Cramp

[rogerzilla]

I suffer from terrible cramp towards the end of longer rides - all of my leg muscles are affected - the calves, quads and (most painfully) hamstrings.  I don't think it's a hydration issue or a positioning issue, so it's either some kind of electrolyte imbalance (potassium?) or a simple lack of long rides, which I can't do anything about before the Dun Run.

The annoying thing is that I usually still have plenty of energy, but the legs they cannae take it.  Have any audaxers experienced this when moving from 100k rides to 200k rides?  It doesn't seem to be a common problem, and may be related to the ridiculous amount that I sweat compared to other people.

[Jaded]

Bananas and (a bit more!) fitness solved it for me.

[Phil]

Eating salty things like crisps at controls solved it for me.  I also have had success with SIS-GO but that tastes pretty nasty and it's a pain to mix it up at every control. 

[Chris N]

I get it when riding fixed (and to a certain extent free too) in my calves on longer or hillier rides; I reckon it's a combination of high cadence, lack of rest and poor hydration and seem to have solved it by making sure I drink most of a bottle of water every hour or so.  SIS didn't make a lot of difference, it was the volume of fluid that solved it.  I eat bananananas and crisps dry roasted peanuts or pork scratchings anyway.

[mike]

Nuun solved it to me, that and remembering to drink a bottle per hour.

I got twinges of cramp on the grimpeur yesterday which I think was because i hadnt drunk enough in the first couple of hours.

[hellymedic]

There's a 'cramp' thread in health and fitness http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4773.0 in which I posted a full reply revealing subtotal ignorance in this subject.
I've never had cramp!

[gonzo]

Used to get it in the summer of '06 when doing 9 hr rides.

I found that the solution was to take along a bag of salt and add a large pinch to my flavoured drinks.

Considered something like SIS GO which is made to replace the things you loose through sweat?

[Sergeant Pluck]

Nuun solved it to me, that and remembering to drink a bottle per hour.

I got twinges of cramp on the grimpeur yesterday which I think was because i hadnt drunk enough in the first couple of hours.

A bottle per hour with a nuun in each one??

[hellymedic]

I've now read a little about nuun. (Their web pages are not very informative IMO and I'd much prefer to know how many millimoles of a given electrolyte are in a tablet.) I note chlorides are absent. There's probably enough in food but I'm not convinced it's a good idea to provide most of these electrolytes as carbonates for long term/long distance use.
I'm even more biased towards an unscientfic approach now...

[GruB]

Get more time into your legs, but ensure you have enough salt in your diet plus use a sachet of Dioralyte now and then in a bottle on a hot day.
The main one is leg conditioning though, IMHO.

[mike]

Nuun solved it to me, that and remembering to drink a bottle per hour.

I got twinges of cramp on the grimpeur yesterday which I think was because i hadnt drunk enough in the first couple of hours.

A bottle per hour with a nuun in each one??

when it's hot, yes.  Otherwise a nuun in every other one.

[Greenbank]

A bottle per hour with a nuun in each one??

when it's hot, yes.  Otherwise a nuun in every other one.

Yup, that's about what I do. I got through about 7 on a summer 200 last year but then I sweat like 10 sweating things in a sauna.

[Chris S]

Working harder than usual on a ride can make me cramp sometimes.

I think boozing the day before a ride can make me more prone to cramp too - probably a hydration issue.

[mattc]

Working harder than usual on a ride can make me cramp sometimes.

I think boozing the day before a ride can make me more prone to cramp too - probably a hydration issue.

Booze is a "well known" risk factor in cramp.  I expect it's not directly due to the alcohol but some secondary effect e.g. dehydration

(I know I only really get night cramps following drink without exercise!)

[mike]

I've broken my Nuun dependence!  It's lovely stuff but 5 quid for 10 tablets always seemed a little steep.

I've started using "elete" concentrated salty water stuff bought on ebay.  Does pretty much the same although doesnt taste as nice. 

Much, much cheaper - a 20 quid pack does 90 litres of water, the same as 60 pounds worth of nuun. 

[vorsprung]

I suffer from terrible cramp towards the end of longer rides - all of my leg muscles are affected - the calves, quads and (most painfully) hamstrings.

I only get cramps if I am really caning it.  Maybe if you eased off a bit?

[teethgrinder]

Tomato juice does the trick for me.
I sometimes cramp on hilly rides when I've been sweating a lot.
I had mild cramp for most of the Mersey 24 last year. I felt too ill to eat and drink enough before and during the event. I also got quite bad cramp on a 12 hour in 2006, but that was about 5 days after cycling about 2300 miles in 11 days and I wasn't really recovered. I never got a PB.

[Rhys W]

I've broken my Nuun dependence! 

 Was it becoming a habit?

[Hummers]

If I get twinges, I get some Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps down me, washed down with a Coke.

Never fails and works miraculously within half an hour.

H

[Euan Uzami]

i never get it when riding or doing any activity but sometimes when i later sit down and twist my leg in a certain position, or kneel down and reach forward, I can often avoid it as i get a 'twinge' before it happens but when it does it's an all-engulfing pain that i have to stretch out and almost thrash around to get rid of, and then it goes within seconds. It's only ever in the hamstrings. anyone else get this?
Never just an annoying dull pain that lasts a long time but can be put up with, like others seem to get.

[Greenbank]

If I get twinges, I get some Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps down me, washed down with a Coke.

Never fails and works miraculously within half an hour.

What about the cramp?

[mattc]

Never just an annoying dull pain that lasts a long time but can be put up with, like others seem to get.

I'm with you Ben - this other thing doesn't sound like cramp at all! :-/

[DuncanM]

i never get it when riding or doing any activity but sometimes when i later sit down and twist my leg in a certain position, or kneel down and reach forward, I can often avoid it as i get a 'twinge' before it happens but when it does it's an all-engulfing pain that i have to stretch out and almost thrash around to get rid of, and then it goes within seconds. It's only ever in the hamstrings. anyone else get this?
Never just an annoying dull pain that lasts a long time but can be put up with, like others seem to get.

+1
Though the thrashing around doesn't really help me, so I stopped that bit.
I wonder if it's because my lower back is screwed, and the hamstrings are doing more work than they should.

[mattc]

I often get it in hamstrings after VERY hard rides if I bend my knees e.g. to 'curl up' on the sofa. (I can stop it by extending my leg the moment I feel the onset).

I think it's because we don't fully extend the 'hammies' on a bike, and most of us don't stretch them as much as we should after a ride.

[vorsprung]

i never get it when riding or doing any activity but sometimes when i later sit down and twist my leg in a certain position, or kneel down and reach forward, I can often avoid it as i get a 'twinge' before it happens but when it does it's an all-engulfing pain that i have to stretch out and almost thrash around to get rid of, and then it goes within seconds. It's only ever in the hamstrings. anyone else get this?
Never just an annoying dull pain that lasts a long time but can be put up with, like others seem to get.

Cramp can be like that.  Might be sciatica I guess.  sciatica doesn't go away with stretching though.

When I started doing yoga they told me I had inflexible hamstrings.  So I started doing specific stretches for the hamstrings.

After riding sit on the floor with the left leg stretched out in front and the right leg tucked in.  Put your left hand on your thigh and as you breathe out reach towards the toes of your left foot.  Breathe normally and hold this for 20 seconds.  Repeat for the other leg.