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Mon, 25 Jul 2005

Another tale of woe - 22:16

First of all I would like to pass on thanks to all that helped the other riders we went down. I don't recall too many details of who did what but I did have a sense that things were being organised. I must pass on thanks to Gary Rolfe who cleaned up my elbow and patched me up as best he could when the first aid kit arrived. Thanks also to Neil who drove me home.

Mike's Blog Entry has a description of the events

It all very quickly, I saw a rider wobbling, and then it was dominos at 65kph. Before I knew it I was trying to get myself out of a quickly falling pack. I saw an escape route, went hard left but bam, Al was down in front of me. So, it was either hitting Al full on or going wider. I choose wider as the soft gravel and dirt was a much better option than hurting Al and hitting the hard bitumen. Then I was down, quickly.
I got up quick, first instinct was to grab my bike and ride on. Bbut then I got sensible as I felt a piercing pain to my elbow. So, I sat back down again trying not to look across the bodies sprawled across the road. Jonathon and Chris sounded pretty bad and I could not bear to look, just like when I know a replay of that Beloki crash is coming up. Al lay next to me silently; I asked him if he was OK, but no response. So I just lay there for a while and any details just washed over and away. I can only imagine my mind was just trying to block out the events. I do remember Gary cleaning my arm up and putting a bandage on. I wanted to get out of there and I was freezing cold so I rode back to the start finish area. Somebody road back with me, thanks, but I don't remember who it was.
Back at the start I discovered my helmet had taken quite a beating (I�ve just cut it up and binned it) Thanks to all those people who came to talk to me to make sure I was OK.
The nasty details:
John Coleman - a fractured collarbone and rib and a minor puncture to his lung.
Chris Short - Is resting at home with just minor abrasions.
Allan Lees - has a fractured
Phil Anderson - has a fair amount of skin off and a bruised shoulder.
Jerome Davidson - has a fractured collarbone
Mark A Taylor -Broken collarbone

Terry reports there were no head or spinal injuries for anyone!
I feel very lucky to come out of it with a heavily bruised hip and a few stiches to my elbow. Neil and I saw Al on Sunday and he seemed OK. Like must of us will be a bit sad and sorry for a month or two. Hopefully everybody can come out of it fit and healthy. When I watch pro racers crash and bounce up and ride off I'm pretty amazed, now I'm even more amazed at how they can do it. I can tell you that my adrenalin after about 15 seconds.

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