Well, after almost 2 weeks, I’m still sore, with battered
and bruised ribs, abdomen, swollen liver, painful back or kidney – but most of
the external bruises are going!
It started with a
slow ride to East London, to fetch keys from my cousin, who has a cottage at
Hole In The Wall. The 450 odd km took us
nearly 9 hours of pleasant riding, with stops for keys, lunch etc.
Once there, a pleasant weekend lay ahead, with walks,
swimming, a ride to Coffee Bay, lots of resting and reading being the order of
the day.
Monday morning’s ride home started with a flat front wheel
on my bike. No spanner to remove my front
Axle!! (lesson 1). So, after using some
spray in puncture repair, we set off. 30
km later, once on the tar road, the wheel started going flat again. After
another burst of Spray, I decided to ride faster for a while, to properly spread
the spray inside the tube. (mistake
2). Quickly had the bike to 130 km/h,
and then started to slow down again, waiting
for Sharon to catch up, when I felt the front wheel starting to go flat
again. Started slowing down, but the
wheel went suddenly completely flat, and lost control of the front wheel. The bike initially tried to go to the right,
but I grabbed hard, and managed to get it straight again, and thought – ok, got
it! But it suddenly went left, off the road, without any control. We narrowly missed a huge hole that had been dug
on the verge, only to hit the bank of earth that had been removed. After doing a few flick flacks, I landed on my
back, only to see the bike in its final flack, fall right onto me!
The pannier now has a
very nicely shaped rib / chest shape or form!
In extreme agony, I called out to a local youngster, who helped lift the
bike off me. A roadworks truck stopped,
and I asked one of the guys to please hand me my cell phone out of the tankbag,
wanting to call Sharon, who had gone whizzing past, not seeing me lying in the
ditch. As I got the phone, I saw it was Bryan,
a flying friend, who must have thought I was dying, on hearing me!! So did I!!
Sharon returned a few minutes later, realizing that I was not still in front
of her. She immediately started rescue
efforts, and tried to get me comfortable.
Through lots of help – mainly from our flying friends, I was
airlifted by helicopter, to East London, while Sharon arranged a lift for my
battered bike, and then she followed on her bike to East London.
After a CT scan determined that I had battered and bruised
ribs, chest, abdomen, liver etc, fluid on the lungs, I was treated to a night
in hospital. Fortunately no major damage ,as was originally suspected!!
Without the help of friends, a very calm wife, decent
quality riding gear etc, things might have worked out differently!
The Hole
Close inspection
The Views
The accident - Helicopter behind
The result
