Tour of France (and northern Spain) with knee problems!

[hwilson019]

I took the ferry to Bilbao and cycled through to Toulouse, then north to Bordeaux, which is currently where I am, en route back to st malo. The Garrone canale was very useful for the last leg due to its piste cyclable! I didn't count on so much rain in Spain (outside the plain!)

All very good, except that my right knee has began to give me grief. Feels bruised. I went to a pharmacy who gave me some very expensive anti-pain patches which sort-of work.

Any further advice anyone?? Would be nuch appreciated!

[jags]

hope it's nothing serious im sure it's not ,but you might want to rest for a day or so give yourself time to recover.and take some strong  anti inflamertry tablets before you ride.

[rualexander]

A good touring tip for knee pain or any other inflamatory response is the old bag of frozen peas trick. Available in any good food store. Use them to ice your painful area and then if you're self catering have them for tea!

[pastafarian]

I don't know whether you're experienced or just started out cycling, so please ignore this if it should sound patronising
- Keep legs up high at night to reduce swelling!
- Play around with saddle height and position of spd clips on pedals etc...
- Using a higher gear will enable you to pedal faster and lighter = takes pressure of the knee. Using the heavy gears, especially in hilly terrain, will most likely make it even worse.
- If it was me I would probably try and take a walk to get alternative exercise, but dunno whether that's the right thing to do.

Hope this helps... You would probably receive better advice if you wrote where and when it hurts. While pedaling down or up? Does it hurt when you walk?

Best wishes.

[jawj]

- Using a higher gear will enable you to pedal faster and lighter = takes pressure of the knee.

You mean "lower" or "lighter" gear, right? I hope so or else I've been doing it wrong for ages...! ;-)

Try and give the knee some sort of support. I've found this works for my wonky knee. Careful though as very tight supports can make it worse (they're designed more to immobilise the knee: not great for cycling...) I've tried a few things and have settled on using knee-warmers for a good portion of the year: lighter ones in spring and autumn and 'fluffier' ones in winter. I'm no physio but I'm guessing it just helps to keep everything where it should be, including 'swelling'.

Give it a go.

[pastafarian]

You mean "lower" or "lighter" gear, right? I hope so or else I've been doing it wrong for ages...! ;-)

Sorry, that's it! English is not my native language and I guess I was thinking in terms of a higher pedal rate. Anyway, now you know lol

[jawj]

No worries Pastaman, you're doing fine!

I've just started getting knee pain again yesterday and today, it must be talking about it that does it! Why I persist in riding a singlespeed over North London's mountains to work when I have a perfectly good Rohloffed bike is beyond me. Still, I've new bars and cranks to put on my Thorn and shiny bits always inspire a revisit to a bike. Spoilt sod...