Bike rack options?

[JMT]

I spend as little time on roads as possible. No commuting. VERY little road riding.
I do have a loop around my home town that I do a few times a week, but where I live there is very little traffic.


My knees have been surprisingly well when biking. A few times I found myself about to hit a climb in the wrong gear and chose to hammer through it and had no issues with my knees. Surprisingly. I did have a Hyaluronic Gel shot a few weeks ago and though that hurt like all get-out the first few days after, it's been a lot better know.

That said, hammering a climb on a bike can't compare to a long steep drop while backpacking. The combination of repeated extension + sudden jolt of stopping is brutal on knees.

I struggled at Glacier National Park about two years ago on those long downs. We're talking 3,300 of down elevation (and up!) and going down every step hurt my knees. The good thing is last time we went about a year ago my knees were much better. Love Glacier.

I hope the best for you and those knees. Ride on!

 

[MikekiM]

I used to hike to the summits of Colorado peaks and about 5 years ago did a 12ish mile round trip with a good 5,600 feet of elevation gain. Knee started hurting around the top and was killing me the whole way down. Ended up taking longer down than up. I recovered and I've done shorter hikes after that without knee issue but it got into my head and I've been unwilling to try anything that long again. The element of not knowing if it's a problem until I'm at the farthest point from the trailhead is not great.

Spot on.

I used to do four & five day trips that wouldn't have me close to a trailhead for days. A few times when backpacking with others someone else had issues (heat stroke, busted ankle, joints) and I was responsible for getting them out. From that point on I only backpacked solo. Now I am "that guy". Last thing I want is to be 15+ away from a trailhead unable to drop elevation because a knee went out.

Now I base camp out of the jeep and take the bike with me.

I struggled at Glacier National Park about two years ago on those long downs. We're talking 3,300 of down elevation (and up!) and going down every step hurt my knees. The good thing is last time we went about a year ago my knees were much better. Love Glacier.

I hope the best for you and those knees. Ride on!

No question that dropping elevation is harder on the legs and knees than uphill.