Branson feared he would die in bicycle crash
SIR RICHARD BRANSON has been in a serious cycle accident in which he thought he “was going to die”.
The 66-year-old entrepreneur was cycling in the dark on Virgin Gorda, one of the British Virgin Islands, with his children, Holly and Sam, when he hit a bump that flung him over his handlebars.
He told yesterday how his “life flashed before his eyes” in the accident earlier this week, which left him with a black eye and large cut on his face.
Writing in a blog on the Virgin website, he said: “I was heading down a hill towards Leverick Bay when it suddenly got really dark and I managed to hit a ‘sleeping policeman’ hump in the road head on.
“The next thing I knew, I was being hurled over the handlebars and my life was literally flashing before my eyes. I really thought I was going to die.”
He added that his shoulder and cheek took the brunt, and said it was lucky he was wearing a helmet.
“My bike went flying off the cliff and disappeared,” he said. “We’ve since recovered the crumpled bicycle, completely destroyed. My cheek has been badly damaged and my knee, chin, shoulder and body severely cut.
“As I landed, once I realised I was alive, I began testing my movement. I really couldn’t believe I was alive, let alone not paralysed.”
Sir Richard was taken to Miami where he underwent a series of X-rays and scans. He is hoping to pick up his training for the human endurance challenge, Virgin Strive Challenge, again next month.
Sir Richard was embroiled in a row with Jeremy Corbyn this week, after the Labour leader posted a video claiming there were no spare seats on a Virgin train he was travelling on.