A Professional Cyclist's Leg



George Hincapie, a professional bicyclist, has competed in fifteen Tour de France races. That kind of consistent athletic effort will produce an impact on the human body, as this photograph shows. Link -via Doobybrain | Photo: Bettini Photography

Varicose veins (which are what you see there) are not caused by cycling. He is just a cyclist who happens to have varicose veins, probably because of genetic predispositions.
In fact cycling is considered a way to prevent them from appearing (although maybe doing the Tour de France would be a bit excessive)
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Great an interesting photo with no information. The worst kind of photo.

Those are varicose veins as far as I can tell and have nothing to do with cycling?
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As a person that follows cycling very closely, I know that George has had these for a while. For whatever reason he has not had them removed. If I had to guess as the reason I would say it is because they still deliver blood and that is very very important for leg muscles. Perhaps he would lose some circulation.
But the veins haven't effected his performance as he is one of the older (in not oldest) guys in the peloton and has competed in 15 Tour de France races teing him for the record this year.

Funnel Cake anyone?
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That can't be medically right. It almost looks like when someone tears a tendon, or like he's got a guinea worm trapped in his calf. Neither of which are actually going on, obviously--but seriously, can someone explain this?
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Whenever I see a public disagreement I do my own dialectic method of discovery on it. I found an interesting discussion between a Doctor specializing in vascular diseases and a hydraulic engineer. Apparently the valves in the leg veins are failed-open which results in too much back-pressure which forces the veins down the leg. It is generally a congenital condition and not linked to cycling or other forms of exercise. However, increased vasculation could hypothetically exacerbate varicose veins.

I may be wrong on a few or all points; it is not the gospel truth as far as I know. But what I discovered.
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