No Pain, No Gain

Last weekend marked two of the best rides of the season—so far. I am not sure if it was the feeling of adventure that comes with a map and the unknown, the quiet of beautiful country spaces, or the freedom to soar over 20 miles an hour that made these trips so alluring. (It could have been the nice weather, the company of a friend, or the promise of a yummy lunch, too) This is what biking, er . . . cycling is all about. The "fun" that is two-wheels to pavement.

Saturday was the exploratory ride out to Eagle. The rural roads are a pleasure to ride on out there. I even came across a tractor to keep pace with. Sunday was much the same route but a longer distance, out past Meridian road. There was also a nice detour into Eagle for lunch.

But for all the mileage and fun there can be a price to pay. For a few weeks I have been dealing with knee pain in hopes it might evaporate as quickly as it appeared. To date it still haunts me like a bad high school photograph. It usually hits around the 20 mile mark, feeling somewhat like a charlie-horse-sucker-punch to the side of the knee. As a result I usually wind up limping home at a much slower pace. Frankly, this won't do.

My theory is that it is an illiotibial band issue, which is pretty common in runners and cyclists. But as Mom says, "Where did you intern at?" I will be hitting up a specialist next week to get to the heart of the matter. I don't want to this to derail my STP train.

As defined by Web MD:

Iliotibial band syndrome. The iliotibial band is a piece of tough tissue that runs from your hip down to your shin. If it's irritated by overuse or other problems, it can get swollen and cause pain on the outside of the knee.

From what I have read on the "interweb" it looks like a couple factors can contribute to this issue—improper bike fit and a large increase in mileage. Here is a good link that was sent over from a Twitter friend, @BicycleLab, on the issue, demonstrating the use of a foam roller & tennis ball.

A friend from Kristin's Cycling Academy said she has issues with her IT band and finds yoga and stretching to be very helpful in easing the pain. Have you experienced this type of pain? How did you deal with it; what worked for you?