March 27, 2006 -- In my past two columns we have covered the basic frustrating aches and pains associated with starting up your early-season training on the swim and run. This time I will finish off the series by covering cycling. And it’s about time, from what I’ve heard. I have received several e-mail questions on cycling pains, so I’ll be sure to try and address everything this week. However, first off I have to toss out my mandatory disclaimer. When I say “aches and pains” I am referring to subtle, nagging issues -- not major injury. If you have anything that you might consider more than just an irritating little pain, consult a physician. With that said, let’s get on with it.
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Courtesy Jimmy Archer
Coach and pro triathlete Jimmy Archer.
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Cycling injuries are caused by three major factors: environment, training and position. Obviously there is another sub-category of crash-related injuries, but there isn’t much I can do to help you with those other than giving the sage-like advice of “keep the rubber side down.”
Environmental Injury
Riding in the cold with inadequate clothing subjects your muscles and joints to the elements, even in fairly mild temperatures around 60 to 70 degrees. This chill causes decreased flexibility and range of motion in joints and muscles, leaving you vulnerable to tears, strains, tendonitis and viral infections.
Here are the basic rules of dressing for cycling:
· Always have your knees covered if it’s below 65 degrees
· Always carry extra clothing, especially if you are heading out for a long ride or plan on climbing; you should almost always have at least a light vest with you
· Wear tights or leg warmers if it is below 55 degrees
· Wear arm warmers if it’s below 60 degrees
· Always put on a vest before a long descent. You see this all the time in the tour.
· Don’t forget your feet. Wear booties or toe covers when it’s cold and especially if it’s wet.
· Lastly, get a hat that fits under your helmet.
These rules don’t cover everything, but they establish a good baseline for deciding what to wear before a ride. Remember you can always take extra clothing off.
Training and position issues
Almost inevitably, training-related cycling injuries are caused by trying to add too much intensity or volume too quickly. But it’s important to note that these injuries are almost always exacerbated or initiated by a sub-optimal position or bike set-up. And herein lies my challenge as a writer. You see, positioning is a very individual issue and the easy way out would be for me to say, “Go get a professional bike fit and you’ll be fine.” However, that won’t always cut it.
First off, more and more people have taken up the bike-fitting profession, and it is becoming almost impossible to find the select few who actually know what they are doing. There are a lot of pretenders out there, so, be careful who you give your $200-plus to.
Second, as you train, your body will adapt to its new abilities. You may find you have an increase in flexibility, or that you can push bigger gears than you did a year before. These and other factors can effect what your “perfect position” is from year to year.
Lastly, changes in equipment will effect your position. Different shoes have different sole thickness, different pedals have different cleat heights and different saddles have different rail lengths. In short, proper fit is hard to stay on top of. The best you can do is to keep track of your measurements; seat height from pedal axle, tip of the saddle to the center of the bars, tip of the saddle behind the center of the bottom bracket. Plug these measurements into any new equipment and you should be pretty close to where you want to be.
However, I do get a lot of questions about a standard set of problems, so here is a quick troubleshooting list, which should help solve common problems.
#1 Pain on or around the knee-cap
This is usually due to patellar tendonitis and is usually caused by the seat being too low, too far forward or both. Remember, the ball of your foot should be directly over the pedal axle when the crank is at the forward/horizontal position (i.e., 3 o’clock). And the knee-cap should be pretty much directly vertically above the pedal axle and ball of the foot.
As for seat height, you want between a 25- and 35-degree bend in the knee. A good test is to put your bike in a stationary trainer, then sit with your hands on the brake hoods and with bare feet on the pedals. With you heels on the pedals, you should just barely be able to pedal without locking your knees. Thus, with your shoes on and clipped in you should be about right.
#2 Pain at the back of the knee
This is most likely due to the seat being too high, which forces you to over-extend the legs. See the above seat-height suggestion.
#3 Low-back pain
This is often due to the seat being too high (see #1) and/or the bars being too low or too far from the seat. Try a shorter stem or a stem with more rise and see if that helps. Also, moving the seat forward may help, but you don’t want to be too far in front of the positioning for #1.
#4 Neck pain
This could be as simple as just getting used to spending time on the bike again. However, if this isn’t the case the bars are most likely too low, causing you to look up too much; see #3.
#5 S-bend wrist
If your wrists cramp when you spend long sessions in the aerobars, try putting a spacer under the arm-rest/elbow pad; this will raise the elbow and allow the wrist to relax just a bit.
#6 Crotch pain
This is one of the toughest to fix. The easy solution is that the saddle may be a bit nose high. Check and make sure that the saddle is flat or even just a little low at the nose. Also, the seat could be too high, causing the hips to roll side-to-side. If neither of these tweaks eliminates the discomfort, then you may want to consider shopping around for a new saddle until you find one better suited to your biomechanics.
#7 Spinning hip
Do your hips bug you after a spin class? Does your spin instructor advocate super-high RPMs? If so, don’t do it. Your RPMs can go as high as 120 but no more. This 150-plus cadence is just too much and can cause hip injuries.
Hopefully these suggestions will help you address any cycling injuries you may be experiencing. Good luck, keep warm and be smart.
If you have a triathlon-training question for Jimmy Archer, please e-mail Triathlete Magazine Interactive.
Jimmy Archer is a six-year professional triathlete and coach with a degree in exercise physiology and 10 years coaching experience. Jimmy coaches through AZcoaching and can be reached at jimmy@jimmyarcher.com.