I have started to get acute cramp after cycling – in thigh / groin area. But also my calves…
Is. This just a dehydration and electrolyte issue – or is there anything else I can do to prevent.
Stretching post expertise doesn’t seem to be a solution – it always happens some hours after finish a ride ( like 2 am this morning)
Any ideas?

How long are you riding for and what are you eating/drinking before, during and after the ride?

Start hydrated and fed, drink while you’re riding, eat something if it’s a long ride, eat and drink some more when you get home.

Calf stretching should help a bit, but in this weather I always try to drink a bit more than I normally would. You could try taking some NSAID before you go to bed?

Folklore used to say that quinine was good for cramp. I have a friend who was plagued by cramp during rides and his medical condition prevented him from taking on salt. I advised him to drink tonic water (the original Schweppes that had some quinine in) and that made a marked difference.
Nowadays there are several brands which boast a dollop of quinine.
However, if you don’t like the taste of plain tonic water in the evening, I’m afraid I’m stumped to think of what else you can stick in it to help.

Tonic water works wonders for me too. I like the taste of it though. I’d happily drink it without the Gin 😀

Ooh interesting.
I’m plagued with crippling cramp in my left thigh/ hip after riding.
Tried all sorts but no luck.
Excruciating pain so anything that might help will get a try.
With gin obv

Typical.

I asked a similar question a little while ago, and literally everyone was recommending electrolyte supplements for my water. Warm synthetic fruit-flavor stuff with overtones of plastic bottle. YUM!

But, oh, when @mrmoofo asks it turns out the answer is gin and tonic.

Proper fumin m8 >:-|

Its a funny thing cramp. Despite being able to do tricky things like sequencing the human genome, medical science actually doesn’t know the cause of cramp. We know what is happening, inappropriate signalling from nerve endings into the muscles, but not why. Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance are generally not thought to be the problem.
Pickle juice is very popular in the US and there was some speculation that the acidity interrupted the chemical messengers from the nerve ends to the muscles but that now seems unlikely.
I think the most popular theory at present is that you are pushing the muscles harder than normal and they are going a bit haywire. The answer is to train more!
Given that no one knows whats going on you could just about try anything and see whats best for you. If your pain is largely down one side i would go to your GP just in case its not something like sciatica.
So gin and tonic followed by pickle juice is my suggestion!

I think hydrating after a ride seems to make it worse. I find that taking salt tabs works better for me. I think it’s due to low electrolyte levels and adding water just makes the solution weaker so the salt improves the concentration.

Advice has no doubt changed these days, but wasn’t eating a banana good for reducing cramp, thanks to their potassium (part of the essential muscle contraction/relaxation requirements, at least back in the 90s)?

I’m told there is more potassium in a baked potato than a banana but crucially, potassium from food has very little effect on serum potassium in the blood.

I have always been a random cramp sufferer not just after exercise, although it is usually worse after exercise. Recently, I was diagnosed with Adrenal Insufficiency caused by my Immunotherapy treatment. AI goes hand in hand with electrolyte imbalance and I became very low in sodium and high in potassium. Looking at older pre diagnosis blood results has shown that my sodium has always been at the low end of the scale.

So, I started to regularly drink salted water, maybe two cups per day and I also took salted water with me on rides. Since then I have very rarely had cramps.

Edit: and the AI sufferers group on FB swear by pickle juice.

I have posted this before but…
On an event I was pushing up a fairly easy hill because I couldn’t pedal due to cramp agony. A guy stopped and asked the problem. When I told him he produced a sachet of tomato ketchup from his bag which he said would fix it. It did, not immediately but I finished without more pain.
Don’t know what ingredient does the trick.

Heard the banana and tomato ketchup solutions before, but never tried them. If I’m out for a strenuous ride I find I get leg cramps a few hours after. I’ve found the following helps.

During a ride take on water and electrolytes. Dunno about the science but definitely helps.

After the ride keep moving. I had it the other day where I completed a ride and camped out in front of the TV. Was fine until I stood up and had massive cramps down my right thigh. I’d forgotten to keep moving, which was my fault completely.

@mrmoofo it sounds like exactly the same cramps I get. Horrible and really difficult to stretch out. Things that helped me:
Not pushing a big gear on climbs, instead gearing the bike so I could twiddle up.
On a long ride (200-300km) I’ll mix a bit of leucine and creatine in with my first two bottles, along with half an electrolyte tab on each. After they’ve gone it’s just water but I make sure I’m drinking enough that I’ll pee a couple of times whilst out.
Eat enough. Muscles need energy, energy comes from food.
Stretch afterwards. Hamstrings, calves and lunges with abs tensed to work the rec-fem and aductors.
A glass of full fat tonic water afterwards helps too.

The pickle juice and tomato ketchup suggestions above are bang on –

Vinegar is actually the thing that seems to be the key (there’s a report somewhere that was done by the Australian Triathlon setup that swears by it, but I can’t find it now!) – a sachet of vinegar/brown sauce/branston/ketchup in your seatpack is a must on longer rides –

I sometines have to revert to a slug of Sarsons if I get a cramp attack in the evening – of course it tastes horrible but the effect, for me at least, is instant relief – almost as soon as it hits the tongue (which was also reported in the Aussie report I mentioned above)

All my riding mates swear by it –

A lack of magnesium can contribute to cramps and handily, it also transports potassium across cells. Easy to take supplements are off the shelf, but also in nuts, dark green leafy veg, fruit and fish. As a side bonus Magnesium is crucial for Vit D uptake, which nearly everyone in the UK is deficient  in.

So if you do take a Vit D supplement, take it with a side of Magnesium

As above – try magnesium sups while you ride
High 5, SIS etc
Should sort you out

Rides are 2-2.5 hours – 25 – 35 Kms
I possibly don’t actively hydrate prior to riding, but do downs couple of pints of water when I get home.
I take potassium and magnesium tablets.
I don’t think I am over pushing gears ( as my previous post re heart rate) as my body doesn’t seem to work that way.

I am certainly not doing 200km to 300km rides – in which case cramp wouldn’t be my major problem !
Maybe it is time for a deep tissue massager