Richard Hammond has cycling questions as doctors tell him to get on his bike

Richard Hammond is asking fans for cycling tips after revealing doctors have told him to stop running following his recent car accident – but to take up bike riding.

The Grand Tour star injured his knee when the car he was driving as he filmed for the show in Switzerland crashed and repeatedly flipped over before catching fire, moments after he managed to escape it.

He has now been told to try cycling to get exercise while he recovers, but is concerned about becoming “another middle-aged bloke whose fast-spinning legs sticking out from lycra shorts look like so much sausage meat”.

Hammond, 47, wrote on DriveTribe: “I’ve been told by the doctors that I’m unlikely to be able to go running for a year-and-a-half.

“No big deal if you are, say, Jeremy Clarkson or James May: Telling them they’re not allowed to go running would be like telling a normal person they’re not allowed to stick forks in their eyes.

— Richard Hammond (@RichardHammond) July 2, 2017

“But I like running. I’m not remotely competitive, I’ve never run a marathon and you could probably keep up with me without breaking out of a steady walk.

“I run simply because it keeps my head straight.

“If things get stressy at home, my wife will lob my running shoes at me and order me out. Not any more though.”

He continued: “Those same doctors have told me I’ll be allowed to go cycling within a few months. Cycling.

“They may as well have told me I was allowed to take up the bagpipes.

— Richard Hammond (@RichardHammond) June 13, 2017

“But I’ve no choice: I’m 47 years old, need exercise and can’t run. So bicycling it is and here’s where you can help.”

Hammond said he has three main questions – firstly, whether he can get a “proper bicycle” instead of a “carbon fibre weapon that makes me look like I dream I am taking on Tron in some sort of Tour-De-Galaxy with lasers”.

The star is also concerned about his attire, saying he does not want to become “yet another middle-aged bloke whose fast-spinning legs sticking out from lycra shorts look like so much sausage meat being extruded into a blender”.

“I am not prepared to inflict the vision of me in lycra on the county of Herefordshire, let alone subject myself to the subsequent – and deserved – barrage of abuse and retching,” he said.

“Proper bicycling clothes must exist. Don’t they?”

— Richard Hammond (@RichardHammond) June 11, 2017

Thirdly, Hammond asked about cycling etiquette as he does not want to become part of the modern wave of bicyclists “punching windows and snarling at vans”.

He concluded the post: “All answers to the above three questions will be gratefully accepted and properly considered. Thank you.”