Tags
5-10, a. homer hilsen, brooks, fitness, gluteus medius, iliotibial band, randonneur, Selle Anatomica, Sidi, sitz bones, Toussaint
As I ride more long brevets, I start to really notice the subtle things that hurt/irritate on a bike. Right now, my biggest issue is my knees – they seem to start bothering me just beyond the 50 mile mark – mainly on the outside Iliotibial Band (ITB). I was able to get through a 200k with a bit of discomfort, but I now know that I need to work on either fit, or fitness to go too much farther, or I will be hurting. I’ve started working on my gluteus medius muscles after reading how weakness here can impact your ITB. We shall see how it goes, but it may take some time to balance out my legs enough so my knees aren’t paying the price.
As for the seat and shoes, I have so far been lucky with no issues. The Selle Anatomica just works. No soreness on the sitz bones, and no numbness after the 200k. On the other hand, after 10 miles on my Brooks Pro, I was ready to bust out the benjamins for another SA. Wow. My shoes are also great – both the 5-10 sneakers, and my Sidi Spyders have been stellar with no numb or irritated toes/arch. Good stuff.
On the neck front, I did get a little stiff at 200k. The bars on my Toussaint were about 1cm lower than on the Hilsen, so tonight I raised them as I didn’t have issues with this last year. This next week will likely bring a 300k attempt for me, so we’ll see how this change pans out. Oh yeah – I’m going to drop the seat just a half cm or so, as well. That may help the ITB in addition to the new exercises…
Cycle Seattle 
I used to get pain below the left knee cap on any ride longer than 4 hours. Experimenting with saddle position resolved it.
The forecast for the 300 is looking wet but after riding through the winter I’ll take a warm wet over sub-40 degrees wet!
Thanks for the link to the ITB article. I struggle with the core strength as cycling is my only activity and I have a real tough time with motivation for cross-training.
Hip abductor muscle weakness and imbalance.
Weak core muscles.
Sudden increase in mileage.
I hope I can strengthen my core enough to avoid pain on these longer rides. If I can get the knee to cooperate, it may be enough to get me over the edge for the big ones. Hope to see you Saturday!