Garmin, The Rut and and did you know exactly how dangerous cycling is!?

This is going to be a LONG post! So much has happened in the last 12 hours, let alone the last 7 days! Where to begin.... well, Monday saw the Garmin Cervelo Rideout: 500 invitees in the New Forest to ride with the pro team. Excellent. 29 miles at an average speed of 18mph... hmm, ok that's do-able...just. Not gonna dwell on this one but to say it was a fab ride. Our group was led by Lucy Martin and Roger Hammond. The group splintered but we all made good time- just the sort of practice I needed in preparation for the Wiggle Rut that was ahead of me on Sunday (Gulp!)

Q&A with none other than Ned Boulting!

And so to the sorry tale of the Rut. A sportive of 102 miles of undulating roads. Having just started to develop a really bad cough and now drippy nose, I was not really looking forward to this one- luckily, the forecast was looking good. Our team consisted of Myself, Andy, Gavin and Jon- all the usual suspects that ride regularly (well, me and Andy do!) Setting off at 0530, Jon mentioned we might have a problem... in so much as his race number was 6666- Nah, we'll be fine...
We arrived in plenty of time and set off at just past 8 o'clock. I didn't feel so good at this point and the thought of 7 hours in the saddle was looking less and less like fun. Oh bollocks, let's just get on with it- stop moaning and man up! A mile in and it begins to rain...FML this is gonna be a LONG day! 5 miles in and the boy racer, Gavin, takes the front caning it down an unknown hill at a good 30mph. As his back wheel slid from under him, he corrected his position, ending up on the verge and then, in slo mo, he somersaults into a tree hitting it with his back, the bike in the ditch and him motionless. I start to pull in with Andy now having to avoid me almost crashing too. The corner is blind so we arrange ourselves at the top of the hill, halfway down and Jon looking after Gavin who by now has very vocally told us how painful his back is. oooo that's not good- ring HQ and get a medic QUICK. Number- why isn't the phone number on the back of our race numbers?!- shit- pull someone over. And now no signal... what a nightmare- all this AND more riders belting down the hill- we're now in full safety marshalling mode to protect Gavin- SLOW DOWN! 90% of the riders were brilliant- but you always get 10% of dicks who think they know better- some slid, some were plain selfish. If we hadn't been there I'm sure more people would have come off. It was awful! Eventually a motorbike safety marshall turned up as did a paramedic followed by and ambulance. Gav was moved onto a spine board as a safety precaution and after a few pics and sarcastic banter (yes, by this point we knew he was going to be ok- "if it was really serious, he'd be in a helicopter by now"-and so humour took over as it seems to in such situations- almost like a safety valve releasing itself)

Gav's new FB profile picture 

Thanks to the lovely paramedic that shot this for us!

So Gav was taken to Leicester for X-rays and all the tests. We carried on- there was nothing we could do for him. By now, we had decided to ride the short route- this was 73 miles. That's still do-able plus the sun was coming out. Ok boys, let's ride this for Gavin- it's the least we can do. Over the next hour, I'd perked up. Dunno what had happened but I just seemed to get my head in the right place and we all began to settle into the ride. After 20 miles, Jon began to get cramp in his legs- he told us he was ok and to keep going. After the feed station he was struggling- certainly on the hills. No problem, we ride as a team, we help each other- that's how it goes. We bunched as a group to give Jon some shelter to help him recover a bit- there was still quite a distance to go. From about 40 miles, we had go a real good pace going- the HTC High Road train had nothing on us- we were shifting! We were bombing along at a good 30mph on the flat. It was brilliant- Totally in the zone and loving every minute. Then the worst thing possible happened. Jon crashed. It was awful. That bloody race number of his had struck for the second time. look at this video clip. He fell like this...

I ditched my bike as quickly as possible to get to him- I was worried he'd get run over! We recovered his bike and shuffled him over to the side of the road and dialled 999- well, we knew he needed an ambulance so we simply cut out the middle man! His legs had gone into spasm from cramping and he'd landed heavily on his shoulder. When the safety marshall arrived, he did a double take... "Didn't I see you lot earlier today?" "Erm, maybe..." "Yep, it's your collarbone mate. Ambulance on the way? Good." And then there was two.

On closer inspection of Jon's helmet, we made a discovery. It had taken a right bashing and Jon had actually rolled on his head cracking his helmet. Basically, it had saved his life. If there was ever an example of why we wear helmets and why we tell our children to wear helmets, this was it. Have a look. On the second picture showing the inside, I've circled the cracks.

So Jon was being taken to Grantham for a check up, X-rays etc... we've been here once before!
Eventually the broom wagon turns up and we (well, I- Andy wanted to carry on!) decided to cut our losses and hitch a lift back to the finish line. We'd completed 49 miles. It felt like a lot more. We were exhausted to the point of hysteria. Here's us in the wagon. This day was like being in the twilight zone. Did we enjoy it? Well, yes. It's a day none of us will ever forget. The fallen soldiers have wounds and a tale to tell. This day was not an experience any of us want to repeat but in the strangest way, we did have fun. Sort of.

Gavin has whiplash and extensive bruising. Jon has broken his collarbone in two places. Both guys are home tonight. Cyclists are a tough breed and here's to our next ride out. We're really sorry how the day panned out- Should have listened to Jon with his warnings of scary jinx'd numbers. Well, we know now don't we!

As a final warning to all you people who are too cool for school and refuse to wear a helmet, I'm adding a favourite YouTube clip.
To adults- you have to lead by example: your children will not wear a helmet unless you do. To any kids reading this- don't ever listen to your mates that laugh at you wearing a helmet- they are the idiots, not you. Be safe, not dead.