Minor Setback...

Regret to report that out on a training ride on Saturday I have had my first experience of what it is like to be on the receiving end of a speeding car...  I wrote a detailed account of it on my blog on road.cc -safe to say I'm very happy to have survived and still be relatively intact, though I may have a fractured pelvis and am pretty bruised and battered.

My spangly new carbon Wilier Mortirolo (literally days old!) I have yet to see since the accident, but I'm hoping that like me it will come away from it without any permanent damage.  I had misgivings about riding on the bank holiday weekend for exactly this reason-too many impatient people clogging the roads-but was too excited at the prospect of riding my bike in the sun to let it dampen my enthusiasm... Lesson learned.

And I thought my next post would be to sing its praises... I keep coming back to how lucky I am though-at one instant I was really worried I'd badly damaged my spine at I couldn't get up off the road and was loaded into the ambulance on a spinal board.

Goes to show what happens when some genius decides it's a good idea to take a roundabout at +30mph and then cut up a cyclist rather than use his brakes.  And this is on a week where 'Dangerous Cycling' bills are being touted in Commons and the AA is giving out cheap helmets as a PR stunt.  It's pretty clear from where I am standing where the real issue is, but lets not let it get in the way of a populist news story, eh?

I really could have been killed-and for the sake of what?  Stupid arrogance and recklessness.  The driver's first reaction was to blame me, even when I was immobile and on the road, and I am lucky that the car following saw exactly what happened to put him straight.  He was charged with Dangerous Driving on the scene and I intend to see that he is prosecuted for the offence too, instead of given a slap on the wrist like most drivers are, but already I have fears that the incident is being downplayed by the officer on the scene as he changes the language used to describe it from 'the driver hit you' to 'the driver clipped your front wheel'.

Bare jokes as they say round these parts.

I was supposed to be riding the East London Pheonix Easter Classic today, but am instead shuffling around like an old man and doped up to the gills to drown out the pain in my back, neck and arms, and a question mark now lies over whether I can participate in the Etape Caledonia on the 15th, and how  much this will impact my being able to work (I'm freelance so this is a big deal-even missing a week is setting me back hugely and I can't afford to take time off as I won't be paid for it) and training.  Can't help but be really pissed off but I'm trying not to think about it for the moment and remind myself how lucky I am, as there's nothing else I can do.