Advocacy & Safety - What's the dumbest thing you've ever done: A) cycling; B) driving?

A: Cycling: racing as fast as possible down an untested hill only to find out you can't see when the vibrations make everything jump around in your field of vision.

B: Driving: driving in rain so thick I could not see where I was going. I think the only thing that stopped me from running into anyone else (since I was never sure where the lane lines were)
was the strong probability that everyone else had pulled off the road.

C: BikeForums: posting this.

Oops! I forgot to mention, this is not multiple choice. In fact, you don't have to answer at all (of course, that just means you're afraid to say...he, he!) :blush:

Well my most stupid moment on a bike would also be going down hill very fast, but on the bottom I let myself catch some air and when I landed I blew both tires. That was a long walk home.

Car wise the most stupid thing I did was get my license.

Stupidest thing on a bike: stopping with no warning in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Wornall Road, a narrow, congested thoroughfare where it's always rush hour. The driver of the car behind me had to hit his brakes hard, but he never even honked or showed any annoyance. I could have caused a serious accident and I guess I'll feel guilty about that stop forevermore.

To make it worse, I stopped because I saw the bike shop I was searching for, across the street.

In a car? I don't remember--it's been so long.

Back in the old country My friends and I were riding at Mount Pinugay, when I was banking left and right to the contour of the road, when my front tire just slid or flew, and I went crushing and sliding on my side, it rip my jersey and short and some of my skin was left in the road, and it was a nasty site, we have abandon the ride and I ended up in the hospital,

Dumbest Driving....getting my license and ever thinking driving would be more fun than biking.

Dumbest Cycling....there is a large hill on my way home from work that everyday I try to beat my speed record on. The speed limit is 25 and I usually hit 35, so someday I will probably end up injured or in court.

Originally posted by Steele-Bike
Dumbest Driving....getting my license and ever thinking driving would be more fun than biking.

Ditto on the driving! :(

Dumbest cycling: Get this I rear ended a car!

Ok, ok, before you haul me off to remedial cycling class, hear me out! :o

I was in that trickiest of situations, where you are in the turn lane que with 5-6 vehicles and merging into the far left lane on a busy four-lane. (Not my favorite place to be, but hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.)

The vehicle in front of me, (red sports car) is set to merge...
I following close behind, check the mirror...all clear, turn around...all clear, and...
bang, my front tire hits the little red sports car, that obviously was in la la land (Clear lane, yet sitting there!)

Oh, well, they were fine, I was fine, except for my embarassed pride! :o

Kids, the moral of the story is ... look both left and right ... and in front of you.

P.S. - Do not attempt this at home!!! :p

I'm too embarrassed to say, but for a real laugh, check out the back page of the current Bicycling mag.:D

A) Two things actually. I too hit a car. I was merging into a left lane but the car that was in my way didn't move forward, instead it breaked and I smacked it's rear quarter panel. Thankfully he didn't notice because it my fault that I timed it wrong. The second was in the dead of winter when I took a left turn too sharp and smacked into a median sign. I couldn't see a thing because my shades fogged up. God, that sucked.

B) Stupidest thing I've ever done in a car is simple. I put my sisters cherry red 1967 mustang coup into a deep ditch that took several small trees with it. I still feel bad about that one.

Stupidest biking misadventure: I was racing a friend down a street and looked back to see where he was. Without looking, I hit the curb and end-overed.

Stupidest driving misadventure: I tailgated a cop. It got him angry, but no ticket.

Cycling: Riding against the traffic on a major street after almost being side swiped (and killed) when riding on the correct side, i just didnt fell safe, so i road against traffic. That brought on two more close calls, it probly didnt help that it was overcast, raining, and in rush hour traffic... whew!

Driving: Getting to work and not remembering my drive to work, kinda freaked me out! I didnt remember any lights, speeds, lane changes ect... Luckly, i didnt kill anyone (i think?).

Cycling
The dumbest thing I ever did on a bike happened when I was 15 (man thats along time ago) :D Riding along a quiet road, then i noticed my quick release leaver (front) was half unclipped. STUPID me reaches down to do it up while riding. Now i'm typing this message without out the help of my pinky :(


Driving
I was doing about 170kph over the crest of a small hill, only to see a cop coming the other way.

cheers!

Originally posted by cyc
Cycling
STUPID me reaches down to do it up while riding. Now i'm typing this message without out the help of my pinky :(


Ouch, and ouch again! I'm sorry that happened to you. I wouldn't call you stupid, though. It's just one of those almost instinctive reactions that sometimes turn out to be the wrong reactions. What a bad deal.

Welcome to the paceline, CYC. Pretty gruesome story. I've closed a forgotten qr with my foot, which was kind of dangerous in its own right. If I lost my pinky, I could only count to 9.

Ouch, and ouch again! I'm sorry that happened to you. I wouldn't call you stupid, though

Nah it was stupid, I just didn't get away with it.

cyc, welcome to Bikeforum, hope you enjoy your stay here and keep posting....

Hmmm... I've had lots of interesting cycling experiences, but I would have to say that one of the most humbling happened back in 1989 when I got my first pair of Look pedals. Like any REAL man I neglected to read any of the instructions. *ahem* So, I am heading out for an organized 35 mile ride and I pull up to a stop sign. Since there is traffic I sit there and balance in place while waiting for traffic to clear. (I think you know where this is going...haha) Naturally, I lose my balance and realize that the cleat tension is too high for an easy escape. Down I go! The bad part? I had a car load of girls behind me in a convertible that had front row seats to the entire fiasco. Doh!!! ;-)

On the automotive side of things I once took a 1989 Porsche 911 turbo out for a test drive at a dealership. The car had been slightly modified to the tune of 450+ HP. So the sales guy and I hop in the car and put around the dealership side streets to get the car up to the proper temperature. Once she is hot to trot I get on to a clover leaf style on ramp. We're in second gear and I decide to see what the car can do as I approach the final apex of the turn. Holy turboboost Batman! I felt a sensation as if we'd just been rearended by a bus doing 60 mph and the next thing I know I am looking at the inside guard rail. By the grace of God I managed to stay on the throttle and countersteer out of it but both the sales guy and myself were pale as ghosts after that. Note to self: never tease a turbo on cold tires. :-)

Cheers! :D

Stupid bicycle trick:

Winter '98, at home, off sick with pneumonia. I felt kinda okay, and it was sunny and maybe 50 outside... So I took a ride, hoping that nobody from work would see me. Out I went, figuring on maybe 25 miles. I was in serious trouble after maybe 15 minutes. OH GOD! I though I was going to die! It was all I could do to fight for breath... It was like breathing through a plastic dry-cleaning bag. I averaged maybe 9mph, and had to get off and walk the bike up even the smallest hills. At one point, I got down on my hands and knees in the grass and hacked & coughed... I thought I'd be there all afternoon. I got home, barely, and had to spend the next few days in bed.

To quote my doctor, Carl Nechtman: "What're you, ******** or something?"

Stupid driving trick:

I was 18 in 1977, and I had a Honda CL250 motorcycle. Sitting at a traffic light one hot July day, I heard this "whoomph" noise, and then the bike began idling funny. Before I could do anything, this lady in the car next to me rolled down her window and said "honey, your bike's on fire..." It was. I was, too. The fuel petcock had this habit of vibrating loose, and usually just dripped a little bit. This time, it had to be different... I jumped off and did a happy little dance, right in the street, beating my thighs and crotch with my hands. I took off my tee shirt and smothered the bike's fire, then... calmly, sorta... I tightened the petcock with the Honda Tool Kit (6" Open-End Adjustable Wrench.) I had to ride home... 12 miles... with no shirt, big holes in my khakis. Plus, my cojones had taken a few good slaps, leaving me feeling like I'd been kicked in the groin.

God, I really loved that motorcycle, tho...

Originally posted by Stumon
... this lady in the car next to me rolled down her window and said "honey, your bike's on fire..."

Don't you just love Southern under-statement! :p

On a bicycle when I was 13. My friend was riding on my handlebars and I told her to steer. I let go. We fell. Her front teeth were knocked out My Mom beat my butt.

In a car. I was 17. My friend and I were playing leap frog, two separate cars, of course. I was driving a station wagon. I lost control and slid across a field at a high rate of speed. Thankfully no injuries or damage. Mom never knew.

I try not to do stupid things now. :(

Originally posted by Stumon
...this lady in the car next to me rolled down her window and
said "honey, your bike's on fire..."
There are two kinds of people in the world: those that hate being called "honey," and those that love it.

I'm one of the ones that love it! :) "Honey" callers almost always seem to be good-hearted, helpful people--like this woman.

Originally posted by Cheryl

I try not to do stupid things now. :(
Cheryl, I'm with you--but I tell you, dear friend, sometimes it just seems like a losing battle... :p

Do you know that "stupid" is nearly the same word in most western languages? Rather comforting, that. No question at all about what that Italian taxi driver just called you... in the mixture of expletives and colourful colloquialisms, there's that familiar old "stupido!"

I've done stupid, stupide, stupido, and stupidissimo things all my life, and it appears that I'll never be done...

I lived in San Francisco, California for three months before it dawned upon me to buy a bike. This was a bad mistake. It was my first trip to the USA, it was springtime, and all I had was an Oldsmobile rental car. What a waste! I finally walked into a bike shop, and with bad english, much pointing and pantomime, and a credit card, came away with a secondhand Schwinn touring bike.
Ah, bliss! I rode it around the Bay Area for three more months, and left it as a tip for the maid... she had a 14-year old who wanted a bike.

As for driving, well, learning to drive in Paris was stupid. What's the point of having a permit? Paris is a city of three million souls, and at any time, six free parking spaces. Insurance is more costly than car, same for gas. I just had to emulate my americaine idols, though, and besides... that driving permit in my wallet sure made me feel cool. (Okay, it did come in handy twenty-five years later.)

Stupidest bike stunt was this week. I just got a Specialized HardRock as my alternate bike. As I was hauling it out of the basement to go to work I got a finger stuck in the seat springs, right on one of the arthritic nodes on my knuckle. After spending some time determining that my finger was not coming out without serious pain in an already sore knuckle, and that I could not get back into the basement and my grease tube, Ifinally remembered a bit of Pedros was in my trunkbag. At least I was only a little late to work.

Stupidest car trick: commuting by car for 17 years.

I too once rear-ended a car, AlphaGeek, but I had a perfectly legitmate excuse.:angel: I was riding through park, behind a car, when spotted this girl sunbathing...I was pleasantly reminded of that day for years after, every time I looked down at my slightly bent forks.

The dumbest thing I do in my van is go anywhere without my bike in it!:thumbup:

I did this yesterday. I went out to ride at about 10 am and noticed that there were some nasty clouds to the south but I went out anyway. About 25 miles into my ride it started to rain so I headed back to the barn. Something inside said "what a wimp, get back on the road and finish your ride!" I listened to that inner voice and kept jamming. Well, it got worse. No lightning but the wind really picked up. I actually had to lean at about a 20 degree angle into the crosswind. When I finished the ride I found out that there was a tornado warning posted just south of me.

A. Once, in a daze, I trusted a signal light which gave me a green for about a second. I found myself in the middle of the buisiest highway in Southern California (PCH) when I realized what had happened. The luckiest morning of my life, I threaded the needle and shook for about the first ten miles of my ride!

B. I'll keep you posted.

the stupidest thing ive ever done on a bike was back in my stupid college kid days. after a night of partying and heavy drinking I decided to ride home very drunk. I thought I would avoid any cars/pedestrians or the law by taking the unlit back lanes and side roads. In my deminished capacity and judement I slammed into someones trash cans that where put out for morning collection. In doing so I was throwen about 15 feet doing a face plant into greasy back lane gravle and bent my forks into an unnatural posisition. Since it was unrideable I locked the bike up there in the ally and proceded to walk home. Later when I sobered up I called my friend with a pickup to take me to retrive the bike.....but I could'nt remember where It was. we looked for 2 hours and never found it.....maby it was stolen, maby its still there 9 years later, Ill never know.

In my own defence (althoe there is realy no excuse) I did'nt know it was as illegal and dangerious to ride bike inebriated as it is to drive a car.

Im sorry, it has not and will not EVER happen again.

Cheers,
Snoop DuJour

Stupid bike trick- I once managed to ride into the back of a parked car. I have no good excuse. Quiet residential street, no cars around. I was just kind of zoned because I'd been volunteering at Girl Scout day camp all day and I was on my way home. Chasing around 30 whiny, hyperactive 5, 6 and 7 year olds can really take it out of a person. Anyway, I was riding home, not paying attention to my surroundings and bam, where the h@ll did that pontiac come from!? Anyway, I took out the poor guy's tail light and bent my wheel some. Not enough to prevent me from riding home, though it was a bumpy ride. And yes, I didn't just ride away. I found the house the car belonged to, and ended up paying for his new tail light.

Stupid car trick- I was going from Bloomington, IN where I was in grad school at the time, to visit my then fiance, now husband, in Dubuque, IA. I was following a fast moving cadillac with a radar detector. We were going about 80mph. I was driving a rusty old Chevy Nova with tires as bald as Star Trek's Jean Luc Picard. Just outside of the Quad Cities, I had to make an exit. It was a sharp cloverleaf with a speed limit of 25mph. It came up faster than I was expecting it. Without thinking too much about it, I headed onto the exit way, way too fast. I hit the ramp at about 75mph. Then realizing what I was doing, slammed the brakes. They locked and suddenly I was spinning across the ramp. Luckily, nobody was following me onto the ramp, otherwise I probably would be dead now instead of posting this. My car ended up at a dead stop pointed 180 degrees from the way i was supposed to be going up the ramp. Heart pounding, I managed to turn around and get going in the right direction just before a minivan trundled up the ramp. Needless to say, after that visit, my fiance came to visit me in Bloomington.

I don't think I've posted mine yet:

Bike: Smashed into the back of a parked car while climbing a few years ago and chipped my teeth badly, painfully and expensively.

Car: I've never driven one! Therefore I've only done smart things :D .

Chris

The dumbest thing I ever did on my bike was to try and control the bike with me feet on the fork and no hands. I wiped out pretty bad.


Dumbest thing in a car, I drove 95 once.

this may be long, but i promise you will get at least two laughs out of reading it :D .

my dumbest car experience is similar to joe's, but described in detail, and (luckily) did not include cops-

there is this hill on the way to the pool where i work with one of those little mini-hills right after you have crested the hill which, will, if you are traveling fast enough, launch you into the air. one day i had gone to lunch with some of my co-workers (bear in mind that i had only recently turned 16) and was driving my mom's brand-spanking new '98 Durango. at the foot of the hill, i floor-boarded the truck and hit the top of the hill at 65 mph. everyone was screaming as the car flew over the bump that we all knew was coming and everyone who was not holding onto the steering wheel (read-everyone but me) banged their heads on the ceiling, and had headaches for the next couple of hours. when the truck landed, i was in the wrong lane, facing an oncoming car in a 25 mph speed zone. we all almost died, and i almost wet myself, but, man, that was some fun s**t.

the dumbest incident on my bike occured the morning after i gotten my first "mountain bike," a department store cro-moly beast with a front shock and imitaiton V-brakes.

i was so excited by my new go-anywhere-do-anything-bike that i decided to go out and jump it off of random obsticles. i did so with no problems, as long as i was flying off of walls and embankments, and not over ditches. the first ditch i tried to sail over was a total disaster. i came flying down through my front yard, up over a homemade plywood/cinder block ramp, and through the air in a futile attempt to clear a four foot drainage ditch. when i finally was able to get up, i saw that i had smashed the rear derailleur, bent the seatpost, and knocked the handlebar out of line, not to mention the flatened rear tire. needless to say, i haven't yet attempted that jump on my fisher.

pretty dumb, but, once again, at the time, it was some fun s**t.

My dad started this thread so i thought i'd butt in and add to it.
The dumbest thing I ever did was to speed down a hill in a rickety bike with barely any brakes and run into someone's mailbox. heheheheh.

For some odd reason, i really think that was pete in that last post... ;)

Stupidest cycling: one of two things, running yellow and red lights through the streets of Brooklyn New York, And racing my brother while riding double, my passenger fell off and landed in my rear wheel the result was an ugly twisted mess with lots of road rash.

In a car: Driving through rush hour traffic at 100+ mph.

I wouldn't do either again. However I love going fast down hills, and still do it when I get the chance.

Yesterday I was out on my single. I came down a really steep hill fast and anticipating the "upcoming" short 18% climb. As I approched the climb a farm tractor pulled onto the road halfway up the hill.....the hill is steep but not super long.....100 yards maybe. The road up is a narrow two lane road....I caught the tractor and instead of slowing and staying behind, I hammered by it. My speed had considerably slowed, but I still managed to get around the surprised tractor driver.

All ended well with me hitting max heart rate and meeting no oncoming vehical coming over the hill in the other lane......what a dummy! I felt good about getting around the tractor but darned stupid about the thoughtless risk I took. :rolleyes:

A: Happened just today. We were in the lovely little town of Jasper, Alberta, nestled in the heart of the rockies. We were passing a LBS (Vicious Cycles) and I spotted a bunch of Trek bikes on display out front. I don't get out much and had never seen a Trek so I just had to stop.

I swung into the curb, ready to hop up onto the sidewalk. Jerked up on the bars and promptly ran SMACK into the curb. This launched me over my handlebars and set me on my skinned elbows and knees waiting (cringing) for my bike to come to rest upon myownself (which it did). Happily I was wearing my helmet as always as well as a backpack stuffed full of food & snacks (which were not seriously injured).

So...minor scratches, major embrassment RIGHT outside a bike shop....geeez.

B: Driving drunk - NOTHING dumber than that, imho (13 years drink free this month)

I was at the end of a short ride, and decided to ride home on one of the busiest roads in town. Sometimes when I ride I think about the movie Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon riding in the middle of two lanes of traffic, and this day was one of them.
http://www.geocities.com/~ohmystars/kevquicksilver.html
The traffic light that I approached was red. I rode in the middle of the two lanes of motorist going North. There was a perfectly good sidewalk right beside the road, but I didn't want to take it bacause I read something that Ken Kifer wrote about riding on the road to the sidewalk and back making you unpredictable for motorists.
http://www.kenkifer.com
As I went past the down-rolled windows of the cars waiting at the light, I could hear comments like, "he has no business out here" etc. A kid passed me when the light changed, and from the safety of his car yelled out, "dumb@&&!!" I made sure that he saw my proposition for him to come back so I could kick his @&&!!

I was really angry, but after I got over my anger I thought about how stupid I had been to be out there in the first place. I really didn't have any business being in the middle of two lanes of one direction traffic. I don't know what made me forget that "Larry" Fishborne died in that movie from getting run over by a motorist. I know that you learn from your mistakes, and luckily I didn't have any tire marks across my back to help me remember the mistake that I had made.

Ouch~~Ouch~~Ouch~~ Poor Pinky~~

Stupidest Cycle event~~ thinking the median of an interstate would be a comfortable zone~~

Stupidest Car event(s)~~ the six million, four thousand, nine hundred and eighty seven times I locked the keys in it~~

Major bike perk was no keys~~ lock is combo perfect as long as I recall numbers~~
b

I rear ended a car once too. That hurt, I hit that thing so hard I put dents in it with my body. I needed remedial cycling classes after that.

The dumbest thing I have ever done in my car is have reverse races. Going as fast as you can in reverse is pretty dumb. Hitting the dumpster it even dumber.

Worst thing on a car :

Forcing a police car off the road (it was unmarked).

Well, the stupid old git was toddling along at about 45 km/h....

When I started getting dizzy and seeing stars after screaming so much when driving, I began to consider other methods of transport...

I am laughing so hard...................

that I can't hardly type..........

I will post my story..........hahahahahhaha

when I regain composure.......lolololololol

:p

The stupidest thing I've done on my bike is trying to ride over a ice covered pool of water on a trail. The ice looked thick and I figured if I was going fast enough I would zip right across. WRONG!!!! Half way across the ice my front wheel broke through and I instantly was catapulted head first into the ice. As I picked my head up I could see both the blood dripping onto the ice and my bike flying down the trail ahead of me. My helmet saved me from a concusion and the bike was fine. I''ve still got the scar;)

I've done so many stupid things while driving that I'd say the stupidest thing was ever getting my license.