Help! -Cycling Pain at top outside of left calf

Triathlon Forum
1

I have started having recurrent pain at the top outside of my left calf just below the back of my knee while riding. I ride a tri bike (Felt S32) in the aero position. This doesn’t bother me when I run so I think it must be bike fit related. I took two weeks off cycling to let everything heal and then came back this morning and the pain started after just a few miles. On one ride I stopped four times fiddling with my shoes and bike fit.
I tried: 1. Moving the shoe SPD cleat all the way to the rear
2. Adjusting the cleat angle to bring my heel closer to the bike
3. Adjusting the cleat angle to bring my heel further out from the bike
4. Lowering my seat.
By the end the pain was just a little better but I still felt it. Anyone else been through this? I appreciate any suggestions you may have.

2

Try moving your cleat forward. I had a similar pain a few years back. Took me forever to figure out that I had my cleat too far back. Seems counter-intuitive, but it’s worth a shot.

3

Wow!!! I just went thru the same thing a couple of weeks ago! Actually, I believe it is NOT IT band related. However, I do believe that it is caused by the upstroke while pedaling. It is just a matter of having a weak muscle in that area. B/C some of the people I train with have such tough, rubbery muscles that they don’t get that. I believe…like I say that it is from pulling up. I also believe that it may be due to too high of a cadence and whiplike stroking. So, I slowed down back to 90 cad. and isolated my downstroke to my quads. Like I say, while pulling up, instead of the hamstring getting the work, that little muscle gets tweaked. I know exactly what you are talking about and it is a bitch.

Therapy: What is keeping it almost unnoticeable for me is: Using the foam roller that you can buy on line at PowerSystems.com roll the muscle over the roller over and over. It hurts like crap at first and then goes away. I personally would not mess with your bike too much until you get a fitter to look at you. Does that help?

4

Thanks for the responses so far. Anyone else have an idea?