Road Cycling - Horrible leg cramps!?

Been riding fairly consistently--it's summer ya know.... and after taking about four
days off i had to abort my ride after 10 minutes today because my legs are horribly
cramped! i can barely friggin' walk. what happened?

I got some nasty craps in my calves a few weeks ago. First one came on the right leg on a climb (I climb seated). I compensated with the left leg which after about 3 min cramped up too. It hurt like hell. When I stopped I fell over when I tried to stand.

I figured I'm old and I just didn't stretch enough, but then it started to happen again on another ride after really stretching well. This one came on slower and I noticed it was the pulling on the upstroke that seemed to hurt the most. I figured I was pedalling wrong so I put more emphasis on the downstroke - problem solved. Haven't cramped since.

I'm interested to what others might have to offer... I really don't want to feel that pain again.

hydrate your body. drink water throughout the day, riding or not.

eat a couple of bananas earlier in the day, or the night before. (or take some potassium suppliments regularly). i've heard upping the magnesium content in your diet helps retain potassium, as well.

stretch some before you ride.

it's not necessary to do a ton of stretching if you ride the first portion of trip in an easy gear at a high cadence. a typical ride for me is around 50 miles. the first 16-18 miles, i'm spinning a very easy gear at a high rpm. no sprints, no mashing, just easy, fast pedaling. it gets the muscles wamed up and your heart beating, too.

even with lots of stretching, if i'm doing sprints, intervals and big climbs right out the door, i'm going to cramp.

I got some nasty craps in my calves a few weeks ago. First one came on the right leg on a climb (I climb seated). I compensated with the left leg which after about 3 min cramped up too. It hurt like hell. When I stopped I fell over when I tried to stand.

Yup, I had the exact same problem. Brunning is right on. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Also, this supplement eliminated the cramps. GNC - Potassium & Magnesium Aspartate. I take one or two right before the ride. Maybe one during if its a hot day and its a longer ride, maybe over 35-40 miles.

thanks brunning,
i've spent the last few days eating total crap and when i went out today, i must have
just really overdone it. this must be part of the aging process. i've never had this
happen before. man, it feels like i pulled every muscle in both my quads! jeeze, i
guess a warm up is now going to have to be part of the ride routine. now i know.
anyone else ever have this happen?

thanks brunning,
i've spent the last few days eating total crap and when i went out today, i must have
just really overdone it. this must be part of the aging process. i've never had this
happen before. man, it feels like i pulled every muscle in both my quads! jeeze, i
guess a warm up is now going to have to be part of the ride routine. now i know.
anyone else ever have this happen?

Every current research shows that a warmup is tremendously more important then pre-stretching to prevent muscle injuries, etc. In fact, pre-stretching may have negative effects. Stretching should be done after the ride, or at least when the muscle is warmed up.

Not necessarily a part of the "aging process." At least not for me.

I always start out easy for a few miles before I ride hard.

Never had a leg cramp. Some folks are more prone to them than others. My wife's muscles will cramp if you look at her wrong. :) Anytime she works out I know that I will be massaging her muscles shortly after.

The times that I've cramped terribly were all due to not enough fluids. I've learned now to take a few sips every 15 minutes and I've avoided those dreaded, can't-pedal-faster-than-13mph-on-flat-roads leg cramps.

I was pretty far into my ride both times and likely hadn't had enough water. I think you guys are dead on! Thanks for the help.

i should add that right after this thread, i decided to start taking potassium and magnesium supplements every day and it's made a world of difference.

even when eating a high potassium diet and staying hydrated, i'd still get calf and kind of upper quad/butt cramps with soem regularity.

they've totally disappeared in the last few weeks, even with no stretching.

yup.. me too. my left calf cramped up and charlied horsed! it's still hurting today. good thing we were riding carts today.. otherwise my golf would have been even worse! but not bad shooting 98 from a blue tee after a 10 month of no practice or play. hehe :D

Eat those monkey sticks.

I doubt leg cramps are age related. I have had problems with calf cramps while riding since I was a teenager. I would second all the comments about hydration. Empirical evidence re. potassium is sketchy but many people swear by it and bananas are good for you anyway.

My problems are associated mostly with long and/or repeated hill climbing. I had a flare up recently when I began trying to train myself to push larger gears and keep off the granny ring. I rarely have problems when I keep the cadence high.

ummm about the cramps what you might be encountering is problably a "charley horse" as its called it can be caused by impact or more commonly lack of hydration and overexertion... its nothing major it will usually go away quickly if it is stretched as soon as cramping begins. what you might wanna consider is your daily intake of fluids and also load up on potassium throughout the day. post your workout try to fit in a sugar based meal or snack and stay away from fatty substances such as meats, mainly because your body will have to replace its source of triphospates and will simply reject fatty foods which will keep you from making a full recovery. foods such as meat and so forth which are commonly linked to protein should be eaten after 2 hours or more from your workout. your source of cramps is most commonly due to your selection of foods.

i forgot to mention if your cramps are not treated properly once they start and continure even after your workout take closer consideration of how it is treated since it can lead to greater damage, of course first apply ice, pressure, and raise to diminish the flow of blood and DO NOT APPLY HEAT! applying heat in the intial stages can lead to calcification of the area of crampin which can delay its healing process to a couple days and may lead to further complications on further workouts. apply heat only after 24 hours since you felt the cramping and only if it continues in which case you might apply oignments or simply boil epson salt in water and prepare a wrap around the area