cramps early in ride? possible causes?
oldwelshman
Posts: 4,733
Hi all.
Did the cymru gran fondo yesterday and was suprised to get cramps after around 35 miles!!
I have ridden at least a dozen rides this year over 90 miles and never got cramp.
I prepared properly, took in fluids and food on ride so its not that.
After 60 I got cramp in thighs also!!
Now for the crunch, I did change height of my saddle by 1.3 cm [:D]
Now I know you will all ask why so I will answer now, the saddle height was lower than on my second bike which I used most so I was making set up the same.
Could this have caused the cramps due to position change and number of climbs early in ride or something else?
Reasonable comments welcomed [:D]
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Did the cymru gran fondo yesterday and was suprised to get cramps after around 35 miles!!
I have ridden at least a dozen rides this year over 90 miles and never got cramp.
I prepared properly, took in fluids and food on ride so its not that.
After 60 I got cramp in thighs also!!
Now for the crunch, I did change height of my saddle by 1.3 cm [:D]
Now I know you will all ask why so I will answer now, the saddle height was lower than on my second bike which I used most so I was making set up the same.
Could this have caused the cramps due to position change and number of climbs early in ride or something else?
Reasonable comments welcomed [:D]
Feel free to browse and donate:
http://www.justgiving.com/davidbethanmills
My winter and summer bike pics
http://oldwelshman.myphotoalbum.com
0
Comments
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could be. i had leg cramps after fitting a new saddle and not checking the height.when i stopped during a ride and lowered it the probelm went and i've not been troubled since.0
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I think I will split the difference and lower it a bit.
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My winter and summer bike pics
http://oldwelshman.myphotoalbum.com0 -
There was a thread on here recently about cramps in which someone posted an interesting report suggesting cramps were pretty much entirely due to muscular range of movement and very little to do with hydration etc. That would suggest that any variation in range of movement could have an effect, and small shifts in saddle-pedal distance have a relatively big effect on the angles of movement of the various joints.
So yes, I'd suspect that your muscles and the various control mechanisms within them could easily be grappling with a different range of movement and hence prone to cramps. I've always followed the suggestion of only shifting the saddle a couple of mm at a time, even if you suspect a bigger shift is needed and you have to do it in stages over a few weeks.
Mind you, I still get *****y cramps in races!
Phil B
Clifton CC York0 -
Interesting, I will see if I can find the post.
The thing is I only adjusted it to make it the same as the other bike!! I have been riding both without problem and only noticed the height difference when I swapped the saddle [:D]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by PhilBixby</i>
There was a thread on here recently about cramps in which someone posted an interesting report suggesting cramps were pretty much entirely due to muscular range of movement and very little to do with hydration etc. That would suggest that any variation in range of movement could have an effect, and small shifts in saddle-pedal distance have a relatively big effect on the angles of movement of the various joints.
So yes, I'd suspect that your muscles and the various control mechanisms within them could easily be grappling with a different range of movement and hence prone to cramps. I've always followed the suggestion of only shifting the saddle a couple of mm at a time, even if you suspect a bigger shift is needed and you have to do it in stages over a few weeks.
Mind you, I still get *****y cramps in races!
Phil B
Clifton CC York
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">[:D][:D]
Feel free to browse and donate:
http://www.justgiving.com/davidbethanmills
My winter and summer bike pics
http://oldwelshman.myphotoalbum.com0 -
Hi Old welshman from another!
Coicidently I also had massive cramps in right thigh riding Richmond Dales 100 on Saturday. After 50 miles I coundn't press hard on pedals, though could honk.
Drank loads and ate bananas and dextrose and bought a pint of milk in Kettlewell, which didn't do me a lot of good on Park Rash.
Weather was cool and I'm now wondering if that had an effect. Your comment on saddlle height is also interesting, I had lowered mine a few mm to match another bike during pervious week.
alos foind this article:http://www.ultracycling.com/training/cramping.html
Pete0 -
looks like we both did same thing, changed saddle [:D] so it was either that or the other common thing, bloooody cold and wet [:D]
having said that it was just as wet for dartmoor but I did not get cramp there.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Ryedaleman</i>
Hi Old welshman from another!
Coicidently I also had massive cramps in right thigh riding Richmond Dales 100 on Saturday. After 50 miles I coundn't press hard on pedals, though could honk.
Drank loads and ate bananas and dextrose and bought a pint of milk in Kettlewell, which didn't do me a lot of good on Park Rash.
Weather was cool and I'm now wondering if that had an effect. Your comment on saddlle height is also interesting, I had lowered mine a few mm to match another bike during pervious week.
alos foind this article:http://www.ultracycling.com/training/cramping.html
Pete
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
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