Bike Fit Recommendation and Pedal Float

[Paulo]

All,

Any recommendation of an excellent place for bike fitting in the bay
area? I would like to double check that my aches and pains after a
200KM is not due to the bike fitting.

My main issue after the 200K Winters Brevet was a pain on the inner
right knee, that seems to be located at the head of the tibia bone.
The pain is noticeable if I try to rotate my heel left or right over
ball of foot. Any words of wisdom on pedal float and knee pains? I
tend to favor low gears and is wondering if the knee pain is due to
a pedal with too much float (Speedplay Frogs).



Thanks,


Paulo

[SUSAN BUMP]

Hello,

My fav. gems/bikeshop is "Bespokes" in SFO: 2843 Clay St. 1-415-642-5652. Ari, Stephan or Aaron will take care of you.

Cheers,
Susie

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[Paulo]

Susan, thanks for the recommendation.

[Richard McCaw]

 

Revolutions In Fitness http://www.revolutionsinfitness.com/ are the pros in the Bay area to resolve foot/ pedal related issues -- they have done a few presentations at our ACTC bicycle club. Last one was at our  September club meeting. The rep can pinpoint possible issues sometimes by just seeing a person's stance.

 

Richard

 

 

Would you like to increase your performance and comfort for cycling, running or other sports? What do pros do with their shoes, cleats, pedals and orthotics? Bike fitter, orthotics and physical therapy provider for the Garmin-Cervelo; Revolutions In Fitness will discuss foot-pedal interface on your bike.

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[Lee Chae]

Hi Paulo. I had what seems to be a very similar knee problem after the 2010 Two Rock 200K. It was on the medial side of the right knee, right above the tibia. I would have acute pain at that spot whenever I rode for a few hours or more, or when running--particularly hilly runs. This continued for almost a year. Ultimately, I ended up switching to a crankset with narrower tread (aka low Q-factor). It's been about 10 months now, and I'm relieved to say that I haven't had the pain return when riding. I put in back-to-back 65 mile+ days a few months ago as a bigger test for me, and I had zero knee problems.

It may not work for you, but I thought I'd just let you know about my experience. Also, note that I use clips and straps on flat pedals. At the same time as moving to my new crankset, I changed shoes to super stiff-soled ones. I think that has helped me, as well, by limiting how much my right foot pronates inward when pushing on the pedal. This inward pronation, I had noted, would agitate my right knee.

Good luck,
Lee

On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 12:08 PM, Paulo <piru...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Greg Merritt]

Funny -- I moved *to* Speedplays (with their greater float) to help
with my knee troubles.

The answers seem to lie in different places for different people.
Also, there are lots of different approaches to bike fit, and there
seem to be happy customers of many different fitters.

I got to watch a fit (as well as VO2max testing) yesterday at the UC
Davis Sports Medicine Center in Sacramento:

http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/sportsmedicine/programs/combination_packages.html
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/sportsmedicine/programs/biomechanical_tests.html

Yet another option.

Good luck!

-Greg

[JOSEPH MAURER]

On Oct 11, 2011, at 6:21 PM, Lee Chae wrote:

Hi Paulo. I had what seems to be a very similar knee problem after the 2010 Two Rock 200K. It was on the medial side of the right knee, right above the tibia. I would have acute pain at that spot whenever I rode for a few hours or more, or when running--particularly hilly runs. This continued for almost a year. Ultimately, I ended up switching to a crankset with narrower tread (aka low Q-factor). It's been about 10 months now, and I'm relieved to say that I haven't had the pain return when riding. I put in back-to-back 65 mile+ days a few months ago as a bigger test for me, and I had zero knee problems.

It may not work for you, but I thought I'd just let you know about my experience. Also, note that I use clips and straps on flat pedals. At the same time as moving to my new crankset, I changed shoes to super stiff-soled ones. I think that has helped me, as well, by limiting how much my right foot pronates inward when pushing on the pedal. This inward pronation, I had noted, would agitate my right knee.

Good luck,
Lee

Just for the record: I solved my knee problems (where the pain was on the outside of the knees) about eight years ago by switching to a MTB crankset with much larger tread than my previous TA triple crank.

Which reminds me that, as naughty children, we used to poke fun at people with "X-legs" or "O-legs". Everybody's geometry is different ...

Joseph

[joany c.]

I highly recommend Revolutions in Fitness.  I recently had a biodynamic bike fit that included computer analysis of my movements and modifications that eased my shoulder/neck aches (changed the height/angle of the stem), smoothed my pedal stroke (orthotics) and many other tweeks.  Not cheap, but cheaper than long term orthopedic or muscular damage.  Here's the link http://www.revolutionsinfitness.com/   joany   --- On Tue, 10/11/11, Lee Chae <lee...@stanford.edu> wrote:

[Chris]

Hi Paulo -

I highly recommend 3D Bike Fit in Sausalito. Kevin runs this small
outfit and is very focused on customer service, satisfaction and
comfort. I spent 4 hours with him as he tuned and retuned my
positioning on the saddle to the mm. I'm not sure about other setups
but he has the ability to video record you on your bike where he can
slow down your movements and measure your hip flexion, leg extension,
knee wobble, etc. to ensure you're not in a position that exceeds your
natural limits. During the four hours he spent the first hour talking
to me about how I ride and any discomforts I experience during my
rides. Afterwards, he spent an hour guiding me through simple
stretches and then measuring my natural limits. He used these limits
while I was on the bike and after all was said and done I felt like I
fit on my bike like a glove. I walked away with a better
understanding of how to ride to match my natural condition, how to
improve my flexibility and what measurements defined my cockpit. I
didn't realize that riding could be less painful before I went to 3D
bike fit.

I hope you find someone that is able to help.

All the best,
Chris

[Mick Jordan]

And then there is simple issue of wear and tear and overuse. I have had a couple of bike fits at Revolutions In Fitness, the latest being earlier this year for the Waterford bike I took to PBP. I had minor knee issues from soccer/running (meniscus tears) that were fixed successfully by surgery in 2005/2008 and have never had any issues while riding distance rides which I took up seriously in 2007. However, I am currently suffering medial knee pain while on the bike trainer that started up a couple of weeks after returning from PBP. As this article points out:

Several studies in athletes^2-5 have demonstrated that knee injuries, including anterior knee pain and patellofemoral pain syndrome, are the most common overuse injuries evaluated in sports medicine centers. Overuse injuries occur when a tissue accumulates damage caused by repetitive submaximal loading. Repetitive activity fatigues a specific structure, such as tendon or bone. Without adequate recovery, microtrauma stimulates an inflammatory response, causing the release of vasoactive substances, inflammatory cells, and enzymes that damage local tissue. Cumulative microtrauma from further repetitive activity eventually leads to clinical injury.

In chronic cases, continued activity produces degenerative changes that lead to weakness, loss of flexibility, and chronic pain. Thus, in overuse injuries, the problem is often not acute tissue inflammation, but chronic degeneration or tendinosis instead of tendinitis.⁶ Pain in overuse injuries typically has insidious onset, but it may have an acute-on-chronic presentation. Overuse injuries most likely occur when an athlete changes the mode, intensity, or duration of training. Biomechanic (intrinsic) factors and equipment or training (extrinsic) issues are the main contributors to overuse injuries.

Note the "insidious onset" which is essentially what happened to me. Now people clearly vary in their genetic makeup, some being more susceptible to these kind of issues than other. However, I would suggest that riding distances beyond 200K on a regular basis, and in particular 600K and above, puts a great deal of the riding population at risk from overuse injuries. 1200K rides or any Ultra cycling event, like the FC508, were you can easily be on the bike for over 24 hours at a stretch seem particularly risky, given that your are inevitably riding with weakened muscles that cannot support the knee join as well as they should.

I'm hoping I will recover with careful rehab, but at 60 next year, I'm going to have to be a lot more careful about overuse and recovery. Quite possibly ultra-cycling will be off limits to me in the future.

Mick