Iain’s Sore Knee Problem

Iain is one of our regular questioners and he has been doing quite a bit of top class riding, but he has a problem with his knee after a particularly hard ride with a long climb. He has a few ideas of his own and he wants our thoughts on what might be going on?

Question:
Hi Samuel, I rode the last stage of the route the Paris – Nice takes on Sunday evening after a long climb at around the 65 km mark I began to get pain in my left knee. So can you advise what might be the problem, I assumed one or a combination of the following might be the cause.

1. Saddle too high, I lowered it 1 cm when I got home.
2. Left shoe might need pulled in at the heel which I will do today.
3. It was just a hard ride and I am not strong enough for the climb.

What do you think? Oh and thanks for the offer of the books, good advice in them.

Hi again Iain,

Good to hear from you, Monaco must be nice at this time of year? That last stage of this years Paris-Nice was a tough ride, so I’m not surprised that you have a sore knee. On a ride like that every part of your body hurts, but I’m sure you know the difference between tiredness and an injury?

OK let’s answer your questions.

1. On hilly stages Pro riders tend to raise their saddles, not much, a centimeter or so. Try lowering it and see if that makes a difference, if not I would put it back where it was for a little while then higher it by 1 centimeter and see if that helps.

2. The left shoe may need pulled in; you are the only person that can tell if this is right for you. It maybe that your foot needs to be nearer to the crank. The other cause of the problem could be something going on in your lower back; this can put extra strain on the knee on one side. Have a physio check you out if the problem persists.

3. Yes, it could have been just a hard day, or you were feeling tired for other reasons. Have you been training over these distances and similar hills? If so then you should be fit enough, if not there’s the problem.

I hope this all helps, and keep us posted on how you get on. As to the books, yes there is lots of great advice and help on many different cycling topics.