It is really easy to blame electrolytes and hydration as the cause of cramping but it is not always the case.

The symptoms you experience are common in athletes, esp. at the start of intense training during a preparation period. I too have experienced it and after 1-2 rides it has gone away. I don't have a clue why it would affect the legs but if it continues I would get a sport physician involved.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10694128

Chad Butts MS,HFI

The Peaks Coaching Group

www.peakscoachinggroup.com

chad@peakscoachinggroup.com

540-586-4200 (P)

540-586-5715 (F)

?The human body is not a thing or substance, given, but a continuous creation. The human body is an energy system which is never a complete structure; never static; is in perpetual inner self-construction and self-destruction; we destroy in order to make it new.?

-Norman O Brown

My wife has experienced severe cramping in her legs, after 30 to 40 mile ride. It knocks her down for several days.  She needs certain prescription drugs on a regular basis.  We were taking a regiment of vitamins daily. Some research on the internet has turned up that certain vitamins absorb others and the body doesn't get to use them. We adjusted by taking the vitamins in the evening and any meds in the morning. This has been successful and a real eye opener.

May have found the "culprit" on the hamstring/calf cramps. Used the heart rate monitor on my last 30mi ride, I have my upper threshold set at 166, was doing about 130-140 for most of the ride, on the last 4 miles in noticed I was at 166-170 on the flat with a tailwind. I'm thinking that the heat (100) may have finally started taking its' toll? Used Perpetum and the Edurolytes, probebly not enough of the latter in hindsight.

:_|