General Cycling Discussion - Calf cramps...what to do?

Newbie here first month on my new Sirrus. So far I've only been able to get out on weekends. I went out on my longest ride last Saturday 2-3 hour in Palos Verdes doing moderate climbs (at least for me). About 2 hours in I started getting cramps/knots in my calves. I'm just trying to figure out what to do about this if anything. While I'm no where near a conditioned biker, I've always had strong legs ( and weak arms:( ) I drink water on the ride stretch a little and eat a power type bar before I leave the house.

Generally do you think these are getting in riding shape cramps? I play hockey once a week, just enough to know I could be in much better shape. :p

Should I stretch more? Drink more water before I leave? Start drinking sports drink?

Thanks for you help/suggestions

Eat bananas (this may or may not help, it helps me)
stretch
Hydrate or die for a 2-3 hour ride you should be drinking a LOT of water
Practice practice practice

stretch before and after your ride. also stretch it out when it starts cramping up

ChipRGW has some great advice. Bananas help a lot.

When riding, drink water about every 15 minutes. If you wait until you're thirsty you've waited too long.
If the temperatures are getting warm/hot you'll need at least 2 water bottles or a hydration pack for a 2-3 hour ride.

They're right on. Also, you might be overworking your calves by not keeping your feet parallel to the ground while pedaling.

I haev the smae problem.. I've somewhat fixed it, by

1. Moving my cleat all the way back on my shoe.
2. Stretching
3. Water---plenty of it, and throw in a banana too...
4. Checking Seat height... it maybe be a tad too high, therfore causing you to pedal with your toes pointed down more... it's a hard habit to break... i've been working on it lately too.

Palos Verdes huh ? Nice are to ride in.. lots of fun fun hills... I'm down in OC near Irvine... good to see more SoCaler's here on the forums !

Jeff

I started getting craps..... in my calves.

I think you'll find that all cow do this, even the babies......
:rolleyes:

Originally posted by ChipRGW
Eat bananas (this may or may not help, it helps me)
stretch

this works for me, but I've also heard that if you eat a tums or rolaids tablet the calcuim and potassium will help with cramps (but never tried this myself)


Originally posted by D*Alex
I think you'll find that all cow do this, even the babies......
:rolleyes:

:crash: :rolleyes: :crash:

Do you supplement vitamin E? That, in addition to bananas (potassium) and hydration, can help. I find my calves are the most susceptable to cramps, at least while I'm riding. But it's only a problem when I've been pushing hard, such as doing intervals. When I back off, the cramps ease up.

Originally posted by D*Alex
I think you'll find that all cow do this, even the babies......
:rolleyes:

LOL You DO have a sense of humor:D :D :D

On the cramps thing here is what I think is going on. You just started riding right??? Well your calf muscles are saying "hey dude were not used to this.. yeah we carry you every place you walk and run but this pedaling thing is new and it aint easy."
I have always had beefy calves... but I still got a cramp now and then the first couple of weeks on long/strenous rides. I now have popeye calves :D
I will often mix up my pedaling on long rides and once in a blue moon if I use JUST my calf muscles for a long time I can feel some pre-cramps start to build. (pushing down with the foot as the pedal strok nears the top using the calf muscle to do so)
OK I just went and re-read your post.. I'd kiss your arse in front of the post office if I'm wrong on this.. your using your calves to push down on the pedals as you climb... and I think this is overworking the little limp spaghetti engines to the point of cramping. Next time.. shift so that your spinnging faster and use more of your thigh power.. don't mash unless you want your knees to hurt instead of your calves.
NOTE: I'm no expert.. I just know what works for me.

Doug:beer:

i'll say to try supplementing with a calcium/magnesium/zinc product. they say that bicyclists have the bone mass of a sedentary person anyway (because it is a non-loading/ non-weight bearing exercise)

the calcium helps with the cramping that comes from all the muscle contractions needed.

cramping is not always the result of improper electrolyte balance.

I always cramp. Magnesium Sulfate supplements help significantly in addition to being hydrated, and eating 2 bananas 30 mins prior to riding!

l8R

there are various deficiencies that can cause calf muscle cramps. the most common are:
1) dehydrattion (drink water)
2) magnesium (supplement)
3) calcium (supplement)
4) potasiusm (bananas or supplement)

in my long-distance adventure racing days a few years ago i was highly trained and would get calf cramps on the bike AFTER RUNNING unless i did ALL 4 of the above!

training and being fit can reduce but not eliminate the problem.

as a first step, try drinking more water and eating bananas. if that doesn't fix it, try a sports drink with magnesium and calcium or buy the supplements and add then to your water bottle ---> this is what i do - always magnesium for a long ride/race and sometimes a second bottle with calcium but there's some catch about them together and the body's absorption that now i forgot exactly... anyone know the calcium/magnesium rule (or i can look at my printed materials from my race seminar last year)

oh, also as Doug was saying:

you can change your pedal style to help prevent the cramps, but even more important, when you start getting cramps, you can then change your stroke soas to less stress the calves. with practice you can learn to use different muscles and get a rest for certain groups is they are tired.

read all the above solutions and try them, if they still do not prevent the cramping (as was the case for me), try potassium pills. I take a brand called "Stim-O-Stam" ($10 for 100) that each 3 tabs contains 90.9mg of vit C, 300mg of phosphorus and 82.5mg of potassium. The odd thing about this stuff is that it contains roughly 400mg LESS potassium than 1 bananna but I was still getting cramps after eating 2 banannas before a ride, where as when I used these pills the cramps stopped! What the LBS said, and I found out to work, that you start with 1 tab and increase the dosage 1 tab each ride until the cramps stop, for me that was 4 tabs. Then you stay at that dosage for 30 days, after which you reduce the dosage by 1 tab to see if the cramps return for a week, if no cramps than reduce another tab; I now use only 2 for long rides and on 100 mile rides I take another tab at about the 50 mile mark. I also supplement during all rides with 50/50 mix of Gatorade as well as Power bars and a bananna on longer rides.

By the way I tried the all the stuff mentioned by the others here and nothing worked, but people I talked too had positive results doing that other stuff, it just depends on your body and it's needs, so there will some trial and error.

If you decide to try the "Stim-O-Stam" ask your LBS or call 800-562-7514. I had a friend that could not find this stuff in his town but did find something similar at GNC and it worked for him.

By the way my metobolism is so high that I found if I take the pills about 10 minutes before the ride rather than the 30 minutes in the instructions, it worked longer into the ride.

One thing that is very important as one drink plenty of water while riding.

Good luck, the answer is there, you just have to find it.

my mom gets leg cramps..especially late in the evening.. i looked up on the web and of all the meds recommended by drs.. the most effective supplement was vit E at night.. 800 mg preferred.

it helps her.. she was taking calcium too.. but it didn't work as fast as the vit E.

p.s. if you ride with your toes pointed down all the time your upper calf will get strong, lower calf weak and the imbalance can give muscle cramps too.(i used to get charlie horses(thats what they called them) during gymnastics.. from pointing my toes.. until i did enough calf stretches.. they were killers)