Warning: this article contains references to and images of severe injury.
British pro Sam Culverwell says he is still contemplating his long term racing future after suffering horrific injuries in a major crash in April.
Culverwell needed three rounds of surgery - which involved skin grafts, 47 stitches and 30 staples - to put him back together when he suffered a huge wound on his right leg, and a fracture to his hand, after ploughing into barriers at speed on stage one of the Tour du Loire et Cher.
The 24-year-old has enjoyed spells at Trinity Racing and Saint Piran, but says he is now simply enjoying being able to ride his bike again, let alone race, now that his four month comeback is finally over. The Guernsey-born rider explained that he is unsure as to what exactly his future in the sport may look like. Culverwell has made a full recovery physically, but told Cycling Weekly that the psychological recovery may take far longer.
"In terms of what’s next now, I don’t really know at the moment," he said. "Physically I've made a full recovery but mentally, I don’t know if I’ll ever really know how I am. When I was going to hospital at first I remember saying to myself that’s it, I’m never riding my bike again, I’ve had enough of it.
"I was really adamant for the first week that I was never going to race again."
Culverwell’s year started with a bang as he took the victory at the revamped Portsdown Classic. Although just two months after getting his hands in the air, he was then surrounded by concerned riders calling for ambulances after his high speed crash.
"It was really weird as whenever you crash, you pick yourself up and then look at what you’ve done," Culverwell recalled. "When I stood up, I felt a lot of pain and looked down at my leg and just thought 'oh fuck!' It just looked absolutely horrendous."
"It was awful," he added. "Bike riders are known for being pretty tough, but when I looked round and saw other riders shocked, stunned and scared just looking at me, that’s when I knew even more that it was really fucked up. People were just screaming for ambulances and stuff like that."
Culverwell explained that his teammates and on-the-ground team staff surrounded him immediately and looked after him until medical help arrived.
"Harry [Birchill] was just great, he was fantastic," Culverwell said. "It was him and a Lotto Dstny rider that were both just brilliant. Also the staff who were there with me, Julian Winn and Mark Smith, the pair of them were just amazing and have kept checking in with me ever since. They both kept my family updated at the time and let them know what was going on."
On arrival at a local hospital, the full extent of Culverwell’s injuries became clear as he was rushed immediately into emergency surgery. The Brit explained that as well as the huge flesh wound, he tore his IT band out of his knee, his lateral knee ligament and fractured his hand and knee cap. Months later, Culverwell was able to make light of the situation and joked that his hand injury was just a "piss take".
He said: "It properly added insult to injury which was just irritating. Eventually when I could get on crutches I couldn’t have normal ones, I had to have a crutch where I had to sort of put my arm in which just made things even more difficult for me."
Despite the trauma and horror of the initial day of the crash, Culverwell told Cycling Weekly that the day he finally returned back home to the UK was far worse.
"I was woken up at 2am in the hospital to move me, we didn’t leave until 3:30am," he recalled. "I was then loaded into an ambulance and driven to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. I was kept at the check in desks for three hours just on a stretcher on all these pain meds.
"For hours I was just in and out of consciousness in a right state. The thing was they then put me on an EasyJet flight back. They booked three seats so I could sit there with my leg up. I was in complete agony, I couldn’t move my leg at all... I then went to Southampton General [hospital].
"It wasn’t until 2am that I did then get a bed so a full 24 hours after waking in the hospital in France. It was genuinely the worst day of my life and far worse than when I crashed."
Culverwell explained that two more rounds of surgery followed as he was in and out of hospital when doctors started to become concerned that the skin on his injuries was dying. He had an initial procedure to clear out two large haematomas before he then underwent a round of skin grafts with a plastic surgeon.
Four months out of action
In total, the British pro spent four weeks in hospital, around three months away from the bike, and says it was four months before he finally had a full range of movement back in his knee.
"It was generally just a very grim time for me," Culverwell added. "But everyone close to me has just been so supportive. My family and friends have been unbelievable, so has my partner. Abbie visited me in the hospital every day and flew out to France when I crashed. Here we are though. I’ve made a full recovery now, but I’ve got a mean scar.
"I'll take that though if it means everything else is functioning as it was before pretty much. I’m keen to race, I think, but I also have got a full time job now. I think I just want to maybe try riding my bike again and just see how that goes sometime.
"I’m not going to know until I’m in a race situation how I am really. It’s a really tricky thing dealing with all that. For now though I'm just enjoying being able to ride my bike again and trying to get some fitness back."
