Strange feeling calf

[jamman]

Hi probably nothing to worry about but,

almost at the end of my loop I came up to some traffic lights and had to stop, I had my left in the pedal and was on the tip of my toe with my right foot to keep balance.

Suddenly my right calf muscle felt like it contracted too much / shot up and it was hurting too much for me to ignore.
I got off and walked over to the side and did some calf stretches but I can still feel slight discomfort when I stretch it and more when I contract it.

Is this a quite common kind of cramp?

 

[Broadside]

I get this occasionally, you just need to stretch it out or you will bring your ride to an early end. At the very first tightening twinge in future make sure you stretch the calves which will prevent it building up. I tend to stretch my calves on downhills out of habit now - stand with the pedals level and point your heels down for 5-10 secs, it hasn't caused me any problems since I started doing this. Post ride stretches are also very important - if you haven't been doing them to date then you now know what the cause is! If I forget to do post ride stretches thenI will get cramps after 3 or 4 rides, I put it down to a gradual tightening.

 

[montage]

yep, pretty common. My left calf is usually the first thing that starts to cramp when I've been pushing it pretty hard, I guess some are just more prone than others

 

[zacklaws]

I find I get it if I just keep riding repetively in the same position for a long time, to prevent it, I break up my rythmn every 10 minutes by just changing up into the highest gear and standing to pedal making my legs work hard and stretching best I can on the move for about a minute before sitting down again, It also helps you getting a sore backside too

 

[Yellow Fang]

It may also be that your saddle is a tad too high.