Where In Sussex

Ok, so not everything goes to plan all the time…..

I’ve been doing well with the bike (in my opinion). I can now ride up the hill to my house (quite a mountain, I’ll have you know!), which I couldn’t when I started; I don’t feel huffed and puffed after 2 miles and I feel I’ve let myself down if I ride less than eight miles. The first five weeks saw me doing an average of 20 miles a week, the last five have been 34 miles a week. I’ve lost almost 11kg (that’s 1 stone and 10 lbs in old money or 24 lbs in American dollars). So what am I moaning about?

Well, I won’t go into the details of how I achieved this, as it is quite embarrassing, but needless to say I was being a bit of a prat. I dismounted my bike in an unorthodox way at an unscheduled time: I fell off. In the middle of Bexhill. In the middle of Friday afternoon.

Did it hurt? Oh, did it hurt! When you weigh as much as I do, and you put your arm down to stop yourself (YES! I know!) then you deserve all you get. I jarred my shoulder so badly I couldn’t move my arm. It was agony. But I am a big boy. And that means I’m male, so I just said “I’ll be OK” and tried to carry on.

After spending 5 painful minutes getting into my car, thirty minutes after the accident, I had to admit defeat, when I couldn’t shut the door or turn the key! One trip to Eastbourne Hospital (when I realised that my shoulder bone was sticking out in an alarming way), two x-rays and (thankfully) re-inflation of my arm later, I left the hospital, bruised, stiff, but knowing that I had no broken bones.

It’s now Monday and I am still sore, but keeping moving in the hope it fixes itself soon.

As for doing stupid things? I think I’ll give that a rest!