07/09/05 - My knee still hurts!

Well, the knee is still acting up. I did a short one hour ride today and about halfway thru the ride it started hurting again. Just great! I think its time to figure out what the problem is and, in turn, take a few weeks off the bike to let things heal. I'm going to shoot for a two week rest, and in the meantime, try to figure out what caused it so it doesn't happen again. I think I know what caused this... during the Raccoon Rally race a few weeks ago, I never shifted to my granny gear and thus ended up pushing excessively high gears on all the climbs, including the two really long ones. I'm also wondering if my position on the bike isn't quite right, so I'm looking at that as we speak. My best guess so far is that I have...

Iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome
The most common cause of knee (and hip pain) in cyclists is iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome. The IT band is a thick fibrous band of tissue, which runs on the outside of the leg from the hip to the knee. Pain is caused when the band becomes tight and rubs over the bony prominences of the hip (greater trochanter) and/or the knee (lateral epicondyle). Tight inflexible lower extremity muscles may worsen the condition.

Here are some good resources I've found...
http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm
http://www.itbs.info/index.html

Stay tuned... I'm hoping this is just a temporary problem and I can get back on the bike in two weeks...