What can I do to help a muscle that just cramped up?

massage the leg and stretch the muscles?

Moist heat, and gentle massage. I find that a wet towel reheats quickly and safely in the microwave.
CAUTION take care how long you leave it in, burn hazard.

I suggest taking a warm shower. Not sure if I helps. I’m not sure. Try if you are desperate.

All good suggestions above. I want to add that you should make sure you are drinking enough water on your rides. Dehydration can cause muscles to spasm or cramp.

All of the above suggestions and…you may be low on Potassium. eat a banana or better yet, an avocado. Keep your potassium levels good, it helps reduce muscle cramps.

Perhaps a sports message would help.

Two days ago I pulled a muscle in my shoulder blade area while paddling a 6 occupant canoe in sprint interval training. After the workout I mentioned it to a fellow paddler that my shoulder hurt and he said that he could see a slight bump on my back so he pushed on it. It hurt like hell. Like being stabbed with a knife. But soon after all the pain went away and stayed away. Did more interval training today and AOK.

When you first start to feel the cramp coming on flex your foot to prevent a full blown Charlie horse. That doesn’t help you much now, because it sounds like you went through the severe cramp and now you have some residual pain. Take some ibuprofen to relax the muscle. 600mg with plenty of water and some food.

Still, make sure you don’t point your foot. Keep you foot flexed or flat.

Don’t sleep with your sheets tucked at the foot of your bed. Try not to sleep on your back.

Next time you’re at the doctor have your vitamin D, iron, and CMP run.

If you already know your iron and D run low, those are very important for muscle health, get your numbers up!

Plenty of water and don’t shy away too much from salts, unless it’s medically contraindicated for you. Fruits have a lot of potassium to help keep that number up.

Are you mountain biking or road?

Get up and force yourself to walk on it. I get cramps like that sometimes, and it seems to help.

It’s on a trail, the particular ride we did today was a lot of hills that were incredibly hard for me to bike up (I had to walk some).

I don’t have a water bottle holder so I can’t drink water while riding

Walking is basically the same as flexing. I only mention it, because if it starts to happen while you’re sleeping you don’t have to bounce out of bed, you can just flex your foot.

Some people aren’t good at forcing their feet, they don’t have the practice, and walking is easier for them.

It feels better now but still hurts to touch and stretch. I’ll see about maybe taking a hot bath

Typo: forcing should be flexing.

You need to be drinking water. 10 miles on a mountain bike is alot without any means of hydration. I can’t recommend a camelbak system enough.

I have a camelback. It just leaks a lot and makes water taste kind of bad, like mold. I’ll bring it on my next ride.

If it tastes like mold it’s probably moldy!

there is a piece of mold in the mouth piece I can’t get out no matter how hard I try. I am going to try cleaning it with lemon juice and whatever else the instructions say

Can you clearly see inside where the water goes? That might be moldy also.

How long do you bike for? How many minutes?

Lemon juice or vinegar will help.

Also, lots of coaches keep pickle juice to prevent cramps.
http://www.nola.com/healthy-eating/2015/03/pickle_juice_for_muscle_cramps.html

I can see the water bladder

I would just get a new mouthpiece, they’re like a couple dollars. I have one that is nearly two decades old and it never got moldy. Did you put something other than water in it at one time?

Get a new mouth piece, and rinse the bladder out well with a solution of vinegar and water. Then rinse again with fresh water.

That should take care of the mold issue.

Dont drink moldy water!