# I fainted at the top of a steep hill on my ride today!



## ColinJ (17 Jun 2016)

Well, THAT was embarrassing ... I went out on my bike this afternoon to meet a couple of friends at the cafe in Heptonstall, which is towards the top of a tough climb. I felt ok on the bike but was pushing myself a bit harder on the climb than I normally do because I was about 10 minutes late.

I got to the cafe and spotted my pals sitting at the tables at the front of it. I sprinted up the last few metres of cobbles, leapt off my bike (looking suitably knackered), jokingly said _"Maybe I am getting too old for this!_" but then realised that I felt really giddy. 

My friend gave up her chair and I slumped down on it. I sensed the signs of an impending faint so I stretched my legs out, took the chewing gum from my mouth, and rested my head on the back of my chair. Next thing I knew, I came round with panic all around me. Somebody had phoned for an ambulance, and someone had brought me a glass of water, someone else a cold, damp flannel for my feverish brow.

I was told that I had gone into a deep faint and all the blood had drained from my face. I had looked like I might be dead and had been unresponsive for a couple of minutes! 

A first responder arrived and was dealing with me until an ambulance arrived. I was helped into the back of that and the paramedics did a battery of tests: ECG, blood oxygen saturation, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. There may have been others, I was still groggy ...

My blood pressure was at 105/... whereas it is normally more like 115/... They said it had probably been significantly lower when I fainted.

I was perking up the whole time that this was going on. Eventually the paramedics said that although it seemed to be a faint brought on by over-exertion, they would like to take me to hospital for observation. I considered it, but decided not to go. It felt exactly like the dozen or so faints that I have had in the past. I am obviously prone to them. I had discussed this subject with my consultant at the time of my blood clotting problems and lots of tests were done. I got the all-clear back then. I signed a refusal form and said that I would take it easy for the next day or two. They were kind enough to take me, my bike and my friends down into Hebden Bridge. It didn't seem sensible to ride my bike down the hill when I was in that state!

I lay down and slept for an hour at my friends' house and after that they made me a meal. I decided to be sensible and came back to Todmorden by train this evening to avoid a 7 km ride down the A646.

I'm not feeling too bad sat here with my laptop, but I certainly wouldn't fancy riding up any steep hills right now!

Some people think that I made a full recovery from my clots of 2012/2013 but actually I have felt physically vulnerable ever since then. I am ok making efforts up to a certain level, maybe short bursts of 90%, but if I go beyond that I start to feel the strain and I think I pushed a bit too hard today.

Anyway ... an eventful day! Thanks to everyone who was kind and considerate to me, but a virtual slap on the wrist for the motorist who complained to one paramedic that the ambulance was blocking his way out of a car park! (He did not know what was going inside. For all he knew, I might have had a heart attack.)


----------



## Katherine (17 Jun 2016)

Oh dear! Maybe you have found your limit? Glad you are ok and that you weren't out on your own when you fainted.


----------



## MartinQ (17 Jun 2016)

Lucky you got to the top / recognized the symptoms. Put your feet up for a few days.


----------



## Zeffer (17 Jun 2016)

You dealt with that very well! Sounds like you got very good paramedics as well. Time to visit the GP?


----------



## gavroche (17 Jun 2016)

It looks like you will have to avoid steep hills for a while. Listen to your body and take it easy. A trip to your doctor would be advisable too I think. Easy does it.


----------



## Turdus philomelos (17 Jun 2016)

I had a similar fright wi ma John a couple of years back after a long cycle.

To cut a scàry for me, long story short, discovered he has hypocobalaminemia, vitamin B deficiency. He now has to go for a jab of vitamin B every 8 weeks.


----------



## ColinJ (17 Jun 2016)

Zeffer said:


> You dealt with that very well! Sounds like you got very good paramedics as well. Time to visit the GP?


I have had lots of tests done over the past 4 years. ECGs (or whatever they call them these days), CT scans, X-rays, blood tests, urine tests, heart ultrasound, kidney function, lung function, blood oxygen, blood clotting tests, and probably others that I have forgotten about. The only thing they found wrong was the blood clots and the damage caused by them.

I am having lifetime meds (warfarin) for the clotting problems, so at the moment there doesn't seem a lot more to be done. I am keeping my weight under control, have given up alcohol, don't do (non-prescribed!) drugs, eat a healthy diet, and ride my bike and walk a lot.

If something like this happens unprovoked then I will definitely seek further advice, but for now I will limit my cycling efforts to sub-90%!


----------



## ColinJ (17 Jun 2016)

Turdus philomelos said:


> I had a similar fright wi ma John a couple of years back after a long cycle.
> 
> To cut a scàry for me, long story short, discovered he has hypocobalaminemia, vitamin B deficiency. He now has to go for a jab of vitamin B every 8 weeks.


I'm glad John is ok now!

I was also tested for anaemia, and I have been taking vitamin B complex for a few years now 'for insurance'.

I have just remembered having a bone density scan and a kidney scan as well as all the other tests mentioned above.


----------



## EltonFrog (17 Jun 2016)

Glad you're okay Colin, take it easy for a bit.


----------



## winjim (17 Jun 2016)

Yikes. But if your biggest worry was embarrassment, I reckon you're doing OK. Maybe just stop showing off with those sprint finishes.


----------



## Dave 123 (17 Jun 2016)

Scary!
I'm glad you pulled through. Take it easy.


----------



## ColinJ (17 Jun 2016)

winjim said:


> Yikes. But if your biggest worry was embarrassment, I reckon you're doing OK. *Maybe just stop showing off with those sprint finishes*.


Yes, I think that was the icing on a rather crumbly cake! 

Those of a sadistic nature can relive my pain by Street viewing your way up the climb HERE. (Bear left halfway up.) The cafe is about 50 yards up the cobbles on the right in the village. You can see the chair that I collapsed on by the door of the cafe, occupied by a bearded man.


----------



## YahudaMoon (17 Jun 2016)

Colin, glad your OK, take it easy mate


----------



## Milkfloat (17 Jun 2016)

Wow, what luck you actually made it to the top of the hill and somewhere safe. I would say get well soon, but sounds like you are in it for the long haul again.


----------



## numbnuts (17 Jun 2016)

Take care Colin


----------



## YahudaMoon (17 Jun 2016)

I get dizzy sometimes climbing air frames day in, day out in my job, I think Im getting old for my career


----------



## steve50 (17 Jun 2016)

that is one hell of a climb up to Heptonstall village, I have never attempted to cycle it but have driven up it a time or two, it is not for the faint hearted by any stretch of the imagination.I'm glad you're ok Colin, take it easy fella, we are not as young as we used to be.


----------



## Pat "5mph" (17 Jun 2016)

I second @steve50's comment about ageing 
Glad you're ok @ColinJ but take it easy, we are not as young as we used to be!


----------



## Sea of vapours (17 Jun 2016)

Glad you're OK, Colin. Shall I book an ambulance to meet us at the top of White Shaw Moss (the gated climb from Dentdale to Kingsdale) on the 2nd July? Alternatively, maybe you could volunteer for gate opening duty and thus mildly reduce your exertion?


----------



## Glow worm (18 Jun 2016)

Relieved you're OK Colin. Its been great to read about you getting back in the saddle after your health problems. Take it easy fella and all the very best


----------



## ColinJ (18 Jun 2016)

[QUOTE 4327181, member: 9609"]that s one seriously steep climb, bike hike make it at 440' ascent in 0.7 mile (630' per mile) that is steeper than the biggest climb in the borders. What gear would you be doing that in ?[/QUOTE]
The lowest one that I have! 

The CAAD5 that I was riding used to have a bottom gear of 39/29 so that was what I rode then. I always felt overgeared though so I converted the bike to a triple and now have a much more comfortable 28/29 bottom gear which I can spin rather than grind.



Sea of vapours said:


> Glad you're OK, Colin. Shall I book an ambulance to meet us at the top of White Shaw Moss (the gated climb from Dentdale to Kingsdale) on the 2nd July? Alternatively, maybe you could volunteer for gate opening duty and thus mildly reduce your exertion?


The flaw in your suggestion is that I would need to be the first one to the gate, which is not going to happen unless the rest of you stop for a chat at the bottom while I go on ahead! 

My confidence has been knocked a bit by this but I am hoping that it is only a temporary blip. I have been doing much harder hills than that and not having problems so I should have been ok. 

I hope to do the Humber ride from York next weekend. That is a long ride, but flat, so I don't expect problems unless I am coming down with a bug, or have a more fundamental health issue.


----------



## Pale Rider (18 Jun 2016)

Looks like it's where I and everyone else except @Littgull parted company with @ColinJ on a recent forum ride.

We'd had enough of hills by then, but fair play to the pair of them for taking it on.

It does look steep, although on the OS map it doesn't have any of those nasty little black arrows to denote sharp gradients.

By the look of it, the road up the other side of the valley to Horsehold is steeper.

http://binged.it/1Pz9tWx

Edit: Look like Bing maps doesn't want to link to the OS map.


----------



## EltonFrog (18 Jun 2016)

If you feel dizzy again Colin try and find somewhere to lie down with your feet above your head resting on a wall or something, works for me if I over do it.


----------



## Turdus philomelos (18 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> I have been taking vitamin B complex for a few years now 'for insurance'.



For this condition taking a supplement is ineffective Colin. I would just pop it back on the to do check list when you next see the doc.


----------



## ColinJ (18 Jun 2016)

Pale Rider said:


> Looks like it's where I and everyone else except @Littgull parted company with @ColinJ on a recent forum ride.
> 
> We'd had enough of hills by then, but fair play to the pair of them for taking it on.
> 
> ...


Yes, that is the hill that I went up with Littgull, though I think we stayed on Lee Wood Rd halfway up and took the longer, easier way up to Slack.

Horsehold is a brute, but it is a no through road, only serving a few hilltop farms, so I have only done it a couple of times on a road bike (just to see if I could!). I don't even go all of the way up on my MTB or CX bikes now, preferring to turn left up the offroad route past Weasal Hall. 

The worst climb nearby is Church Lane/Mytholm Steeps, the most direct route up to Blackshaw Head. I have about a 50% success rate on that one. I make it up the multiple 16-20% sections, but the short double chevron section at 25% often defeats me. Here is a picture that I took after one emergency dismount ...!









CarlP said:


> If you feel dizzy again Colin try and find somewhere to lie down with your feet above your head resting on a wall or something, works for me if I over do it.


I have been talking to my friends and they said that I actually stood chatting to them for several seconds before I grabbed the chair, fearing collapse. 

I have poor circulation in my left leg now because of damage to the valves in the veins of that leg caused by the DVT of 2012. It can cause the blood to pool in my left calf, which swells up. A couple of CycleChatters have commented on it on recent forum rides. I

One of my friends commented after the faint yesterday that I have a varicose vein on the back of my calf muscle. That is a post-DVT legacy.

I suspect that if I had done as you suggest, I might have got away with it by using gravity to drain the blood back towards my heart rather than away from it when I was standing post-climb. Still, I think that prevention is better than a cure. I will accept a more sedate pace on the steeper climbs for now!



Turdus philomelos said:


> For this condition taking a supplement is ineffective Colin. I would just pop it back on the to do check list when you next see the doc.


I read about that problem at the time that I got ill. I wondered why some people needed vit B injections when others just take supplements. Turns out that the injections are needed when the digestive system is unable to absorb vit B from food. I don't have anaemia so I must be ok with that.


----------



## Pale Rider (18 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> Yes, that is the hill that I went up with Littgull, though I think we stayed on Lee Wood Rd halfway up and took the longer, easier way up to Slack.
> 
> Horsehold is a brute, but it is a no through road, only serving a few hilltop farms, so I have only done it a couple of times on a road bike (just to see if I could!). I don't even go all of the way up on my MTB or CX bikes now, preferring to turn left up the offroad route past Weasal Hall.
> 
> ...



I saw the Church Lane climb on the OS map - it has a second pair of chevrons further up.

I've done double chevron climbs on the 20" wheel ebike, although the front wheel gets very light - I usually pop a couple of involuntary wheelies.


----------



## MartinQ (18 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> I suspect that if I had done as you suggest, I might have got away with it by using gravity to drain the blood back towards my heart rather than away from it when I was standing post-climb. Still, I think that prevention is better than a cure. I will accept a more sedate pace on the steeper climbs for now!



Must admit, I feel a bit dizzy most of the time and its this that really stops me from doing any decent rides these days (as you may have noticed :-)). A couple of years ago I came off my bike and ended up in a ditch for no real reason - flattish road, nothing else around, road reasonably decent .... Stay safe ....


----------



## Pale Rider (18 Jun 2016)

I sometimes feel a bit dizzy when I strain up a modest slope on my push bike.

That's plenty of exertion for me.

Much as I like cycling, no point in risking what is colloquially known as a 'gripper' for it.


----------



## Mrs M (18 Jun 2016)

Happy to hear you're ok 
Sounds like your friends and helpers did a great job.
Take care x


----------



## ColinJ (18 Jun 2016)

MartinQ said:


> Must admit, I feel a bit dizzy most of the time and its this that really stops me from doing any decent rides these days (as you may have noticed :-)). A couple of years ago I came off my bike and ended up in a ditch for no real reason - flattish road, nothing else around, road reasonably decent .... Stay safe ....


That's what put paid to a Scottish Great Uncle's cycling. He had cycled since he was a boy, but he ended up in a ditch for about the third time in his mid-80s and his doctor said "_Och, I think maybe it is time to hang up your wheels ..._"! I think a dodgy sense of balance was the main problem. I'd be inclined to switch to a tricycle in that eventuality.

Well, I was sensible today, _for once_ ... I woke up feeling annoyed with that hill, and decided to cycle over, tackle it again, and actually make it into that cafe for my coffee and cake. Then I paused, thought better of it, and settled for a quiet day in instead. I still have a fuzzy head from yesterday so I decided to be kind to myself and rest.

I had a £15 eBay voucher which had to be redeemed by midnight so I spent an hour shopping around and bought a USB microphone for the home music studio that I am setting up. I got THIS ONE for £24.99 which seems a bargain. I have listened to some sample recordings and they seemed fine to my ageing ears.

I'm not sure if everybody installing the eBay app gets that £15 discount but it is worth checking if you intend to spend £30+ on one item. As I mentioned above - I think the offer closes at midnight tonight, but that may just be the voucher that I was sent.


----------



## phil_hg_uk (18 Jun 2016)

Take care of yourself @ColinJ I remember the last time you were determined to ride up a big hill (otley chevin) fortunately the road works stopped you.


----------



## Buck (18 Jun 2016)

Blooming eck @ColinJ 

Glad you are OK - reading your first post I was worried what the ending was going to be. Glad it was "only" a fainting episode.

That hill is the one we came down last year on the ride I did with you as I remember the junction at the bottom - it was bad enough coming down let alone going up!

Take it steady and recover well


----------



## shouldbeinbed (19 Jun 2016)

Fingers crossed it was just a faint, sounds like you have experience of them and the t-shirt of tests already. Take it steady and wait for the sunshine


----------



## HLaB (19 Jun 2016)




----------



## ColinJ (19 Jun 2016)

I think I might have an easy spin on my gym bike tomorrow morning and see what happens. If that is ok, I'll turn the resistance up a bit and carry on. If that is ok too, then I will venture out on the road and get a few miles in.

Assuming all of that doesn't reveal any problems, then I need to do a couple of harder rides to see if I am going to be able to do the long Humber forum ride from York on Saturday. And I'll need that Humber ride to reassure me that I am going to be able to do my own forum ride in the Yorkshire Dales the following Saturday. That is over 4 extremely demanding climbs which are much harder than the Heptonstall Rd climb so I need to be confident that this fainting malarkey was a one-off.


----------



## Littgull (19 Jun 2016)

I've been away for a few days and was alarmed when I read @ColinJ post headline and account. Thank goodness you are ok Colin and that there were pals at hand in the cafe at Heptonstall.

Please take great care, Colin. There are years of quality cycling left in you yet and we will enjoy many more of your superb forum rides. The sheer volume of friends posting their good wishes and relief that you are ok must tell you how concerned everybody is who know you.

Seems a wise strategy you have outlined above over the coming week, but make sure you withdraw if you feel the slightest bit uneasy.

I really wish I could make the Settle/Yorkshire Dales ride in early July so I could get you and your bike there by car but as you know the summer months for me are chocka block with family and other commitments. I don't tghink you should risk putting too much physical demands on yourself by riding part way to the start and then doing a very challenging ride.

Take care.


----------



## ColinJ (20 Jun 2016)

Littgull said:


> I've been away for a few days and was alarmed when I read @ColinJ post headline and account. Thank goodness you are ok Colin and that there were pals at hand in the cafe at Heptonstall.
> 
> Please take great care, Colin. There are years of quality cycling left in you yet and we will enjoy many more of your superb forum rides. The sheer volume of friends posting their good wishes and relief that you are ok must tell you how concerned everybody is who know you.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Brian.

I had been feeling stronger on the bike since our long ride in Cheshire a couple of weeks ago so this setback came as a bit of a shock. I didn't feel bad doing most of the climb but when I hit the short stretch of cobbles before the cafe, I suddenly ran out of steam and faltered. 

TBH, I'm not sure what the problem was. Hopefully, it won't happen again. I will certainly try to avoid triggering further problems, but I don't want to sit in the house all summer and rest myself to death! 

I will feel happier about coming forum rides once I have done a couple of uneventful local rides, and especially once I have got up some climbs without medical assistance being required!


----------



## Wobblers (20 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> Thanks, Brian.
> 
> I had been feeling stronger on the bike since our long ride in Cheshire a couple of weeks ago so this setback came as a bit of a shock. I didn't feel bad doing most of the climb but when I hit the short stretch of cobbles before the cafe, I suddenly ran out of steam and faltered.
> 
> ...



It _sounds _like a rather extreme episode of postural hypotension - leaping off your bike the way you say means all the blood would have rushed to your feet rather than your head where it's needed! @CarlP's quite right: if you start to feel dizzy, the first thing you need to do is get your head low - between your knees ideally. I get the occasional dizzy spell on standing up and this always works for me. It's still doubtless worth talking to your doctor or consultant about it.

Doubtless you'll be fine - just remember to make a more decorous entrance in the future!  Anyway, glad to read that it wasn't anything worse (and that you're already contemplating re-tackling that hill!)


----------



## ColinJ (20 Jun 2016)

McWobble said:


> It _sounds _like a rather extreme episode of postural hypotension - leaping off your bike the way you say means all the blood would have rushed to your feet rather than your head where it's needed! @CarlP's quite right: if you start to feel dizzy, the first thing you need to do is get your head low - between your knees ideally. I get the occasional dizzy spell on standing up and this always works for me. It's still doubtless worth talking to your doctor or consultant about it.
> 
> Doubtless you'll be fine - just remember to make a more decorous entrance in the future!  Anyway, glad to read that it wasn't anything worse (and that you're already contemplating re-tackling that hill!)


That's what I initially thought, but now I am beginning to suspect mild concussion ... I had forgotten that I whacked my head quite hard on Thursday afternoon, 21 hours before my faint! 

That's why I am delaying getting back on my bike - I want to make sure that I am ok before risking it, and the first ride will be an easy one.


----------



## raleighnut (21 Jun 2016)

Just a thought but could you have been a touch dehydrated.


----------



## ColinJ (21 Jun 2016)

[QUOTE 4331414, member: 9609"]were you wearing helmet, you've been told of the benefits [/QUOTE]
Ha ha - It was in the kitchen of a property that I was helping my sister to get ready before new tenants moved in. I had just manoeuvred a heavy washing machine under a worktop in the corner of the room and then stood up, forgetting that we'd had a cupboard moved to just above where I had been bending. The corner of it dug into the top of my head with a mighty 'thud' which made my sister wince! The wound bled for quite a while, no doubt due to my warfarin-'thinned' blood. 

The first thing that I thought was to start a "_Best helmet for headbutting kitchen cupboards?_" thread!


----------



## ColinJ (21 Jun 2016)

raleighnut said:


> Just a thought but could you have been a touch dehydrated.


Thanks, but no - I had only ridden 4 miles and I had plenty to drink before I set off.


----------



## fossyant (21 Jun 2016)

Have you seen a GP yet for a check over ?


----------



## ColinJ (21 Jun 2016)

fossyant said:


> Have you seen a GP yet for a check over ?


Nope - If my symptoms were getting worse (or staying the same) then I _would _go to the doctor but there isn't much that they could do at this point other than send me for a brain scan. I don't know if they would suggest that, but I don't want to have one if I can help it. I am fairly sure that I already have brain damage from past traumas but I don't want a scan to reveal the extent of any damage. I find it hard enough to be optimistic about my future without somebody confirming that there is something serious wrong with my brain, which will inevitably get worse, and that they can't fix! I would rather cling to the vague hope that I am going to be ok, and struggle on. (There may be little chance of winning the lottery, but there is _SOME _chance - if there was _NO_ chance, nobody would buy a ticket!)

I'm doing everything that is on the NHS concussion checklist - no alcohol/drugs, resting, trying to avoid further impacts, watching out for any signs of problems (loss of memory, slurring speech, balance problems etc.) and so on.

If I were going to seek medical help, then really I should have gone soon after the head injury in case anything sinister developed in the first few hours. (Ok, yes - or after I fainted, but I had overlooked the possible concussion! ).

I am 4 days on now and feeling better with each day that passes. I felt like I had a bad hangover on Saturday, a moderate one on Sunday, a mild one yesterday, and today I feel just a little below par, probably partly because I have been slobbering around since Friday and need some exercise. 

I fancy going out on my bike today, but I am going to leave it at least another day, to be on the safe side.

So, I suppose that I was foolish not to go to the hospital on Friday but I seem to have got away with it.


----------



## ColinJ (22 Jun 2016)

One of the friends who was with me up at the cafe at the top of the steep hill when I collapsed on Friday rang me up this morning to ask how I was. I said that I was feeling much better, though still just a bit dazed. I hadn't been on the bike since the Friday incident but was hoping to do a short ride today to see how I was on the bike. She then asked me if I fancied meeting her at the same hilltop cafe ... 

I pointed out that it wasn't the best idea she'd ever had! 

I met her at the cafe in the park in Hebden Bridge instead, an almost flat 5 mile ride each way along the valley from here. I'm pleased to report that I felt good on the bike. I took it easy on the way there, whizzing along with a tailwind. Since that went well, I made a bit more of an effort coming back into the wind and almost managed the same speed.

I feel better now than I did before I went out. I needed some fresh air after spending 4 days mostly cooped up in the house.

I'll try doing a moderately hilly 20-30 mile ride tomorrow. That will give me a better idea of how I would cope with the long York-Humber forum ride on Saturday. I did the equivalent of about 10% of that today.


----------



## Ian H (22 Jun 2016)

If it's any consolation, I have seen a rider faint at the end of a 24hr on occasion. Extreme effort will have consequences.


----------



## ColinJ (22 Jun 2016)

Ian H said:


> If it's any consolation, I have seen a rider faint at the end of a 24hr on occasion. Extreme effort will have consequences.


I wouldn't be surprised to faint after 24 hours of hard riding. In my case, it was only 30 _minutes ... _! 

I'm more and more convinced that my problem was due to mild concussion. My head took a big hit the day before my ride, so I am lucky if that is the only problem arising from it.


----------



## Spinney (30 Jun 2016)

You mentioned blood pooling in your legs due to valve damage - do you wear any kind of compression socks to help prevent that?
(Just wondering - may help even though you now think it was more likely to be due to concussion).


----------



## ColinJ (30 Jun 2016)

[QUOTE 4345541, member: 76"]Please tell us you said "Just put me back on the bloody bike"[/QUOTE]
Not quite, but when I was recovering in the ambulance and the paramedics were doing their tests, I asked them what happens to the bike when they take an injured or ailing cyclist to hospital. They said that the bike is usually 'taken into custody' by the police for safe keeping.



Spinney said:


> You mentioned blood pooling in your legs due to valve damage - do you wear any kind of compression socks to help prevent that?
> (Just wondering - may help even though you now think it was more likely to be due to concussion).


I have been wearing knee-length light compression socks most of the time for the past couple of years, except during baths, or showers, or when in bed. They definitely make my legs feel more comfortable when I am standing still for a significant length of time e.g. when cooking meals. I wear them on the bike too but not in hot conditions because I tend to overheat. I wasn't wearing them on the day I blacked out.

My friends have told me that I was actually standing for a couple of minutes before slumping into the chair. That surprises me - I had thought it was only a few seconds, but I suppose that I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time!

I am fairly sure about the concussion. It is 2 weeks since I banged my head and I am still not 100% recovered. I'm ok generally but I still feel a bit 'fuzzy-headed', as if I have a hangover. Since I have not touched alcohol for 4 years, I know THAT is not to blame! 

Still, I am improving day by day, and back enjoying my cycling. I did 113 miles on the Humber Bridge forum ride last Saturday with no ill effects.


----------



## Spinney (30 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> Still, I am improving day by day, and back enjoying my cycling. I did 113 miles on the Humber Bridge forum ride last Saturday with no ill effects.


That's more than I could do!


----------



## ColinJ (30 Jun 2016)

Spinney said:


> That's more than I could do!


It was a _very_ flat route!


----------



## classic33 (30 Jun 2016)

ColinJ said:


> Not quite, but when I was recovering in the ambulance and the paramedics were doing their tests, I asked them what happens to the bike when they take an injured or ailing cyclist to hospital. They said that the bike is usually 'taken into custody' by the police for safe keeping.
> 
> My friends have told me that I was actually standing for a couple of minutes before slumping into the chair. That surprises me - I had thought it was only a few seconds, but I suppose that I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time!
> 
> ...



The brainscan(EEG) might show something not working, but I'd not let that put having it done. It might rule one thing out. Pain free, but fun cleaning the hair afterwards.

My bike ended up in the ambulance with me a few years ago, when I was picked up of the road following a fit whilst riding home. Having signed the release at the A&E, I rode home after.


----------



## ColinJ (30 Jun 2016)

I couldn't really see the police sending a car out just to pick up a bicycle!  If the police had been called out to an RTA involving a cyclist, yes - they would probably take charge of the bike then

I was talking to Busdennis on his Humber Bridge ride at the weekend. He said that the hospital he works at would not routinely scan a patient after just one collapse like mine. 

I don't know how many people faint/blackout each day in the UK but it must be many thousands. To scan the brains of all of them would be an awful lot of extra scans for an overloaded NHS to perform!


----------



## classic33 (30 Jun 2016)

Don't let the fear of what a brainscan might show, it may well rule somethings out, if offerred it though.

I lost an hour in town today, usual reason. I'd also had someone remove two £5 notes from a fastened pocket, whilst on the floor.


----------



## ColinJ (1 Jul 2016)

classic33 said:


> I lost an hour in town today, usual reason.* I'd also had someone remove two £5 notes from a fastened pocket, whilst on the floor*.


There really are some nasty, thieving scrotes about! 

Having said that, most people are nice. When I flaked out, a woman from a nearby property came out with a towel and a damp flannel to cool me down. (I always pour sweat when I faint, and especially so that time because of the ride up the steep hill.)


----------



## oneleggedpig (1 Jul 2016)

Blimey- glad you're feeling better now.

Heptonstall is a decent climb. At least you time it well with easing yourself into a chair first! I know the cafe and that's probably the most dramatic thing to happen there in a few decades


----------



## Globalti (1 Jul 2016)

That's a dammned steep climb Colin! Are you sure it wasn't just low blood sugar? I've seen a bloke faint in the same way at the top of a climb; he was diabetic.


----------



## ColinJ (1 Jul 2016)

Globalti said:


> That's a dammned steep climb Colin! Are you sure it wasn't just low blood sugar? I've seen a bloke faint in the same way at the top of a climb; he was diabetic.


The paramedics tested for that. I think the reading was 5.9, which I think is ok.


----------



## jefmcg (1 Jul 2016)

ColinJ said:


> Not quite, but when I was recovering in the ambulance and the paramedics were doing their tests, I asked them what happens to the bike when they take an injured or ailing cyclist to hospital. They said that the bike is usually 'taken into custody' by the police for safe keeping.


That's interesting. In London, they will take the bike in the ambulance with you, if you want.


----------



## ColinJ (1 Jul 2016)

jefmcg said:


> That's interesting. In London, they will take the bike in the ambulance with you, if you want.


When I declined to go to hospital, they gave me and my bike a lift down the hill to my friend's house in Hebden Bridge. It wasn't safe for me to freewheel down the hill in my confused and wobbly state.


----------



## Katherine (1 Jul 2016)

classic33 said:


> Don't let the fear of what a brainscan might show, it may well rule somethings out, if offerred it though.
> 
> I lost an hour in town today, usual reason. I'd also had someone remove two £5 notes from a fastened pocket, whilst on the floor.


As Colin says about the nasty so and so's, I think that's such mean sick behaviour.


----------



## classic33 (1 Jul 2016)

Katherine said:


> As Colin says about the nasty so and so's, I think that's such mean sick behaviour.


They left the coins/loose change though!


----------

