Fellow blogger Will Davies becomes the surprise subject of my first safety moment this year. After a coffee stop, Will was fiddling for change in his jersey pocket with one hand, and the other on his brakes as he was descending the wicked Col de la Croisette. It was a little too late when he realized he had picked up an uncomfortable amount of speed, and so squeezed the brakes not 'expecting' much braking force. His expectation turned out to be wrong instead as he found himself flying over the handlebars James Bond style and dipping into the road nose first. After some x-ray scans, his favorite Swiss clinic on the other side of the mountains told him he had a broken nose and a strained shoulder.
Will Davies could put most of us cyclists to shame any day. He's a classic mountain goat for starters, setting ridiculous climbing challenges every year and then going out and logging the miles on the French mountains through thick or thin. In 2008, Will climbed a total of 160,000 meters of vertical ascent. That translates to 525,000 feet or roughly one foot for every minute of the day of the year. He loves epic adventures, hairpin turns, and never misses a single Col sign for the photo ops.
For 2009, he declares his "Challenge" is to complete 100 mountain passes. For what? "To lose a few pounds," he snaps.
Holy crap. Now that's flahute.
You can read his adventures and see breathtaking photos on his blog Cycling Challenge. Its one of the best there is.
5 comments:
After seeing that picture, here's me wishing NYC was situated in the mountains.
Do Swiss clinics have hot nurses? I'll blow my nose any day.
Ha
Surprise subject indeed!
The worst part of the broken nose was when the doctor asked for a recent picture so he could see what it should look like.
I had to explain that some of the bumps were from a previous break (college, bouncer, another story ....) ;)
Only a minor crack, but it was hard cycling without sunglasses for quite a while ;)
regards
Ouch, that sucks. What's even worse is it looks like Will smashed one of his sunglasses lenses! I just got a pair of REAL Oakley, I hope they last forever on me haha.
Here's to a quick recovery of the nose, and brand new sunglasses!
Ouch indeed. I hope that heals pretty soon.
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