Well, I suppose one crash in 6 years isn't bad. I had left my car at a garage for
service/repairs/MOT etc. and taken my bike off the rear rack and rode to work. On the way back to
pick it up, I rode around a roundabout, the same roundabout I use every day, except that I took a
different line as ironically my car was waiting to be picked up at the second exit of this
roundabout and I usually take the first. The next thing I knew, my front wheel lost grip and I ended
up gashing my ankle, banging my knee and ended with a large blow to my unhelmeted bonce.
I staggered into the garage on foot and to add insult to injury (literally) was forced to pay 450
quid for car repairs, which had single handedly wiped out all of the petrol savings for a whole
year I save by cycle commuting. After putting the bike on the rear rack, I drove to the nearest
police station to report the accident, as it was an RTA with injuries. They weren't interested,
but I stood there until they logged it, which eventually they did. As there was a head injury
involved they strongly advised me to go to A+E, but I went home instead. There was no way I was
going to sit in A+E for 5 hours only for them to tell me to clear off home and rest. Soon after, a
police officer rang me to ask me how I was and told me he had come off his motorbike at the exact
same spot!
The next night I went out for a 20-mile run, but my confidence was shot; I was convinced that I
was going to fall off at every bend. Also my rear derailleur must have been damaged, as I could
not get the 6th and 7th cog on the rear cassette. I went home and adjusted the rear mech and
headed out again. I had to find out why I came off, so I was bizarrely stood in the middle of this
roundabout seeing if there was any oil on the road by rubbing my foot on it. There was a slight
slippery spot, so I guess there must have been some oil that had become lethal as the first bit of
rain fell that evening.
My work mates said that they had told me that cycling was dangerous, at the same time as a second
colleague was hospitalised by a heart attack...
Simon Mason Kingston upon Hull.