Cramp!

[Johanna]

Yesterday I got cramp in my left hand while shifting up. I was doing about 65, on a dual carriageway not even using the clutch much, about half an hour into a ride.

I just let my hand rest open (luckily there wasn't much need to use it except a couple of roundabouts) and the cramp eventually passed. Because I kept using the hand while it was cramping it's still pretty sore today and I've left the bike at home in case it happens again.

I had done some indoor climbing earlier the same day - I'm sure that was the root cause. It was also a cold day. I'm sure I didn't stretch as much as I should have after the climb either.

So any thoughts about cramp while riding? Is it aggravated by cold weather? Certainly I can make sure I stretch my hands and arms properly when I climb but I don't want to risk cramp while I'm in slow moving traffic. That would be a nightmare to deal with. I guess I'd have to pull over and sort it out. Even then it might just reappear as soon as I set off again!

Stretch better. Keep the arms warm. Anything else?

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

[doggone]

Try to minimise any tenseness in the whole arm, most of the time you really only need rest the palm of your hand on the bar rather than any sort of gripping.
You can also keep fingers moving which is good for keeping warmer too.

[talkToTheHat]

I used to get loads of hand cramp when i was a newish rider. Mostly down to gripping the bars too hard. When I tried grip puppies (squishy overgrips) they made the problem way worse. Similarly fluffy lined winbter gloves exacerbate the issue. Not so much the fault of the gloves but the psychological need to feel the grips to feel in control. Conciousy work on not squeezing the bars until it becomes automatic.

As an aside, do you feel you need to muscle the bike around a corner becasue the bars don't turn?

More of a problem for me these days is leg cramp when I put my foot down for the first time after a long motorway (or similar) run where i've had no opportunity to move around in the seat.
____________________
Bandit. does. everything.

[Kentol750]

Another issue I've seen is wrist strap on gloves pulled too tight. Especially in the cold where we all tighten up everything to stay warm. If you have a watch on same wrist, it can exacerbate the lack of circulation.
____________________
Some bikes.

[Johanna]

[doggone]

[kramdra]

What sort of climing, how long have you been doing it, and which part of the hand is the cramp?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/1121_Intrinsic_Muscles_of_the_Hand_Superficial_sin.png

Ive only been climbing a couple weeks. Ive not had cramp but I did have some hand muscles locking on. Most of the hand muscles control sideways/adduction with the larger muscles and tendons in the wrist control grip. Climbing makes extreme use of both..

[talkToTheHat]

[Johanna]

I thought about my grip on my ride to work today. It seems my "normal" grip is pretty loose with the left hand. You could slide a coaster under my fingers without me changing my grip. Same for the right, except I hold the throttle with the thumb and forefinger. The other three fingers are loose like the left hand.

So I think it was probably a climbing strain + use of the clutch + cold weather.

Your advice has been good, everyone. It's given me things to think about to improve my riding in general as well as try to avoid the cramp. Thanks!