Today is obviously my day for asking for advice.

I have noticed that during long club rides, sometimes as I'm riding hills I get a weird gut ache. This isn't a stomachache, I don't feel nauseous. The pain is lower, sort of where I get menstrual cramps.

On advice of the lovely women of this board, I have been practicing hills. Today I went out and rode 8 hills (and that's about all I did, besides warming up for 10 minutes and cooling down for 10 minutes), all quite challenging for me. It was only about 4 miles of riding. After the last hill I got a really bad ache in my gut, which makes me think that the feeling I've had on rides before wasn't related to the length of the ride, it was related to exerting myself on hills. It isn't muscular (at least I don't think it is).

Has anyone experienced this, or do you have any insight? Could it have something to do with lactic acid? I only get this sensation on/after tough hills!

Thanks gals,
Amy