Leg cramp question

[Ninabike]

I had that happen to me and another rider pointed out that riding in too high a gear can cause cramping in the inner thigh. Spinning is better than mashing. BTW, welcome to the board!!

[NJBikeGal]

Bananas, bananas, bananas...or any other way to get potassium into your system. I have teammates that swear by chewing on Tums, also...supposedly it helps to avoid cramping.

[SouthernBelle]

You can definitely sweat out potassium. Find a sportsdrink with potassium in addition to the other things mentioned here.

[batsheva]

the so called sports drinks do not have proper quantities of electrolytes in them-- I just buy Pedialyte from the baby aisle at the supermarket and that has the physiological sugar and electrolyte balance appropriate for replacement - babies have same electrolyte quantities as we do. Plus is quite cheap and often on 2 for 1 special at the supermarket-- I have out i bottle water and i bottle Pedialyte on my bike here in Orlando and no probs with cramps or stuff since.

batsheva

[Zen]

Mile forty seems to be cramp time for me too and for that reason 40 has been my longest to date.
I drink 1:1 gatorade-water mix but I think I may need to eat more often.
Still experimenting with that.

[TsPoet]

Calcium and/or divalent cations. They are needed for muscle contraction. This question comes up a lot, many of us have trouble with cramping. I think we all have our own answer. For me, calcium. Not Tums or other meds, calcium (why take a medication you don't need?). I've noted that a lot of sports drinks and electrolyte replacements have calcium as a major ingredient.
What works for me:
1) take a calcium/Magnesium/Vit D tablet right before a ride, and then every 50 miles or so (I like Citrical, but not sure any other brand wouldn't be just as good)
2) hydrate
3) Stretch - lightly before a ride and do a good job after the ride to lessen the cramps next time. I also stretch on the bike - in a downhill section pedal backwards to a place where you feel a stretch on the muscle in question if you can (for me it's my calves, so I just push the heal down while using the other leg to push on the pedal to give resistance).

Another thing you might try is endurolytes - many of my long distance riding guy friends swear by the stuff. Interestingly, it contains a lot of calcium. But, it has a lot of other things in it, too.

[cwodiva]

Thanks ladies! I'm going to try all of the above suggestions and see what works.

[spokewench]

Do a search on leg cramps under the health section. I remember a really good article someone posted on cramps, what causes them, etc.

[withm]

Here's a very interesting story from the NY Times today on muscle
cramps - that come from running, swimming, cycling, or even sleeping
(the worst!). It says there are no definitive studies that can really pinpoint the cause of cramping, but mentions the usual suspects - exercise, fatigue, dehydration, electrolytes, potassium, and stretching.....

The article is called
A Long-Running Mystery, the Common Cramp

and can be found here

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/he...syahoo&emc=rss