[Closed] Rider who helped me on Howe Hill, NYE

Bloody hell, get well soon.

Hope you can heal ok !
Fair dos to the guy for waiting.

Get well soon.

Not me but I hope you make a full recovery.

Healing vibes grey, and many karma credits to the helper.
I hope the car driver was equally as keen to wait until the police turned up?

@tthew - different car from how I read it. Gray was hit by a car and the driver of another car stopped to help.

I was hit by a car. Car driver did stop. Cyclist also stopped. Not sure of the exact time sequence - I was unconscious for a bit. Car driver didn't have much choice but to stop - apparently the windscreen was bullseyed but also the roof line above was bent in. So I imagine the car will be written off. Hopefully I won't be!

I just wept with pain for the first time in my adult life. Took about 5 steps though and am now sitting in a chair. Take that you motherkerf<swears>

'Kin 'ell OP healing vibes, keep us up to date. Chapeau to the other rider. Of course the obvious question is ... how's the bike 😉

Just reminds me why I love mtb-ing and hate even a few 100yds on the road. Also stops me sulking about my knees, for a bit anyway. Always someone with a tougher situation

Did you know your back was broken before you were told, or did you just feel it hurt a lot?

Bloody hell Gray! I hope you make a full recovery and get back on the bike as soon as possible.

Are you Dr Gray from Warwick?

Shit - I regularly train on that hill! Hard to believe a driver could screw it up - good lines of sight, not very busy etc. I suppose it does face south east so would get low winter sun?

Get well soon.

Hi Mark, yes it's me.

I thought it was probably OK, just thoroughly ****ted, until they told me.

Yeah - I think sun was the reason / excuse given at the scene. I'm hoping his insurance will accept liability and there are no claims that I swerved in front of him or anything.

Bike is in a Police impound - not sure of exact state. Tother cyclist said the back wheel is knackered but didn't go into more details.

Don't worry. If he hit you from behind it was 100% his fault.

You could have been a child wobbling about, he should leave enough room in front of him full stop.

Get a proper lawyer involved & all the best for a swift recovery.

That's the way I see it too. I'm a CTC member so I'll get their solicitors on the case in a few days.

healing vibes. That's reassuring on the CTC / solicitor front though.

Which reminds me, must sign up to an org. that does proper insurance cover..

1030? Suns been up a good while and sun must be pretty high. Dozy driver dicking around with phone way more likely.

Hope you make a steady recovery and can get back on a bike this year.

Not seeking to excuse, but it is quite steeply uphill so I think the sun probably was a bit dazzling. Competent driving involves dealing with that safely though.

Thanks all for your kind words. I'm feeling pretty positive really. Did quite a bit of sitting and a bit more shuffling this afternoon. These things are better than lying.

Best for a speedy recovery.

Hope you heal quickly and it doesn't affect your desire to ride. Although it does affect mine. Take it easy sir!

Evening. Healing vibes and how the **** do you hit someone from behind in daylight? Distracted driver..Was the drivers phone confiscated or anyone see it?

Good to hear that you are doing ok. I'm guessing the spinal cord is intact? Could have been very nasty!! Thanks for posting up, hope you find the guy and get to thank him 🙂

That's my worse fear on the roads.

The idiot in front or coming towards you, you have a chance to at least try to avoid a collision.

The idiot behind you? well, one minute your riding, the next your laying on the floor in pain, if your "lucky".

Good luck mate, take it easy and hope the rest of the year brings only good biking memories.

what sort of fracture, I got a compression fracture on T12 years ago, trying to sleep was a bastard could not lie down without agony.

I used a rolled up towel under my lumbar to support my back. i was 90%in 2-3months and fine after 12mnth

Duncan, that's interesting thanks. My T12 is cracked right through. Cord OK though. I just wiggled my toes, still work! Did you have metalwork inserted? I have titanium rods going from T11 to L1.

When you say 90% in 2-3 months, roughly what does 90% mean? Could you walk a mile, get on a bike? Drive a car?

Thanks all.

No it was a stable fracture. I had an external support on. Like a crucifix on my chest to stop me bending. And a sling as I cracked by shoulder blade slightly

I was for 1 week Mon to Fri. I discharged myself/ got told if I could get out of bed on my own as it was a stable fracture and no surgery required I could go home. So I did via the pub.

I broke it in March and in June did the nijemagen 4daagse marches (220k)

Yours sound a bit worse than mine but just listen to your body.

In comparison I'd rather do my back again than my pelvis....

Drop me an email if you want more info/sensible advice

Thanks, much appreciated. I'm impressed by your marching - that's hard going in any state! Very encouraging. I'll be in this brace for 6 weeks apparently (comes off at night). Soft tissue around the spine should be healed in 12. So I'm hoping that I'll be able to be fairly active from around then.

I hope you make a speedy and full recovery. Good work to our fellow cyclist.

A few years back I was chatting to a couple of guys whilst out riding. After a while they told me about how they had helped a chap who had broken his leg. Proper foot pointing backwards job......... I think they twigged it was me about the same time as I did:-)
Appy days:-)

How you getting on? Climbing the walls yet?

Crap, scary stuff - Get well soon Gray!

Hello, just an update. Things are going pretty well considering! Came home on Thursday evening. Steadily getting more mobile since then. I cripwalked probably about 3/4 of a mile today, albeit with a coffee and cake stop halfway (first time I've been out in the real world for ages!).

Still pretty sore at times, especially at night, but I'm surviving and still improving quite rapidly. Only using one crutch now, and can potter about quite effectively.

Haven't got my bike back yet, so don't know if it's salvageable. Looking forward to getting back out there.

Am going to try a bit of work tomorrow - I can work from home pretty well, so just need to see how I go sitting at a desk instead of in this Grandad chair that I've borrowed. Feel a bit of a fraud being off work for much longer. Doesn't hurt *that* much and my head's fine. Well, no thicker than normal anyway!

Oh and I forgot to mention, it turns out that the Police had the details of the cyclist who helped me. He was happy for them to pass his details to me, so I phoned him the other day to say thanks. He had stayed with me for about an hour - arrived just after the crash and before any emergency services. Apparently I was very keen to roll over on to my back, but he persuaded me not to. Not impossible that in doing so he saved my spinal cord...

Feel a bit of a fraud being off work for much longer.

Broken back... T'is but a scratch 😉

Hoping the rapid improvement continues!

Glad to hear you're making progress.

Apparently I was very keen to roll over on to my back, but he persuaded me not to. Not impossible that in doing so he saved my spinal cord...

Really interesting thing to say. It seems many riders feel a strong compulsion to jump up from a crash and act as if everything's fine, no matter how broken they might be.

I only started recording memories again about 20 minutes after it happened from the sounds of it. By then I think I was pretty OK with lying still. I was feeling uncomfortable and sore, but not in agony. I guess shock and adrenaline might numb the pain. That night was pretty rubbish though. They went light on painkillers (which means I only had oral morphine every couple of hours), not sure if that's because they didn't want me to get comfy and then wriggle about, or if it might have complicated the anaesthesia for the surgery the next morning. Blinkin hurt though. I was looking forward to the anaesthetic kicking in.

Bloody hell Gray.
Glad to hear your mostly ok.

Hi Tom!

Yeah, I'm alright really. Could have been really bad, but looks like I'll be fine.

Any update mate?

Hello! Still alive. Getting loads better. Still wearing a brace, but can get about really well without crutches. Doesn't hurt much now. Have even set up a mountain bike on my turbo trainer to help with getting the knackered muscles back working. Only done 10 minutes on it so far, but it was OK! I'm generally feeling optimistic - I intend to be back riding properly by the summer. Will see the surgeon in a couple of weeks - will have an x-ray to check all is in the right place, then should be able to ditch the brace.

Good to hear, thanks for the update!

😀

Thanks chaps! It's really not nearly as bad as I expected a broken spine to be.

Good news. Come to this thread late and just read it all. Hope things keep improving for you.

Good stuff....