Cycling UK Forum

It's 3,30 in the morning and I'm in hospital with a broken leg , having a operation in the morning to put a pin in my thigh bone .
The reason I'm here , is , I was hit by a van Thursday morning on my regular commute to work .
It was a Clear wide road , I didn't see him coming , was hit from behind .
I will mend eventually .
My big passion in life is cycling in all it's forms , best part of my working day is the commute . I stick to quitest roads I can . Now I've lost that , my wife would prefer I pack in the commute .
And now I'm thinking about stopping . And just riding at weekends.
All because a man in a van could not give me any consideration on the road .

Sorry to hear you were hit, hope the operation goes well and you mend quickly.

Thank you , at least I'll be able to watch the hole of the tour lol

Sorry to hear that. All the best for the op, get well soon, and get back on the bike when you can.

When you are up to it, do the legal stuff and report the driver.

On the medical side: I suppose you'll be on crutches quite qickly. Make sure you get physiotherapy. I reckon the gold standard is to get a physiotheraptist in the hospital to teach you how to keep your muscles active, then one in the community for the rehabilitation.

Thank you . He did stop and police got everything .
Yes so worried about losing my fittness

So sorry to hear this. If it's any consolation this time last year I too was sat in hospital after being collected by a left turner. No broken leg but damage and breaks that required some surgery. As it was my 2nd accidentin 3 years I was pretty p****d and was sat there wondering should I just hang up my wheels. I should say that if you cut through me you would find cyclist written all the way thru (like blackpool rock).
Partner arrived and was talking about salvaging bike and when I would be back on it, so no one else was thinking I should give up..... and treated it as inevitable I would get back on.

Well I did, not too fit to start off with obviously, got my steady miles in over the winter, 2 weeks in Majorca in March and now am flying, fitter than I have been for years, so hang in there it is not all doom and gloom.

For what it's worth the 1st accident was far worse taking me off the bike for 3+ months whilst my shoulder and subsequent frozen muscles repaired.

Get over the first hurdles the op and the initial recovery, getting back mobile, do the physio, do some upper body work or whatever you can to keep reasonable general fitness, once your leg is working properly start getting some gentle miles in. If you have turbo it will become your friend if you haven't, get one.

I too thought oh great summer off work Le Tour on TV...... Glass half full Not sure I was too pleased when it was announced Cadel was riding with a broken elbow, just hoped my boss did not hear that one!

Keep in touch on here for help encouragement for your recovery. And remember the d***head who collected you could have been on any road at any time of the day or night I do not believe it matters what time of the day you cycle nor how busy roads the are if your going to collect it you will.

What bad luck, get well soon and make sure you nurse your confidence re cycling. As you're a regular cyclist I would think it would take many months of inactivity for your fitness level to suffer to any great degree.

Hope your op goes well and get better soon. don't worry about fittnes levels yet, get the leg mended then build up on that. I was off a bike for 40 years and just done JoGLE and a bit Time is a good healer and you'll get there.

andy63 wrote:And now I'm thinking about stopping . And just riding at weekends.
All because a man in a van could not give me any consideration on the road .

Sorry to hear about your incident. I hope you regain your confidence enough to reconsider. The more of us out there the safer it becomes, we need you out there.
I hope you heal fast and are back on the bike soon...

Thanks guys ,
I have no doubt I will ride as soon as I can .
Love it to much , it's just the daily commute .
I know these things happen , been commuting for twenty years so I suppose I've been lucky up till now lol
Got a few cycling books to read etc
And look at getting a new bike 
Been riding a single speed for a month or so
Andy ( hop along )

Not sure how the legal side of things work any ideas ?

andy63 wrote:Not sure how the legal side of things work any ideas ?

If you are a member of CTC you are covered and you should get in contact with their lawyers ASAP.
Another good source of advice: http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/
The SMIDSY site also has advice: http://www.stop-smidsy.org.uk/

Can he get a driving ban for driving without due care? Or does it have to be a more serious charge?

Wishing you all the best with your op today and a speedy recovery.

I hope you don't give up your commute on account of an accident.

Andy

I am not setting myself up as a medical expert in any way but I broke my femur three years ago (black ice in my case) and if my experience is at all helpful to you I offer the following thoughts:
- they will probably nail it (a rod of metal down the middle of the bone). It is then load bearing from day 1 (as opposed to plates on the surface of the bone, as used more often on lower legs, where you are not allowed to bear weight until several weeks later when the bone has started knitting). So in terms of not losing fitness, a femur is, perversely, one of the better things to do!
- How much did you bleed? Femurs tend to bleed a lot (I bet your thigh is very swolen!) If you want to be able to exercise as much as possible as soon as possible, you want your haemoglobin levels as close to normal as possible. But the hospital will probably only give you blood transfusions if your levels are, in their eyes, getting dangerously low. That may leave you with several days or even weeks of getting very breathless as you exercise. It might be worth explaining your desire to retain fitness so that if it's a marginal decision, they err in the direction of giving you blood.
- If you are like me, your main concern will be about getting fitness back. But actually, the more important thing in the long term is to get mobility in the knee joint back. The physios will certainly get you bending your knee - don't neglect these exercises once you've got the basic walking function again just because (like me) you are prioritising fitness. Three years on, my fitness is as good (or poor) as it ever was but I still can't bend that knee quite as much as the other one.

No broken bone is much fun and you have my every sympathy. But, although femurs are reckoned one of the more serious bones to break because of their size, I reckon they are one of the quicker to recover from.

Best wishes

Hello I'm back .
Had op lost a lot of blood , but not feeling to bad
They put a plate and screws in . Feels very sore and got a Chris hoy thigh lol .
It's the wife I'm thinking about , when I say about stopping the commute . It's Early days so will see , when I'm on my bike again .
Can I say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone's wishes and kind words .
Think I will invest in a mirror for my bikes lol .
Andrew