A while ago, I wrote about the sorry state of my cleats. Finally, over the weekend, I did something about it. I bought new ones.
That night, I sat in front of the TV, diligently swapping out the old, worn cleats for the sharp, bright new ones. I even took time to trace the outline of the old cleats with a magic marker, just like Jeff Hemmel suggested.
Sunday, I did a 33-mile club ride on rolling hills. It was my first time on this route this year, although it’s one we do often. I found that the winter has taken its toll on me — by the time I finished, I was spent.
Monday morning, I woke up and rolled out of bed — and recoiled at the sharp pain in my left knee. Holy cow, did it ever hurt! And throughout the day, it got no better. Walking up and down stairs really was a chore. Downstairs, worse than up.
The biggest problem was, I couldn’t get comfortable with the knee regardless of its position. If I stretched it out straight, it started aching after a bit. If I bent it to relieve the ache, that worked — for about two minutes. Then that position became uncomfortable.
Monday night, I went home and grabbed my left bike shoe. I think I knew exactly what caused the problem. I walk with my feet splayed out a bit. With the old cleats, I positioned the left one so the left foot pointed a bit outwards when clipped in. For some reason, the right foot is just fine pointed dead ahead. But when I installed the new ones, I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention to positioning the cleat so that the left toe would point out a little. Dumb.
This morning, I woke up to more pain in the knee. If anything, it seemed to get worse during the day. I posted my dilemma to my club’s bulletin board, and got a lot of helpful responses, but only one that really addressed my problem. A doctor suggested taking Ibuprofen at the maximum dose. If I could tolerate it, he said the pain would subside after a couple of days.
When I got home tonight, I did exactly that. The Ibuprofen does seem to help. As I write this, I have less pain in the knee than I’ve had, but I’m not out of the woods yet. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days.
The worst case scenario is, I tore the meniscus in my knee. That’s happened before, in my other knee, about 16 years ago. I had arthroscopic surgery then to deal with it. I hope to avoid another round of that now.
What’s worrying me is that I might be knocked off the bike for awhile. I’ve got the MS 150 coming up next month, and now is the time I have to start building my mileage. A number of other organized rides are on the horizon too, rides that I’d like to take part in. I’ve already decided to skip Pedal Thru the Pines, a wonderful hilly ride through some state parks near Bastrop, Texas this weekend. It would kill me to miss more.
So for now, Bike Noob is out of the saddle. I’m pretty grumpy, and I’m not making things easy on my wife. “For cryin’ out loud, you”re 59!” she told me this evening (my birthday is Thursday). “Stop pretending you’re 29.”
Can’t help it. Biking has made me feel a lot spryer than I’m probably entitled to.
I’ll keep you posted on my recovery.
1- happy early birthday!
2- 29? Pfh. I’m 23 and I have big problems with my knees if my cleats are off. In fact, I do the same thing…right knee is fine going straight, but left knee needs to point out a bit.
Hopefully all you did was strain it a bit, and it’ll take a couple days to ‘reset’ and get back to ‘normal.’
I’m guessing some of your fellow club members may have mentioned it, but consider Speedplay pedals. I specifically got them because of knee problems in the past (thanks a lot, running).
It took only a little getting used to but the float in those pedals was a godsend to my knees.
Yeah, one did mention Speedplays. I’ve never had any trouble with the SPD-SLs, and I’ve ridden them for two years.
Sorry to hear about that, Bikenoob. I always dislike those injuries that come from what I call nothing…no crash, not doing anything silly….just come. Not fair at all.
If it isn’t a torn meniscus, and just some tweaked tendons or muscles, this may help speed up the healing process. Dig in to the area around your knee with your finger or thumb and find out where the pain is coming from. rub back and forth for a while. It’s going to hurt like heck, but keep going and keep going deeper as your muscles relax.
Keep us posted as to how you’re feeling.
You might want to look at a different pedal system and get one with a lot of float, like Speedplay. It allows your feet to settle into any position freely.
Hopefully you are on the mend.
Happy early birthday Ray…hang in there!
Sorry to hear about your knee. I hope you feel better soon. I can understand your frustration with not being able to ride. You ride a lot more than I do, and I’m frustrated with not being able to ride right now because of my rotator cuff injury. Every week I discover yet one more thing that I can’t do right now. Hang in there and feel better! And happy birthday (a day early)!
You’re doing the right thing letting it heal. It’s a bummer to miss some rides, but you’ll miss more if you do more damage.
I really hope your knee feels better fast so you can get your spry, 59-year-old self back in the saddle asap!
Sorry to hear you’re out of commission. You might want to take the cleats and your bike in to the LBS and have them make sure everything is lined up.
I’ve heard a lot of people recommend SpeedPlay for those with knee problems, but when I was having knee problems the LBS said my knee problems were a result of not having enough platform to support my foot, I was using straight SPD pedals at the time. I brought up going to SpeedPlay and they suggested against it as the SpeedPlay system wouldn’t offer the support I would knee. I switched to SPD-L and haven’t had any problems since.
I need to weigh in on the suggestion to consider Speedplays…why? Prior to my switch to Speedplays, knee pain was the biggest limitation to the riding I wanted to accomplish. Since the switch, knee pain has ceased to be a limiting factor. However, everyone is different…as they say, YMMV.
Happy Birthday Ray…hope you heal quickly!
Sorry about the injury. Anything that keeps you off the bike is frustrating. I’ve had a bike fitting, and also use Speedplay pedals. I think the combo of the two have kept me way clear of any knee issues. But my back…that’s a different story!
Happy early b-day Mr. Noob, and let us hope and pray for a quick recovery. I have to add a +1 for the speedplays, as those are the pedals I have on my bike and never had any issues either.
-RamonH