Hi,
What’s the worst injury you’ve sustained whilst out cycling?
Pictures would all add flavour to the mix 😕
Anyone needed an air ambulance to whisk them to hospital?

Errrr….

Why?

See you have been busy with the tagging too… ❓

Because he,s morbid… 😐

broke my tibia in canada. rode out 🙂

Mate’s brother broke his femur dirt jumping and got air lifted. As above, why do you ask?

Not me Thank God but 20 mins into my first ride with the Cornwall MTB club the legend that is Stuntman Steve[/u] was born.

Click on the link above to see the incident & the Cornwall air ambulance was called in to take him to hossy. I always donate if I see a collection tin around, fantastic service & all run on donations.

Plenty of injuries, never needed an ambulance…

Branch in arm/(apparently) chipped the inside of my kneecap/concussion (several times)

Rode ‘home’ each time…not bragging, just been fortune enough not to need immediate medical assistance.

This is why I posted:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/air-ambulance-event

I was surprised at the lack of response initially.

I thought that moutain bikers would be interested in being involved in helping out a service that is there, no questions asked, if there’s an emergency.

I’ve seen the air ambulance up at Leith Hill several times picking up bikers who have injured themselves.

Fortunately, I’ve only had cause to visit the hospital once after a fall. However, I fall off a lot, so it’s, in all liklihood, only a matter of time before I’ll be needing an Air Ambulance myself 😕

Regards

Paul

Too much air on motorcross jump (on a hardtail mtb)= Broken Ribs=Punctured Lung + Ruptured Spleen… not a mark on me, but needed 3 pints of blood tranfused to to internal bleeding~ airlifted off Broxburn Bing.

My mate would have been but they won’t land it on the Chase after dark, apparently. So he rattled &bumped off in a 4×4 ambulance.

It’s a very worthy cause IMO. I was just talking to my friend only today about giving more to charity. I’ve not needed it (yet) but have been riding with someone who got choppered out of the Forest of Dean with suspected brain damage (he was ok after a few days in intensive care with wires sticking out of him), and another friend got airlifted off Hay Bluff after he tried to hand on his face.

never on a bike but been choppered after a climbing accident, was the most grim experience of my entire life.

Broke my right ankle in 9 places on dumgoye just north of Glasgow (quite a small hill in case you dont know it).. Sat in agony for three hours watching police, ambulance then mountain rescue pulling up at the bottom of the hill. Called to see why they weren’t coming up to get me and give me pain relief..
Ended up with a sea king to southern gen and 7 pins and a plate in my r ankle.
In my morphine induced haze remember shaking the hands of the crew and thanking them from the bottom of my heart.

I’m signed up for the surrey air ambulance raffle after a door-to-door person came round – got some of their christmas draw tickets in front of me to sell.

One of my best mates, who occasionally goes on here, has a scar from his sternum to his belly, where they had to cut him open to operate on him post biking accident.

And yes, he had to take a trip in an air ambulance for the pleasure…

He’s still as quick as he ever was on a bike though now, if not quicker, and he probably crashes even more now too! 😕

Up here in Scotchland the air ambulance is provided by the NHS, with sea/mountain jobs being done by the Navy boys under the auspices of training. I’m amazed that down south all the (I’m not sure tho) air ambs appear to be funded by donations and sponsorship…
Why is that? What’s the difference?

Up here in Scotchland the air ambulance is provided by the NHS, with sea/mountain jobs being done by the Navy boys under the auspices of training.

Almost true, except you missed out RAF Search and Rescue, which covers large tracts of Scotland from Lossiemouth and Boulmer.

The primary role of RAF search and rescue is the recovery of downed military aviators, but in peacetime its aircraft are available all year round for use in civilian distress incidents. Since 1973, over 95% of the rescues carried out by 202 Squadron have been civilian incidents.

Yellow helicopters are far better than the ‘fish heads’ blue ones 🙂

Fair Nuff. Stand corrected. Have only ever seen Hms Gannets boys/girls when out at jobs.. Being in Glasgow and all..

we had the air ambulance to my mate who had a heart attack on Long Mynd a couple of years ago. unfortunately there was nothing they could do – they tried bloody hard though… really good cause

All the money generated by the Forest Freeride bunkhouse is donated to the Wales Air Ambulance as is everything raised by the Welsh Ride Thing … tends to add up to a few grand a year.

Glad to say I’ve never had to call upon their services 😉

Up here in Scotchland the air ambulance is provided by the NHS,

Hi althepal,
Locally, the NHS provide the paramedic team but the helicopter and pilots, servicing etc is all provided by the charity.
It probably works that way near you as well.

OTB on a massive jump resulting in crushed T12 and L2 vertabrae and a broken hip socket.

I apparently somehow walked and then got picked up in a van and taken straight to hospital. If an ambulance was called, then it would have been the air ambulance, as we were miles away from anywhere and out in the sticks.

I don’t remember the crash, all i remember is my memory coming back laying on a couch waiting to be picked up to go to the hospital. Concussion is a horrible thing, i was trying to say one thing and different words were coming out of my mouth.

Adrenaline is amazing. I only felt like i had tore slightly my left hamstring.

Thankfully never needed an air ambulance, did get a ride in a rapid responder car though 😛

When I’m riding again I intend to do as much as possible to raise money for local air ambulance, and the mountain rescue guys etc.

Not in the area that you’re looking to hold you’re first event – but hope you manage to get it organised and raise lots of money!

Snapped my achilles doing the road gap jump at Ae forest last May foot was to far back on the pedal when i landed managed to free wheel back down

Beckykirk,

Perhaps we can swap notes and see what we can do to arrange events next year in your region?

Beckykirk,

Perhaps we can swap notes and see what we can do to arrange events next year in your region?

Sounds good – my e-mail is in my profile 🙂

Paul, it’s fully funded by the Nhs.. Afaik it’s an Nhs only job contracted to an outside agency.. Don’t know why we can afford it and down souths health boards can’t.. Maybe it’s something to do with some of the remote locations served or cos the Scottish Amb service covers the whole country and perhaps
Either way I know they’ve had planes for yonks but not sure bout the budgie..
Just checked the SAS website, fully funded by the NHS..

Paul sounds a decent reason for the thread.

I haven’t needed an air ambulance, but did get retrieved by a fire land-rover and an ambulance working together at Swinley earlier this year, when I knocked myself out for a while….

I think Air Ambulances are a great innovation… but,

1) Still some that do not have night flying capability.
2) We seem stuck in a very county/locality/charity based model, when – with the smallness of the UK – it might be better to have a National Service.
3) Also we don’t have level of high speed road trauma, and gunshot wounds that some countries have where a rapid retrieval system makes such a difference.
4) I believe there are still some issues about getting Air Ambulances to do expedited transfers between hospitals, where they could be really really useful…
5) Evidence of effectiveness of HEMS services in the UK setting in altering outcomes is still not brilliant.. Even the Air Ambulance Association report of 2008 seems to admit that.

I have worked in a hospital where we had our own neonatal retrieval helicopter, and also did an elective on a trauma team where we spent a lot of time dealing with people coming in in choppers, but that was Oz, and the distances made it necessary. I have also spent time dealing with sick patients in small planes, and in 4 hr plus ambulance journeys in Canada, and can see how helicopters might have done both rather better. So I can see why Scotland absolutely needs the service. And I love flying in helicopters 😀

So – not sure what the answer is – and this doesn’t really help does it?!