Physiological adaptations and dehydration

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

I think you need to dig into the literature a bit deeper. I recall this theory of cramping being discussed when I was in graduate school, and that was >25 y ago.Do share the origins then...I have provided a reference for it, perhaps you might do the same, rather than recollections from 25 years ago.

I think you need to dig into the literature a bit deeper. I recall this theory of cramping being discussed when I was in graduate school, and that was >25 y ago.Schwellnus MP, Derman EW, Noakes TD. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9232553?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)

Aetiology of skeletal muscle 'cramps' during exercise: a novel hypothesis.
J Sports Sci. 1997 Jun;15(3):277-85. Review

Hi Felt-Rider

Ross Tucker here, from the Science of Sport. Sorry for the delay in replying, been busy at those other posts, which are causing some fatigue of their own!

I think that conditioning is a major factor. A study was published last year by Collins and Schwellnus et al. that looked at factors associated with cramp, and three of them are all indicative of conditioning being "inadequate" for the level of performance being attempted. They were: Racing, going further/longer than ever before, and much more challening terrain than is encountered during training.

These are all, no doubt, obvious, but they all point to fatigue as a cause of cramp - as we discussed last year in our cramp series, the new theory for cramp is that it's caused by a "malfunction" in the nerves and reflexes that control the muscle. The post is here:

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2007/11/muscle-cramp-part-iii.html

This is made far worse by fatigue, and so my suspicion is that your problem is related to fatigue, brought on by "weak" muscle at that late point in your rides.

One thing that might help is to anticipate the cramp and stretch in advance. You'll recall (or can read that post) that cramp is alleviated by stretching, which restores the "normal" reflex control of the muscle. So I believe that stretching in anticipation of cramping may assist you slightly, and perhaps even prevent the cramp from occurring!

Hope that helps a little!
RossRoss, thanks for the reply and thankfully I did begin stretching starting Thursday and Friday before doing a century yesterday. I do believe it helped. I had one moment about mile 90 when my hamstring felt like it was going to cramp, but I dropped to a lower gear, spinned lightly and within a few minutes I was back to normally without getting a cramp.

Thanks again for the reply and reference link.

Do share the origins then...I have provided a reference for it, perhaps you might do the same, rather than recollections from 25 years ago.

Try Herbet DeVries textbook.

It depends if you were referring to the Druids having cramps erecting the sarsen trilithons at Stonehenge, then "newer" would be apt.....The Druids raced trilithons? Wow. What was their all time best bike split?:p

The Druids raced trilithons? Wow. What was their all time best bike split?:p I don't know, but they (The Celts) definitely had cycles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Cycle) though. :)

The Druids raced trilithons? Wow. What was their all time best bike split?:p
It all depends on whether or not they could actually get out of the transition area before being squished by a 30 ton monolith..... Times were hard back then I tell ya!

But, they were way ahead of where we are in terms of science. Their clock (stonehenge) tells perfect time and has done for thousands of years - just imagine what they could do with power meters! SRM would be so "old hat"