Originally Posted by
ericm979
Someone in another thread (in the long distance forum I think) recently posted that you can get muscle cramping from lack of water, lack of electrolytes, and overuse.
A super concentrated sports drink could cause you to have to take water from your body into the gut to dilute it sufficiently to absorb, but you'd have to drink a lot of it. Most sports drink is sufficiently dilute to not have that problem.
My experience with cramping has been that it's either been from lack of electrolytes or overuse. But I seem to need a lot of salt on longer (4-5 hour +) rides especially in hot weather, while other people don't. You have to experiment and see what you need.
My experience with cramping has always been pretty bad. I find if I make her dinner, clean up 1 or 2 things around the house, and tell her that she's pretty then I can buy myself a day or two of peace.
Your results may vary.