About 20 years ago I read an article in Bicycling magazine about an older rider with knee problems. He was told to give up cycling after many knee problems and consultations with his doctor. He decided to find a unique solution. He chose to never sit, always ride standing. He discussed the difficulty, and how his fitness improved. I was truly impressed and decided to go out and start standing when cycling. Unfortunately it was hard, real hard, really really hard. I gave up without much of a fight.

This year I lived on a street that floods with salt water on Hatteras Island. In the winter I was riding through up to a foot and a half of water. It tore through my bike, eventually spokes started to break. There are no bike shops on island, so I needed to minimize the risk of more spokes breaking. The rear wheel drive side had broken spokes, so I started to stand to distribute more weight to the front wheel. This was sooooo hard, I thought I couldn't do it, but I did. I rode up to 3 hrs a day standing....sprinting on a bike. It was hard. Eventually I got used to it, and have been riding like this for 6 months. In addition to saving my rear wheel, I ended up aligning my hip. My hip has been messed up from a set of Speedplay pedals for twenty plus years.

Standing & cycling is tough, really tough. Give it a shot & don't give up. It will help you fitness, knees, and hips.