Bike fit / correct riding position

A slightly thinking aloud post. So I rode 60 ish miles London to Brighton yesterday. Prior to this only a couple of shorter rides 10-20 miles. The front of my knees were pretty sore yesterday, today they can best be described as delicate, not painful but I'm aware of them.
I'm going to try do 10-20 miles Wednesday if they feel ok. Then 30-40 Saturday, in an attempt to build some more strength.
At the moment I feel its a load issue over the saddle position. My reasoning, I've spent some time trying to position it and if anything I feel its a little set back which from reading, bring it forward won't help frontal knee pain.
So thinking I was just a bit over enthusiastic!?

frontal knee pain.

Just a thought, but were your knees covered? The temperature's dropped a bit now, and I find that can cause a bit of knee ache.

Rest them properly. Don't ride on painful knees.

Front of knee is usually too low saddle height but don't adjust anything until you give it another go. You could also just be doing too much or pushing too high a gear. So, rest and try again and take note of any pain.

If you've upped your load 3x in one go, that will probably take its toll. I find that pushing too big a gear can hurt the front of my knees sometimes as well.

@BareNecessities Yeah was in my tights.

@hippy Yeah hoping they'll be OK by Wednesday. Think the saddle is high enough. Stroke feels good but I'm not nestled, like I used to be, in the up curve at the rear of the saddle, which is making me thinking it should be further forward.

Think some rest and gentle stretches, before moving anything.
Thanks guys

the lure of a new bike

New shoes/different cleat position?

Nope I've kept them in a box all this time.

I'd like to get a fit but my concern is having been off the bike so long it will change fairly quickly. Then I'll need another fairly soon.
So current plan is to hold off on a fit till I've ridden a bit more.

Kinda chicken and egg....

It's just a rough rule of thumb. Knee pain can be from all manner of things.
The resting bit after what sounds like a bit of overuse is why I said don't adjust anything yet.

Good idea though. You will adapt and likely change a few things if you're starting up again. People develop their flexibility (or get worse!) when riding again so unless you're in a world of pain, there's no harm testing stuff out a while.

Ashcroft is a liar, I took two Ibuprofen last night and this morning legs feel great.

So after another ride yesterday I raised my seat post probably about 0.5 cm and the knees are much better.
The only niggle left to iron out now is some aching between the shoulder blades.

This could well be bike fit but i have a feeling is more related to wearing a back pack... Has anyone experienced a bruised feeling pain at the base of their spine when off the bike? No significant issues when riding (although i'm only doing my usual 15-20 miles a day commute and a few MTB trails) but my back feels like i've been Bruce Lee death touched quite often off the bike. About 3 months ago i had a week of lugging some heavy stuff about on the bike in my backpack and it feels like that might of been the starting point. Since then i've been pretty careful to keep the bag light and use the chest strap but it doesn't feel like its getting better.

Remove the weight off your back if possible. Maybe whatever you did isn't healing quickly as it's repeatedly hassled by your bag.

How tight are your hamstrings? Can you bend over and touch your toes for the doctor there's a good patient...

sacroiliac joint pain?

I can but it's not pretty, i have tears on both hamstrings from my youth and they're not great. The other thing i've noticed is how much cracking there is in my lower back when i do a spinal twist stretch. I'm going to start with some lower back and hamstring stretches and see if that helps as i do next to no stretching at the moment. I can borrow a handlebar bag and get the weight of my back for a while but i do want the ability to ride with a backpack.

I'm sure it's case specific but i'd like to know if it's best to try and heal first whilst improving strength/flexibility before getting a bike fit or should i just get on with it in my current condition?

Could be, any idea if a regular doctor can diagnose that or do i need to see a specialist?

Try a good chiropractor.

Needs @tw to comment

Trollolol

Erry one knows what a good chiropractor is one that keeps their quack hands to themselves, and refrains from practising their unevidenced fondling amd dangerous joint twisting on the gullible and poorly informed.

Have you written to your local MP?

I favour a targetted pamphleting campaign. Maybe a 30 second spot on community radio too, to really drive home the message.

Vanneau's suggestion about glue exercises like (single leg) glute bridge as well as some other core exercises like plank and a little yoga has so far made a huge difference to lower back pain off the bike. Stretching on its own did almost nothing or only temporarily alleviated pain. Some tests also indicate that I don't really have super-tight hamstrings (doing a yoga forward lean after a round of greeting the sun I can pretty much fold in half) On the bike I am getting an inline seatpost to move the seat a little further forward after sliding around on my saddle to feel out different positions. Too far forward might not recruit the glutes enough (as someone posted a while ago), and it feels like too far back may over-recruit some of the muscles around the hip.

:-D

I think gluteal engagement partly depends on pedaling "style" and also how much forward rotation you have in your pelvis. Therefore, if you're going for an inline seatpost, you may find you need to lower your bars further which'll mean you have to rotate more and hence engage your glutes.