A former Isle of Wight daily commuter has published a personal account of the years following a serious cycling accident and the long-term neurological symptoms that changed his life.
Alan Green, who cycled from Porchfield to Ryde for nearly 18 years as part of his daily commute to Liz Earle, has written You’ve Got a Nerve – a book that documents what happened after an ordinary journey ended in a collision that would alter the course of his life.
Over those 18 years, Alan covered around 118,000 miles by bike, making cycling a defining feature of his working routine.
The accident brought that to an abrupt halt.
A complex and uncertain recovery
What followed was not a straightforward physical recovery, but a prolonged and unpredictable journey involving fluctuating symptoms, changes in personality and energy, and significant effects on family life and work.
The book traces the various treatment paths Alan explored, alongside the highs and lows of a recovery that proved slow and uncertain.
Rather than offering medical advice or dramatic claims, You’ve Got a Nerve presents a reflective and honest portrait of what long-term recovery can look like when progress does not follow a clear or predictable path.
Writing as a way of making sense of thing
Alan says he wrote the book with a specific purpose in mind. He said,
“I wrote the book to document what the experience was really like, and to offer some solidarity to anyone living with long-term injury or illness.”
Alan added that the process itself was not easy at first,
“I found the process of writing the book initially very hard, as my body was highly traumatised, but gradually, as I improved, it became therapeutic.”
Where to find the book
You’ve Got a Nerve is available in paperback from Shalfleet Village Stores, and in both paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon.
