Q&A    Questions and Answers:

Hi Bob,

My knees are very sore after trail riding. What am I doing wrong? I can't seem to get a good position where my knees don't end up hurting.

It would help me a lot to actually see you in action. My best guess is that you are not keeping your heels lower than your toes. You also need to ride on the balls of your feet. Keeping your heels low allows your ankles to take a lot of the action that would otherwise go to your knees. You may also want to check the length of your stirrups. If you stand straight up on the stirrups with your heels lower than your toes, you should have the width of two or three fingers between you and the seat.

It may also take a bit more riding to build the muscles around your knees. After years of not riding, and before I bought Willy, my right knee was giving me so much trouble that I couldn't even climb a flight of stairs using my right leg. After a summer of riding, however, I suddenly noticed that my knee no longer bothered me... probably because of a combination of exercise and improved muscle tone.

If your leg position is correct and the pain persists, you probably should check with your local sawbones to rule out any serious physical problem.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you think of any other details that can help me figure this out.

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