Andy out of hospital and on the road to recovery

I managed to speak briefly to Andy yesterday night while in the car park outside of East Croydon station. Not the ideal place to have a telephone conversation, so we agreed to talk the following day. I found myself in Knole, a National Trust property in Sevenoaks, Kent, and called around lunch time, having not enjoyed a sausage bap nor a 'cappuccino' that was nothing like those for sale in Costa Coffee or Caffe Nero.

Andy (right) on an early NVL ride

Andy got out of hospital yesterday and while he sounds relatively okay on the telephone, it's clear he's been through an ordeal. He told me his story. He came off the bike after riding over black ice and landed with a bang in the middle of the road. When he tried to pick up his bike, he realised that he was badly injured and once the adrenaline had worn off in a lot of pain. A man who was driving a car behind him stopped and asked if he was alright. He wasn't. It was not a case for dialling 111, but 999 and while the ambulance people told him to allow for up to a two-hour wait, it was there within 20 minutes and Andy was given gas and air and morphine to alleviate the pain, which completely disappeared.

At East Surrey Hospital near Redhill Andy underwent various tests including a CT scan and soon it was clear that he needed an operation. Plates and screws were needed to mend what turned out to be a broken hip bone and now he has been told no cycling for at least two months. He's off work and needs to inject himself with blood thinnners for the next six months to keep his blood thinned. My mum had to do the same after her hip replacement operation back in January 2019. Andy, incidentally, was almost given a new hip, but it wasn't necessary, he told me.

It looks like a long and frustrating journey back to good health, but if Andy puts the same determination into his recovery as he has his cycling then I see no reason why he won't be fit enough on 21 June when he plans to ride well over 200 miles in a day to Bodmin in Cornwall. That's his goal now: to make a complete recovery by the summer solstice. I have every faith in him doing that. It means, of course, that I'll be riding to Costa Coffee in Westerham alone for the next few weeks as Andy nurses himself back to good health. I'm hoping to drop round one day to say hello, but it's best to let him recover a little bit first.

We had a long chat on the phone about the type of diet he'll need to go on in order to successfully ride to Bodmin. We spoke about the time when I 'ran out of fuel' on one of the Black Horse rides and how a few Digestive biscuits got me moving again, but riding over 200 miles in a day he will need more than biscuits and is planning out how to eat the right foodstuffs to get him over the line. If you want to read more about Andy's Solstice plans and what he's thinking in terms of dietary requirements, click here  for more. I think you will also find a link about how to sponsor his ride.

As for Andy's state of mind, he seems to be handling his situation admirably, viewing it, perhaps, as a mixture of bad luck and an occupational hazard of cycling (to be avoided if possible). But it's happened, he's got a big ride planned for June 2022 and his motivation is to get better and get back on the road. You'll get there, Andy, I have no doubt. Get well soon. For more on this story, click here.