Cycle Crash

Four kilometers to Changi Beach. I was cycling happily en route to Changi Beach, albeit tired, with my friends Jonathan, Elton, Junsheng and Yue Long, along with Primer Zhihong and our Officer-in-Charge Mr. Yuen.

I was enjoying the wind as we sped downhill on our bicycles. Everyone was ahead of me because I was very tired, not to say that they weren't. My stamina prevented my body from performing any more physical activities, but my positive mindset, attitude, and will kept me going, and so did Mr. Yuen's positive reinforcements. 'Mind over matter,' Mr. Tay stated before the adventure began. I've heard that phrase from my mother before, but it wasn't relating to pain; it related to testing me if I could hold my laughter while she tickled me.

As I cycled downhill, I felt an intolerable itch on my right ear. My right hand let go of the grip to scratch my ear. I imagined it wouldn't be so bad because I was used to doing this.

As I proceeded to put back my right hand on the handle, the bike suddenly lost control and it made a sudden right turn, which put me off the pavement and on the grass. Frustrated, I tried to get back on the pavement. I tried to make a left turn in an attempt to get back on track, thinking that I've done it before so I can do it again. The accident took place in the blink of an eye.

With my attempt failing, I launched forward off of my bicycle and hit my upper left tooth. My helmet hit the ground and flew off, because it wasn't strapped on properly. I didn't bother strapping it on because it strangled me. As it flew off, I continued to crash on the ground. I zoned out for a few seconds before I regained consciousness.

I moved my hand away from my face, which was a pathetic attempt to protect my head, I saw something I've never experienced before : blood. I was bleeding, and there was a lot of it. 'I don't believe it,' I thought, and tried to spit to see and saw only more blood. Bright, led liquid dripped from my face. My chin was scraped and I didn't even realized I bit my lower lip, which left a surprisingly gaping hole. I reached for it and it was bleeding badly. My upper left tooth was also chipped. My right palm was wounded and my left knee gashed as well. My left pinky finger was scraped and I obtained a few more minor cuts. I was in a bad condition. Pain was something I couldn't feel then; Either I was used to physical pain, had a high tolerance for physical pain, or the shock was much greater for me to feel any pain.

As I woke from my state of oblivion, I heard my officer stopping the rest of my groupmates. He told me to gargle water to help my bleeding situation. He helped me apply first aid by cleaning my wounds, which was pouring water over my wounds and gently cleaning it with a piece of tissue paper. A Malay couple stopped by to aid us by giving us extra water and tissue paper. Mr. Yuen had already contacted Mr. Tay about my situation, and he was already en route to our location. I sat there, blankly staring into space : why did this happen? How was I so careless? Isn't this supposed to hurt? Then how come I'm not feeling any pain? It seemed as though everything was a blur and I did not understand a speck of detail. All I did was stare into space, shocked. Some people would probably be traumatized by an eye-opening experience like this. Probably most people would, but I wasn't.

Help arrived. Mr. Tay brought me to Loyang Point with Clement, a secondary 2 student junior, to bring me to a clinic. At Raffles Medical Clinic, they cleaned my wounds and sealed my busted lip with cream. The nurse then patched up my knee injury and my right palm gash. Then I was given a medical certificate stating that I was unfit for school.

Now here I am, reflecting on my recent experience and sharing it on my blog, open to all readers. To other cycling enthusiasts, all I can say is to be careful out there, no matter how proficient and experienced you are, because I don't want you to have the same, shocking experience I had.

Written on November 09, 2009
Actual incident occured on November 08, 2009.