Persistent cramp

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 21:58:01 +0100, Steph Peters
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Now my calf is cramping even off the bike. I've never had
cramp from cycling before, so I've no idea whether this
happens to everyone. A long soak in a warm bath hasn't
alleviated it. I'd be grateful for suggestions as to how to
make it stop. And any tips on avoiding it happening again
would be handy too.

It depends on cause, but the cure could be any of:

- Water, especially during the day (i.e. when not riding)
- Lower gears
- Bananas
- Salt
- Indian Tonic Water

Honest. I get terrible cramp sometimes. Especially since
switching cassettes, making bottom gear 30" instead of 23",
which is seriously punishing up that long hill out of Goring
by Friday evening...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

"Steph Peters" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ouch! This week I've been commuting on my touring bike,
which is faster than my normal commuter setup of MTB with
slicks. So I decided it was

time

Quoted message said:

to break double figures and average over 10 mph over the
entire week.

(Stop

Quoted message said:

laughing at the back, that's fast for me.) So on Saturday
I was cycling home from shopping in the city centre, and
with the added incentive of a

few

Quoted message said:

drops of rain, cycling faster than I normally do. This
resulted in my

right

Quoted message said:

calf starting to cramp up, so that the unstretched part of
each stroke

hurt.

Quoted message said:

Eventually I just had to stop to get off and stretch the
leg for a minute, before cycling the last 500 yards home.

Today I cycled slowly less than a mile to the supermarket,
and the cramp started to come back. Now my calf is
cramping even off the bike. I've never had cramp from
cycling before, so I've no idea whether this happens

to

Quoted message said:

everyone. A long soak in a warm bath hasn't alleviated
it. I'd be

grateful

Quoted message said:

for suggestions as to how to make it stop. And any tips on
avoiding it happening again would be handy too.
--
A bad day on the bike always beats a good day in the
office! Steph Peters delete invalid from
[email hidden] Tatting, lace &
stitching page

<http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>

Quoted message said:

I get cramp occasionally - usually like you in the calf.
In my case it's usually down to dehydration - not enough
so you would usually notice but in the weather we have at
the moment the couple of glasses of red wine the night
before will catch up with you unless you drink more water
before you start out; even better the night before. Once
you've got it the best thing is to get rid of the swelling
which follows the initial cramp before you resume
activity. Usual method is to put your foot up and apply
alternate hot and cold 10 minutes at a time. For heat use
one of those microwaveable hot water bottles - not so hot
that you'll burn!. For cold el cheapo frozen peas kept for
just such an occasion. Oh and curtail the exercise until
the soreness has gone.

HTH Julia

JBB' of BT Openworld said:

I get cramp occasionally - usually like you in the calf. In
my case it's usually down to dehydration - not enough so
you would usually notice but in the weather we have at the
moment the couple of glasses of red wine the night before
will catch up with you unless you drink more water before
you start out; even better the night before.

Ah, that explains it. A modest amount of beer and wine the
night before, warm weather and maybe slightly less water
intake on the day concerned.

Quoted message said:

Once you've got it the best thing is to get rid of the
swelling which follows the initial cramp before you resume
activity. Usual method is to put your foot up and apply
alternate hot and cold 10 minutes at a time. For heat use
one of those microwaveable hot water bottles - not so hot
that you'll burn!. For cold el cheapo frozen peas kept for
just such an occasion. Oh and curtail the exercise until
the soreness has gone.

If the cramp is still around tomorrow, I'll dig the gel pack
out of the freezer. Managed to give myself housemaid's knee
by falling off my MTB onto the corner of a rock a few years
back, and it's easier to take a gel pack to stick in the
freezer at work than a pack of frozen peas, so I bought one.
--
A bad day on the bike always beats a good day in the office!
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden]
Tatting, lace & stitching page <sandbenders.demon.co.ukindex.htmOpen ↗

in message <[email hidden]>, Steph Peters

(') said:

Ouch! This week I've been commuting on my touring bike,
which is faster than my normal commuter setup of MTB with
slicks. So I decided it was time to break double figures
and average over 10 mph over the entire week. (Stop
laughing at the back, that's fast for me.) So on Saturday
I was cycling home from shopping in the city centre, and
with the added incentive of a few drops of rain, cycling
faster than I normally do. This resulted in my right calf
starting to cramp up, so that the unstretched part of each
stroke hurt. Eventually I just had to stop to get off and
stretch the leg for a minute, before cycling the last 500
yards home.

Today I cycled slowly less than a mile to the supermarket,
and the cramp started to come back. Now my calf is
cramping even off the bike. I've never had cramp from
cycling before, so I've no idea whether this happens to
everyone.

I think it probably does. Certainly the limit of my
cycling is the ability to clear lactic acid out of my calf
muscles. I can usually feel it building up before cramp
actually sets in.

If you use clipless pedals, consider adjusting the position
of your cleats. I sorted out a problem for my SO who was
getting quite severe cramp just by changing the angle of her
cleats a tiny bit.

Quoted message said:

A long soak in a warm bath hasn't alleviated it. I'd
be grateful for suggestions as to how to make it stop.
And any tips on avoiding it happening again would be
handy too.

It's circulation. There's a measure of blood thickness
(IMR, if I recall correctly). If you have low IMR (i.e.
thick blood) as I do then the circulation in your legs is
sluggish and can't clear waste products out efficiently.
Talk to your doctor. A glass of red wine or an aspirin
every day may help, or if you're unlucky like me you may
have to take warfarin.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)
jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

;; lovely alternative to
rice.

Simon Brooke of gradually deteriorating said:

If you use clipless pedals, consider adjusting the position
of your cleats. I sorted out a problem for my SO who was
getting quite severe cramp just by changing the angle of
her cleats a tiny bit.

Quoted message said:

It's circulation. There's a measure of blood thickness
(IMR, if I recall correctly). If you have low IMR (i.e.
thick blood) as I do then the circulation in your legs is
sluggish and can't clear waste products out efficiently.
Talk to your doctor. A glass of red wine or an aspirin
every day may help, or if you're unlucky like me you may
have to take warfarin.

Tips duly noted thanks. So far this is a complete one off -
I've never had cramp from cycling before, and it's years
since I've had cramp at all. If it happens again I'll talk
to my doctor. I do use clipless pedals, so I'll check that
the cleats haven't moved, but I think that they are OK.
--
Government is an association of men who do violence
to the rest of us. - Leo Tolstoy
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden]
Tatting, lace & stitching page <sandbenders.demon.co.ukindex.htmOpen ↗