Bond banged up after tumbling twice in race
Olympic rowing champion-turned cyclist Hamish Bond is recovering at home following a nasty crash over weekend, after a “novice” error saw him come to grief in the wet conditions.
Bond told the Herald he is “missing a fair bit of skin” after Saturday’s accident, but he considers himself lucky to escape without any broken bones having taken two heavy falls on the gruelling K2 bike race on the Coromandel.
The second tumble, which occurred at the 110km mark, ended Bond’s race, with the double Olympic champion taken to Thames Hospital. Remarkably, despite his earlier fall, he led the race by about two minutes at the time he was forced to withdraw.
Bond said he was feeling pretty banged up and bruised, but joked it was his pride that sustained the most damage.
“I’m a bit ginger, I’m missing a fair bit of skin, but I was looked after really well by St John and Thames Hospital,” he said. “In terms of mechanical or bones or anything, I’m really lucky to escape with a few bruises and maybe one or two scars.
Saturday’s incident was the first major crash of Bond’s road cycling career, which is still in its relative infancy. Bond took up the sport seriously after defending his Olympic gold medal in the pair with Eric Murray in Rio last year.
It was a part of the sport he was hoping to avoid.
“It’s not ideal, I haven’t had a fall like that. I haven’t had a fall because of the wet or just speed before, so it’s a little bit new territory. It’s certainly uncomfortable . . . and messy.
“I’ve tried my best not to make a mess of the sheets at home. I’m bandaged all up, but these sort of grazes they just seep for a few days.”
Bond blamed poor tyre selection and pressure for the falls. The 31-year-old crashed earlier in the race, in miserable conditions, but was able to get back on his bike before he was caught by the chasing pack. The second tumble occurred on what Bond described as a “benign” part of the course.
“The first time I tumbled I managed to get back on. I was still a bit sore, but I was still in the lead so that was a good impetus to carry on and basically not let any one know that I just crashed.
“The second time I fell off I was just on a flat piece of road and went around a slight corner and the bike came out from underneath me.
Bond hopes to be back into light training by the end of the week, but said he was conscious of not pushing himself too soon.
“Generally you want to rip back into it, especially with a thing like this where you’re kind of annoyed with yourself. Especially leading the race and you want to somehow lay down some retribution or almost punish yourself for a silly mistake. “You have to be sensible.” The weekend’s incident was the first time in the space of a month Bond has suffered a setback in a competitive outing. At last month’s road cycling world championships in Norway — Bond’s first major international event — the rookie rider’s performance was hampered by a puncture, which saw him finish 39th out of 64 riders.