An even better cramping option than pickle juice
You may have seen my other post on pickle juice. I was a committed believer.
I had a 90 miler in the NC mountains yesterday with a number of hills....with one of them an all out maximum effort for 30 minutes in the middle of the ride. The ride was at around 3000'-4000' elevation so it was cooler and less humid than where I live but still prone to perspiring.
It was one of those days where I had the perfect ride for me. All my prior rides and cross training had me in almost perfect shape. I'd ridden several mountain rides with steep climbs, I've walked lots of rounds on the golf course since retiring in April and my legs are strong and I was coming off a week of riding in the Colorado mountains at higher elevations. After carrying a lot of extra weight through the winter my weight is now optimal for me.
As I climbed I could feel the bike lurch forward with every pedal stroke. I was able to stay with groups on both flats and climbs. Essentially I rode at an almost all out race effort for about 5 hours. I could push the pedals as hard as could without fear of cramping. I've never experienced that before. It was cycling heaven!!
I carried pickle juice with me in a Gu flask and drank most of it prior to the hard climb in the middle of the ride. I was okay until about the 65 mile mark when I felt some cramps coming on in my inner leg muscles. Normally I'd drop down into easier gears and reduce my effort.
When I was doing Ride the Rockies I visited one of the booths at the very end of the ride. The product the young ladies was displaying was called Hot Shots. I told them pickle juice worked for me and was my miracle drug. They gave me a small taste of their stuff which burns a little. They explained that what Hot Shots does is trigger the nerves in the mouth to tell the ion channel that controls the cramping to calm down. I felt like it was just marketing hype but took their free sample.
Anyway, they put a free sample in my hand. I took it with me on my ride. When my leg starting cramping I pulled it out of my jersey pocket and drank it. The results were incredibly amazing and immediate. Any signs of cramping disappeared within seconds. I was able to make maximum effort without fear of cramping. I've never been able to do that before even with pickle juice.
It looks to be pretty pricey so probably what I'll do is continue with pickle juice and use Hot Shot as my backup. Note that with both of these products my stomach was a little disturbed but not too bad. Yesterday I was able to do the whole ride with just one 3 minute stop at 48 miles. I did take fluid hand ups along the way.
If you're interested in more information I'd suggest searching Hot Shots Cramping and reading up on it. It does burn a little when you drink it but not badly. Hey, anything is better than cramping for me!