Knee pain is probably the number one physical complaint I hear from riders in the Roadman community. It's not dramatic enough to make you crash, but it's the kind of thing that grinds away at your enjoyment and, if ignored, can sideline you for weeks or months.
I've dealt with it myself — a nagging ache on the outside of my right knee that turned out to be an ITB issue caused by cleat position. Three millimetres of rotation and it vanished. That's the maddening thing about knees on the bike: the fix can be tiny, but finding it without understanding the basics feels like guesswork.
So let's map it out. Pain at the front of the knee, around or behind the kneecap, is the most common. It usually points to saddle height being too low or pushing big gears at low cadence. Your patella is essentially being ground into the femur with excessive force. Fix: raise the saddle in small increments (5mm at a time), spin lighter gears, and build volume gradually.
Pain on the outside often involves the iliotibial band and can be linked to cleats that force your foot inward, or a saddle that's too high. Inside knee pain tends to involve cleats forcing the foot outward, or a stance width that doesn't match your hip anatomy.
Behind the knee? Usually an overextension issue — saddle too high or too far back.
Beyond fit, strength matters enormously. Your knee is a hinge joint controlled by the muscles above and below it. Weak glutes, tight hip flexors, and underdeveloped VMO (the inner quad muscle) all increase knee stress. Single-leg work like Bulgarian split squats and step-ups should be in every cyclist's programme.
If you've adjusted fit and managed load for two to three weeks without improvement, see a sports physio. Don't wait.
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