jevans - I'm told that someone else came off as well but he was apparently more annoyed about ripping his new assos jersey than his bruising! But his bike apparently got a bit mangled & needed some repairs as someone ran over it (!) so I guess that does fit with the rider vs bike damage story!
dtb - ouch that sounds nasty but glad you were ok & able to complete! The spirits were tested a few times in hospital I can assure you, but at the end of the day it's happened & there's nothing I can do about it now; just have to accept it, focus on rehab when I can start that & make sure I do everything I'm meant (or in my case, not meant!) to do and making the best recovery possible! But you mean & nasty folks on here are having a bad influence & are making me think about lanza next year, but I think I should probably be sensible & at least wait to make sure I can move my arm again first! 
ironwolf - that's gutting, am so sorry to hear that 
Are you still able to compete in shorter events though I hope??
cake / gas - absolutely, I'm much cheaper to fix than my bike so thought it was the only honourable thing to do 
I may still go to vit but as part of a relay (again - had to do that last year due to knee injury!); I'm planning on a sprint or 2 in September as the swimming will take time with my shoulder & running I will have to start again with my knee, but the bike I should be able to build up again quite quickly so should still be able to do the relay thing hopefully! Any volunteers for the swim & run
chick - wow, sounds like you've had a few incidents! But good to hear that people can dust themselves off & get on again, as I think the mental recovery plays as big a part as the physical. In some ways I think not remembering what happened is a good thing, but in other ways it's a bad thing - I think it's going to be quite hard for me to trust riding with other people again knowing that's what caused it, but I suppose it's like being hit by a car; you just have to accept that what you do is a risk and whether you choose to accept that risk or not!
Thanks all for the best wishes - good news so far is that wounds are healing very well such that I can now shower again ( was getting really bored of sponge baths!!) and have follow up with the surgeon next Friday where I will hopefully get his blessing to start physio / rehab!
