Embrace your inner chicken

Ride.

Doesn't help? You're not riding enough.

hills... hammer on hills. That'll get your calves working.

Apparently we don't have muscles in our thighs. Go do some squats too. If you wanna beef up, do low reps with high weight. Get your 80% max for squats, lunges (great for biking) and calf raises. Those reverse calf raises will better your balance, but unless you attach some weights somehow to hold your toes down, your TA isn't working too hard. Then do low number, 3 sets of 6/8. Go hard. It's classic, tried, tested and works.

Oh, and work out your upper body too. Proportionality is key. Muscle develops best if you're working the whole thing. Just ask Ahhhnuld, who prior to moving to America had not worked out his calves. He added them in with a new trainer, and the rest of his body grew in tandem with his calves. Amazing how the body keeps its own symmetry.

-RotD

Synthol or calf implants?
I can just imagine taking a nice 10' drop on my MTB and watching my nice fake calf muscles slide into my ankles.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ronharris8.htm

Soccer! I'm a scrawny guy, but my legs have picked up a fair amount of mass due to the sprinting in soccer. I'm still scrawny, but more balanced. Pro soccer players legs can get pretty awesome.

Who cares if you have chicken legs if you can average 20 mph over hilly terrain?

There are a few ladies riding in the local club who are not sporting tree trunks for legs. They do very well for themselves and I have yet to beat one of them in a sprint at the velodrome. I think performance speaks far more about you than initial appearances, but then again that may just be the old theory about a book and it's cover. If working hard does not build them up then I second the comment of embracing your inner chicken.

At Airborne school in Benning we were told to avoid chicken legs in the mess hall. It's a traditional thing.

Soccer's hard to get into; developing ball skills is hard.

Do ultimate frisbee. I've NEVER had calves hurt so much. Best sprint workout you can get.

I used to have long skinny chicken legs- I'm not tall but have long legs. However, riding has given me nice muscles, and I'd also recommend weight training in the off-season. Go to the gym and do some weight building leg exercises, just ask the trainer to show you some. If you have naturally skinny legs, you won't get huge sprinter thighs but you'll build nice strong quadriceps and hamstrings. But remember to stop doing weight exercises about 2 weeks before you start cycling again.

Always ask for white meat!