Bike fit / correct riding position

Because it's only one leg though, I'd double check things like cleat position - make sure it's the same as the other leg using the lines on the shoes or whatever. Also check that your saddle is level and you don't have a bent rail - that one caught me out touring on an MTB years ago.

Albannach which is Waltly Ti. Feels good. Idea was always to have a touring bike I could take all the bags off and properly enjoy wherever I get to. This is the day to day atm

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Some good tips there as ever. I'll need to let it settle down before trying them out. Just walked 6 miles to an Air BnB which I'll need to hole up in and do all the RICE and anti-inflammatory food stuffs known to man.

hippy ate all the RICE = Ride In Complete Excruciation

Haha exactly me the last few days. Riding with one leg n shit. Character building, I'd assume.

Been wondering about cleat position a bit lately, brought on by a bit of knee pain. I’ve always read that a good start point in terms of fore/aft is to set cleats so that the axle is under the ball of your foot, so I’d usually concentrate on my dominant side, get the axle under the ball of my foot, and match the other side. Upon taking a closer look recently, having both axles under the ball of each foot means having my left cleat considerably further back on the shoe than my right. I’ve done a 26km TT and a ramp test with them set like this and they feel fine, but I’m curious to know what the best practice is. I never noticed a major anatomical difference in my feet before now!

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Nice, looks sweet

It's build lung capacity at least. Screaming every combination of obscenity in every language ever created.

Before I lived around the corner from a bike fitter I'd just make them the same (mirrored) based on ball of foot (roughly) and then adjust from there until they felt "right".

Can a saddle influence a position to an extent that it's just not for you?

I've been riding on brooks c13 carved and it worked quite well for me but on longer rides it would start getting numb down there. It wasn't very bad, I'd just have to get up a little bit and that's all.
All the other saddles i've tried didn't fit me well/weren't comfortable so I labelled my brooks "most comfortable saddle that doesn't fit me".

During a bike fit I've tried a short nosed saddle and wow - it felt like I could sit in drops for days without any discomfort or pressure. So i've bought a fizik short nosed saddle and even though it feels comfortable for my family jewels, some other problems started coming up - mainly one of my knees.

I've had problems with it before - I have high arched feet and my knees sort of go inwards. After high intensity rides, sometimes it feels like one of my knees is "very free" / not supported enough. Bike fit guy recommended me inserts to compensate those high archs and on brooks it helped.

But now with this new saddle these problems eventually returned. After one more intense ride it got so bad I was limping for a week. Usually this problem with "free knee" comes after the ride and I don't feel anything while riding but on one of my recent rides, 15 mins into the ride I've developed a new pain when climbing / pedalling more intensively - just below the front of the knee, where it connects to the shin. Somewhat similar to shin splints when running. Very weird.

I'm still trying, moved my saddle back just a little bit but I feel like giving up soon and putting back my old brooks on.

Can a saddle influence a position to an extent that it's just not for you?

Yes

Can a saddle influence a position to an extent that it's just not for you?

Yes. Also, knee pain almost ALWAYS manifests itself 'after' the ride rather than during unless something is seriously wrong!
This sounds very similar to an issue I had a few years ago. It was only really a lot of trial and error and ultimately a bike whisperer bike fit that sorted it.
In my case I was using a specialized power. At 143mm it 'should' have been exactly the right width for me and was 'on paper' the same width as its predecessor which had been fine for years.
However, after a long hilly ride in Wales I started to get exactly as you describe, like shin splints. I also had unusually sore quads which I just put down to riding fixed up hills etc.
I went to a physio who even suggested I perhaps should stop riding fixed if I was prone to injury! The horror!!!
So upshot was, after seeing some photo and video of me riding it became apparent that I was only using about 50% of the saddle, the front 50% as the rear profile was actually much too wide.
What this was doing was shoving me almost a couple of inches too far forward. I admit I should have noticed the change but as it was a new saddle I just did the math, set it up and rode it.
I've since changed to a narrower but still noseless saddle with a profile that suits me much better and have no aches at all.
I do long hilly club rides weekly totally pain free these days :-)
Can't guarantee you have the same problem but could be worth looking into...

it became apparent that I was only using about 50% of the saddle, the front 50%

I feel like it might be somewhat similar here but for different reasons - during a bike fit the guy told me that i'm slowly moving forward during a ride as the core gets tired. I end up sitting on tip of the saddle and that's when it stars getting numb down there. Maybe the same with this short nose thing it's just there's nothing to sit on and knees get more work, I don't know.

Probably will hit a bike fit studio again...

Out of interest did you put the saddle up? How much?

I did. But im fucked. 2 weeks rest and no proper improvement, I've done a real number on myself. 2 years in the making, one week to ruin it.

I've got something on in Budapest May 24th so I'm booked on a train to Nuremburg on Monday and I'm a bog standard tourist with a heavy cumbersome bike as luggage for another 3 weeks.

3 more weeks of rehabbing...silver lining.

As Steve Hogg says (I paraphrase) always have the saddle lower than you think, you're far more likely to do damage from it being too high than too low.
Drop it back to where it was, your knee might settle.

Go see the bike whisperer. And rest. I'm sorry it's shit.

Ice and stuff has been shown to be nothing. Keep active as possible. But maybe keep stress to a.minimum, go by pain. If pain stop. If no pain ok. Some pain after is okay if it dissipates within 24h to baseline.

Could do a course of ibuprofen / naproxen gel on it. Not just once but a course for a week.

Day to day its no painful. I've got a routine of squats, legs raises, curls all that shebang. Been on a couple of short rides, 10 miles, and the pain comes in a little more dull than before near enough right away and it can sometimes go away for a bit midride...I guess it's only been less than 2 weeks really. Just feels like an eternity.

Saddle is back down now.

I almost went into fuck it mode and continued south under pedal power but came to my senses. No real pedalling for another 3 weeks, that's 5 weeks off it. Gives me a wee chance or I fly home 5 weeks up. Heartbroken but it's so first world.

I'm taking collagen supplements, vit c, omega 3. Hemp oil when a self massage is needed.

I'd be tempted to relax on the gym routine but also strength exercises can be useful for rehab (I have a bunch I do daily) so depends what and how much. 2 weeks is nothing and it doesn't sound too bad. I would get a bike fit though and perhaps an assessment from either a musculoskeletal doctor or good physio. Id ride on that tbh just keep to the flat and stop if pain. Pain is the guide.

Fyi I've had high hamstring tendopathy and then developed deep gluetal syndrome, of which has been over a year now of daily pain. So perspective is nice. You'll be fine in no time.

You could use ktape on it, I've had lots of success from that with knee issues.

Cheers for the insight. A chronic pain must be awful so I feel for you there.

I got smashed by a car in 2017 which went through both my knees and I couldn't straighten them for 6 months. Basically since then there has always been niggles and my right knee is generally the troublesome one (broken patella etc) but this time it's the left playing up. So they're not without a history but by and large cycling, single speed, mtb has all been fine. (Killed my snowboarding)

The main thing this time is that I cycled 7 hours a day for 3 days in varying degrees of pain from mild to agony...because I'm a bloody bloke.

What I'm finding is that recovery from things like this is akin to dietary and weight loss in the sense that there is a million and one different opinions that might all have benefits/adverse side effects for different people. Cycling right now is no good for my morale but I'm far from inactive.

Once I'm down to Passau on the Danube it's flat pretty much all the way to Budapest but I want to be in real good shape before I start putting any real effort in. Bike fit - yes. I've got time to kill so will endeavour to get that done.

Ironically, I'm in an Air BnB here in Germany and the owners husband is as orthopedic doctor. She tried to pimp him out to me but he seems entirely disinterested in doing work on his time off and far from approachable.

I am no expert but the one thing I see is it seems at full extension your foot is a bit toe down, which would agree with what skinny said about lowering the saddle. I was told to make sure my foot was flat at the bottom

any recommendations for a bike fitter? I have pain in the outer side of my foot almost instantly when cycling. I have tried wedges and insoles. I 100% have a foot that rotates outward but I cant fix the issue myself.

@scherrit aka Bike whisperer or Cyclefit

thank you, that was the name I was looking for, although no doubt fully booked for the foreseeable!

Just out of curiosity have you tried flats and normal shoes? If nothing else to get pain-free riding while waiting for an appointment?

Update: Took 2 whole weeks off any meaningful riding. Pumped myself full of supplements and got a train to flat ground (failure underlined) Managed to ride from Passau to Bratislava in 3 stints and really put some power down messing with the Vienna Sunday Warriors.

It was fine initially but still something not quite right and I could feel my right foot needed to point in a bit. Twisted the cleat out just a touch and I think we are good. All the usual fatigue aches with none of the screaming agony.

So, time, saddle down, cleat back a touch and right cleat twisted outwards a bit with a garnish of some supplemental recovery enhancers and I am back in the game. The dream lives.

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