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On 14 May, Erick Oosthuizen got on his bike and rode 20km. That doesn’t sound like much – but for Oosthuizen, it was the whole world. A year earlier, this accomplished cyclist and tandem-racing ninja was in hospital with a tube down his throat, and bits o

Erick Oosthuizen lost a leg – and gained new impetus.

Beats me. I have no memory of the crash. I just know that after I was hit I smashed into the box that controls the intersection, and woke up on the pavement.

There was a doctor’s practice on the corner, and – amazingly – an ill paramedic had just gone in to see the doctor. The doctor and the paramedic rushed out to help me. I remember complaining about my pinkie, which was dislocated, and my left leg, which was broken. I hadn’t noticed my right leg – must have been because I had nine broken ribs, and had taken a proper shot to the head! My right leg was pointing in a completely different direction. Medics arrived and gave me something to knock me out. But despite being heavily sedated, I woke up when they tried to straighten the leg. Yes, my left arm. My spine was okay – and for that, I’m eternally grateful. But my whole world had crumbled. At first the doctors tried to save my foot, but infection set in, and it was rotting. I was in danger, and the surgeon said, “We need to get this foot off right now.”

First they amputated the foot, and then they amputated a bit higher for ‘ functional length’, so I could have maximum function with a prosthetic limb. I’ve lost everything from just under my calf. I remember saying to Elrine (Erick’s wife), “We will never ride together again...” She said, “Oh yes we will. We

will cycle again.” She was so strong… I can’t talk about it without getting emotional. She kept it all together, our three kids as well as my support system. She never cracked. No. I thought I’d be wheelchairbound. I watched the Paralympics in hospital, and my jaw hit the floor when I saw an amputee athlete do the high jump. I thought, how is that possible? I’d always defined myself as an active person – I could play golf, cycle, surf, and rock- climb – but now, in Paralympic terms, I was a ‘ T44’ [single below- theknee amputee]. At that point, cycling was so far removed from my reality… it just didn’t seem possible. I was never an elite cyclist, but I enjoyed the A- bunch racing. I loved being a weekend warrior. But most of all, when I lived in Joburg, I loved commuting to work – that was my thing.