Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> Well, Slippery Jim, I suggest you start by getting Angelina to apply a little light massage (but
> don't let it get out of hand) and lay off the cigars and booze a bit
Haha! Yeah, well her and the boys are off saving the Universe or something
As for cigars and booze, I never touch the stuff... much.
<snip>
> Pain in the front of the knees, or under the kneecaps, /can/ be due to various disorders, but
> AFAICT is much more usually down to adjustment or cadence. Having adjusted the saddle three times
> recently may just mean that it was further out than you think
I am 6'1" tall and the top of my
> saddle is about 44" off the ground on my tourer - it looks a long way up (and feels it when I
> climb up there from my recumbent).
Yeah, I think I might go even higher with the saddle. It feels more natural to me to pedal with a
"stretched" leg, and to almost be at the point of tip toes when at the extreme distance point. Of
course whether this is good for my leg...
> As you may know the usual starting point for saddle height is 109% of inside leg length (crotch to
> floor, no shoes) from the bottom pedal spindle to the top of the saddle [(c) Richard Ballantine].
> You can refine this by trial and error, tweaking in small increments (1/8" at a time or less), or
> get a more accurate fitting from your bike shop or at
http://www.wrenchscience.com. If the saddle
> is too high your hips will rock from side to side when pedalling, and you will tend to get pain in
> the calves and the backs of the knees. If it's too low you will suffer discomfort in the front of
> the knees. This much is well known.
There's certainly pain all round the knee cap on both legs. Hmmm.
>> I used to be slow spinning (obviously requiring greater effort) but recently I've dropped a gear
>> or two to spin quicker. I'll either stick with that or spin higher if anything.
>
> The Cateye Astrale seems to be very cheap these days and comes with a cadence function. I find
> that a sustained cadence of much below 90rpm causes knee pain.
I think I'm doing more like 30 rpm at some points. I prefer not to use a computer just to reduce the
"****" quotient on my bike.
>> Interesting that you mention that, but when I was cycling a couple of years back I had exactly
>> the same problem with toe clips. Hopefully that eliminates SPD from the equation (which I am
>> using now).
>
> Not necessarily. I found that I suffered some discomfort at the outsides of the knees when I had
> SPDs adjusted for high tension and the cleats were aligned with the heels too far out. Moving the
> cleats to put the heels slightly closer together, and the cleat nearer the heel, improved this.
> But that was on a recumbent, so may not hold for a wedgie.
The pedals themselves are set quite low so there is plenty of relative movement in the clip. The
cleats on the shoes are set pretty much on the ball of the foot, and this feels the most natural
place to have them for me.
I'm pretty much coming to the conclusion that I've overdone it, especially in respect of "slow
spinning" and therefore pushing the muscle too hard.
--
StainlessSteelRat "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct." -- Benjamin Disraeli