 |
| After 60km of storming from the back of the 1400 riders peloton to the front: Centre stage |
The Velothon I had signed up to as a motivation to keep on riding, at least once a week (after I rode daily for the past 10 years in the UK). Only when I found my start block I realized I was signed up for the “race”, not the sportive. It is like the Tour of Cambridgeshire, the first startblock is being fought as a race. Here in Berlin, we had 1.400 riders in that block and me in the last row. Great! So, imagine someone who has raced NatB races and held a Cat 2 license as recent as 2016, now supposed to look at things from the back? No way. The first 60km then where a frantic storm to the front, passing a neverending chain of stretched out riders. It was fast and furious, but not risking any crashes, still riding relatively safe. The picture which was in the Berlin Morningpost had been taken at about the time when I managed to get to the front, finally. At that time we were a front group of about 50 riders. At km 100 out of the 160, someone swerved into me and I had nowhere to go, pulled the breaks but couldn’t avert a crash, at just below 50km/h. It wasn’t a ‘touch of wheels’, instead it was a wipeout of the worst kind, as I was literally catapulted over to the other side of the culprits’ rear wheel. I have no recollection of what happened next, but was told that I somersaulted and landed on my head (helmet broken in 2 places and sunglasses destroyed, a quarter of my face open, abrasions symmetrically on both elbows, shoulders, knees and strangely top of my hands). Apparently, I had lost consciousness for a few minutes and in the following was brought to a nearby hospital and checked for damages, diagnosing a concussion, trauma and bleeding kidney, which thankfully didnt need to be operated. Magically the bike was ok, apart from the brake levers that need replacement, bar tape and rear wheel damaged. Losing my last set of (practically unused) LD race-kit like this was saddening, though. I am back on the bike now, but still seeing my GP every day, due to some healing problems with the road rash. The biggest problem though was the shock at first and then following inconvenience all of this brought upon my wife and son, as they had to reclaim the bike, travel back and forth to the hospital and none the less seeing me in such state. Also the inconvenience at work, whilst still being on probation myself, I had employed new team members with their start date on the day following the crash, I had meetings that needed to be postponed and submissions lined up for the end of the week that needed to be managed. Not good for everyone around me. It will probably need some time to pass before I get permission to sign up for any event again. At least I am still allowed to ride my bike and I still can, that’s something to be thankful for, this crash could have taken a different toll, I was lucky
 |
| Starting in the last row of the 1400 riders field |
 |
| staying positive |
 |
| not so positive any more |
 |
| proper hit on the head and face |