Are you giving up cycling?

I returned back to the office today and saw my colleagues for the first time in 6 weeks. It was great to be back to at work, 6 weeks of day time TV will send you bonkers! Everyone was asking how I was and the usual questions but one I was asked several times and stood out the most.

Are you going to give up cycling?

My answer is certainly not. It’s my passion, I’ve been cycling since I was a child, through school, into uni and now doing most of my miles on my commute to work. I want to live everyday to the max and enjoy my self. I might have been hurt this one time but I will bounce back and do many more miles.

When people tell me that cycling is dangerous. I always reply with the following

Most of the world’s population die in bed, I would rather spend as much time as possible out of bed.

And it just so happens that when out of bed I like to ride a bicycle 🙂

An update on how I’m doing as I know some of you are interested. I’m feeling a lot better, up and about more and moving my arm a little bit more freely. My physiotherapy is going well and my movements are improving, I still have limited movements in my arm and struggle to move it by its self. My clavicle is nearly fixed, I’ve got an update with an orthopaedic doctor in 2 weeks and by that time it should be nearly done.

How long till I’m back on the bike? Who knows, as soon as I can get back on the bike I will be on the turbo. I’m not going to put my self onto the road until I know I’m fully 100% fit.


16 thoughts on “Are you giving up cycling?

  1. Glad to hear your mending up quick! I guess the “are you going to give up cycling” is one of those questions you just expect to get asked after an accident and is one of the standard responses – similar to how everyone always asks “Did that hurt?” with tattoos!

    I wonder if they would ever consider asking if someone would give up driving (or any other activity for that matter) after an accident?

  2. Ask them:
    Why do they think it’s dangerous?
    What is the cause of the danger?
    (anticipating the obvious answer) then why do you drive a car, then?
    If you got hurt driving a car, would you give up driving?

    We all know their answers.
    Institutionalised Motorism.

  3. It would be like asking…

    Are you giving up eating, the day after a bad meal.

    Are you giving up drinking, the day after a heavy night out.

    Standard questions, the day after the night before. But I agree, cycling (and staying fit generally) is part of life.

    Are you giving up cycling? Er… no! Are you giving up breathing…..?

  4. Glad to hear you are getting better. I do like your answer to the question …

    Most of the world’s population die in bed, I would rather spend as much time as possible out of bed.

    and @WestfieldWander nice reply too.

  5. Got asked the very same question in 2008.

    More likely to die from booze (65% of all head injury admissions to A&E are booze related falls), more likely to die from cancer (1 in 3 people get cancer for a start), more likely to die from a heart attack (half a million a year iirc), more likely to die on a motor cycle (around 6 time more likely), more likely to die from a bee sting…

  6. glad your are progressing gaz, I too have been cycling ever since I was a kid and even sitting on a little seat on my mums bike before that. like you said live everyday to the max…….;-)

  7. I suffered exactly the same response from my cow-orkers: and the usual, “oh biking isn’t dangerous, but I am” jokey response didn;t go down as well as I thought it might. It’s hard to remember their concern is for your wellbeing. Eventually I found this, and it expressed how I felt biking best. The ones that ‘got it’ understand, and the ones that didn’t? Well, there really isn’t much point trying.

  8. I went through the same experience after breaking my collar bone in a cycling collision. Everybody thought I’d be mad to continue cycling, which as somebody here pointed out, is a bizarre response really. You don’t ask someone if they are going to stop walking if they’ve had a fall. Happy cycling!

  9. How you going with your healing dude? I did my clavicle around the same time as you last year after hitting a car (that drove in front of me at an intersection) while cycling home. Going in for surgery in a few weeks to remove the metal plate that was holding it together while it healed. Still have some tissue damage/issues but the physio is confident we’ll be able to get it sorted out over time and patience. Right now over 6 months after my prang I have about 90% original movement and strength in my shoulder/arm and pain is mostly pretty minimal apart from a few times when is spikes up after a long day. Looking forward to getting paid my compensation to buy a new bike! 😀

    1. I’m doing good thanks. Got full movement in my shoulder, the area is sore to touch, i’m unable to wear a seatbelt properly or wear a backpack as it hurts to do so.

      Good luck with getting it removed, I hope you have a full recover afterwards.

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