THE popular cyclist who was critically injured in a collision in Poole last month has expressed his thanks to the NHS now that he is home and on the mend.

Jason Falconer said the round-the-clock care he received from Southampton Hospital’s neurological unit and Poole Hospital had been “outstanding”.

He has also been buoyed up by the hundreds of messages and pictures he has received from schoolchildren he has encouraged to cycle.

The Bournemouth Arrows Cycling Club member was coming down Constitution Hill Road in Poole on the morning of Friday, July 6, when his bike was in collision with a car driven by a local woman in her 70s.

Jason, 41, sustained serious head injuries in the crash, and the police closed the road for nearly four hours so accident investigators could assess the scene.

But since that day, Jason has made remarkable progress, spending just nine days in Southampton Hospital and seven in Poole before being discharged.

He even hopes to resume his work as a local Sustrans Bike It officer next month.

Jason’s job involves encouraging more children to cycle to and from school. He has been working with 19 schools in Bournemouth and Poole over the last year.

“I will be recovered by early September. My fitness has helped the quick mend, and my hardest task now is to stay steady and off my bikes until then,” he said.

My employers sent hundreds of messages from the national cycling role models of every cycling journey that works around the UK for schools.

“Overwhelmingly, I have 346 hand-drawn letters from children in seven Bournemouth and Poole schools wishing me well, and looking forward to me returning.”

Jason has previously worked as a Bike It officer in Luton and St Albans.

Before joining Sustrans in 2007, he was a national standard cycle trainer and mountain bike guide while completing his degree in adventure recreation.

He has also worked as a railway guard.