How to Correct Leg Fatigue and Achy Knees

Body position tweaks, and why you shouldn’t try to ride like Marc Marquez

As we discovered in an article I posted not too long before this one, fatiguing hands and arms are quite common problems that occur for many riders of the track.

As I also mentioned in that article, another common problem that causes issues for those same riders is leg fatigue and aching knees.

Riders that suffer from this sort of problem will find they struggle to make it to the end of a session before they get the feeling that their legs have given up.

As a result movement around the bike becomes difficult, sloppy, and in some cases riders just stop moving around altogether.

This is then going to make it difficult for you to do what you need to do, in order to give the bike what you need to give it – a stable mass that doesn’t wallow around upsetting stability.

While the two common issues of fatiguing legs and achy knees may seem like two distinctly different feelings, they are in fact brought on by the same cause.

Both legs will more than likely feel the strain during a session out on track – it’s hard work, after all –  but when taking a closer look at where the stress is originating from, it will likely be from a specific point and place.

Your inside leg, mid corner.

The Cause of Inside Leg Strain

If you’ve read through a lot of my material, you would have seen me comment on more than one occasion how important it is to create good attachment with the outside leg.

You also would have read that if you don’t have that good attachment, you’ll find that you begin to hang on a little too much on the bars. Particularly the inside one.

However, even if you are trying to hold on with your legs to free up your arms, if your lower body isn’t in an ideal position then you’ll find that you’re once again bracing yourself on the inside of the bike, and a lot of the support (and strain) will be taken by your inside leg.

What I mean by this is that you are pressing down hard on the inside peg to support your body through every corner, and in some of those longer corners you’ll be doing this for quite a few seconds at a time.

Add all that time up over a 20 minute session and your legs (particularly your quads) have got a serious workout!

“But I thought you have to use your legs to free up your arms?” I hear you say.

You do indeed want to make use of your legs during cornering to take the strain away from your hands on the handlebars, but if you don’t have a proper lower body setup and you’re unable to make best use of your legs, you’re going to find your inside leg left with more work than it’s able to manage over a whole session.

This will mean your legs get very tired quickly, and your knees may start aching too.

If you’re experiencing similar problems, you more than likely only need to look at one thing.

Where You Sit on the Seat

There are two factors to seating position that will contribute to a lack of good outer leg attachment.

How Far Off the Seat You Sit

When you start moving farther and farther off the seat your outside leg starts to lose more and more contact with the tank.

Not only that, but the point where the tank meets your outside leg changes too.

This means that as you move farther off, maintaining a good, solid outside leg anchor point becomes more difficult, and if the muscles in that leg aren’t up to the challenge of clinging on, your weight (and the strain) will default to the inside.

I’ve advised in the past that your seat position should be somewhere between one half to one whole cheek off the seat.

If you’re struggling with inside leg strain, perhaps your first port of call would be to assess how far off the seat you are sliding.

How Far Away From the Tank You Sit

A very similar issue is raised when you begin to move farther back from the tank than is necessary.

This is something that I myself struggled with in the past, and it came from my wish to not sit too close to the tank.

Because I was sitting too far back on the seat, the point at which my knee met the tank was quite low down my leg (away from my groin and close to my knee) essentially creating a greater leverage which I had to overcome in order to successfully use the tank for support.

Here’s a basic idea of what I mean…

Instead, what I discovered is that if I don’t slide so far back from the tank when cornering, because the contact point wasn’t so far down my leg I didn’t need to work as hard with my outside leg to stay locked in and provide support.

“But All the MotoGP Guys Do It??”

In recent years there have been more and more riders that hang off the bike a ridiculous amount.

It obviously works for them otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Mr Marc Marquez being a prime example.

As a result, riders look at these guys – their idols – and they want to mimic them.

But it isn’t just as simple as saying “Well, Mr Marquez hangs off this much and is Über fast, therefore it must be correct.”

Yes, his style allows him to extract the most he can from his machine, but does it mean you will be able to extract the most from yours by doing it?

Not necessarily.

His bike is worlds away from what you and I are able to ride and he is able to reach cornering speeds and lean angles we can only dream of. Not only that but it’s tailored to allow him to ride how he wants too.

On top of all that throw in an extraordinary rider with fitness levels through the roof and you have a recipe that allows that style to work over prolonged periods of time.

And one thing is for certain. You can be damn sure the guy isn’t solely hanging onto the bars to support himself. Even with his extreme lower body position, his lower body stability is sound.

If you can’t remain stable while trying to hang off like that, then that style isn’t correct (for you).

Besides, not all riders in the highest level motorcycle racing paddock ride that way. Just have a look at Mr Tidy & Consistent.

A much more conservative seating position and what I believe is a stronger connection with his outside leg. Yet another indicator that riding style differs from person to person and bike to bike.

While there are best practises, when you get to the finer details of body position it’s about finding what works for you and what allows you to give the bike what it wants, not simply copying what’s working for someone else and what makes you look good in pictures.

If leg fatigue and aching knees is a real problem for you, take note of where the pressure points are coming from. A small change to your seating position for a better lower body setup could make all the difference.