First Sportive done - but BAD cramping...

[lastexile69]

So I completed my very first Sportive 10 days or so ago (110km including the frankly tortuous climb up Cheddar Gorge in Somerset) and was well proud of finishing it (seeing as how I'm a sunday morning fat lad fun rider and was surrounded by VERY serious club riders on VERY serious hardware!!) but I suffered horribly with cramping in both upper front thighs (quads?).

I had made sure to take on a carb heavy meal the night before and I had 2 x 800ml bottles with Torq isotonic liquid with me (which I topped up a both the official feed stations). I stretched out quite thoroughly before starting and although it was a very hot day I didn't feel exhausted or like I was running empty at any point, but I got cramp in my left thigh at 55km and then cramp in my right thigh at 70km.

Then when I tried to get up on the pedals for the Gorge climb it was like a switch was thrown and both thighs cramped in unison. Was bl**dy excruciating! Had to unclip and jump off the bike and desperately find a standing position that wasn't agonising (not an easy proposition!) and stretch it out for nigh on ten minutes.

I have done rides of 60, 80 and one ride of 100km before and had no such issues.

What is the likely cause?

I drank one full 800ml bottle over the course of the first 35km, had a cup of tea and some foods at the first organised feed stop such as flapjack, energy bar and - oddly - jelly babies?!

I then refilled the first bottle with more Torq, drank the second bottle before the second feed stop, where I had another tea, some more nibbles and refilled the second bottle.

The temperature was pretty high by the time I was cramping in both legs at about 82km (approx 25 celsius) and I was sweating but still didn't actually feel that bad, other than the cramp.

Between the 85km to the 110km finish I drank both of the bottles in a regular steady manner as I was concerned that the higher temps were not helping me and when I finished the whole thing I still felt pretty good and the cramp had gone away (to be fair once I had got up the Gorge it was all downhill so no need to be up on the pedals).

In between the organised feed stops I also made sure to nibble on an energy bar regularly whenever I felt like it.

SO was it not enough liquid? Too much? Not enough food or too much? Or just that on a hot day my general level of fitness didn't last long enough? Cramp is caused by loss of salt or liquid isn't it? I did wonder about it given I was drinking so much and had absolutely no need to take a pee all day....

Apologies for long post to ask a simple question

[moonigan]

What was your pace like? Quite easy to go too hard when you have other people around you. Also your biggest ride to date was 10k less than this. You should have probably done at least a couple of rides over the 110k just so you knew where you were physically.

[mcelliott]

Combo of things probably, lack of fitness, hydration, poor bike setup.

[Ashfordian]

I would guess at saddle too low and/or pushing too big a gear when you combine it with distance ridden.

[simonw67]

asking too much of yourself:under trained.

[Tom _M]

simonw67 said:

asking too much of yourself:under trained.

This mainly… Your muscles are made up of groups of muscle fibres activated by a motor nerve (a motor unit). Depending on the activity they are used in different numbers for different intensities. Your nerves/muscles have been trained to use them in a certain way to meet the demand of what your have been doing. With the longer/harder ride with more climbing, these motor units become fatigued, and your body starts to use the normally less-utilised ones to give them a rest. They aren’t really used to this, and the motor units can go into a local hyperactive state causing cramp. That’s the broad idea mainly anyway. Cramp is a bit of a weird one and quite hard to study and replicate.

[simonw67]

Tom _M said:

This mainly… Your muscles are made up of groups of muscle fibres activated by a motor nerve (a motor unit). Depending on the activity they are used in different numbers for different intensities. Your nerves/muscles have been trained to use them in a certain way to meet the demand of what your have been doing. With the longer/harder ride with more climbing, these motor units become fatigued, and your body starts to use the normally less-utilised ones to give them a rest. They aren’t really used to this, and the motor units can go into a local hyperactive state causing cramp. That’s the broad idea mainly anyway. Cramp is a bit of a weird one and quite hard to study and replicate.

Exactly. I have never got cramp during a walk round the park. Either during hard exercise (marathon mile 22 or earlier where i pushed too hard) or in bed / couch after really hard training

[JEA1K]

All of the above 'could' be a factor but also, you, like myself and some others, might be more susceptible to cramp. Some people who don't get cramp (ever) just assume that you're not fit enough. Its more complex than just this and affects elite level riders.

For example, you may require more electrolytes than the next person and are losing lots through sweat ... to get the balance right takes a bit of experimenting.

Have a read of the article below though which is very interesting.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/cycling-and-...

[simonw67]

JEA1K said:

All of the above 'could' be a factor but also, you, like myself and some others, might be more susceptible to cramp. Some people who don't get cramp (ever) just assume that you're not fit enough. Its more complex than just this and affects elite level riders.

For example, you may require more electrolytes than the next person and are losing lots through sweat ... to get the balance right takes a bit of experimenting.

Have a read of the article below though which is very interesting.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/cycling-and-...

yes, good point. It's definitely not solely due to training IMO either, it's both and you need to work on what fuel works for you (some people never figure it out)

[okgo]

For most people that are new to cycling it's mostly nothing to do with that though, its body that isn't conditioned for what you're asking of it. When you've done a thousand hours and you're still cramping on 50 mile rides then yes, something else is at play, but until then it will just be a matter of adapting and building up slowly.

[Malo]

I used to cramp up badly on big rides until I started to use salt tablets. Now no such problems.

[simonw67]

okgo said:

For most people that are new to cycling it's mostly nothing to do with that though, its body that isn't conditioned for what you're asking of it. When you've done a thousand hours and you're still cramping on 50 mile rides then yes, something else is at play, but until then it will just be a matter of adapting and building up slowly.

Even then it could be due to poor management of training load/intensity.

[lastexile69]

Thanks all for the input. I realise that the ride distance was my longest ever and the climbs etc were undoubtedly a factor (along with the temperature) but I was wondering why I started to cramp at 50km when I regularly do 60-80km rides along very similar terrain with no issues.

It was a slow pace all the way round (as I said we were defo out of the target group for this ride, it seemed to us to be very much in the realm of club riders) and as I said I never actually felt like I was running out of gas. I just cramped up.

I'm just pleased and proud to have completed it to be honest

My next 60-70km ride is in a couple of weeks so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.

Cheers

[simonw67]

lastexile69 said:

Thanks all for the input. I realise that the ride distance was my longest ever and the climbs etc were undoubtedly a factor (along with the temperature) but I was wondering why I started to cramp at 50km when I regularly do 60-80km rides along very similar terrain with no issues.

It was a slow pace all the way round (as I said we were defo out of the target group for this ride, it seemed to us to be very much in the realm of club riders) and as I said I never actually felt like I was running out of gas. I just cramped up.

I'm just pleased and proud to have completed it to be honest

My next 60-70km ride is in a couple of weeks so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.

Cheers

It's quite complex....you may have got poor quality sleep and a poor recovery, your diet might have been a bit off or you have had some life stresses (work, family, anything) that have limited recovery from previous sessions. Good work anyway, keep it up.

[okgo]

simonw67 said:

It's quite complex....you may have got poor quality sleep and a poor recovery, your diet might have been a bit off or you have had some life stresses (work, family, anything) that have limited recovery from previous sessions. Good work anyway, keep it up.

It was a harder ride, it was hot so maybe was dehydrated.

Maybe put the Whoop coolaid down eh

[simonw67]

okgo said:

It was a harder ride, it was hot so maybe was dehydrated.

Maybe put the Whoop coolaid down eh

Not a fan of whoop?

[okgo]

simonw67 said:

Not a fan of whoop?

Never used it, but a few people I'd trust to know their body's well (inc multiple transcon winner) said it was useless.

[simonw67]

okgo said:

Never used it, but a few people I'd trust to know their body's well (inc multiple transcon winner) said it was useless.

Must be then