I went out for my first ride in close to 6 months and after mile 40, my left knee started to feel sore (on the outside left part part of it). The exact same pain came after every ride last year right around mile 50 or so and lingered for a day and then was gone. Now that this is a reoccurring theme, I need to start looking into it.
I got fitted to my bike when I bought it (P2), but I am not convinced it was good enough. Does anyone know what are the likely causes of knee pain (only on one side) after riding for a certain distance? Let me know if you need any other info to help diagnose from your experiences. Thanks!
My guess is also IT band. Foam roller helped me too.
But what you really need is to fix the cause of the problem. I would first look at seat height and cleat position. After moving my cleat outward, my IT problem was fixed. Please know that what worked for me may NOT work for you. It could be the opposite (move them in) or seat height (up or down) OR none of the above. Just trying to give some ideas.
Also know that takong medical advice from STers, is not the best way to fix the problem. Having said that, there are a lot of knowledgable people on here that can help.
Good luck, If it is IT band it can be miserable.
Moving my cleat outward bring my shoe closer to the crank was done so I could align my foot with my knee which was aligned with my hip. There are tons of topics already on this just use the search. I also used wedges and insoles from specialized to fix my varus/valgus discrepancy and support my high arch.
could it have been the fact that your first ride in 6 months was 40+ miles?
if you have been on the trainer during this time, please disregard…however 2-3+ hours of exercise without doing it for basically an eternity could be the issue.
My method for getting rid of IT band issues:
Take an empty coke bottle (20-24 oz) and fill with water, stick it in the freezer, take it out when its full of ice, and roll on that on the side of your thigh. You know its working if its super painful. I could not walk right last monday, did this for a few minutes twice, and was riding again by Tuesday. IMHO, its the only way to massage deep enough to get results.