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I think you have to stick to your own pace. Can you not get your group to ride at your pace, at least for a while and then ditch them and go solo?
My questions in races is always - is this getting better? Can I still move forward without doing long-term damage? Last TCR I had some big knee drama (patella pain - probably from doing Transpyrenees a couple of weeks before) and I just had to slow down. I could still move forward but I was very touch and go between bailing. I took early hotel breaks, longer sleeps, tried saddle height adjustments and ensured I pedaled extremely lightly (I was a day slower than previous editions). I removed anything putting pressure on the knee and massage quads a lot. I did a lot of stopping to rest it and IIRC used a bit of that Iboprofen cream (I refuse to use the pills).
Where is the pain happening? Which body part and at what point in the pedal stroke?
hippy-
That's true, I've had a few mates come out with me and stick to the pace but I guess I need to be realistic, as I do enjoy the faster rides but with this being an endurance challenge, they might have to wait a year.
It's in the side of my knees, lateral position. It feels the same as what was happening to my right which was the IT band rubbing over the femur but it's hard to gauge as it only happened last night while on the turbo. It was fine on the road, I can almost say I was feeling pretty strong on the ride back from work yesterday. I've rested it this morning and will try swapping riding positions slightly, bring back the CAAD with some clip on aero bars... It's when the LS is at 9'o clock, if that makes sense.
I'm very anti pain relief as I knowing what i'm like, I'll push through if the pain has been numbed and will make the injury worse in the long term.
@frank9755 I've been playing with saddle height and tilt, I found lowering it made the issue worse. Also cadence does help, high cadence seems to have less of a strain on my knees but when OTR it's hard to sustain into a head wind with a rucksack on. That's some great advice, I expected my body will change but naively I expected it to get stronger and become this super cyclist.... But in reality it's just about being able to pedal forward comfortably.
I'm going to try position adjustment this evening, hopefully that improves things, I've been on my Isen for a good few solid weeks now = 3000km so a change might be what my body needs.
Norfolkbound
So, I feel like it's one step forward and 10 steps back at the moment....
The issue with my right knee has seemed to have gone/improved but with over compensating with my left leg for 3/4weeks this has now meant I developed some issues in my left knee... I'm managing staying healthy and keeping fueled really well but the injury prevention is becoming difficult.
With the weather improving, I'm really looking forward to joining random group rides and cycling with my mates. But with an injury this means it's pretty hard to sustain any pace and I've had it flair up on a ride with my GF which meant I had to stop and limp home. This isn't ideal if I'm 50km+ away from home.
I knew and accepted that this challenge will be tough but constantly battling with injuries is very upsetting/frustration.