[Simon_MacMichael]

The idea for this thread came over the weekend when I was riding up the outside of a queue of traffic on the Kings Road, vehicles coming the other way, and approaching a zebra crossing foiund I couldn’t unclip my right foot … was so intent on trying to disengage it that it didn’t occur to me to unclip my left foot. 

Luckily managed to zig-zag through a gap in cars to the kerb and a friendly lamp post to hold on to while I sorted it out, but for a few seconds I thought I was going to end up under the area’s apex predator, Chelseaus Tractorus.

Topic

[wtjs]

the gold standard would have

the gold standard would have to be the RAF and AAC flight crews on Op Telic etc. who fly the aircraft into contested areas so that injured people can be cared for by the medical & surgical teams before they even take off

The Vietnam War was on over the holiday- it’s possible to greatly admire the Huey crews while weeping at the history of the region and understanding the desire of the NVA and VC to kill those engaged on CasEvac. My generation largely avoided such horrors

[OldRidgeback]

Our old house was close to

Our old house was close to Ruskin Park and we’d previously rented properties in the area. We got quite used to the Air Ambulance flying over as well. It wasn’t that disturbing. 

[AlsoSomniloquism]

Rendel Harris wrote:

Rendel Harris wrote:

Quite a sight and even more so if one was strolling in the park, a police car would come along and the officers would clear the space by the five-a-side pitches for the landing. 

As most of the Birmingham Childrens Hospital is old and in the centre of the city, this is the helipad. Police have to close all the roads nearest to it, (and now the cycle path). As the original main Police Station was just around the corner opposite the Hospital, I think they just grabbed the officers “off-duty” and sent them out when the call happened. But that has closed and now they are further afield I do wonder if there has ever been a delay in landing simply due to a delay in policing. 

[Rendel Harris]

Never noticed the fumes – to

Never noticed the fumes – to be honest, living on Denmark Hill they were a bit of a drop in the ocean; the noise never bothered me as the noise from the near-continuous ambulance traffic didn’t, when you know they’re off doing good why get annoyed? 

[lonpfrb]

Thanks for your patience with
Thanks for your patience with that, and for your support too. I hope it wasn’t too much pollution, no smell of Napalm in the morning, as JP1 that turbines run on is carefully controlled. As a qualified Pilot, I share your admiration for the skills and experience they show. However the gold standard would have to be the RAF and AAC flight crews on Op Telic etc. who fly the aircraft into contested areas so that injured people can be cared for by the medical & surgical teams before they even take off. There’s another connection in that many of the medical teams are not Regular, rather Reserve who have their day job in the NHS. So an awesome public service on several fronts.

There’s still a lot of respect for military training in the Aviation industry and recycling into a variety of flight uses. I wouldn’t be surprised if AA was one of those where tax pounds invested were providing valuable returns.

I hope that you never need the Air Ambulance, and thanks for contributing.

[Rendel Harris]

I would quite likely have

I would quite likely have seen your helicopter land as back then we lived about 100m up Denmark Hill from the hospital, opposite Ruskin Park, and the helicopter used to go over our flats as it descended into the park, could see it coming in low from the kitchen window – felt quite Vietnamish sometimes! Quite a sight and even more so if one was strolling in the park, a police car would come along and the officers would clear the space by the five-a-side pitches for the landing. Kids absolutely loved it and the pilots were great if they were waiting, quite happy for the youngsters to come up and have a look in the cockpit. Very skilled too, bringing it in to such a tight space, though I did worry on windy days with so many trees around when it looked quite hairy at times; I was happy to put in a few bob for the helipad to make the service quicker and safer. As you say, it’s ridiculous that the AA is a charity still; the London Air Ambulance is currently appealing to raise £15M to replace its two helicopters before they are compulsorily retired in 2024. I’ve given a modest donation, I hope I never need it as you did but it’s vital that we keep it.

[lonpfrb]

Eight years ago, waking up in
Eight years ago, waking up in Kings College Hospital, Stoke ward, with no recollection of how I got there (Air Ambulance) or why (Cycle ride, RTC). Owing to the brain injury I have no recollection to this day, just cycle computer data that shows 30mph, followed by 0mph a second later. So clear evidence of a hard stop, yet not a mark on the bike. Spesh helmet, Snell Foundation, fully destroyed.

No motorist involved, other than the lady who saw a body in a ditch and kindly called 999. Fortunately the Ambulance service call quickly established the need for both ground and air ambulance. Even luckier, the one helicopter that serves Kent and Sussex (bigger than most people think) wasn’t busy attending a motorway crash.

The four London Trauma specialist centres include Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill which didn’t have a H pad on site, so used to land in the nearest park and transfer by ground ambulance. So time lost getting to the Operating Theatre, during the first ‘golden hour’ after a major trauma. Happily KCH does now have a rooftop H pad for straight to Theatre travel, thanks to the kind donations of many wonderful people. Bizarrely the Air Ambulance, needed by the most urgent cases, remains a Charity, not public funded like ground ambulance, less urgent.

Many months later, once I was able, I worked with the Police, Scene of Crime Officer, to investigate the cause (Continuous Improvement) however we could not determine one based on evidence or even the balance of probability.

Ride safe, and far..

[OldRidgeback]

I was a teenager out on my

I was a teenager out on my bright red Falcon 10 speed and I was charging down a narrow, steep and twisty stretch of road on the north side of Edinburgh. As I rounded a corner there in front of me was a JCB coming up the hill towards me and taking up most of the road. I hauled on the brakes and somehow managed to slither past it in the narrow gap between a stone wall and the JCB bucket, all the while with the back wheel locked up.

Only afterwards did I have an ‘oh shit’ moment. Of course, nobody wore helmets in those days.

It was my fault completely for riding like a nut on a narrow road with such poor sightlines. I learned a lesson without getting injured.

[Xenophon2]

After riding up Rohtang pass

After riding up Rohtang pass in Northern India there was a massive traffic queue with trucks stuk in knee-deep mud (a bulldozer was actually pushing them through).  No problem as there was a 50 cm wide shoulder.  On the left hand a wall of trucks, on the right hand an abyss.  Young and foolish, I risked it on my MTB.  Everything went well, until I literally felt the ground shift under my rear wheel.  Down I went but I was very, very lucky that at that spot it wasn’t a sheer drop but rather a very steep incline formed by earth/small rocks that had come down and I got stuck 8 meter down, the bike a bit lower.  Truckers used ropes to haul me up.  Nothing except some scrapes and bruises but on that occasion I think I used up 4 of my 9 lives.

[Blackhawks]

i was working my way back to

i was working my way back to full fitness after several months off following a pretty drastic interaction with a car and was out for a week’s training in the Pyrenees foothills.  Coming up to a village we indulge in our usual game of “sprint to the sign post” and i get the jump.  Realising i had won that particular battle I turn aound to look over my shoulder to check/gloat about my prowess but in doing so I apply a little side steer to the bike, which i become aware of as the ride become decidedly lumpy as i mount the grass verge.  Realising my error i return to face frontwards and at that moment the pole of the town sign flashes past the end of my nose.  A few more wobbles and I regain the road and total control.  The thought of that very close shave folowing my long rehab left me quaking until the next cafe stop.

 

[AlsoSomniloquism]

I dislocated my kneecap

I dislocated my kneecap playing indoor football 20 years ago. Paramedics attended, gave me Gas/Air then “popped” it back in place. The pain then was excruciating with the tingly drugs, so god knows what it would have been like without it. 

[Kapelmuur]

Topical in view of current

Topical in view of current weather, thought there was a wet patch on a corner which turned out to be black ice and falling with all my weight onto my hip.

Very painful and couldn’t put any weight on my right leg, convinced I had broken my hip.

The paramedic (this was 5 years ago when ambulances attended accidents) manipulated my leg causing me to shout with pain whereupon the paramedic cheerfully advised that if the hip was broken the pain would have been much more severe.

He was right, X-rays showed ligament damage, 4 weeks on crutches and 6 weeks until I was cycling again.

[peted76]

My first ride back from a

My first ride back from a pretty bad broken elbow which had seen me in hospital and off the bike for months, we headed to climb Edgehill, it’s a bit of a killer with it’s inconsistent gradient which hits 12% a couple of times up the twisting sub-1km climb.

Anyway.. it was descending Edgehill that day which I’ll never forget. It sweeps left which you can get round without scrubbing speed, then a hard right where most would brake in advance of the final fast left, then it’s flat out ‘don’t have gears made for this’ speed.. However, in my case that day, at the ‘scrub some speed’ corner, my front brake didn’t bite at all and as the bike was newly repaired/replaced, the rear rim brake couldn’t have been set up quite right, so at ??odd mph going down a 12% hill the rear brake wasn’t doing much at all to slow me down.. anyway I got round that first corner okay but was still gaining speed and had the final corner to negotiate… I remember the terror of realisation turning into the terror of the upcoming corner and the dwindling choices available to me.. so I screamed my way around the left hand corner while drifting wide into the oncoming traffic lane and even skimmed/rode onto/up the roadside grass banked verge..

Thank goodness for no traffic in the opposite direction, thank goodness I didn’t drift further up the banked verge. My mate of course was completely oblivious to my screams, as with all the confidence in the world he’d shot off in front at the top. I on the other hand have had this seared into my brain ever since and to this day (years later) do not naturally decend very well. 

 

P.S I just checked and the ‘fastest I’ve ever gone down a 1.08km Edgehill segment according to Strava was 50seconds averaging at 77.8km/h with a max speed of 86.8km/h ..I’m not saying I went down there at that speed on the unforgettable day above, but you can see why it put the willies up me!

[mark1a]

jh2727 wrote:

JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote:

jaymack wrote:

A number of very large cows each full of bovine malice just loitering in the road. Not a thought for other road users as I whizzed around an Ashdown Forest bend. The solution was of course the best bunny hop I’ve ever done onto the grass verge. Sadly the verge was in fact a sea of mud and, with the wholly predictable but somehow unforseen change in traction, I ended a rather soggy heap. Still no one else was there to bear witness and I don’t think it’s on my Strava stat’s so perhaps it never actually happened despite the indelible grubby mark on the left shoulder of my then days old winter top.

I bet those cows don’t pay road tax

Given the emissions they put out, you’d expect the VED to be enourmous.

Depends on whether they were calved before or after April 2017.

[jh2727]

JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote

JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote:

jaymack wrote:

A number of very large cows each full of bovine malice just loitering in the road. Not a thought for other road users as I whizzed around an Ashdown Forest bend. The solution was of course the best bunny hop I’ve ever done onto the grass verge. Sadly the verge was in fact a sea of mud and, with the wholly predictable but somehow unforseen change in traction, I ended a rather soggy heap. Still no one else was there to bear witness and I don’t think it’s on my Strava stat’s so perhaps it never actually happened despite the indelible grubby mark on the left shoulder of my then days old winter top.

I bet those cows don’t pay road tax

Given the emissions they put out, you’d expect the VED to be enourmous.

[Author]

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