Show me your best bruises! (not for the squeamish)

[zoom-zoom]

Basically, I'm a klutz. I certainly wasn't going fast, I just skidded and tipped over & landed on some rocks on the side of the trail.

Sounds like when I did this one, though I just landed on sand and roots:


I'm not well-suited to anything that takes grace or coordination...doesn't stop me, though. I'm a slow learner...

[GLC1968]

I don't bruise, at all.

I fell on my shin once, hit it so hard that I split the skin open through my jeans and yet I didn't bruise. 6+ years of rugby and my teammates thought there was something seriously wrong with me since I never had any 'war wounds' to show.

And when I fell and twisted my right foot so badly that I ripped my ligaments completely from my bones (and broke one bone) I had zero bruising...even after surgery. The only bruise I had was that tiny little dark spot on my 2nd toe. Even the doc was surprised!

[zoom-zoom]

I wish I didn't bruise...here's from a few days after my ankle sprain. I had so much swelling that the actual bruising didn't look as bad as it likely was:

[Kalidurga]

Day 1 after a crash on the C&O Canal towpath--





By day 3, it was like an alien that took over my leg--

[snyderd25]

I have a chronic bruise on my stomach (my tummy is not fit for the internet)... I guess every time I stop, I fall into my handle bars. I am also chronically bruised on my bum... also not fit for internet posting.

[tzvia]

Oh gosh, I never thought to take pictures of my worst looking bruise.

I went mountain biking on day 3 of a rainstorm, (it was only misting that day) and on a downhill, my tires slid out near the top and I fell. The bike fell over on the left side, with the wheel in a hard left and the handlebar trapping my thigh against the toptube. Down the hill I slid with my leg trapped and the front tire digging into the dirt, pushing the handlebar in a death grip hold smashing my thigh.

At the bottom my left leg was numb and I though it was broken, so I took out my utility knife and managed to get some of the dirt removed from where the front tire had plowed itself into the trail so I could turn the wheel straight and free my leg. The feeling came back and it was not good. So I ripped a piece of my shirt off and used a small branch and splinted my thigh (I really thought it was broken the pain was intense). No phone, and no other people anywhere. I used my bike as a crutch and coasted what I could.

Well it wasn't broken. But the bruise was wrapped around the whole thigh, with the front so swollen with blood that it jiggled when I hobbled so I had to use elastic bandages to prop it up like a bra for big red boob. Never thought to take a picture.

[zoom-zoom]

Wow, that sounds horrifying...and it's tales like yours that make keep me from mountain biking alone. I don't even like riding on the road by myself. I'm just so clumsy and am paranoid of being hurt and alone.