Raise Your Bike Seat!

So I go one a 5 hour, intense bike ride today, in Orange County.  I visit Aliso Summit, Aliso Creek Regional Park, Niguel Regional Park, and get home 5 hours later.   4 hours into the intense ride, I experience INTENSE quadriceps cramps for the first time in my life.  But it is NOT all 4 quads on each leg, it is just the inner two nearest to the groin, and the outer two, near the IT bands.

I call my son, who rides bike Every Day of His Life, and ask him "if my seat is not high enough, could this cause my outer quads to cramp?"  "Yes Dad, your inner two quads are the strongest ones, your leg should be straight or nearly straight on the down stroke of each pedal."  Well...  my leg was at most about 165 degrees out of 180 on each down stroke, and I had just finished riding nearly 7 miles on a dirt road that was covered in recently shredded "bamboo like" vegetation that Orange County is trying to eradicate from the Aliso Creek river bed.  My pedaling was "at best" about 80% efficient, with 20% being wasted on spinning my back tire in the shredded plant matter.  In my entire life, I've Never experienced dehabilitating quad cramps that LOCKED UP my legs like I did today after getting off the shredded path.   My bike seat is NOW raised to the point where my leg is about 178 degrees straight on a down stroke (about 2 inches higher than it was, the previous 4.5 hours).

Lots or dark rum,a potassium pill, and an hour of hot tub soaking later, I am cramp free and feeling much better, thank you  =)