Strange Cramping?

Hello everyone,

I'm a very new rider. I just bought my bike about a month ago and am just loving it!

Last night my husband took off first and then when I got home from work I took off to catch up with him. He asked me to ask you guys a question for him. He is a fairly new rider too- he started casually last season.

He said that his legs were feeling really good and he was averaging about 17 mph on his ride. This happened about 8 miles into his ride. After a longish (3-4 miles) flat road, he started going down a fairly steep hill. He kept pedaling fast down the hill, but his calf started cramping up really badly. As soon as he got to the bottom of the hill and turned right on a flattish road the cramp totally went away and he had no troubles for the rest of the ride.

Any idea what this would be or how he could keep it from happening? This is not the first time he has had cramping in one leg going down this particular hill on this same ride course.

I get calf cramps (and shin cramps too) if my seat is too far forward. The fact that it's only happening at high cadence points to a fit issue, IMO. Has he had a fit done? If so, has he been back to the fitter and mentioned this problem?

What about pedaling toe down? That's really stressful on the calves. Does he try to keep his feet level and drive through his heels? He may need to lower his saddle bit by bit as he learns to level his feet - that's how it worked with me.

Cramps in the calves could indicate a calcium, magnesium, or other electrolyte deficiently during the ride. Have him look into electrolyte replenishment while riding.
And yes, don't pedal with your toes pointing down, that can cause foot pain, numbing, and other problems. ;)

I can feel that starting in my calves at that same time. I bet he had like no pressure at all on the pedals because he was going so fast - they were practically just free spinning because the tire rotation was faster than his spin pace. If I'm "free spinning" like that, and have no pressure to pedal against, it's almost like my calves don't know what to do; I don't have that pedal rotation "helping" my foot go around and my calves kind of spasm as they search for that firm ground.
Does that make sense? For me, it's got nothing to do with bike fit, hydration or deficiencies - it's totally only when I'm going down a hill so fast that my cadence is slower that the tire rotation and I'm just free spinning. I can make the same thing happen if I'm suspended for some reason doing things that would sound really stupid and/or silly in this context :p Could be lack of muscle tone in my calves - they are just looking for something to press against and when I'm spinning that fast and don't have anything, they create their own resistance. Hope this makes sense - if you haven't experienced it yourself, it might make more sense to DH :D

How do I prevent it?? When I'm going so fast that pedaling doesnt do anything, I coast!

Thank you for the replies!

I sent him a link to this thread earlier today. I know he saw the first response. I'll make sure he sees the others. He said that sometimes he feels like his seat might be a bit low, but tonight he's going to pay special attention to how his feet are on the pedals.

I've thought about it being a dehydration/electrolyte imbalance problem. He generally takes diluted gatorade with him on rides. He will have a GU packet when he gets home. Perhaps he should have one mid ride when he's going farther.

I know that I feel weird "free spinning" down a hill when I'm going so fast. I tend to just coast or spin really slow so my legs don't cool down.

(I love my Fuji too!)

Quick update:

I showed DH the advice here and he said he really thought about how he was riding when he was out this morning. He said that he noticed coming down a (different) hill that going down the hill only he is pointing his toes down. He said it felt like perhaps he was pushing his toes down to try to pedal fast enough to feel resistance and that was starting to cramp his calf. As soon as he remembered to pedal with his heels down the cramping went away.

Thank you so much for helping us!