Used to get cramps every now and then when I were racing. Not bad at all, but definately not nice either. I then started taking Magnesium supplement and have never had a cramp since then. Think it's 3-4 years ago. By the way Magnesium should be good for a lot of things.

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Bring the mountains to Denmark!!

Maybe its from your shoes or your cleats. I've had "pseudo-cramps" due to that problem.

KAC

Conditioning + proper Hydration routines + nutrition.
That's about it.

Caffeine cut backs are a good option and will benefit you more than just the theoretical cramp-prevention.

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Exp001

Yup, only time I've ever cramped, I was way exceeding my fitness. Was a trail run, mountain bike duathlon that I hadn't trained at all for. I was nearly the last guy done with the run so I killed it on the mountain bike portion. Well, was killing it, passing people, until one of my calves totally cramped up. Whoops.

Last dualthon, last cramp.

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2013 Wilier Cento1 SR || 2009 Ridley Crossbow || 2011 Yeti AS-R 5 Carbon

Fitness, Hydration, then nutrition is what it this discussion comes down to.

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Cervélo S2 2012 Red
Great minds think alike... sadly, so do the mediocre ones.

Very interesting that the majority of input all goes to fitness and shoes cleats. Come to think of it, when i started using northwave shoes with look keo carbon pedals cleats, is when the problem really got bad.

Fit can be a huge issue. My cleats used to be much further forward and moving them rearwards while adjust my saddle position to create the same basic joint angles and movement pattern ended up curing my calf cramps.

Another thing is being able to match the same cadence/force patterns in training as in racing. I have a client who would cramp terribly, but he'd race and train in different quadrants and at different cadences. Started doing them in the same and hasn't had an issue since. Never doing work at a cadence higher than 88 rpm really messed him up when he had to keep leg speed higher in a bunch in a fast crit.

I had the same issue yrs ago while mtbike racing. My calves would cramp near end of 2 hr races every time. Then someone suggested to me to move my cleats back a bit. Problem went away immediately but it took a little bit to get use to the new feel.

I was surprised when I first mentioned cleat position, every one seemed to focus on diet / fitness level for the reason of cramps.
I am still leaning toward cleat positioning as being the op's issue.

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TIME RXR

I started to have issues when I changed my position by going to a zero setback seatpost. I then had cramping issues, but everything was good again when I moved my cleats back on the shoe. It also can't hurt to stretch.

I had a fitting session done (should have when i first bought my colnago) and my cleats were to far forward. And my stem was to long. Almost feel like im learning to ride all over again lol. But, 50 miles and lots of climbing, my calves never once felt crampy. Coffee and cleats fixed me up

I drink too much coffee as well. I used to drink coke back in 2004 a bi bottle everyday and realized that make me nervous and decrease my strength so hopefully gave it up two years ago. For the time being, I indulge myself every time to drink coffee and don't know how to stop it, became just a habit for me guess

Hi,
Bananas can help alleviate the cause provided it is a potassium imbalance (almost any dark green, red or orange vegetable contains potassium). Leg cramps are also caused by low calcium, and high levels of lactic acid in muscles.

potassium gluconate was always my solution (to calf cramps after a ride), but it definitely correlated to lack of fitness early in the season. the only times i cramped while riding were when i was exceeding my previous efforts for the year by a large amount.

since then i have also moved my cleats back a bit, which has kept me from needing the potassium at all, though i have been taking a 400mg magnesium supplement daily for more general reasons.

my calves are sooooo much happier with the new cleat position. my pedal spindle is maybe 5-10mm behind the ball of my size 11 foot, so i am not one of those midfoot cleaters, or anything.