Cramp ! Is it my body telling me to ease off a bit !

Simontuck wrote:

Simontuck wrote:

I tend to crap only in summer when I’m sweating more.

I bet there’s a medical name for this problem too.

Deeferdonk wrote:

 

Guranteed cure: Stop at the first pub you come to. Have a pint of bitter and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. Repeat at every pub you pass until you get home. Works best if you plan your route to pass multiple pubs.

 

I’d go with that though some days I ride too plain slow to stop for essential beer and get the distance covered 🙁   bad planning I guess

cramp: night cramps √          rides well within capababilty (mostly)  √ 

found hard to deal with really knocks confidence when sieze up only half way out on a ride that should be well OK  and been living in Aus’ last five years so for me 28/30deg C  ish isn’t hot but had cramp when just wouldn’t expect it …eat well when riding  etc

for me ….. another vote for pickle juice   –  the not pushing already doing … might just be placebo but has worked for me and as a plus got rid of the horrible night cramps … this article a good read:

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/06/pickle-juice-a-cure-for-muscle-cramps/

Im with Madcarew on this.

Im with Madcarew on this. Cramp is primarily based on over-use, or over-stress as I call it. 

I used to get cramp a lot on the bike, however over the years of steadily increasing fitness, and also more and more refined bike fitting, this problem has all but gone.

Of the above, I’d say bike fitting has had the biggest effect. Reduce the overall load placed on a given muscle will reduce its susceptibility for cramping.

However, the knock on of this refinement is that when I reach the limit, the cramp can come, and when it comes it has the potential to hit a lot of muscle groups simultaneously. 

Thats not to say other factors won’t contribute… as touched on, electrolyte imbalances can influence suspectability, however make no mistake, a muscle, or a group of muscles fitness for a given purpose is the largest contributing factor. 

I get night cramps without

I get night cramps without any obvious trigger. Back in the days of sheets and blankets I always used to untuck the bottom of the bed so I could stick my feet out and stretch when it inevitably hit. I think I’m just predisposed to it, I also get crawling twitches in my calves which aren’t painful but look like they should be – it’s called myokymia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myokymia

Sometimes the cramps are in response to a long day on my feet outside where I’ve probably got a little dehydrated but equally it can happen after a day sat around doing nothing. I just put up with it and know I can usually stretch it out and just feel a little sore next day. Thigh muscle cramps are the worst.

Because I’m aware of the risk I tend to stretch on the bike when I get the chance on descents – just drop my heel with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke for 30 seconds or so. No idea if it helps. I also favour spinning a lower gear wherever there’s a choice but that’s more take pressure of my knees.

Welsh boy wrote:

Welsh boy wrote:

madcarew wrote:

You can think of cramp as a kind of overuse syndrome.

Really? Have you got a link to that research please? I would like to see how overuse causes cramp while laying in bed.

Simon E wrote:

“the idea that muscle cramps are caused by dehydration and electrolyte depletion has a long history but very little evidence behind it.”

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20802164/a-cure-for-muscle-cramps/

Also by Alex – http://sweatscience.com/cramping-in-ironman-triathlons-not-dehydration-or-electrolytes/

Both of those articles mention pickle juice as a cure and link it to the acetic acid triggering TRP receptors in your mouth, throat and stomach. Wasabi would work on those receptors as well, so just take a hit of wasabi every few miles.

Welsh boy wrote:

madcarew wrote:

You can think of cramp as a kind of overuse syndrome.

Really? Have you got a link to that research please? I would like to see how overuse causes cramp while laying in bed.

After a quick internetting, I couldn’t find anything definitive.

This article gives a brief explanation, but doesn’t address the night-time cramp issue: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-leg-cramps/

I used to get a lot of cramps a while after cycling (e.g. nighttime cramps) and they were mainly in calves or feet. They seem to be related to how tired my legs are afterwards and very rarely happened when I was actually cycling.

What works for me is stretching the related muscle when a cramp hits – typically straighten your leg and try to pull your foot upwards so your  toes are pointing up towards your knee. This usually stops the cramp immediately, though it can return if I don’t hold the stretch until the muscles fully relax.

I’ve just seen that pickle juice can help reduce cramps, so you could try taking a few glugs of that as you cycle: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/

madcarew wrote:

You can think of cramp as a kind of overuse syndrome.

Really? Have you got a link to that research please? I would like to see how overuse causes cramp while laying in bed.