Sir Richard Branson has revealed how he feared he would die after crashing head first onto a road in a high-speed bike crash this week.
The Virgin tycoon was on a training cycle run in the British Virgin Islands with his children when the accident happened on Monday.
Branson, who is worth nearly £4billion, was taken to Miami, Florida, for X-rays and scans. The 66-year-old said the helmet he was wearing saved his life, but he still suffered torn ligaments and a cracked cheek.
He wrote on the Virgin website:
A couple of nights ago I went cycling on Virgin Gorda with Holly and Sam as part of my training for the Virgin Strive Challenge. 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.
Branson added: “I really couldn’t believe I was alive, let alone not paralysed,” and said that, fortunately, his shoulder and cheek took the brunt of the impact. His bike suffered a worse fate though, and went flying off the cliff.
Luckily, Branson is recovering and his biggest hardship from the accident is ‘having to drink tea out of a straw’ – not a bad hardship if you ask me.
And he’s taking it all pretty well. He said: “My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again. At least I’m practicing what I preach – though a little too literally!”
We’re glad he’s okay.
