Unfortunate fate with bicycle - I NEARLY DIE!

I am back at Manchester for the third year of my medical course. The course now is based at Hope Hospital, which is about 7 miles away from where I live. Since I was informed that I will be placed at Hope, I have planned to cycle to the hospital everyday. Cyclist friends have been telling me how refreshing and amazing cycling is and I am of course absolutely convinced, being such a natural cyclist - I have never fall off my bicycle before - until this week.

Before buying the bicycle, I did think long and hard about the distance, the traffic, the maintenance etc. While I had those potential worries, I am sorely tempted by the prospect of burning off 800+ calories per day and saving money on transportation. So I bought a bicycle - Trek T10 for ladies which costs 276 pounds including helmet, light and puncture resistance tyres. I actually wanted a second hand one but they didn't have them on the store, so I chose the cheapest one available. This was last Saturday.

Excitedly, I thought I would try out the route to Hope on Sunday morning. I went out at around 7:30 as that was not a peak hour for traffic. Cycling was great, I enjoyed the breeze and the sense of freedom. The bits uphill was quite a bit of hard work, but it was not too bad for me. It took me about 50 minutes to an hour to reach my destination. Good job! After a quick rest, I started to make my way back home. Then I arrived at an roundabout tunnel. It was a downhill slope and I thought I could control the bicycle. I took the risk and I fell, abrasing my knee. But that was no big deal. The disaster came next. I was just at Chorlton Road when the paddle wouldn't go forward anymore. I pulled over and inspect the bike. An portion of the inflated bit of the front tyre was butting out of the wheel... what a scary sight! I tried in vain to force the it in. After a few minutes, there was a loud bang on the tyre, followed by another explosive bang. At that point, I was at least 5 miles away from home and I need rescuing... So I called Lauren to pick me and my bicycle up with her car, and luckily she was really kind enough to spend her Sunday morning helping me. And on Tuesday, I spent 2 hours dragging the bicycle with the punctured tyre to the shop for repair.

As I would not judge a person by first encounter, I was determined to count my fate with this bicycle because of this incident. Yesterday, again, I cycled first along Rusholme and Oxford Road to the student union for the freshers fayre. That was fine. Later on I made my way to Hope - another smooth journey. I managed to arrive in 40 minutes! After our venupuncture and cannulation session, I followed Tess to cycle back home. She cycled really quickly... About a mile away from the hospital, I tried to change lane by hand signal and the tyre sort of got trapped into the tram railing and I fell off my bike. This time was much scarier. I fell on the road and if the car at the back had not brake in time, I would have been run over. Disorientated for a while, I quickly regain my height, pull the bicycle to the pavement. A lady was asking me if I was all right, said loads of things to me but I just remembered that she said the tram line is known to be dead slippery.

I sat on the pavement for a half a minute to get my bearing. I stood up again, looked at the bike - the steering was twisted and locked to one side, the brake line and the chain came off. A fellow cyclist helped me put my steering facing forward again and put the brake line back. I fixed the steering alignment and the chain. But I decided that the bike was not safe to be ridden, and I was not safe to be riding, so I push the bicycle back to Hope's bicycle shed and went to A&E and get my wound on my knee and my hips sorted - don't worry, they only involve the skin. I was more worried of head injuries as the helmet did hit the road (having learnt about the effects of subdural hemorrhages etc). But I thought I was ok, still being able to push the bike all the way back and play sudoku in the waiting area. In A&E, the nurse gave me paracetamol while the doctor covered my knee with a dressing and gave me a tetanus jab. Then I left my bicycle locked at the hospital shed and took the tram back.

Now it's time for the pertinent question again: to cycle or not to cycle? I was first really put off by the punctured tyre on my first ride and now this accident seems to be an obvious indication for me not to continue cycling. True, I may be on my way making a nearly 300 pounds loss and daily deficit in 800+ calories burnt; but still, I can't risk my own life. When not at the verge of death, I always feel that death is nothing to be feared of. But at situation such as this accident, I was making a completely different stand. I don't want to die yet. I still have plenty of things to learn. I have yet to take a complete history from a patient. I have not tried abdo and respiratory examination on real patients. My effort in bringing my family together is still very much needed. I just have so much things to do. So, I've made up my mind. I will not take the risk of cycling anymore. I will no longer be cycling to Hope.