Kiaran Cannon’s comeback: “I was deeply afraid that I would never be able to ride my bike again after the accident.”

Later on, Galway East TD escaped relatively unscathed — he fled in his life, and his injury did not lock him in a wheelchair — but then he was in the saddle. I felt like his days were being counted.

For those who have long talked about bicycles as “freedom machines,” it would have been a cruel blow.

“When I entered the A & E, they did everything they could to stabilize me, and they sent me an X-ray, and I heard the word” tibial plateau fracture “for the first time. I did. I didn’t know what it was, so I googled fiercely and knew what the conversation would be before the orthopedic surgeon came to me. “

Canon’s internet trawl net revealed that his injury was a breakage of the larger lower leg bone below the knee that entered the knee joint itself. The surgeon didn’t chop up his words: “This is one of the worst I’ve ever seen and we’ll do our best in the morning to get it back again.”

From the moment he arrived at the tarmac in Moycullen, he wondered how the injury affected his ability to do what he liked best. “I said [to the surgeon], “Can I ride my bike again?” And he said, “Yes, you can ride your bike again.” For me, “I can ride my bike again.” Is it? ” It means cycling from the goalway to Dundalk or Killarney on a bike. For others, that means going to the store to buy paper. I was talking about the former.

“I was deeply afraid that I could never do that again. In fact, I was wondering if I could walk. After the surgery, the surgeon told me,” We want to get it back. I did my best. There is an artificial bone there. There is a threaded plate that literally stabilizes the integrity of the foot. He told me that we would take it all at once. “

And that’s what Canon did. The legs were fixed with braces rather than casts — “Now, research shows that entering a cast can do more damage than good” —and the physiotherapy session began almost immediately. ..

“The next day, physiotherapy came and made me bend my legs. It was terrible. I was full. [painkiller] Oxycontin. And every time I met the surgeon for the next few days, I kept saying, “Can I ride my bike again?” As he said, he clearly examined me. that’s good. If you haven’t cycled, it’s a good exercise to treat these injuries, so it’s a good idea to ride one. “

It was like a cycling enthusiast like Canon wanted to hear.

However, the road to recovery is long and difficult. Three days later, I was discharged from the hospital with crutches and leg braces, and a difficult time began. “I was told I couldn’t put weight on my legs for three months, but it was really hard,” he says. “Physio gave me a really comprehensive program to follow at home, and I spent about three hours every day doing that.”

The support of his wife, Niam, was extremely important. “I couldn’t get out of the bedroom for two weeks, but she helped me and encouraged me to exercise every day,” he says. “There was a morning when I got up and said,’I can’t do this,’ and she said,’You have to keep doing this.’ She put her knees about four years ago. I was exchanging, so I was experiencing something similar. “

After the first three months he described as the longest in his life, he experienced a month of partial weight loading. “You literally start putting your toes on the ground, see how your feet react, and then slowly start learning how to walk again. For so long that you need to relearn your nerve and muscle memory. , No legs are used. “

A breakthrough happened when his physiotherapist, endurance athlete Jane Ann Mihan, allowed her to use an indoor spinning bike. “She said,” You can ride a bike in the bedroom, but don’t go to the road because you just come across a dog or a puddle on the road and you have to get off the bike right away. It can cause serious damage and can be returned a few months ago. “

Finally, about six months after the accident, he was strong enough to ride the bike again. First, it was a night lap of a 600m walking track that cycled violently up and down his driveway and then laps the local GAA pitch. And in early December, along with his company’s cycling companions, he made his first foray into public roads.

The relief was obvious. “To be able to go out again … it meant the world. When I was seriously injured, I was physically and mentally broken. This may sound strange. But I felt my body was invaded by someone. “

Returning to the bike proved to be his coveted salvation.

Cannon can identify the moment when he is absorbed in cycling. He was 4 or 5 years old when he received his bike for Christmas. “I cycle it through the hall [his parents’] Saying the bedroom, “Look at what Santa Claus got me!” The bike had a stabilizer, and I went out into a snowy and slippery driveway, from which I didn’t stop loving the machine. The bike is the most amazing machine. I’m calling it — and Niamh is laughing — my free machine. Suddenly, when I was young, my grandma’s house, 50 yards away, became much easier to access. Over the years, the distance covered has increased dramatically.

“When I was 20, my friend Michael McGloin started planning a charity cycle to Lourdes,” he said. “Starting from Eyre Square in Galway and cycling to Lourdes in the Pyrenees.” rice field. And I said, “Sign up for me!” I cycled from Goalway to Rosslare, took the ferry to Cherbourg, and then for six days, I cycled from there to the Pyrenees. And if I liked it before that, I was absolutely crazy about it after that.

“Since then, I haven’t stopped exploring — so many places, very short times.”

Just a few weeks before last year’s accident, Canon tried to ride a bike from Mizen Head to Malin Head in a day. He and his seven biking friends cycled the night and completed the 600km Irish end-to-end challenge within 24 hours with the shortest break.

At the age of 56, he hopes to have some more adventures, but admits that he is becoming more anxious about other road users. “In Ireland, car ownership has risen significantly and roads are becoming more and more crowded, so the potential for danger is significantly higher than it was ten years ago,” he says.

“Something else is happening,” he adds. “There is a growing conflict between drivers and cyclists, but I don’t know where it came from. Maybe they even describe themselves as cyclists …” he stopped to find the right words. increase.

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Praise: Canon was encouraged by Amon Ryan’s announcement of increased spending on cycling infrastructure.Photo by Mark Condren

“Many people working in the field of active travel will argue that we shouldn’t use the word. We are cyclists. When you use the word” cyclist, “people are you. Automatically assume that is talking about Mamil (a middle-aged man in Lycra). [Dublin] Wharf at 30km / h or 40km / h. In fact, the vast majority of people who use the wharf are dressed for work or college. “

Cannon believes that cyclists need “massive cultural changes” that are not considered enemies, but help alleviate traffic congestion, improve general health and combat climate change. The solution.

“I need to understand that every road user, from a connected truck driver to a child trying to ride a bike for the first time, has the right to share that space, but as a cyclist, I We are not given that right.

“For now, many drivers consider us an intruder and are breaking into their space. You scream out of the car window —” Get off the road! “—And you All they are doing is trying to move from A to B using the planet’s most efficient means of transportation. “

Canon is keen to point out that he is not an anti-motorist. “I myself am a driver, as is the majority of cyclists.”

He has been moved by the development of dedicated bicycle lanes in many urban areas. Part of it was a silver lining caused by a pandemic. “And 1 million euros a day [to be spent on cycling infrastructure] from [transport minister] Amon Ryan is very encouraging. “

But he is discouraged by those politicians who block such plans, especially in the city of Galway, which has long been suffocated by car traffic. “I can’t understand the fears that are there,” he says. “They seem to be stuck in the old way.”

Amsterdam, which has long held up as a cyclist’s nirvana, did not always do so, he points out. Photos from the early 1970s show a busy street. Bicycles are rarely seen. Progressive politicians have changed the culture and now the Dutch capital has changed.

According to the data, many of us are cycling more than a generation or two ago, but there is a long way to go to start using bicycles almost a century ago.

“I’ve seen pictures of the O’Connell Bridge in the 1930s and 1940s,” he says. “And it’s a sea of ​​cyclists, they’re all dressed beautifully. But somewhere along the way, we lost our plans, inside a metal box with a sofa and two armchairs inside. Everyone decided that they needed to drive. “

Cannon is philosophical about his accident. “Look, obviously, it was traumatic for him [the driver] that too. No one gets into the car in the morning and says, “I’m going to get the cyclist off the bike and get seriously injured.”

He says he doesn’t want to live much in the past. What excites him is cycling in the future, and he has new challenges just around the corner.

“My friend who went from Mizen to Marin with me goes to Italy in three weeks to do a beautiful and iconic Stelvio. [route].. Stelvio is a mecca for anyone who talks about the world of cycling and mountaineering. “

Reading about the severity of the rise is enough to pull armchair cycling enthusiasts away with cold sweat, but Canon counts the days.

“In the dark days, when I was on the long road to recovery, I dreamed of doing such a climb,” says Cannon. “It’s my happy place.”