Triangle Adventure Racing Team

This is a topic I saw posted on Trailblazers, our parent site (shameless membership plug) …. anyways never thought much about the issue and often ride MTB with shorts with temps into the 30’s…..I noticed alot of racers at the “training race” in Sanford wearing knickers….interesting topic: Here’s one racers perspective after dealing with knee problems…

I am going to make a big plug for using tights or leg warmers.

Racing in temperatures below 55 degrees with your knees bare care severely injure your knees!!!

Last fall I raced a 24 hour race (Wasatch Adventure Race) and we did win. But I injured my knee in the process. About half way through the race my right knee started to hurt. I would run until it hurt too badly and then walk for about 1 minute and then start running again.

I have completed many races like this in the past, and even much longer, more difficult races. Five months later my knee is still not better and could be something that affects the rest of my racing career. The only difference was that I didn’t cover my knees when it got cold.

When I started to do some research on preventing knee injures I came across several articles about covering your knees in temperatures below 55 or 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

Several professional road bike teams require their riders to cover their knees if the temperature in below 60 degrees. This is because they can damage their knees biking in cool conditions. Think about trail running over rough conditions and mountain biking in cold conditions and how that could damage your knees.

During the Wasatch Adventure Race this year, temperatures dipped to 30 degrees. We never stopped to put on tights and did the whole race in shorts. This was a big mistake! At the time, I didn’t even know that cold conditions could damage your knees while cycling or running. Now I am paying the price for my ignorance.

It is my hope that someone else will prevent a knee injury by knowing this information. Tell your teammates and training friends to cover their knees in cold conditions too, and make sure that you do the same!

Edited by Bruce Dale on Jan 29, 2007 at 8:29 AM