Thigh bruises

[CarolinaCycler]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to cycling. I've noticed that after my rides 10 - 30 miles on my road bike, strange bruises appear on my thighs (and a few on my calfs too)...smallard small and others are large and menacing looking. I haven't fallen or bumped my legs. Most of the bruises aren't painful. I just had a regular check-up this week and thankfully i'm healthy. What do you think is going on and what can I do to prevent this? Thanks!

[Owlie]

Where, exactly, are your bruises?

[CarolinaCycler]

Front and side of quads and outer side of calfs.

[lovelygamer]

I have those too. NO idea what's going on. Mine are top and sides.

[zoom-zoom]

I get 'em, too. Last Summer I had one that looked like the Playboy logo! I bruise if someone breaths hard on me (I went through testing to see if something was up, like Von Willebrand's syndrome, but everything is normal, I just have really thin blood. I avoid aspirin and ibuprofen, as a result, since they thin the blood).

[Reesha]

I am a redhead who bruises easily... definitely get all kinds of mystery bruises from biking. Sometimes I worry people see my legs and think I'm a victim of physical abuse (only the physical abuse my bike deals out!). I have learned to live with them.

[Crankin]

I've also experienced this, but it doesn't happen when I ride my #1 road bike. It happened when I rode my Jamis Coda or the old Voodoo I used as an around town bike. I also noticed it when I first got my Guru, though now, it doesn't happen.

I think it's something about the geometry of the bikes hitting me, as well as being someone who easily bruises.

[Catrin]

I think it is the geometry. I don't bruise easily, at least not typically, but sometimes I find red marks or even light scrapes on the inside of my knees or just below them and am totally perplexed where they come from.

[lovelygamer]

I store my bike inside at home and work and I think for me, it might be the semantics of taking it in and out of hallways and doorways. I know I hit myself occasionally. I do bruise easily and am pale, so that doesn't help.

[zoom-zoom]

I think it's something about the geometry of the bikes hitting me, as well as being someone who easily bruises.

The ones I've had aren't from any sort of impact. They aren't so much bruises as they are broken blood vessels. I was getting them a lot last Summer after longer, more intense rides.

[limewave]

The ones I've had aren't from any sort of impact. They aren't so much bruises as they are broken blood vessels. I was getting them a lot last Summer after longer, more intense rides.

I get bruises after hard rides as well. After DH and I did the 50-mile trail ride a few weeks back, I had some awesome bruises on my quads and calfs that gradually appeared. And I know they weren't from crashing. They didn't start appearing until the next day.

[smittykitty]

Me too. I just thought it was because I'm really uncoordinated!

[marni]

when you ride or exercise very hard, you ar breaking down muscle tissue, or if you have very thin or dry skin or take a lot of antioxidents your blood vessles (the tiny capillaries) are subject to pressure and possible bleeding sort of a hematoma just under or between the layers of skin. I can get them if I absent mindedly scratch my arms with a fingernail, and my legs are constantly black and blue from this as well as bike geometry and general clumsiness.

just a thought