Injured now with pics! - Back racing!

spasypaddy

On Sunday I set out to do the Leith Hill octopus, I managed 2 climbs, on the second descent I encountered some mud on a corner. I tried to slow down, I tried to go around the corner. Unfortunately the bike and wheels travelled forwards even though they weren't rotating due to braking.

Rather than just running off into the bushes and suffering cuts, bruises and embarrassment there was a car coming up the hill. I went straight into the cars front lights and flipped over the bonnet still clipped in.

I landed on the other side looked down and saw a deep gash in my knee. An ambulance was called and I was well looked after on the side of the road by clubmate, and some other cyclist and the driver who stopped.

Once in the hospital I had xrays and was told I'd not broken any bones. But I had completely ruptured my patella tendon which is why I couldn't bend my leg.

I was then transferred to a hospital nearer home to have the operation and have been in here ever since.

I'm not allowed to put weight on the leg and have a huge cast that weighs a tonne of my leg.

Recovery period is probably 6 months minimum, but more likely 12.

Be careful people.

clarkey cat

Crikey - that is awful. Keep your chin up.

dhope

Ow, that's shite. Heal up soon

sketchley

How's the bike?

Get well soon

fossyant

Ouch indeed

vimfuego

Ouch - that sucks. Hope the recovery goes well and your back riding sooner rather than later.

Which descent were you on? I did about 6 of the climbs up Leith on Saturday (reps on Abinger and Broome Hall for the Rapha challenge too) - most seemed fairly clear, but Henhurst Cross and Tanhurst Lane can be a bugger when it's been wet.

elbowloh

Sounds awful. Hope its less recovery time than expected.

rolf_f

Sketchley wrote:

How's the bike?

Get well soon

I believe the usual comment here is "I hope it wasn't the Look"......

Hope you get better soon Spasy and stop trying to compete with ITB.......

itboffin

Bloody hell matey that's rough

Rest relax and enjoy the weight gain whilst you have a good excuse.

But yes what about the bike?

And pics we need pics, why am I the only one to think about pics during those critical first few moments of injury time?

spasypaddy

Tanhurst Lane descent.

I've got pics, I don't have access to a laptop at the moment and can't be bothered to upload and link whilst on my mobile.

Yes it was the look, my mate said it was OK. I haven't seen it and don't know when I will.

DrLex

Ow-ie! You poor b*gger - GWS.
Try not to think of all the perfect cycling weather that you're missing & instead enjoy daytime T.V.

dhope

DrLex wrote:

Ow-ie! You poor b*gger - GWS.
Try not to think of all the perfect cycling weather that you're missing & instead enjoy daytime T.V.

You evil bastard

greg66_tri_v2.0

Shit. 6-12 MONTHS? That's a nightmare.

And yet another data point I will file away to help me become an even worse descender/bigger chicken than I am now.

roger_merriman

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

shoot. 6-12 MONTHS? That's a nightmare.

And yet another data point I will file away to help me become an even worse descender/bigger chicken than I am now.

Yes I've rather lost my carefree descending partically when on the roadie SS which I hardly use now.

spasypaddy wrote:

Hope your out of hospital soon and moving about, you'll get back but will just take time.

meanredspider

I can't add much to what's already been said. Get well soon!

rubertoe

Sorry to hear that mate. Im sure you'll be back on sooner than that. You haven't had much luck recently. But it could of been worse.

If you need a sitter for the fleet, give me a shout...

menthel

GWS. Sounds like a nasty one.

veronese68

itboffin wrote:

And pics we need pics, why am I the only one to think about pics during those critical first few moments of injury time?

Not just you. I could get my gash out again.
Agree with all of the above Sapsy, hope you heal faster than anticipated.

sassse

Especially for ITB, here is a link to some nice pictures of surgery to fix a patella tendon rupture, enjoy.
For the squemish, don't look!
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1 ... ment#a1133

asprilla

Fingers crossed your recuperation is sooner rather then later.

Origamist

That's rough. All the best for a full recovery ahead of schedule.

rjsterry

Owch. Hope you recover well and quickly.

The Rookie

Sheesh, get well soon.....

Hoping the claim from the car driver isn't too pricey!

thepeopleschamp

I'm surprised incidents like this don't happen more often. I live just past the top of Tanhurst and driving on weekends is terrifying around here with all the cyclists, the missus won't even do it!
The roads are narrow, steep, full of blind bends and as the OP found out, full of crap at the sides, mud/gravel/holes/sticks etc.. it's worse after it's been raining as more sticks from the over hanging trees fall over the road.

Some tips for anyone else doing the octopus..you need lights on front and back even in the middle of the sunniest day of the year as on the sunken lanes hardly any light gets through and cyclists are very hard to spot. You'll notice locals drive with lights on around here.

And take every blind bend on the descents at a speed you can stop at. It means crawling along at a snails pace round the bend but these roads are single track and deceptively busy. I've come face to face with all sorts, horse boxes, oil tankers, school buses, cyclists coming up 5 abreast, even cows on the descent!
I ride the hill every day on my commute and it's not dangerous if you take it easy.

Glad the OP is ok but take it easy on the octopus I don't want anyone going into my car windscreen!

Torvid

Get well soon, hope everything is okay with the bike and i hope your at the 6 month end of the scale

il_principe

You poor f*cker. Heal up quick.

I rode up Tanhurst once, made a mental note to never ride up or down it again. The road surface was shockingly bad. Imagine it still is.

spasypaddy

i will never ride tanhurst again.

thanks for the wishes people.

its going to be a long road to recovery

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Hang on in there, things do get better!

2014 has been quite surreal since my incident, but compared to what I could do at Xmas, things have progressed a long way. Love that feeling of freedom on the bike, especially now I'm back using the Felt for the first time in ~5 years (Tricross needs repairs to be road worthy after crash, guttingly found my Saracen frame was on the verge of a horrid failure a few weeks back on the seat tube just above the top tube)...

But I have eyes on giant stalks looking out for danger after what happened 7 months ago, had kittens twice on the way home from work this afternoon, don't think I've ever thought of cycling as dangerous as I do now!

MonkeyMonster

Heal quickly dude!

itboffin

Il Principe wrote:

You poor f*cker. Heal up quick.

I rode up Tanhurst once, made a mental note to never ride up or down it again. The road surface was shockingly bad. Imagine it still is.

I'm beginning to think you live in a velodrome and not the UK

our roads are shite

spasypaddy

tanhurst was different class dodgy. i was coming down on the brakes as it was and i still slid into a car due to road.