RR: Musing on Knees and SS

Corvus Corvax wrote:
<snip good signs>

Quoted message said:

A proposition for the illuminati: singlespeeding made the muscles
supporting my knees stronger in the first place, and actually aided my
recovery from injury, as well as probably making the injury less
severe than it might otherwise have been.

CC

Seems believable to me. I've even got anecdotal evidence. Before I ever rode
an SS I wanted to ride faster. So I tried to really make an effort to always
push a bigger gear than I normally would. Sometimes I'd push too hard and
get a sore knee. I'd back off and work my way back up more gradually.
Eventually, it was much easier to push that higher gear, and I could put a
lot more torque on my knees than I would have ever tried to in the past
without issues. I think it made the knees stronger over time. Then I tried
to ride a singlespeed and it wasn't so bad (after a couple of rides anyway).

Matt

On 2004-06-03, Corvus Corvax penned:

Quoted message said:

After my slow start this spring, I have been gradually upping my miles
on my daily rides on the fixie. On my morning commute I just sorta
blow past my office and ride around for a while before heading in.
(Who does that commuting by car, eh?)

Riding today, in the rain, I noticed I had forgotten the knee brace
I've been wearing. And I started to think about this whole
"singlespeeding is bad for your knees" bit. True, you can really
overstress your knees riding in too big a gear, but that is really a
matter of training. If you work in gradually, the necessary muscles
build up to handle a big gear. This occurred to me because only a
couple of months after my minor but annoying knee injury, I'm
forgetting my brace and only noticing fifteen miles into my ride that
it's missing. And that's riding a 73-inch fixie.

A proposition for the illuminati: singlespeeding made the muscles
supporting my knees stronger in the first place, and actually aided my
recovery from injury, as well as probably making the injury less
severe than it might otherwise have been.

I think it depends on the severity of the injury/problems and the degree
to which you push yourself. The key word is definitely "gradually."

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding (hah! like I have the
quad strength!) or tele skiing (same deal) for fear of putting too much
pressure on the knees. Single speeding would probably be the less
dangerous of those two ...

Regardless, it's good to hear that your knee is healing up nicely =)

--
monique

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Corvus Corvax wrote:
<snip good signs>

Quoted message said:

A proposition for the illuminati: singlespeeding made the muscles
supporting my knees stronger in the first place, and actually aided my
recovery from injury, as well as probably making the injury less
severe than it might otherwise have been.

CC

Seems believable to me. I've even got anecdotal evidence. Before I ever rode
an SS I wanted to ride faster. So I tried to really make an effort to always
push a bigger gear than I normally would. Sometimes I'd push too hard and
get a sore knee. I'd back off and work my way back up more gradually.
Eventually, it was much easier to push that higher gear, and I could put a
lot more torque on my knees than I would have ever tried to in the past
without issues. I think it made the knees stronger over time. Then I tried
to ride a singlespeed and it wasn't so bad (after a couple of rides anyway).

My knees are tough enough to take 2:1 and seem to have a lot of
support muscle around them.

JD

[email hidden] (Corvus Corvax) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

After my slow start this spring, I have been gradually upping my miles
on my daily rides on the fixie. On my morning commute I just sorta
blow past my office and ride around for a while before heading in.
(Who does that commuting by car, eh?)

Riding today, in the rain, I noticed I had forgotten the knee brace
I've been wearing. And I started to think about this whole
"singlespeeding is bad for your knees" bit. True, you can really
overstress your knees riding in too big a gear, but that is really a
matter of training. If you work in gradually, the necessary muscles
build up to handle a big gear. This occurred to me because only a
couple of months after my minor but annoying knee injury, I'm
forgetting my brace and only noticing fifteen miles into my ride that
it's missing. And that's riding a 73-inch fixie.

A proposition for the illuminati: singlespeeding made the muscles
supporting my knees stronger in the first place, and actually aided my
recovery from injury, as well as probably making the injury less
severe than it might otherwise have been.

CC

It's all ball-bearings these days.
/s

Monique Y. Mudama said:

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding

I have a single speed. I call it "Slow".
--
- Rog

http://www.wpcusrgrp.org/~rogerbuchanan/index.html

NOTE: to Reply to this, remove the phrase "NOSPAM"
from my "Reply To:" address, or it will be returned.

"Corvus Corvax" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A proposition for the illuminati: singlespeeding made the muscles
supporting my knees stronger in the first place, and actually aided my
recovery from injury, as well as probably making the injury less
severe than it might otherwise have been.

Before getting my SS, I discussed this at great lenght with both my
Orthopedic Surgeon (roadie and FOMBA member) and my Physical Terrorist (a
retired Cat-II Roadie(freak)) and they both supported this proposition.

"Hey Honey, Doc and Steve said I should get a SS, it'll help me with my PT."
"Sure dear, if the Doc and PT say so..... Go ahead"

Too bad I couldn't get my Insurance Co to pay for the RedLine MonoCog.
Maybee I still can. would it be classified under Durable Goods or Physical
Therapy Equip?

"Roger Buchanan" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I have a single speed. I call it "Slow".

<<Clyde spews coffee all over monitor>>

Day'um that was funny.

--
JG
Wondering who in TN already had taken"1-GEAR" and "1-SPEED" and for a tags
;-(

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,
Monique Y. Mudama <[email hidden]> wrote:
[ example of knees being strengthen snipped]

Quoted message said:

I think it depends on the severity of the injury/problems and the degree
to which you push yourself. The key word is definitely "gradually."

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding (hah! like I have the
quad strength!) or tele skiing (same deal) for fear of putting too much
pressure on the knees. Single speeding would probably be the less
dangerous of those two ...

_ Telemarking is not as stressfull on your knees as you might
think. It burns your quads and has a stiff learning curve, but
IMHO it's actually easier on the knees than regular alpine
skiing. I could go into a long boring semi-technical explaination
of why this is true, but I'll save that for
rec.skiing.backcountry. I telemark and single speed and I don't
have the greatest knees in the world. IMHO, single speeding is a
much greater risk to wonking the knees than telemarking.

_ Booker C. Bense

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Booker C. Bense said:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,
Monique Y. Mudama <[email hidden]> wrote:
[ example of knees being strengthen snipped]

Quoted message said:

I think it depends on the severity of the injury/problems and the
degree to which you push yourself. The key word is definitely
"gradually."

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding (hah! like I have
the quad strength!) or tele skiing (same deal) for fear of putting
too much pressure on the knees. Single speeding would probably be
the less dangerous of those two ...

_ Telemarking is not as stressfull on your knees as you might
think. It burns your quads and has a stiff learning curve, but
IMHO it's actually easier on the knees than regular alpine
skiing. I could go into a long boring semi-technical explaination
of why this is true, but I'll save that for
rec.skiing.backcountry. I telemark and single speed and I don't
have the greatest knees in the world. IMHO, single speeding is a
much greater risk to wonking the knees than telemarking.

_ Booker C. Bense

I agree. It's the fixed foot that makes Alpine skiing hard on knees. When
you tele, the foot is much less fixed. It's more difficult to tele, but
probably easier on the knees (as long as you don't forget your knee pads and
find a stump on a powder day).

Matt

Quoted message said:

Too bad I couldn't get my Insurance Co to pay for the RedLine MonoCog.
Maybee I still can. would it be classified under Durable Goods or Physical
Therapy Equip?

I think the frame would qualify as "durable goods" Not so sure about the
components though...

By the way. This weekend is Bump and Grind at Oak Mt and I'm thinking of racing
the Johnny Rotten. Care to bring the Redline down so I have someone to talk to
as I walk it up the red road?

Cheers,

-Andrew "and #1 son will hopefully win the training wheel class, again.
The freaking sandbagger" Thorne

"Andrew Thorne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

By the way. This weekend is Bump and Grind at Oak Mt and I'm thinking of

racing

Quoted message said:

the Johnny Rotten. Care to bring the Redline down so I have someone to

talk to

Quoted message said:

as I walk it up the red road?

Can't, drill weekend for the Reserves ;-(

Booker C. Bense said:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,
Monique Y. Mudama <[email hidden]> wrote:
[ example of knees being strengthen snipped]

Quoted message said:

I think it depends on the severity of the injury/problems and the
degree to which you push yourself. The key word is definitely
"gradually."

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding (hah! like I have
the quad strength!) or tele skiing (same deal) for fear of putting
too much pressure on the knees. Single speeding would probably be
the less dangerous of those two ...

_ Telemarking is not as stressfull on your knees as you might
think. It burns your quads and has a stiff learning curve, but
IMHO it's actually easier on the knees than regular alpine
skiing. I could go into a long boring semi-technical explaination
of why this is true, but I'll save that for
rec.skiing.backcountry. I telemark and single speed and I don't
have the greatest knees in the world. IMHO, single speeding is a
much greater risk to wonking the knees than telemarking.

_ Booker C. Bense

Booker is right on about tele and knees. Look up the stats on ACL blow outs
and tele skiing sometime. It just doesn't happen.

penny

pas said:

Booker C. Bense said:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,
Monique Y. Mudama <[email hidden]> wrote:
[ example of knees being strengthen snipped]

Quoted message said:

I think it depends on the severity of the injury/problems and the
degree to which you push yourself. The key word is definitely
"gradually."

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding (hah! like I have
the quad strength!) or tele skiing (same deal) for fear of putting
too much pressure on the knees. Single speeding would probably be
the less dangerous of those two ...

_ Telemarking is not as stressfull on your knees as you might
think. It burns your quads and has a stiff learning curve, but
IMHO it's actually easier on the knees than regular alpine
skiing. I could go into a long boring semi-technical explaination
of why this is true, but I'll save that for
rec.skiing.backcountry. I telemark and single speed and I don't
have the greatest knees in the world. IMHO, single speeding is a
much greater risk to wonking the knees than telemarking.

_ Booker C. Bense

Booker is right on about tele and knees. Look up the stats on ACL blow outs
and tele skiing sometime. It just doesn't happen.

Much. But when it does, a friend of mine's wife blew out BOTH in the
same tele fall. A bad Karma day for Karen.
Reminds me...
....Ooh, just checked. We can spave $90 buying season passes at Monarch
by July 1!.

Shawn

Shawn Curry wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

...Ooh, just checked. We can spave $90 buying season passes at
Monarch by July 1!.

Shawn

Thanks for the reminder. I need to do that. I probably missed the pre-June
deal (if they had one this year).

It's alsways so hard to think about and spend money on skiing this time of
year!

Matt

Roger Buchanan said:

Monique Y. Mudama said:

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding

I have a single speed. I call it "Slow".

those bikes we rented in the jungle were ss. Clunky and heavy, not sleek but
it was a hoot and it was very different. A lot of standing to maintain or
increase momentum. I got stopped pretty good by some rocks- good thing I am
fast on my feet!

I'm sure this has been discussed here adnauseum, but do you guys run
suspenion on those things? For the life of me I can't recall.

penny

pas said:

Roger Buchanan said:

Monique Y. Mudama said:

Still, I'm just not willing to try single speeding

I have a single speed. I call it "Slow".

those bikes we rented in the jungle were ss. Clunky and heavy, not
sleek but it was a hoot and it was very different. A lot of standing
to maintain or increase momentum. I got stopped pretty good by some
rocks- good thing I am fast on my feet!

I'm sure this has been discussed here adnauseum, but do you guys run
suspenion on those things? For the life of me I can't recall.

penny

I have a front shock on mine. Many others do not (including several of my
riding buddies and am-b regulars). I've considered this, but I'm a little
apprehensive about it mostly because I'm afraid I might shake my slightly
less than perfect shoulder apart. I've always got my townie if I want a
rigid SS (with coaster brakes no less). I've taken that out on some trails
before and it can be fun, and I get some great looks from people I pass on
geared MTBs.

Matt

Quoted message said:

Can't, drill weekend for the Reserves ;-(

Bummer. I hadn't realized you were a reservist. I just hope you can stay home.

Best,

-Andrew

Quoted message said:

I'm sure this has been discussed here adnauseum, but do you guys run
suspenion on those things? For the life of me I can't recall.

Some run a sus fork, but no doubt there's a disproportionate number of ss'ers
running rigid forks.

The A, notwithstanding, there really aren't any full suspension singlespeeds
out there - think about it.

Cheers,

-Andrew "who's getting bummed about only having skiied two days in the past
two years due to all of this tele-talk, but who loves living in Alabama anyway
since he doesn't need studded tires in order to ride all year long anymore"
Thorne

Andrew Thorne said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sure this has been discussed here adnauseum, but do you guys run
suspenion on those things? For the life of me I can't recall.

Some run a sus fork, but no doubt there's a disproportionate number
of ss'ers running rigid forks.

The A, notwithstanding, there really aren't any full suspension
singlespeeds out there - think about it.

There was that Epic SS someone pointed out on eBay a while back. Definitely
an unusual bike, but I think kind of an interesting idea (if it would
actually work). Not interesting enough that I'll be building or buying one
anytime soon...

Matt