Ankle?

[Tim Kelley]

@rcannon100 115245 wrote:

Yesterday I got a tight pain in the back of my ankle. Back in the area of the Achilles. Feels very much like an irritated tendon.

Cause: I dont know. I mean, I have my new bike. Same shoes. Same pedals. Different geometry that I am still working out. Different gearing. I’ve been doing a little bit more cycling but just a little bit.

Solution: “Stretching.” Well, d’uh.

I have an ankle brace which I think I will put on to try to reduce the amount of ankling I am doing. I am kind of surprised that this would just jump up on me. And it happened on my old bike. Partly I think I may have just been tired yesterday.

Literature says move the cleat to the ball of your foot. Had already done that.

Any thoughts? What to look for with regard to cause or solution?

Overuse? Does that fancy green bike make you go too hard too often? Rest up!

Are you a ballerina that points your toes too much? Change your saddle position to keep your heels down.

Or maybe it’s just another sign of aging?

[PotomacCyclist]

Some possibilities:

Skipping a warm-up before harder efforts can cause soft tissue injuries.

Muscle imbalances can lead to muscle/tendon injuries. In this case, there could be an imbalance between the calves and the shins. (There are two calf muscles, the soleus and the gastrocnemius.)

Stretching cold muscles. Warm up first. Stretch after riding.

Fatigue, as you hinted. Did you overdo it recently? A lot more than usual? Did you try to do a harder ride or tough hill shortly after a long ride (or a tough ride)?

[rcannon100]

@Tim Kelley 115246 wrote:

Are you a ballerina that points your toes too much? Change your saddle position to keep your heels down.

Or maybe it’s just another sign of aging?

One thing I noticed that I do seem to point my toes. Had not noticed that. And that was on my old bike. I tried to switch positions to flatten out the ankle.

So what does that mean re the seat? Too high and I am pointing the toes to extend to the pedals?? I do tend to push the seat up about as high as I can get it – my legs tend to want a tall seat.

[hozn]

When I had my bike fitting, the fitter noted that I point my toes down; he commented on it, but I didn’t get the impression that he felt there was anything wrong with this; it just factors into where things are optimally. My saddle definitely isn’t too high, as I get front knee pain if I lower it — and hips rocking if I raise it. (In any case, I’ve never had back of ankle pain.)

Edit: I did a spec of research; it sounds like digging style is mostly just preference. Here was a quote that seemed pertient from Training for Cycling by Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter: “Neither style is more correct than the other. Instead, they are products of anatomy and drilled in by practice.” So I guess I’ve just trained myself to ride more toe-down. Apparently also pushing bigger gears tends to make this more natural. One important point was that you can’t switch from one style to another without needing to readjust your saddle height.

[Tim Kelley]

@rcannon100 115252 wrote:

One thing I noticed that I do seem to point my toes. Had not noticed that. And that was on my old bike. I tried to switch positions to flatten out the ankle.

So what does that mean re the seat? Too high and I am pointing the toes to extend to the pedals?? I do tend to push the seat up about as high as I can get it – my legs tend to want a tall seat.

It may not be a bad thing if that’s what feels natural to you.

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/05/pedalling-technique-what-is-best/

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/04/power-to-the-pedal-cleat-position/

Try playing with the seat position (not just up and down, but forward and back too!) and see if anything feels better or worse.

[rcannon100]

The geometry on the green bike is not right yet. And one big different is on the old bike I have a set back seat post, which I dont have on the green bike. I did adjust the seat back a little – my back wants a longer reach.

I suspect this has to do with the geometry of the green bike – but the pain happened yesterday on the old bike (the fit of which I very much like)

[Dickie]

I would guess that sudden pain has little to do with the bike fit itself. It is unfortunately our tendency to quickly look for answers to new pains and aches with the bike generally taking the brunt of the blame. Yes, proper fit will alleviate aches and pains that accumulate with poor positioning, but to suffer a quick injury especially on a familiar bike IMO seems more in-line with a muscle pull, or similar injury. Rest it for a few days.

[rcannon100]

Hum…….. I wonder if the pain in my ankle had anything to do with my (poorly executed) bunny hop yesterday. Ya know, the bunny hop thingy that I never do but did twice yesterday.

I’m a moron.

[hozn]

@rcannon100 115256 wrote:

The geometry on the green bike is not right yet. And one big different is on the old bike I have a set back seat post, which I dont have on the green bike. I did adjust the seat back a little – my back wants a longer reach.

I suspect this has to do with the geometry of the green bike – but the pain happened yesterday on the old bike (the fit of which I very much like)

My personal experience is that positioning your saddle fore/aft is something that can be done very accurately by measuring your body: http://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/fitCalculatorBike.jsp . i.e. there is a “right” answer for the optimal place for that saddle with respect to your physiology. Sure, you could create the same saddle-to-bar measurements using different stem lengths, but position over the pedals won’t be optimal.

Based on my measurements, for example, (probably driven primarily by femur length?), I know that I need the tip of my saddle to be 6.5-7.5 cm behind the center of my BB. That translates to very specific (and fairly “forward”) seatpost and seat tube angle requirements (hence me relenting and replacing my road-bike frame).

When I went to get my bike fit, the fitter was a little surprised that I had my saddle within 2mm of where he felt it would be optimal. My takeaway from that experience was that for measurements like this that aren’t dependent on fitness, fit calculators work great. OTOH, the bike fitting was invaluable in pointing out how poor my flexibility and core strength was — the fit calculator would fail there, since I would be far more stretched out that I could [at least back then] reasonably support with my core.

[hozn]

@rcannon100 115268 wrote:

Hum…….. I wonder if the pain in my ankle had anything to do with my (poorly executed) bunny hop yesterday. Ya know, the bunny hop thingy that I never do but did twice yesterday.

I’m a moron.

Well, that certainly sounds like the answer

[rcannon100]

@hozn 115270 wrote:

@rcannon100 115268 wrote:

I’m a moron.

Well, that certainly sounds like the answer

[Author]

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