THE CRASH.
In 2023, I have been involved in a very bad car-vs-bike accident, which had a big impact on my life.
Here’s the story.
This bike was only eight months old, and suddenly it was gone, almost just like me.
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, BOOM!
• How:
As I was returning home from a weekly group ride around Paris, in the blink of an eye, BOOM! I was like unplugged from life. According to the police, I crossed an intersection without checking for oncoming traffic, when I should have stopped to let a car go by.
I was apparently the one at fault. But I don’t remember any of it at all. All I can say is “okay”, shrug my shoulders and deal with it, which isn’t easy.
I lost consciousness on impact, got a few broken bones, a severe brain injury with internal bleeding despite my helmet, and I remained in a coma for over three weeks. The medical staff could not tell if I was going to make it. They also told me that without a helmet, I would have been dead.
• The coma:
The impact sent me straight into a coma – and a very serious one at that: it was a Glasgow 5. If you know what that means, you’ll understand that I was really close to death.
After three weeks of unconsciousness, I woke up. It felt to me like I had just taken a 30-minute nap, but in reality, it had been a three-week nap…
The medical staff told me that thay couldn’t tell if I would ever wake up again, and that without a helmet, I would have died on impact.
I couldn’t walk anymore, or even simply stand up on my own. You know it’s bad when taking a shower consists in getting washed by someone else…
• June 2025, a year and a half later, as I write these lines:
I attended a rehab hospital several times a week for over a year. I learned how to walk again, and even how to ride a (real) bike again! My first bike ride after the accident had to be on a stationary rehab bike – something I never thought I would say one day.
Today, I still have a few after-effects from that: I have very annoying speech difficulties (for neurological reasons), and my right eye is no longer aligned with the other one, which is forcing me to mask it to avoid double vision.
But that's okay; at least I'm not in a wheelchair, or lying down in a wooden box.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ME, MY CYCLING PHOTOS, THE ACCIDENT AND HOW MY BOOK WAS BORN – AS A DIRECT RESPONSE TO IT.
CYYYCLES: MY STORY︎
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