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Bumps & Bruises

I’m back in Southampton again this weekend as I’m partaking in a sponsored cycle ride in aid of SCRATCH with my Dad. It’s approx 15 miles from start to finish, but there is no defined route, so it could be as much as 1500 if we decided to lap the UK first. We won’t.

So I’ve been doing a bit of training now and then, cycling along the coast and getting a puncture then walking home etc. One such training ride happened last Sunday, which as you may remember was a beautifully warm day, so after church the other Rob, Pete, Ryan and I decided to go for a cycle ride. I have a shiny new GT Outpost (Bike) and Rob has a shiny new GT Avalanche so we that along with this weekend’s ride was enough motivation.
We set off across the South Downs and right on queue I got a puncture. Luckily Pete had a spare so we didn’t need to sit around waiting for repair kits to dry etc. The next problem was much worse.

We came upon a rather steep chalk decline Which didn’t look too bad from the top. Rob and Ryan hurled themselves over the edge and thundered of out of sight while Pete and I sheepishly edged our way down, sliding sideways down the path with our brakes steaming all the way. As we got nearer the bottom, about 500 yards later, I eased up a little and sped up.
On arriving at the bottom I found Rob separated from his bike, looking rather confused. He had blood all down the right side of his face, right arm and both legs, and upon closer inspection, quite a bad concussion too.

Luckily we weren’t too far from the pub we’d set out for and where Sarah and some friends were waiting, so we cleaned him up and walked him there. From there he was collected and taken to hospital.

Once they’d finished with him he looked like this:

Take care when cycling down steep things people!