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A 44-year-old dad hoping to set two world records by cycling across the so-called “Sea of Death” has crashed out of the challenge.
Jonathan Parker was thrown off his bike, breaking his collarbone in five places, two ribs and fracturing a kneecap in the Taklamakan Desert in China.
The barrister had completed more than half of the 550km route in less than seven hours and 20 minutes.
He said: “For 200km the road surface was awful to the point where I was getting blisters on my hands.
“The wind was quite tough because it was buffeting me quite hard.
“Occasionally, a lorry would come past in the opposite direction and it would throw the bike all over the place. That was pretty terrifying.”
In the desert, prone to sandstorms and 100mph winds, temperatures can range from -30C to 40C.
But Mr Parker, who lives between Albany Drive in Herne Bay and Doha, says he was “very comfortable” during the cycle on April 24.
He believes he would have crossed the desert in about 13 hours – 15 hours faster than world record holder Guy Martin.
“I’d planned to take a short break after 300km, but I’d realised I was also in with a good chance of beating the record for covering the highest distance in 12 hours,” said the father-of-one.
“The longest distance I’m aware of in that time is 517km. My pace was up close to it and I’d been through by far the hardest part of the route.
“It was just two or three minutes later, as I was coming down a hill, strong winds took me into some sand that had blown into the road.
“My front wheel dug in and launched me over the handlebars. I’d dived onto the tarmac head first at 55kmph.”
Mr Parker was taken to the nearest hospital in Luntai, which was 300km away, in a support car. Following X-rays, he was referred to another infirmary in Urumqi.
“It was a 700km drive to get there,” he added. “Because the highway was closed it included travelling off-road – the pain from my injuries was excruciating.
“When I was X-rayed in Urumqi, the bone in my shoulder had moved about three centimetres because I’d been shaken around in the car.”
Mr Parker, who set the world record for the fastest London to Paris cycle in 2016, had eight screws and a plate implanted in his collarbone, and a bone graft.
Despite this, he is in discussions to take on another challenge once he has recovered to raise money for Cyclists Fighting Cancer.
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