Never Ride Without a Helmet!!!!

I was in Bognor last Wednesday with my son and two of his mates. It was his 11th birthday and we had a day of activities planned (Cafe, Bowling, Crazy Golf, Swimming, Pizza). They had been in Bognor since the previous evening having a sleepover and had beeen up since 5:00 am.

At 8:00 am they wanted to cycle the half mile along the promenade to the cafe. As we only had three helmets I insisted they wore them and I went without. Half way along the promenade one of the boys rear wheels came in contact with my front wheel and I went over the handlebars and head butted the tarmac (without the benefit of a helmet).

I remember seeing the wheels coming together and knowing what was going to happen then going into a dream state, floating thinking I am going to hit the tarmac any minute. It never happened? I couldn't see, hear or move and the only sensations were consciousness and floating.

Fortunately there was an off duty paramedic and a doctor walking along at that time who were there immediately and immobilised me, dealt with the boys and called an ambulance.

My steel Bennotto is a write off with the front forks and front wheel completely out of shape.

Slowly my senses came back. First hearing then feeling (ouch) then sight and movement. I could feel the blood dripping down my head.

The ambulance arrived, put me in a collar then used a special stretcher to scoop me off the ground. They then put me in a device that moulded to my shape and immobilised me. I was carted off sirens blaring to St Richards hospital in Chichester. There I was immediately assessed, x-rayed, doped etc. There was some talk of shipping me off to a specialist head trauma unit in Southampton but that never came about. The verdict was that nothing was broken and that there was nothing they could do but give me painkillers.

To make matters worse my wife was in the US on business. She telephoned at 8:30 am to wish my son a Happy Birthday. She got a very upset little boy crying because Dad had just been carted off in an ambulance. This obviously upset her business trip and at that time there was very little information.

In the afternoon the hospital released me to a neighbour who collected me. He had arranged for one of the boys mothers to collect us all and bring us back to London. By this stage I was stiff, sore, drugged up but reasonably awake.

The following day I awoke with concussion. I was sick, headache and spaced. I struggled to the doctors at the end of the road who told me to go straight to casualty. I got a cab to Kingston hospital where I was reasonably quickly admitted to the Major Trauma Unit and a CT scan of my head was done in between bouts of being sick and bringing up blood. A few hours on a drip, lots of drugs (pain, anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea, the usual) they told me I was staying overnight unless someone collected me.

There was family negotiations and my brother from St Albans who was working in The City came down and collected me and took me back to my home and stayed the night. My wife arrived back from the US the following morning.

I have been in bed ever since. The world is still spinning and if my heart rate goes up everything spins faster and throbs. The bruises are beginning to fade (the black eye and yellow shoulder), the scabs are drying out in my hair, and I can get short spells of consciousness which get longer day by day. The hospital says only time will tell.

In the meantime I am home not earning, not able to drive or do chores, not able to walk to the shops, and worst of all not able to enjoy the sunshine as I am shut in a dark bedroom asleep when my head lets me.

Monday I got up and overdid it and Tuesday was a nightmare . I stayed in bed all day. Wednesday was been better and Thursday has again improved. The doctor has signed me off for a fortnight telling me to come back if it hasn't cleared and he will issue another note.

I was supposed to be having an operation on my shoulder next week (rotator cuff) which I have been waiting for since January, however, I the aneathetist says that in view of the concussion and my health the operation will be deferred so I will have to continue to bear that pain for longer.

The Moral: Never ride without a helmet even if it is only to the end of the road!!!

Weekend Feb 12th and 13th

On Friday my son was following the traditions of the family and went to casualty as he fell over in the school playground and has hurt his arm. Not the first time he has been ther and wobn't be the last I suspect. They discharged him without x-raying him. I think he may have cracked a bone as he is still complaining about it but we will see. We strapped it up with an elasticated bandage over the weekend. Not much they can do about it really I suppose, just wait for it to heal.

Saturday I myself was at the hospital at 8:00 am for an MRI on my shoulder (it has been sore for a month), then I went to watch my son play football (they lost again as they have every match bar one this seaon), then after lunch we went down to Bognor. There we did badminton at the local leisure centre with friends then had fish and chips around our friends house. Not a late night.

Sunday I got out on the bike (the Benotto) about 8:15 am. I have put the Ultegra front wheel on the Benotto rather than bother to change the front tyre after a puncture a fortnight ago. You might remember that the Ultegra back wheel was mashed May last year on the HHH when the chain broke and the derailleur went into the spokes, so the front has been sitting around on its own in the garage. Sunday was wet and windy but I went out through Arundel, over Bury Hill then on through Pulborough and along to the Toat Café. I didn’t stop but turned around and rode home along the A29 past Fontwell Race Course. 37 Miles in total (59 km 600 metre of climb). Despite the weather I enjoyed the ride but was a bit tired when I got home.

Talking about Benotto's, I was watching the Paris Roubaix 1974 ("A Day in Hell") from YouTube whilst turboing the other day and was pleased to see film of a team using Benottos in that race.

As I was going up Bury hill from the Pulborough side my phone started ringing. It is 14%+ hill and I wasn’t going to answer it as I was struggling on the hill, especially as the Benotto has a standard set up rather than a compact. It kept on ringing again and again all the way up the hill. I stopped at the top and sorted it out. My son had sent a text on my other phone to his mates in Bognor and they were trying to get in touch with him. It was very distracting and annoying when I was trying to concentrate.

Sunday lunchtime we went to a local Conservative party drinks event in a posh house on one of the private estates. Not our usual thing but our friends in Bognor are wheeler dealers and go because of the contacts to be made there. We tagged along. The local MP was hosting the bash in a private house and it was actually very pleasant chatting to the locals on local issues. The kids were well behaved and won a few raffle prizes which kept them happy. There was quite a lot of banker bashing in the discussion. I kept my mouth shut for once but The wife asked a question.

We then went to our friends for a nice roast lunch then left Bognor at 17:00 to drive home.

Esplanade escapades

Despite it being my wedding anniversary on Sunday I left the Bognor house at 9:20after handing over the compulsory aniversary card card. The ground still had a frost.

I was on an old steel Benotto which I bought secondhand in Bermuda twelve years ago. I was quite nervous about the roads which were in an icystate but it was sunny (and windy).

It was nice in the sun out by Arundel and the sun was on the majority of the road (don't you hate it when the road is shiny and you are not sure if it is ice or water). The only problem was the biting headwind but I consoled myself with the fact that it would be a tailwind on the wayback.

I went over the top of Bury Hill and gingerly down the North face as the sun wasn't on the road that side then I went along the A29 to the round about the Bury side of Pulborough where I turned around and headed back.

I was just thinking about stopping for a gel and a drink of electrolyte when "POP", my front tyre punctured spectacularly. Fortunately I was just drifting along so I stopped safely. There was a footpath and I had a spare inner tube and my hands were warm enough so I fixed the tyre(despite the 20 year old pump not working properly) and set off again.

With the tail wind I got up Bury Hill OK and rode down the A29 intoBognor. 33 miles acomplished.

I met my wife and son and a Bognor friend and his kids on the sea front where they were riding. We rode to a park then the kids struggled back against the wind.

On the way back we stopped and I couldn't get my cleats to release from the pedals (Speedplay) and did a slow motion fall on the Bognor esplanade in front of loads of people walking in the sunshine. Lots of concerned people came over to see if I was OK. I had to take my shoes off to get off the bike as lying down I didn't seem able to get off the bike.

I cleaned and oiled the cleats when I got home. They were full of mud from the park.

Last night I compared the ride details from the Garmin against the same ride a fortnight ago and was pleased to see I was a couple of minutes faster (not significant over two hours), but I think that was probably the conditions as two weeks ago the wind was a headwind on the return leg and was stronger.