by DianaGibson90oXM » Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:14 pm
I am 37. I used to have long and sometimes hilly rides with an awful bike fitting/cadence, no hydration, no cooling down, etc. because I didn't know about all this stuff when I started as an amateur. As I started to ride longer and harder, one night I had some swelling and terrible pain on my knees. Then those pains became persistent. I was having them after each and every ride. I was thinking what I was doing wrong, but I never figured it out or it was too late because the damage was so big. Weird thing is I was riding pain free but just after few hours I get back to home I was having these nasty pain around my knees which was lasting for few days. At some point I was having knee pain even when I was sitting, walking, lying on bed and many days I woke up with pain on my knees even though I had stopped riding completely. I thought it was going to stay with me for lifetime but one day I had a crash on my motorbike and broke a bone on my ankle. That was a shock on my system I guess and my body forgot about my knees completely. All the pains had gone for the good and I am still almost glad that I had that accident because my life was so miserable with those knee pain and I had no solution having seen so many doctors, physios, injections etc. Maybe it was the long resting period because I didn't even get out of the bed for about 3-4 months.
Now I want to ride again but it seems impossible because when I try to have a ride with the easiest gearing and only 2-3 km long I end up having these random kneecap pain on both knees but they disappear next day. I envy those people who rides competitively even in their 50's.
Is there anything that I can do to do
at least 5 to 10 kms rides pain free?
Btw I am so skinny that I have almost no muscles on my thighs and became weaker after the crash because I have some atrophy on my right leg.