Bono reveals that bike accident may affect his ability to play guitar

U2 frontman Bono took the time to pen a recap of his year in 2014 on the band’s website, revealing the full, grisly extent of his Central Park bike-riding accident.

The U2 frontman, who wrote an A to Z missive of his year, began by talking about his recovery from his injuries after he wiped out during a “high energy bicycle accident” where he tried to avoid hitting another bicyclist. Bono fractured his eye socket, hand and shoulder blade, and broke his arm in six places, leaving his “humerus bone sticking through (his) leather jacket.”

“Recovery has been more difficult than I thought… As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again,” Bono wrote. “The band have reminded me that neither they nor Western civilization are depending on this.”

Despite his worry, Bono still had some lighthearted jokes as he paces his recovery in time for U2’s worldwide Innocence and Experience tour, set to begin in May in Vancouver. Bono noted that the most embarrassing part of the accident wasn’t his copious amount of injuries, but the fact that he was wearing stretchy pants at the time of his cycling mishap.

“I broke my hand, my shoulder, my elbow and my face but the real injury this year was to my Irish pride as it was discovered that under my tracksuit I was wearing yellow and black Lycra cycling shorts. Yes, LYCRA. This is not very rock ‘n’ roll,” Bono wrote.