UKC

I’ve bought an atom as I thought with the imminent arrival of baby number 2 and two sore Achilles from doing too many ultras this year I could kill two birds with one stone by being able to have sneaky little fitness sessions and rest from running while my Achilles sort themselves out. I’ve done 4 sessions in a week all 20-30 minutes and two of them hard work and two easy.  After the second session I got pain below my knee cap on my left knee on the left side the day after. I put it down to squatting the same day but did a short 30 min easy ride last night and it’s come back today.

I've not just gone daft straight away on cycling having never done it before I regularly commute 30 mins each way to work and have done longer mountain biking and gravel biking before. 

I think it’s probably not having the cleats set up correctly and I can plan to try and address this but just wondering if anyone has any further advice?

cheers

Dan

In reply to Levy_danny: patella tendonitus? Move the cleat as far back as possible on the affected leg. This was the advice from a cycling podiatrist who I consulted thinking I needed orthotic footbeds. The cleat move solved my problem.

In reply to Levy_danny:

Moving the cleats right back is also something to do if getting Achilles issues when cycling.

In reply to Levy_danny:

Pain on the front of the knee underneath your kneecap to me is usually a sign of slightly too low saddle. Though I’d expect it in both.  Pain in the back of 1 knee is typically a sign of saddle too high. (That said, it’s much easier to have your saddle too high than too low, so perhaps take this with a pinch of salt)
 

Generally the thinking in (ultra) cycling now is slam your cleats all the way back so you end up using less calf and Achilles. (You should do this for both feet unless you have a known leg length discrepancy) putting the cleats back can lose you a little bit of “snap” from your sprint, but for long distance cyclists hardly a problem.

In terms of aligning your cleats I recently watched a bike fitter do an interesting trick. Find a floor with tiles (so you have lines of reference), take your shoes off and close your eyes and walk on the spot then stop after say 10 paces. In theory that position is what you should be looking for from the cleats so angle them accordingly.

If you have mtb/2bolt cleats, there is another trick with alignment. Pedal on the turbo with the previous position, then stop with one foot (that you’re checking) at exactly 3 oclock. Then if you can get someone (or a camera) to check the front cleat is floating evenly on the pedal. Then repeat stopping the other foot at 3.

knee pain sucks, hope you can sort it out!

In reply to Levy_danny:

There's also a product called midfoot cycling that moves your (2 bolt) cleats even further back. I've not tried them but might.

In reply to Levy_danny:

Good explanation of Patella Tendonitis here

https://fit2functionclinic.co.uk/what-is-patellar-tendonitis-why-do-cyclist...

I have found I need to strengthen my inner quad and stretch the outer to keep my kneecap aligned.

Can be a real pain.

In reply to Levy_danny:

Thanks everyone I’m really hoping it’s not tendinitis as that’s what I’m struggling with my Achilles with from running haha. I’ve moved the cleats 3 bolt ones all the way back and I’ll see if that helps (fingers crossed) I think I had my seat a little high as well so I’ve moved that down a little. 

In reply to Levy_danny:

I'd wary about moving you cleats back,  They need to be positioned so that the axle of the pedal is on the the line mid-way between the two widest parts of your foots (the ball of you bid toe on the inside and the base (ish) of you little toe on the outside).  In terms of orientation left and right, the two will probably not be the same.  If you sit on a table and dangle you feet loosely, look down at them and they'll probably not be pointing in the same direction.  If you tape straws to the cleats and then dangle  again you can move the cleats so that both straws are in line.  This is a faff, but it's a good starting point.  Then see if the float on each foot feels about right when you're standing and moving on the pedals.  If you've got problems, yellow cleats would be a good idea.

You need to move your saddle forward or backward so that your knee is pretty much above the axle of the pedal when the crank is horizontal.  As far as saddle height is concerned, it also linked to the forward/backward position - but you need to feel as though you can do a powerful circular stroke - if you feel weak at the bottom of the stroke - saddle too high, but if you're feeling bunched at the top and bottom of the stroke too low.  Finally, when you pedalling hard, seated uphill (or whatever an Atom will let you do), do you feel you want to slide forward on the saddle or push back on it - adjust to find a generally neutral position.

In reply to Levy_danny:

I use this site all the time to remind myself which way to move cleats based on various knee aches and pains.  Saddle too high or low is a big one though, I think a lot of bike fits set it too high but new cyclists often set too low.

Anyway, good luck.

https://cptips.com/knee.htm

Cheers

Toby