Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson has revealed he "took quite a big tumble" while out on a cycling trip as he shared a picture of the aftermath. Sir Richard, 72, said there was "amazingly nothing broken" after the crash.
He explained that he was cycling with a friend when he hit a pothole and "crashed hard". He explained it left him with a hematoma on his hip and a "nasty" cut elbow.
Posting a picture on Instagram, he said: "Took quite a big tumble while cycling in Virgin Gorda a little while ago! I hit a pothole and crashed hard, resulting in another hematoma on my hip and a nasty cut elbow, but amazingly nothing broken. We were cycling with Alex Wilson, who fell after me, but thankfully he was ok as well. I’m counting myself very lucky, and thankful for keeping myself active and healthy. After all, the brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all!"
No stranger to adventures, Sir Richard is well-known for his escapades - including several world record attempts in his younger years. He attempted the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing by ship, firstly in the Virgin Atlantic Challenger boat, which capsized in British waters.
He had to be rescued by a Royal Navy helicopter, which received wide media coverage. In 1986, in his Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, he beat the record by two hours with sailing expert Daniel McCarthy. A year later his hot air balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer crossed the Atlantic.
In January 1991, Sir Richard crossed the Pacific from Japan to Arctic Canada, 6,700 miles (10,800 km), in a balloon of 2,600,000 cubic feet (74,000 m3). This broke the record, with a speed of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h).
Between 1995 and 1998, Sir Richard, Per Lindstrand, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Larry Newman, and Steve Fossett made attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998, they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii, but were unable to complete a global flight before Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999.
In March 2004, Sir Richard set a record by travelling from Dover to Calais in a Gibbs Aquada in one hour, 40 minutes and six seconds, the fastest crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. The previous record of six hours was set by two Frenchmen.
In September 2008, Sir Richard and his children made an unsuccessful attempt at an eastbound record crossing of the Atlantic Ocean under sail in the 99-foot (30 m) sloop Virgin Money. The boat, also known as Speedboat, is owned by NYYC member Alex Jackson, who was a co-skipper on this passage, with Sir Richard and Mike Sanderson. After two days, four hours, winds of force 7 to 9 (strong gale), and seas of 40 feet (12 m), a 'monster wave' destroyed the spinnaker, washed a ten-man life raft overboard and severely ripped the mainsail. The sloop eventually continued to St George's, Bermuda.
