Quote Originally Posted by betagirl
I have noticed that after I do a lot of riding, my legs swell. The past 2 years after RAGBRAI my legs swelled pretty bad to the point I couldn't see my ankle bones. It goes away after about a week. Have you ever had that happen?
FWIW, I get edema like this when I am salt-deficient. I'm describing mild hyponatremia - not the about-to-fall-into-a-coma degree of hyponatremia that happens to Ironman participants. I typically don't eat a lot of salty foods in my diet and I have a slight tendency to overhydrate. In normal daily life this is fine, but when I start to exercise a lot (especially in the heat, and especially if I exercise every single day) my ankles and feet puff up something awful. If I continue eating and drinking normally, it will go away after a few days as you describe.

Some people are not as prone to salt deficiency as others, I've done a little googling around on this and the most I've been able to identify is that a) some people are naturally saltier sweaters and b) some people prefer sweet vs. salty tasting foods. I'm guilty of both of these traits, and combined with a tendency to drink a lot of water I'm prone to it.

Now I make it a point to eat tons of salty things when I am doing long rides or multi-day hikes. Electrolyte drinks help, but they are still rather low in sodium. So far trashy foodstuffs like pretzels and potato chips have been doing a great job of keeping the dreaded "puffy sock line" at bay.