blinking cramp!

[240Cup]

I regularly get it quite bad after a ride (anything 60K and above) but in a relatively weird place, whatever the muscle is called from inside the knee up the inside of the leg to inner groin! Normally both sides.

Bl**dy agony!! Anyone else get them in this region? I assume I have tight 'whatever they are called'...!!

Any tips on how to avoid?

[Harpoon]

Are you happy your saddle height and position is correct(ish)? A bike fit might help if you've never had one but obviously escalates the cost of things.

Some off-bike stretching might help as well. There's plenty on YouTube and also other stuff eg

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fitness-and-train...

[240Cup]

yep had a Retul fit with Garth from Vankru in Hampshire on both my road bikes, so hopefully all good

[Harpoon]

That's good. Are you keeping up the hydration if it's common on longer rides?

[Master Bean]

G and T. Or possibly just the tonic water.

[Dnlm]

I had pretty bad cramp at the end of hilly rides in the past.

Solution was to really plan out food and hydration. Eat every 30 mins after first hour , second bottle has either isotonic powder or one of those high5 hydration tablets.

It's made things pretty much fine.

[Trif]

I have tried many things to resolve severe cramp in both legs when walking that lasts days after cycling. SIS recovery powder resolved it so most likely a nutritional problem after exercise.

[TheDrownedApe]

hydration during and after stopped mine ( and by hydration i mean replacing lost salts etc)

[leyorkie]

I suffered badly for years.
All the advice handed out didn’t work.
In France High 5 hydration tablets are sold as anti-cramp and they work for me.
One advantage is that lots of flavoured water is easy to drink.
I do 1.5 to 2 litres on 3 hours MTB

[JEA1K]

leyorkie said:

I suffered badly for years.
All the advice handed out didn’t work.
In France High 5 hydration tablets are sold as anti-cramp and they work for me.
One advantage is that lots of flavoured water is easy to drink.
I do 1.5 to 2 litres on 3 hours MTB

So I'm pretty sure you have what most cram suffers have. Some people are very susceptible to it ... I have suffered from cramp for a long time when racing and its ruined some races and really held me back ... usually at the 2.5 to 3 hour point. Its totally debilitating. The difficulty I have is replicating the issue when training as I just can't.

I have read (and am yet to experiment all options) that some people require 3 or 4 times the electrolyte replacement of others that might not mean drinking 3 or 4 times the amount of fluids as that could cause issues in itself but to use extra strength/dosage of electrolyte supplements or powders. So it makes sense that leyorkie is managing using the High 5 tabs (they're still not enough for me) but i would give it a whirl.

I have used Salt Sticks which havent really given me much improvement so have just ordered some super strength electrolyte tabs from myprotein to see if that coupled with a strong electrolyte powder will curb it.

Theres then:

Baking soda
Pickle juice
Tonic water
Mustard
Chilli's
Amp Human

(Tonic water hasnt worked for me)

[lufbramatt]

I use this in whatever I'm drinking on the bike:

https://www.bulk.com/uk/electrolyte-powder.html

works out much cheaper than the tablets.

[Dnlm]

JEA1K said:

leyorkie said:

I suffered badly for years.
All the advice handed out didn’t work.
In France High 5 hydration tablets are sold as anti-cramp and they work for me.
One advantage is that lots of flavoured water is easy to drink.
I do 1.5 to 2 litres on 3 hours MTB

So I'm pretty sure you have what most cram suffers have. Some people are very susceptible to it ... I have suffered from cramp for a long time when racing and its ruined some races and really held me back ... usually at the 2.5 to 3 hour point. Its totally debilitating. The difficulty I have is replicating the issue when training as I just can't.

I have read (and am yet to experiment all options) that some people require 3 or 4 times the electrolyte replacement of others that might not mean drinking 3 or 4 times the amount of fluids as that could cause issues in itself but to use extra strength/dosage of electrolyte supplements or powders. So it makes sense that leyorkie is managing using the High 5 tabs (they're still not enough for me) but i would give it a whirl.

I have used Salt Sticks which havent really given me much improvement so have just ordered some super strength electrolyte tabs from myprotein to see if that coupled with a strong electrolyte powder will curb it.

Theres then:

Baking soda
Pickle juice
Tonic water
Mustard
Chilli's
Amp Human

(Tonic water hasnt worked for me)

Also potassium/magnesium tablets!

Only ever had pickle juice as a whisky chaser...

[millen]

Yep I'm randomly susceptible too, but invariably in hot weather. Worst was a 120 miler to Beachy Head and back on one of the hottest days of last year. Agonising cramp struck with 30 miles to go. I'd stop for a few minutes to stretch but whenever I restarted it struck again after a couple of miles. Then there was a distant audax where I was really, really glad I took the A road not motorway to return. I used to run and on one London marathon it hit only on Tower Bridge - there followed increasing ratio of jog/walk to the finish at under half my target speed. Equally horrible are the night cramps that can strike after an afternoon/evening ride - sometimes end up screaming the house down!

More recently I've had some success in staving off cramp when I sense I'm on the tipping point, by easing off and spinning faster. Not that easy on a group ride though.

So, apart from the good advice to hydrate before cramp strikes, are there any tips for dealing with in when it hits bad? Eg, does forcing a decent 20+ minute break make it less likely to recur than starting to ride as soon as the pain has eased? I'm not convinced that hydrating after cramp has struck makes that much difference - it's almost as though it just has to run its course.

Other strange symptom I sometimes experience is involuntary rapid muscle twitches around the calf-knee area when resting perhaps 2-3 hours after I've stopped cycling. Not painful, but I've no idea if it's in someway related to cramping.

Edited by millen on Wednesday 11th August 19:43

[edwhynot]

Proper hydration (using SiS hydro tablets pretty much routinely during rides) seems to help me. There’s apparently research to support the use of chilli too and products that use it (e.g. https://teamhotshot.com/) but I’ve not tried them

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Going back to Judo post lockdowns I got seriously bad cramp in my calf muscle when doing groundwork.

You need a serious amount of potassium daily from your diet. Physical exertion on top?

Supplements.

In the last two weeks the next day after riding and during judo etc = no soreness or cramping.

[Van Dessel]

TheDrownedApe said:

hydration during and after stopped mine ( and by hydration i mean replacing lost salts etc)

The "during" part and even before is key. A 700ml large bottle per 1 - 1.5 hrs in summer is minimum. Defo prioritise fluid over bars/Soreen etc. For most people with fat stores you don't need anything solid for a 90 min - 2 hr ride.

The general media kerps telling us salt is bad but if youre doing 80-100kms on a summer's morning salting your eggs or porridge is not bad. The BBC/Guardian "advice" is aimed at couch potatoes. We, gentlemen, are athletes! :-D

[Martyn76]

Salt Stick products are good too, can be taken before, during or even post exercise.