief.

Before that you need information, of course, so here it comes. I hope it is enough detail, but not too much.

I first want to point out that I live in Thailand and so far finding a suitable bike has been a pain in the sit bone in and of itself. Mainly because of the language barrier and that the general population here is much shorter than I am. Also the nearest reasonable LBS to me is a 200Km round trip. Also the general population here are relatively poor in comparison and so the market is limited.

But enough of that.

After much thought about getting back in to cycling after a 15 year break and many Kg heavier, about 6 weeks ago I bought a Twitter, Blake MTB. Size of the frame remains a mystery because of language barrier, and it's not marked on the frame. It is a double front gear cog. (compact? Is that the term?)

I am currently riding up to 60Km (37.5Ml) a day split in to 2 rides, with my longest ride to date a little over 42Km (26Ml). Basically I am in the saddle for about 3-3.5 hours a day.

This has led to several problems to date, apart from tired muscles.

Hand pain. I am sure this is from too much weight on my hands, nothing else. I have padded contour grips, which help and of course I wear padded gloves. I have an angle adjustable stem set to to most upright position as well to try to alleviate this as well as getting my gut out of the way of my legs.

Sit bone pain. This gets real bad at about 30 Km. From reading the forum I have to put this down to either my weight, my saddle or saddle position or all three but I am open to suggestions.

Patella tendon pain. Not sure what is causing this to be honest. I am riding at around 65% MHR or slightly higher. Rarely above 70%. So I am tending to shy away from pushing too hard. Maybe just riding for too long? Could frame size, seat position, in relation to the pedals or seat height be the cause?

ANY suggestions for adjustments I can make would be very much appreciated and sorry for babbling on.

Oh yeah I am 53 years old, 6ft and 265Lbs. That will also have a bearing I'm sure.

 

[dabac]

Re: size
With the bike on the wheels, measure the top tube, c/c seat tube-head tube. If the TT is very sloping measure an imaginary horizontal line.
Then measure from c/c bottom bracket shell to top of seat tube. Should tell size well enough.
Or have someone help take a pic of you, on the bike, from the side, post the pic.
The two most common culprits for knee pain - apart from simply overdoing it - is using a too heavy gear or having the saddle too low.
Pedalling pace - cadence - should be 80-100 RPM. A bike computer with cadence counter might help. Bicycling should be more about cardio than strength.
Butt in saddle, heel on pedal, pedal at its lowest, should have your leg almost entirely straight.
One stretch that can help with knee pain is to stretch the front side of the thigh. Stand upright, on one leg. Lift the heel to your buttock. Point the knee straight down. Grasp the ankle with a hand. Pull while rotating hip forward. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat 3 x for both legs.

 

[Andy Jennings]

With the bike on the wheels, measure the top tube, c/c seat tube-head tube. If the TT is very sloping measure an imaginary horizontal line.

This comes in at 20 in

Then measure from c/c bottom bracket shell to top of seat tube.

to centre of CC is 16 in

Pedalling pace - cadence - should be 80-100 RPM.

I'm using a Garmin edge 1000. It averages my cadence at 76 - 80 RPM although normal is around 77 RPM. I'm afraid I don't know if this average for the whole ride also includes when I am coasting, not too much of that though. I took a manual count and over thre seperate counts that came out average of 84 RPM. I have a lot of trouble much higher tha that as I bounce in the saddle so much it's like riding a space ball on a bouncy kids castle. Not sure how to correct this TBH but may be something to do with my weight, 265Lbs.

Butt in saddle, heel on pedal, pedal at its lowest, should have your leg almost entirely straight.

On this it's just about right.

many thanks for your reply.

 

[Andy Jennings]

Just an add on to the cadence. I set my alarms on the Garmin at min RPM 80, Max 90 and I naturally fall in to that bracket. But by the time I get to the upper alarm I am bouncing like crazy in the saddle being pushed up by the bike, at least that's how it feels.

 

[dabac]

For a MTB, that's small, but not crazy small for a 6' guy.
The trouble with doing a manual cadence count is that when you're counting the cadence you're already thinking about the cadence. Usually this means that a rider's manual average reads higher than the real average.
You can try a music app that lets you find music by bpm, beats-per-minute, then ride listening to that with one ear to help keep the pace up.
Being heavier means there's more mass in your legs, just waiting to jostle you around unless they're moving in sync with the pedals. Some targeted pedalling technique training would probably be of benefit.

 

[Andy Jennings]

For a MTB, that's small, but not crazy small for a 6' guy.
The trouble with doing a manual cadence count is that when you're counting the cadence you're already thinking about the cadence. Usually this means that a rider's manual average reads higher than the real average.
You can try a music app that lets you find music by bpm, beats-per-minute, then ride listening to that with one ear to help keep the pace up.
Being heavier means there's more mass in your legs, just waiting to jostle you around unless they're moving in sync with the pedals. Some targeted pedalling technique training would probably be of benefit.

many thanks Dabac.

I'll start looking in to pedalling technique more now and addapt.

Couldn't agree more about manual count going higher either. Resetting the alerts for cadence on my computer has helped too. Averaging 82 now from 77 before.

I know I'm asking a few base questions on the forum, but I have always been of the "there is no stupid question" school of thought and if I can't find the answers on searching around I have no option. Very much appreciate the help.

 

[phuoc_phuoc5]

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