Nikki Brammeier had a terrible crash at the European cyclocross championships 10 days ago and is very much still in recovery mode. She's fortunate that it was not more serious given how hard she fell but as yet, she has no idea when she will be able to pin on race numbers. Her husband Matt is one of the most well-known riders in the men's professional peloton.
By Brian Canty
Nikki Brammeier has commented for the first time about her horrific crash at the European Cyclocross Championships in France almost two weeks ago.
The reigning British national champion and Boels-Dolmen professional came down in a high-speed spill in the opening seconds of the title race last Sunday week and since then her life has been turned upside down.
Brammeier, the wife of Irish pro Matt Brammeier, is one of the toughest riders in the peloton.
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She has had plenty spills throughout her career but in her own words, none have taken as much of a toll as her most recent one.
“I remember the start, the first few hundred meters. I remember seeing a gap open up on the inside of the corner and a chance to move forward a couple of places," she said in a Facebook post.
“Next thing I was screaming on the floor, my helmet in bits hanging down over the side of my face.
"I was looking for someone, anyone to help. I'd somehow face planted gravel at 50kph. This stuff doesn't happen very often, especially not in cross,” she recalled.
Husband Matt and a host of paramedics were quickly on the scene.
“My face was pouring with blood, so were my knees and my arms. I knew where I was but everything was a little blurry and foggy.
"I knew my race was over and my body was a bit of a mess but never did I know what I was going to be in for.”
She had broken bones and torn muscles, more cuts and bruises than she could count but nothing near as serious as her concussion.
Brammeier is a hugely popular rider and always carries a legion of followers around with her to races.
“Last Sunday myself and Helen (Wyman – fellow rider and friend) spent the afternoon together in A&E.
“It wasn't quite a social affair, more a night of pain, foggy memory and pretty much a nightmare,” she added, tongue in cheek.
“I had my face and lip sewn back together and had scans and X-rays on my head.
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She was cleared to go home by the medics, but that was far from the end.
“My face was starting to swell and the pain soon started to get worse and the agony had only just begun," she said, added Matt watched over her for the night before intense headaches began.
"The only way to describe it is was like a hard metal headband tightening around my head and not releasing.
"I started to vomit. I couldn't really walk without help because my balance was totally off. All I could think was, it will get better.”
The next day she was travelling in a car for eight hours and remembers not being able to deal with lights, people, or noise.
They went to the hospital that night for some more tests but after "there wasn't too much concern" shown in the A&E department she visited, the couple decided to travel to the UK for checks there.
Things continued to deteriorate and she was so bad she couldn’t event leave the house and only on occasion did she get out of bed.
She sat in a dark room for periods and had difficultly enduring more than one person talking.
Panic attacks set in and she couldn't react to conversation or even want to be involved with any kind of interaction. Her phone, the TV, any screens or lights were unbearable.
“It was all too much. The stitches in my mouth meant I couldn't really speak and eating was difficult too. I was a complete mess. Everything I find happiness in was now out of my control,” she continued.
At the time of publication she has started to improve; looking and feeling better, but the concussion symptoms are still ongoing.
“I'm improving now a little every day but I still have some headache, whiplash and dizzy moments most days.
"This last 10 days has taught me a lot. Patience is something I usually struggle with but I have no choice at the moment.”
Brammeier, who rode at the Olympics less than three months ago has warned those who ever hit their head to get it seen by a doctor immediately, no matter how innocuous it might appear.
“Concussion is a real injury and just like any other injury, we need to give our heads a chance to recover, time to rest and a gradual reintroduction to normal life and in my case, riding.
“I'd love to be able to take something positive out of the couple of weeks and in some small way increase the awareness of concussions in cycling.
“Please be kind to yourself when it comes to your head. Even a small crash could have long term effects, if you hit your head you should go and see your doctor whatever, it's that simple.
“I can't sugar coat things. It's been a terrible couple of weeks and it's a terrible situation to be in at this time in the season, but on the other hand I'm lucky. It could have been so much worse.”
Brammeier concluded by saying she has no idea when she will be back racing and is just taking it “one day at the time”.
“I’ll get back to where I want to be and hopefully by the time I'm back we'll have a bit of mud and some ‘real'’ cyclocross races.”
You can’t keep a good woman down for long.
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