Biking in London

Plaisir

I'm giving it up and only cycling in woods and on mountains! Got splatted by a stolen car on 8th March, dragged 100ft up my own road and should have probably died by all accounts. I didn't however, I broke a couple of bones and have grown back half my arm, back and legs. I don't have many friends that mountain bike so hopefully when I'm better I can get out with some of you guys on the organised rides or something, I don't really know how it works! Oh and wear your helmet it saved my life!

Radioactiveman

OMG. Glad to hear you have recovered

. Plenty of mountain biking to be had everywhere. Lake district is only a 4 hour train ride away so plenty to do there for a weekend. I can also provide plenty of routes ( when I get the bloody laptop backlight fixed)

PS uh oh you mentioned a helmet having life saving abilities, you have opened the floodgates!!!

Anonymous

bloomin heck, glad you are on the road to recovery, that looks like an awful accident. we look forward to some pics of the new bike when you get one!!

blister pus

by eck. that's a mess.

glad you're on the mend and i hope they caught the pond scum responsible.

Plaisir

Couldn't resist getting the replacement before I could actually use it. Mind you I managed to cycle round my local park a couple of times at about 5mph. Must have looked ridiculous! They did catch the people in the car and will be charging them with something, they are hoping to go for a violent crime because as you can see my road is dead straight there is no chance of using the excuse that they didn't see me.

itchieritchie

Ars*holes. Thank God you're a helmet wearer. Can't understand not wearing one in London, they're so light and comfortable these days.

Those are shocking pics. V graphic but a good illustration of what we face out there. Hope you have a speedy recovery mate. Oh, and even though I'm a roadie, I give full props to the Marin...!! 8)

Atz

Nice looking replacement, glad to hear you're on the mend... lucky escape I guess.

Keep an eye on the Rides forum as there's a few threads that cover east and west of London.

Anonymous

nice looking bike

GHill

Bleedin Nora. :shock:

Glad you're recovering and it hasn't put you off the bike for life. Hope they charge the scum with attempted murder.

furby

Plaisir wrote:

and have grown back half my arm, back and legs.

Are you a starfish? They can grow back limbs I belive!

Glad you are on the mend dude, hope your out enjoyin that rather bike new bike asap and for a long time to come.

SCARFACExxx08

Think i might start wearing my helmet more now seeing this, Depending on what part of London you're in i guess but the southdows are great.

Stevo_666

Christ that looks nasty :shock: Can understand why you don't want to go near tarmac again! Hope you recover OK: you should find a few riding buddies no problem if you search around a bit or join a club.

Hope they throw the book at the tw@t that was responsible :evil:

On a more positive note, the replacement bike is 8)

Steve.

RealMan

Wow you must be a strong guy to survive that, looks really nasty.

And is that a hardrock frame? Not quite sure about this, but I think they have 10 year guarantees on those frames, don't know if that would cover what happened to you though.


Did the guys know you? Did they do it on purpose? Or did they just not care if they hit someone?

I think from London, you want to be looking at North Downs. Lots of people from London there at the weekends, lots of group rides to get into. Google, as always, will help you. Some pretty decent riding there as well.

Plaisir

They basically just didn't care, they didn't slow down once they'd hit me it was me being under the car that put the car out of control making it crash. I was incredibly lucky to end up underneath the crashed car and the parked one rather than squished in between them. I ended up with a broken collarbone and fractured lumbar vertebra but to be honest I think it will only be a matter of weeks before I'm back doing sport because they were simple fractures and have healed well. I ended up in hospital for a week though with an infection. As for the bike, it was a rockhopper and I thought about the frame guarantee but I doubt they cover it. It was insured on the house anyway and I *should* receive some compensation at some point. If that marin gets me out where I belong on hills though it's worth every penny. And yeah my attitude regarding the law is the same as all of you I hope the police nail them! Good to hear that it shouldn't be too hard to get out for some rides with others, I'm out in West London and I drive. Once I'm fit again and have a bike rack sorted I'd be more than happy to take anyone local out too and as a student I've got plenty of time of my hands! Hope to see some of you out there soon and cheers for the support!

Stevo_666

Plaisir wrote:

they didn't slow down once they'd hit me it was me being under the car that put the car out of control making it crash.

Jeez, you are lucky to be alive :shock:

evade

Urgh, man, are those markers where bits of you were left behind? Actually, don't tell me, I don't wanna know... Props on even getting back on a bike so soon...

Going forward, if you in West London, and drive, you got Swinley Forest 45 mins away which is a great place to find your feet (and regular rides arranged in the forums on here). And Surrey Hills when you're feeling a bit more confident, about 1hr 15mins away (look for the "London Calling" or "Surrey Hills Where to Start" threads).

Good luck on your recovery fella.

Evade

popstar

Wish you a speedy recovery. As mentioned before, once you are on path to MTB do check MTB Rides. London Calling thread isn't for west part really, it just happens that riders preffer to ride in either Surrey Hills or Swinley. Many of them don't even live in London at all.
You may join group rides, get pictures and vidz of yourself +tonnes of fun too!

SPIRO

Aye carumba :shock:

This puts me separating my shoulder yesterday into context!!

Get well soon fella

RealMan

I think you've got a great attitude. Just forget about it, and concentrate on getting better and getting back out there.

Don't go out too soon though, you could make it even worse. And go steady for the first few rides, just ease yourself back into it.

And a rockhopper? Wish you hadn't told me now, they're great bikes...! Are you going to have a small service?

davis

Erm. Is that part of you left on the curbstone?

Flip. Flip, Flip-flipity-flip-flip.

Glad you're healing, and I wish the scum all the ill in the world. All of it.

Plaisir

Was 6 weeks today and I cycled down the canal path for a couple of miles, felt fantastic! Yeah real I loved that bike but I've always fancied getting out to the alps in the summer and screaming about. Might as well use something bad like this as an excuse to blow my whole student loan on a dream big bike! Unfortunately davis yea that is a bit of me left behind, there are some more photos of my arm etc but I thought I'd spare you!
ps good luck spiro with your shoulder its such an annoying thing to go eh! I wish you a speedy recovery too!

v23

go on. show us the gore.

Thewaylander

your london on the M4 corridor,

You have the whole of south wales 2-2.5 hours car drive away ;p

Surf-Matt

Blimey :shock:

Very impressed you are still keen and nice bike too!

There's the South and North Downs in Surrey/Hampshire - used to live in Surrey and it was good fun but busy. Probably your closest bet.

I have to admit that when I lived in the Docklands, my bike just gathered dust (had a gym and pool in the block so used that a lot and ran a fair bit) - I was just worried about getting splattered like you!

RealMan

That's funny, I had a holiday booked - a week of riding in the Alps. Then amount a month or so before, my bike (a rockhopper) got nicked. Had to build up a new one real quick.

Maybe those bikes are cursed to never go to the Alps..

MacAndCheese

Ouch! Sorry to hear about that - looks horrendous! Hope you recover quickly and the scrote that was driving the car gets what's coming to him.
I Can also recommend the Surrey Hills, not sure of anything closer. Nice choice on the new bike, I would recommend mine to anyone!

Plaisir

Real - I just think something is working against me full stop regarding the alps, this all happened a week before I was due to go boarding there! Hopefully if someone on here is going and has a spare space I'll tag along this summer cycling instead

mudsucker

Hope you get better soon fella!

The new Marin is a beaut! Enjoy it 8)

SPIRO

Plaisir wrote:

ps good luck spiro with your shoulder its such an annoying thing to go eh! I wish you a speedy recovery too!

Ty fella, hopefully see you round swinley real soon

v23

Are you sure the people in the car weren't off this forum and they were teaching you a lesson for being overbiked?

Plaisir

If they were they'll have a bigger problem with me now, cycling down canal paths on a full sus AM bike! maybe they'll burst of out the shadows and push me in!