Got my sorry rear out of bed this morning and went out to ride with the FWBA from the west side of Fort Worth to Aledo.  First time to ride with that group.  Opted for the shortest ride offered, 30 miles, as I'm just not in shape for 50+ mile rides yet, especially if there's hills.  NO other recumbents, but a lot of people asked me about mine.  Always up for touting the virtues of recumbents.  The ride was reasonably hilly, with a couple of 35+mph downhills.  The feature of the ride was "The Wall," a short but VERY steep hill west(?) of Aledo.  I took one look at it and knew there was no way I could pedal to the top, but of course, I had to try.  Made it about 20% of the way up and couldn't keep my speed up enough to stay vertical.  Ended up walking the rest.  That was hard enough!
Started cramping a little about 18 miles out, and from there on would cramp on uphills or anytime I tried to put a little extra effort into the ride.  Not bad cramps, but enough to make me slow down a little.  Ended up doing 36 miles, followed by several hours of yard work once I got home (yuck!).
Overall a decent ride, roads had plenty of bad spots, but the FWBA folks are friendly and they do a great job of taking care of peoples' flats and other problems.  I suspect I'll try to ride with them some more.

I'm going to have to try that "wall" on my bike. Since I got the new 24 tooth granny gear and 11-34 cassette I haven't really been challenged by any of the "hills" on this side of town unless I choose not to use lower gears (training method climb in a tall gear and cruise in a short one and spin the heck out of it). I'm riding in a 75" gear most of the time now.
 
Opus

Quote from Richard on Mar 12^th, 2007, 11:30am:

 
When I first started riding, I got leg cramps, not only when I rode, but at night, too. I added a banana a day to my diet, and we switched to Morton Lite Salt, which has potassium added, and I've not had cramps since.
 
As I go for longer and harder rides, I'll probably be adding an electrolyte supplement with potassium, too.

Do you take a statin?
 
Richard

No statin drugs.  The drug I take to control cholesterol is biking!  Take a low level antibiotic to control prostate problems but that's it.  I've had trouble with cramping all the way back to high school days, so I suspect it's just some genetic thing that I can only have a limited effect on.
Also, I've found moving the boom in or out even as small an amount as 1/8 inch can have noticable effects on calf cramps.  The trade-off is more pressure on the knees, but I seem to handle that OK.  My cramps always begin on the left side, too, presumably because those are weaker muscles for us right-handed people.  The fact that you're only experiencing the cramps on one bike would lead me to believe there's some small change that needs to be made in your setup.