“I cannot remember what happened, just vague things, though I have been told. I was unconscious for two weeks, an induced coma because of breathing.
“It took a lot of convincing to explain to me what had happened, I still feel two weeks behind everything now which is a really strange experience.
“Being in a self induced coma is horrible because all the drugs that keep you there affect everything. I lost three stone in body weight and I was very fi t before going in, so it was all muscle that was lost.”
All this happened in August, there are ongoing proceedings so it is currently impossible to go into details about the accident.
However perhaps the most amazing thing is that Richardson is back in training, even though his dream and expectation of competing for medals in London next year is plainly no longer an option.
“It is very different training, just turning my legs round for 10 minutes which seems nothing to me, but it is a start,” he explained.
“I need to be in full training by February to be able to go round Wales doing 110 miles day. I may need a back operation in which case it will all be put back a bit.
“It would take two to three years of training to get back to where I was, so long term the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow could be an option depending on the events they choose to have. I will set goals and hope for them to be possible.”
If there is one message that has been reinforced for Richardson, it is that there are much more important things than sport.
“In the last two months, three cyclists have died on the roads of the UK after being hit by vehicles. I go out and the vehicles are so close to you, people do not understand,” he said.
“Drivers should give cycles the same distance as a small car so that if you do fall off you do not get hit. There is a totally different attitude to cycling on the continent because there the cyclist is always right, unless the car driver can prove it was the cyclist's fault.
“The law needs to change, but this has gone global and my profi le has become so high.
“It is an issue all over the world. I read in the paper the other day about a cyclist killed in New York and the driver was fi ned $45, that's about £30.”
It is a subject doubly close to Richardson's heart as the accident which led him to
the Paralympics in the fi rst place was also being knocked off his bike by a car, suffering a broken leg and subsequent back injuries.
At least success the Beijing Paralympics was a signifi cant high and brought Richardson to the attention of the Welsh sporting public.
“Beijing was a strange experience because I was in the village for two weeks, everything was x-rayed and scanned non- stop,” he said.
“I have never raced in a velodrome where every seat was taken, the experience of hearing cheers following you, so it was a great experience just to be there.
“My profi le is higher now after the accident than after Beijing, it was mad for six months to a year going round schools and showing the medals but then it calmed down.
“Now my publicity is higher so I will do a lot more schools and things in the next year, we always talk about the Olympics but then go onto the safety side of cycling.
“I am about a month ahead of where I should be in terms of the recovery, but if it had been the average cyclist with the average mentality then they would have been in trouble.”
It is perhaps an appropriate understatement on which to fi nish.
paralympics
Issue19twothousand&twelve sportingwales
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