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@almac68
It's easy to overlook the fact that the knee is a very complex joint. Impact, strains, riding position, riding style, cleat alignment, even weak core strength can contribute to problems. I learnt the hard way overtraining which lead to severe pain, injury and torn cartilage damage 7 weeks before a marathon. I found swimming breastroke aggrevated it so much that I had to learn to front crawl really slowly, focus on breathing, plus loads of spin cycling, jump rope skipping and yoga got me to the start line. Okay I posted a really shit time, but I ran a negative split.. It also made me realise that riding a spinny gear with high cadence prepared me for a lot of climbing on the bike and strengthened my legs without putting too much stress on knee joints with a history of injury.
A good diet, supplements for joints, being flexible, not grinding big gears, varying pedal strokes, riding fixed with a front brake to control speed has kept me going. Instead of giving up and missing out on a lifetime of cycling.