Richard Branson gave himself a nice scare. The businessman took part in a charity event founded by his children and was caught in a bicycle accident which injured his whole body. On his blog, the boss of Virgin Group posted a message to explain himself and shocking photos.
“This week, I took part in Strive BVI, a cross-discipline fundraising challenge in the British Virgin Islands highlighting human capabilities on land and at sea thanks to sailing. This was the latest in a series of Strive challenges we’ve been involved in over the years, always to raise funds for Big Change, the education association founded by my children Holly and Sam. The first day was an exciting combination of sailing, kayaking and paddle boarding around Anegade (…) the second day was devoted to cycling, with a 60 kilometer race around the hills of Tortola“, he first related on his blog.
Once having covered the 60 kilometers, Richard Branson recounts having agreed to do a bonus race of 10 kilometers. As he was coming down a hill, at a bend, the ravine on his left, he then saw a car approaching him and tried to brake … without success. “I applied both of my brakes, but nothing was responding. I was going faster and faster, my options were: fall into the ravine, crash into the car or throw myself into Felix [son camarade de course devant lui, NDLR]. I shouted at Felix: ‘My brakes don’t work!’ but he had no chance to get out of my way. We hit each other, hard“, he added.
The shock, violent, caused them enormous bruises, sores, cuts and scrapes and even an awesome lump on the hip by Richard Branson. “We fell off our bikes and our heads and bodies hit the asphalt (…) I was lying there waiting, hoping I hadn’t broken my back or been paralyzed“, he said, adding to have been taken care of by the doctors of Virgin Gorda hospital.