CYCLIST Alex Howard was knocked unconscious and left for dead by a hit and run driver as he pedalled from Holbeach to Pinchbeck to see his girlfriend.
The crash happened on the A151 between Moulton and Weston around 4.20pm on Tuesday – two days before Alex’s 18th birthday.
Instead of partying with friends on Thursday, Alex nursed injuries including bumps and cuts to his head, a cauliflower ear, a badly bruised and grazed shoulder and a badly bruised leg.
His bike was split in two and destroyed but Alex knows he is lucky to be alive after being thrown on to a grass verge.
Alex had lights on the bike and wore a thigh-length “high vis” fluorescent yellow jacket as well as a fluorescent orange hat.
He said: “I don’t know whether I was knocked out before I hit the floor or after.
“I was on the edge of the grass verge and the bike was half-way down the dyke.”
One of his shoes flew off in the impact and landed six or seven metres away.
Alex said: “I woke up and I thought it was a dream and it wasn’t. I couldn’t even pick myself up when I first woke up. I didn’t even have the strength in me to do it.
“I think whoever hit me should have stopped to see if I was okay.
“I was rescued by an RAC man, who woke me up and sat me in the back of his van. I want to thank him.”
Alex’s mum now lives in Leicester so he stays at a homeless hostel in Holbeach and studies joinery and construction at the nearby university academy. He lives on income support and cannot afford to replace the bike.
He has been going out with Holly Carpenter (16) for seven months and cycles ten miles each way to see her most nights.
Holly’s family have taken him in while he recovers and takes painkillers and antibiotics given to him after treatment at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital.
Holly’s dad, Colin, said: “Whoever hit Alex drove on and left him for dead?
“They have just gone and done a runner and I am quite angry about it.”
nOne of Alex’s friends has started an appeal to buy him a new bike and £10 has been donated so far.