30 July 2018 – Colette gets back on the bike

This is Colette’s first ride for over 5 weeks, since she fell off on 22nd June. On that fateful day, a group of us were setting off from Tweedbank for a day’s cycling in the borders. We had been going less than a minute when I heard a strange clattering and a shout of “oh no!” (or similar). Then we came across Colette lying on the ground with her bike on top of her.

Nobody actually saw what happened, but it was a clear, flat, straight road with a decent surface and no real reason to give any problems. Our best guess is that Colette was turning to look behind when she lost control and just hit the deck.

The force was distributed between her head, right shoulder and back. She was unconscious for a few minutes before slowly coming to. In the meantime, an ambulance had been called and arrived 20 minutes later (though it felt like hours!). It was clear she was in a lot of pain, and X-rays at Borders General confirmed a broken collarbone and five broken ribs. At least there was no head injury thanks to her helmet (which had a big crack in it).

After three nights in ITU, she was transferred to a normal ward before being released home with a supply of strong painkillers. Since then it has been a story of very gradual improvement until, after a little more than 5 weeks since the accident, Colette decided that she wanted to get back on the bike.

We were looking for somewhere flat and traffic-free, such as the Innerleithen to Peebles railway cycle track. Unfortunately, on the chosen day it was forecast to rain there and pretty much everywhere else, apart from Dunbar. Remembering the flat, quiet roads to the east of Dunbar, we decided to head for Skateraw and set out from there.

Nervous at Skateraw

Setting off from the car park, Colette was nervous, so she rode slowly and carefully to begin with. Turning right at the next junction and heading towards Dunbar, she said she was feeling good, with only a small amount of pain.

As we approached the cement works, I realised that I hadn’t been down that way for a while. The old road leading to Barn Ness was there no longer, but there was a cycle path that ran up to and alongside the railway. We followed that path, which was very smoothly paved, but with some very large weeds encroaching from both sides in places.

So far, so good. However, after skirting round the cement works, the cycle path became a rough track with loose gravel in places. Colette wasn’t particularly happy with this development, as it had the potential to get quite painful, but she coped well. Thankfully it didn’t last long and we came out at a roundabout, where we turned onto the road to Dunbar.

After a short while, we came to a right turn onto a single-track road to Barns Ness with a cycle track running alongside for part of the way. There was a caravan / camping site there on the left, replacing the one that used to be at Barns Ness. We followed this road along to the end at the lighthouse.

Happy at Barns Ness

Colette was really enjoying being back out on the bike, so after retracing our steps back to the main road, we continued to Dunbar and had tea and cream scones at the Garden Path cafe. It was beginning to feel like we were getting back to normal, but while we were sitting in the cafe, Colette’s painkillers started to wear off, so we had to call it a day and started heading back to the car.

Colette with lucky charm

On our way back out of Dunbar, riding nice and slowly, we were overtaken by a much faster cyclist, then another came up behind and said “Hello” in a familiar voice. This turned out to be our friend Alison, who was about 30 miles into a 240 mile journey to York with Stewart (who had zoomed past us earlier). Alison had been with us when Colette had her accident back in June, so Colette called Alison her lucky charm. Alison wasn’t sure what kind of luck she was referring to, but it certainly was a coincidence.

Really???

The other two had a long day ahead of them, so after a brief chat, we let them go on their way and we pootled back to the car. Despite the pain, Colette was delighted to have passed this milestone of getting back on the bike. Let’s hope for more gradual improvements until the pain is just a memory and we are back to normal again.

 

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