2nd Day Cycling - day of the accident
Trip Start
Sep 14, 2009
1
4
7
Trip End
Sep 19, 2009
Lourdes, Midi-Pyrénées, France
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID:
This second day of riding is a big day that travels over the most feared cols in the Pyrenees,
but it is also some of the most spectacular riding. Firstly we have a nice gentle warm up to
Laruns, base camp to the stunningly beautiful Col D’Aubisque (1709m). The cafe on the top
provides a perfect place for a deserved rest before dropping down and back up the Col de
Soulor (1464m), which you will honestly hardly notice! The swoopy descent to Argeles-Gazost
is great and the pretty town provides a good opportunity to stop for some lunch. Unfortunately
from here we meet out first busy road which takes us up the gorge to Luz-St Sauveur. Next up
is the Col De Tourmalet (2115m), a mountain climb which needs no introduction. After a bit of
souvenir shopping at the top (where there is also a great café with some interesting Tour de
France artefacts), we descend to St Marie De Campan, and from here to our hotel in Campan.
WHAT I EXPERIENCED:
We had just climbed the Col d'Aubisque and I was almost at the bottom of the Col behind my friend, Paul Middlemiss, when the accident occurred. My rear wheel hit a rock, flipping the bike out from under me, and I crashed on the road, face first, then elbow, and hip. My left eye socket was fractured, the left side of my face abraded, and my hip dislocated, hitting and shattering my left pelvis.
This was the start of my own personal odyssey of self discovery and recovery, encountering the breadth & depth of humanity along the way.
The first example was a Dutch cyclist who stabilised me, kept me conscious and got the ambulance so I could be in Lourdes.
The doctors and nurses at Lourdes confirmed the extent of my injuries and I spent the next four days in Intensive Care, unable to eat because of the injuries to my face, mainly in a semi conscious state with morphine being given to me regularly.
