Bike crash
Had a big cycling crash a couple of weekends ago. Coming down the Rest and Be Thankful (yes that is the real name, Argyll and Bute has some great place names - although perhaps Hell's Glen would have been a more suitable stretch to crash on). It is a fairly big hill so I was going along fast, until my front wheel slipped on patch of oil on the road...it happened so quick I didnt have time to stick an arm out and I landed with my head and collarbone on the road and my chest on the side of the handlebars...could hear scraping of helmet plastic on the tarmac. After that i lay on my back thinking to myself oh shit this is pretty bad. wWorked out my head felt ok, neck felt ok, collarbone wasn't broken so picked myself up and ouch...my ribs...again! (cracked them a couple of years ago, i'm sure i was doing lots of whining on twitter about it at the time). Lots of road rash down the left side of my body too. Got up and managed to slowly make my way home hoping that the aches would magically disappear. It didn't so ended up going to A+E and my self diagnosis was pretty accurate - cracked ribs, twisted knee and road rash. The cuts being cleaned out was rather nippy. Injured ribs are really not much fun at all. I cant lay down in bed without it hurting, cant breath deeply or twist...and sneezing or coughing. Ouch. Last time it took about 8 weeks for things to get back to normal which means there will be an overlap with the start of hayfever season. Have also got the Etape Caledonia in May so going to be missing out alot of training for that. I'm riding that for charity as part of Team Macmillan so that complicates it a bit, if I was just riding it myself I'd probably pull out.
Can't complain much though could have been worse - when i use a bike for leisure / exercise then i always wear a helmet but for a short journey around town to the shops or down to the train station (so using the bike for transport i guess) then i usually dont bother wearing a helmet because i dont want to carry it about with me. Dont think i'll be doing that again - there is a bit of (heated) debate on whether helmet use is effective at preventing serious injury or not, but all i know is that that my head is the only part of my body that didnt hurt the next day!
Can't complain much though could have been worse - when i use a bike for leisure / exercise then i always wear a helmet but for a short journey around town to the shops or down to the train station (so using the bike for transport i guess) then i usually dont bother wearing a helmet because i dont want to carry it about with me. Dont think i'll be doing that again - there is a bit of (heated) debate on whether helmet use is effective at preventing serious injury or not, but all i know is that that my head is the only part of my body that didnt hurt the next day!