You are reading a single comment by @frank9755 and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@frank9755
Good advice ^
Just to add my twopence worth:
You don't want to do yourself a long-term injury so there will be a point where you might have to say that you have to give up. But you also don't want to do it too early when you could still continue.
I remember before my first TCR 5 years ago I was seeing a physio for a knee issue that I had had most of the year. She said I should do the TCR and that I wouldn't do long term damage. But if it changed and started to really hurt, then I should stop as that would be doing damage. It actually went away after a couple of days - the 18+ hour days of pretty light pedalling fixed it.
Also - with most of these types of injuries, there is often a position adjustment that you can do that will help. But it might cause other issues (sounds like you have made such an adjustment maybe just by changing your pedal stroke rather than position). The goal is finding a compromise between them. You might not find a solution to the equation that gives zero pain, but if you find one that means none of them are getting worse, that might be enough.
The other thing is, when you have a niggle, recognise it and take early action. It can be tempting to just leave things and hope they sort out but, generally, if you keep doing the same thing, you'll get the same result. Expect to have to change your position a few times over the months you are riding. That is because your body will change as a result of what you are doing - some muscles will get stronger / weaker, some tendons longer /shorter, etc.