Not too long ago, I had gone on a short turn around trip to Mammoth Mountain. That meant we left @ 2am and once we got to Mammoth, we rode until 4pm. Keep in mind, we were riding in 9,000 feet elevation, so we made sure we were plenty hydrated. Throughout the day, I must have downed over 1 gallon of water. But that proved to be insufficient because by the time I got home and into bed, my body started cramping up.
My abs went first, then my feet, then my quads. It all kinda happened at the same time! As I was grunting and screaming in pain, I asked Priscilla to get me some water. But then I remembered that Neil Adams (single speed racer of 661) told me that Pickle Juice helps get rid of cramps. While Priscilla was getting me water, I was laying on the ground all messed up and that’s when I yelled for the juice. The stupid thing was, we were both cracking up because I’m trying to stretch out my abs, by arching back. Then my back started cramping and I was in so much pain! However, I was still laughing because I couldn’t believe that my whole body just went crazy.
Priscilla rushes in with a jar of pickles. I quickly drank at least 1 cup of juice…mmm its so tasty too! lo and behold…the cramps disappeared within 3 seconds!
So the moral of the story, drink over 1 gallon of water when in higher altitude and have a jar of pickles handy just in case you cramp up.
Don’t you think that it was probably all of the salts in the pickle juice that helped get rid of the cramps? If all you drank was water at those altitudes and didn’t take in anything with sugars or salts etc, your electrolytes were probably totally out of wack.
Yeah, I’ve done something very similar before….
Greg,
I’m sure you’re right. Ya, all I drank was water, I should have packed some sort of electrolyte drinks that day.
RL