So I’ve been thinking about cycling the past few days. Just wishing I could get out there again. I can’t though because I dislocated my hip last time I tried to get on the bike and my joints have got much worse since then but I need to remind myself why cycling would be such a bad thing.

So this is going back a couple of years. I woke at 5am the usual time for a morning cycle in summer. I were still recovering from an injury so I decided to take the singletrack over the moors which is slightly uphill and brings me out to the top of rosedale chimney bank. By the time I were at the top of rosedale chimney bank I were awake enough to look at the sign that says ‘ cyclists please dismount’ check the front brake was working and set off down the hill rather slowly for once. You see usually I would ride down fast as I could slowing just enough to get round the corners but my bike was a little bit broken so I were using my dads bike and the front brake cable had snapped so I’d just removed it but hadn’t got round to getting a new one. I made it down the hill ok just had to go slower which for me was always an incredibly hard thing to do when going downhill but I managed it. There was no way I were going to cycle back up the hill, it was hard enough when I were in good shape but when I were still recovering from an injury well it would’ve been incredibly dumb even for me so I took a different route. It was a quiet road and still early so even quieter than usual so I weren’t at all concerned about getting a bit of speed up on this road. I were doing fine until a car came round a corner on the wrong side of the road! The driver was on her phone not paying much attention to the road. I had to make a quick decision: a) slow down as much as I could before she hit me or b) slam the back brake on as hard as I could and hope that when the wheel locked up and the back wheel slid out I would go down out of the way of the car. I figured b was probably my best chance of staying alive particularly seen as I were dumb enough to not be wearing a helmet. So I slammed the brake on, back wheel locked up and slid out, the driver noticed me (finally!) and I went down, hard. But I’d managed to avoid the car and I were still alive. Of course any cyclist knows the first thing you do when you pick yourself up is check the bikes ok. I were actually amazed the bike hadn’t been damaged more than it was, just a few scratches and the rear mech had taken a bit of a knock and there was a chunk out of one brake lever plus the back brake was now disconnected. Then I had the driver to deal with, she was panicking and wanting to phone an ambulance, surely it should’ve been her having to calm me down instead of me calming her down?! She was no use at all at helping me reconnect the brake either. If you’ve ever tried connecting the brake at the brake lever with only one hand you’ll know it’s difficult. My other hand was refusing to move it’d taken quite a hit. I finally managed to get the driver calmed down and on her way, by the state she was in I dont think she’ll ever use a phone in the car again. I got the brake sorted and cycled home rather more slowly than I’d been expectng to. I had lumps of gravel in my hand for days afterwards every morning I took plasters off looked at my hands to see where I still had gravel stuck in then put plasters on those. I had to cycle to the bike shop to drop my dads bike off there and get mine back the next day, that was a painful ride. My left hand was still refusing to move so I had to cycle one handed but my right arm was swollen from my wrist right up to my shoulder. I’d left a bit of skin on the road aswell of course the worst being from the inside of my elbow right up to my shoulder, still got the scars now. I couldnt straighten my right arm at the elbow for a couple of weeks but it didnt stop me cycling for long…just meant their was a bit of swearing! That cycle the next day was hell though, all my right arm was throbbing, even my shoulder blade hurt and I felt every little bump so a 20 mile ride wasn’t really what I needed. Remembering that experience has made me think maybe it’s not such a bad thing that I can’t cycle now