I had a great day out yesterday, which was slightly cut short by a bog grabbing my front wheel on the way down Ingleborough. I got flung straight over my bars in about 1/10 of a second, and got hit over the head by a 15-stone bloke (me).
That made me very dazed and also strained neck and shoulder muscles. Fortunately, landing head-first in a bog with a helmet on stopped me from serious injury. I need a new helmet though. Some thoughts (as I can still think!) ...THANKS VERY MUCH to the man in a mostly-white top who stopped and stayed with me until I told him I'd be OK to walk down unassisted. I suspect that had a big impact on your results, but it was good of you to stop and look after me; much appreciated; please let me know who you were. Thanks also to all the people who asked me as they passed if I was OK. I believe that any of you would have stopped to help if I'd asked.
THANKS VERY MUCH to the Bowland Fell Rescue team who did a fine job of getting me back to Helwith Bridge and looking after me until help arrived, and finding my friends at Ribblehead, and handing overmy kit to them after. Shame about not getting a ride in the Air Amublance though - apparently 999-control were in the process of sending it, which would have been a little excessive and would also have stopped the race.
SPINE BOARDS ARE EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE. If you can find a way not to get a neck/head injury, don't. The pain of lying strapped to a board with your head clamp far exceeds that of dragging yourself up Simon Fell or any other part of the race. In my case, it was also the most painful part of the injury.
SAFETY GEAR IS ESSENTIAL, if slightly heavy. Even though I walked off the hill to Cold Cotes, I was grateful to have had a lid on, and also a survival bag/whistle which I could have used if it had been worse. The spare top which I was carrying was also useful.
TAKE IT STEADY, even those in the top ranks. Just remember, it's only a race. We may well joke about taking our brains out for the descents, but it's nice to still have one.
LIVE RESULTS ARE VERY GOOD. My brother saw on the web that I had retired, rang my wife and found out why, and offered to come over to Skipton(ish) Hospital to collect me and take me home. Good bit of technology.
THANKS AGAIN to all the organisers. I'll possibly/probably see you next year. Oh, it appears I've had a blow to the head... must still be a bit fuddled
. This race really gets under your skin doesn't it?I was 422nd on Ingleborough, possibly would have finished in about 5h07m judging by those who were at the same pace before I came off (average time of 40 riders around my place). I'm quite pleased with that as I had a target of 5h20m and last time (2008) it took me 6h33m to finish. It'd be nice to claim 5h07m as a finish time, which would put me in 401st; stretching credibility a bit though.
I'll send a slightly blurry hospital photo to Keith for the website, to add a touch of glamour to all those pictures of mud, sweat and gears.
Cheers,
Ian Knight, Chester - race no 233
PS - John R - I'll put my race number in the post to you. Didn't get round to taking it off until I got home.
