What is the most unsafe thing you have ever done on a bike?

[deputyjones]

You know that one time you rode ninja backwards, the wrong way, down a one-way street, drunk, with a crack ***** and a midget strapped to your bike?

The confessional is now open. Spill your guts and received absolution from the sentient cycling beings!

[Blue Jays]

Crossed a desolate highway without waiting for the signal to turn green on an early-morning ride.

[Bekologist]

practicing riding with my eyes closed.

riding drunk into lake superior and refusing to get out.

riding off the breakwall into the big lake for the thrill.

over 50 mph on wet roads. over 60 mph on dry mountain downhills.

riding loaded touring bike 40mph + no handed and shooting video.

reading the newspaper while riding.

running into car.

riding ice in traffic.

splitting lanes of traffic on wet drawbridge grating.

getting SERIOUSLY LOST in woods on bike.

bike touring in full winter conditions.

Antagonizing motorists.

naw, this one takes the cake-

my cyclist inferiority complex ;) causing me to ride six foot wide buffered bike lanes vehicularly? :eek:

[donnamb]

riding drunk into lake superior and refusing to get out.
:roflmao:

Sneaking out of the the subdivision I was not allowed to leave and riding my old Ross Polobike on BMX trails. Took it down the sled hill. The damage got me caught. :(

[Brian Ratliff]

I got hit by a car once. I don't recommend it ;).

Hit 55 mph down a hill.

Rode a bike equiped with only coaster brakes, being acquainted only with hand brakes. (I almost rode my bike into a lake because I couldn't figure out how to stop - ended up doing a Fred Flintstone stop.)

[z415]

Eat a hamburger. Greasy fingers slip off of brake levers.

[wethepeople]

Rode along the top of a moving train bunny hopping from car to car.

[donnamb]

Rode along the top of a moving train bunny hopping from car to car.
:eek:

[JustBrowsing]

Rode along the top of a moving train bunny hopping from car to car.
Wow, we gots a stuntman in our midsts...

[sgtsmile]

Rode along the top of a moving train bunny hopping from car to car.

That kinda takes the cake



Mine though: filtering past a row of cars (stopped) at 45kmph in a narrow lane (about ohhhhh 20 inches of room) and JUST slanting the bike and ducking at the right time to avoid taking the mirror of the truck up front in the face. The row never did catch me that day....

Although this kinda ranks too: screwing up a turn at speed badly up at hardwood hills (mtn bike place north of Barrie Ontario for those looking for a great place to ride) and hipchecking a huge tree to stay on course. Sure beat the heck out of sailing into the trees and breaking myself:)

[Brusheda]

Riding with eyes closed down the block and back.

[deputyjones]

Although this kinda ranks too: screwing up a turn at speed badly up at hardwood hills (mtn bike place north of Barrie Ontario for those looking for a great place to ride) and hipchecking a huge tree to stay on course. Sure beat the heck out of sailing into the trees and breaking myself:)

only a Canadian ;)

[deputyjones]

riding drunk into lake superior and refusing to get out.

Bek: Now that is darn funny. Were you in MI or on the Canadian side?

WeThePeople: That is pretty amazing dude. Did you really do that or are you just messing with us?

[wheel]

Rode along the top of a moving train bunny hopping from car to car.


What tease us with no pics :D

Daydream.
Go touring by myself in the Mountains in the winter.
Try a bunny hop and almost fell down going 25 mph
Yell at gang bangers they started it.

[sgtsmile]

only a Canadian ;)

:D

[unkchunk]

Bought two 2 liter bottles of soda. Each one in it's own bag held on each end of the handle bar, thinking the symmetry of it would help maintain balance. When the bags started to swing in opposition like pendulums, they created more force than my arms could, making it impossible for me to steer, go straight or maintain any sort of control. Never ever do that.

[powerhouse]

I crossed over a railroad line just in front of a highballing train.

[wethepeople]

WeThePeople: That is pretty amazing dude. Did you really do that or are you just messing with us?

Did it about two years ago on a camping trip, it was easy to do but I didn't quite think things through when it came to getting me and a bike off of an accelerating train.

[KnhoJ]

Way back when I was shorter and kids didn't wear bike helmets... I got a run at the steep hill (1/4 mile, 180 feet) down the road from where I grew up, on a worn out Huffy with plastic wheels, and tucked in to see how fast I could go. The whole bike went into convusions at about 2000 mph. And the coaster brake would only lock up the rear wheel or do nothing at all, nothing inbetween. Managed to keep it on two wheels and get it stopped somehow, but I had to carry that tank of a bike home because the rear tire left all the tread on the street and bulged out too much to fit through the stays. I did more dumb things involving bikes as a kid than I can count, but that one tops the list.

[funrover]

Nothing compared to others but:

15ft drop onto flat(not good)
62 MPH off road on singletrack
Racing a buddy in heavy rain/snow
"Attempting a backflip" never made it


And the "I watched it in a video, now must try" moves O'Many!

[powerhouse]

I crossed over a railroad line just in front of a highballing train. :eek: :eek:

I really did that, too. I was riding through an area I didn't know at a fast clip and there were no signs, notices, or mechanisms to warn me that I was approaching a rail line, let alone one with a speeding freight train on it! It's not something I'd lie about or do when I'm having a dull day. I really did it and I feel lucky to be alive.

[sbhikes]

I've ridden through some scary neighborhoods at dusk. Dark is better because then they can't tell I'm a woman.

[hotbike]

Dropping the bike and sliding on the Kevlar fairing, at 55mph, to get under a semi-trailer that was blocking the the road.

Riding the same bike for 2 miles with my eyes closed, to prove how straight it tracks.

Ramming cars in the quarter panel (when they "right hook" me) and making them spin out.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/Type5MilitaryPoliceBike.jpg

Starting a fire inside the fairing to create a "pulse-jet" effect.

Doing a "table-top" on an empty Southern Pacific flat car at a grade crossing (train was moving 5 mph).

[freemti]

When I was 14ish I rode down an extremely long & steep road at blistering speed on some beater bike of mine. At the bottom of road was the quite busy main road and I wasn't planing on braking. I clipped the rear bumper of some car and went flying, the poor driver was at first mortified followed by angry. Lucky for me no obvious harm.

I repeated this adventure in a slightly different scenario a few years later with a moped replacing the bike - the results were not so good, but that's another story...

[sbhikes]

It's a wonder some of you are still alive.

[wethepeople]

Learning tricks without a helmet is damn good motivation to get it right on the first try.

[catatonic]

most unsafe....probably has something to do with running out of gearing on my roadbike....53/11, and no feedback on the pedals at all....right into all kinds of choppy pavement.

I still have no clue how the heck I made it out of that without wiping....but it sure did scare teh bejeebus out of me...that's what happens when you are having too much fun while in "OMFG SPEEEEEEEEED!" mode to notice the road looks slightly different.

Yes, I wet my shorts a little :(

However it was amusing to possibly have broken the 45mph speed limit on that road, on a bike....thanks to wind, and being on a downgrade just the right angle to really light it up.

....that was by far the most unsafe thing I ever did. Honestly I'm amazed I got out of it fine.

Next most unsafe was drafting a police van (on days with serious wind, I have been known to draft if I feel my legs can't fight the wind, and the traffic is slow enough to do it)....those guys do NOT know how to stop smoothly....I quickly dropped that idea after the second "oh shoot" moment in one mile.

[kemmer]

I rode down the spillway of a large damn (Chatfield for anyone in Colorado) from 1/4 of the way up into the water below. I had planned on doing it from the top but luckily I chickened out, that would have been a hospital stay at the very least.

My friends and used to race down the train tracks sometimes. Crashing or falling resulted in great pain and disqualification.

We used to jump off a small jump down 10 foot drop into a 5 foot deep canal. If you went too slow you didn't clear the drop which resulted in much pain. If you went too fast, you'd hit the other side which resulted in even more pain.

[ken cummings]

Down a long steep hill at 7,000 feet with a heavily laden fully faired tadpole trike with feeble brakes. The Pacer 2000 speedometer read 70 on the max reading. Destroyed the brakes slowing and went through a busy stoplit intersection near the bottom of the hill at 30 MPH.

[sggoodri]

Got carried away on a bike ride, and arrived home late for an important engagement with my wife.

[Roody]

Riding right through a pack of crack dealers every night on my way home from work. Hey, I don't bother them and they don't bother me....so far

Riding while carrying a full 5 gallon gas can with no lid in one hand

Doing donuts on a parking lot covered with rock salt. Ouch--talk about rubbing salt in the wound!

Riding with my stepson, the world's twitchiest rider

[Roody]

Yes, I wet my shorts a little :(



And this must be why cycling shorts have those little diapers sewn right into them. :D

[funrover]

I rode down the spillway of a large damn (Chatfield for anyone in Colorado) from 1/4 of the way up into the water below. I had planned on doing it from the top but luckily I chickened out, that would have been a hospital stay at the very least.



Impressive..... I would never do that...But I have often wondererd if others have!

[catatonic]

And this must be why cycling shorts have those little diapers sewn right into them. :D


I think you're onto something! :p

[ollo_ollo]

Two events qualify: at age 12, I rode down the steepest hill in town with my arms crossed r to l & l to r. Made it almost all the way down before exiting through the ditch & into the blackberry patch. No serious injuries. Much later, I once hit 53 mph on a long descent and suffered nothing but mental anguish. Don

[SonataInFSharp]

As a kid: Riding down an extremely busy highway during the start of rush hour in a construction zone with no shoulders. I was riding within inches of my friend's back tire. He decided to slow down and veer left to get off the road and he clipped me at about 25mph. I went over the bars and landed in the street (no helemts, gloves, or anything back then). I could hear cars screetching to a stop in both directions. The rims were bent and I had enough adrenaline to pick the bike up and throw it about 15 feet across the road out of the way and crawled to the side of the road. I was very dizzy and almost passed out. We were 15 miles from home and had to walk all the way back, taking turns carrying the bike. We were 13 years old, I think.

As an adult: Filtering through stopped rush hour traffic just to realize they were moving agan and no one saw me. Not all that dumb or even illegal, but dumb for ME. I am pretty boring on a bike as an adult.

[recursive]

Sprinting on SPD pedals.

[cyclezealot]

practicing riding with my eyes closed.

riding drunk into lake superior and refusing to get out.

riding off the breakwall into the big lake for the thrill.

my cyclist inferiority complex ;) causing me to ride six foot wide buffered bike lanes vehicularly? :eek:
wow. that's an amazing bike history. Did they use you for a stunt man in the movies.??
Like to know more about your lake Superior and Breakwall stunts. sounds sort of fun, if one was drunk.
people can die in lake Superior after what 20 minutes exposure time. The other. riding off a break wall.
Interesting. Right out of Tom Cruise's "RIsky Business." Care to elaborate how your two stunts tunred out. Were you clipless and did you find yourself on the lake's bottom ooze before your pulled out. Cool.
personally. I have taken keen interest in those posts about underwater bike races ( using Scuba.) . Couple places around the planet sponsor such underwater races each year. It would blend together my two favorite sports.

[deputyjones]

Did it about two years ago on a camping trip, it was easy to do but I didn't quite think things through when it came to getting me and a bike off of an accelerating train.

That is cool man.

BTW, I did not mean to imply you were lying about it. I thought you might have been being sarcastic like hotbike.

[aadhils]

Drafting a bus at 30mph on my fixed gear, and the bus hit the brakes. Luckily they take their time to slow down, but I almost rear ended it. Now I don't do that anymore...

[ralph12]

Riding with eyes closed, merging into oncoming traffic without signalling, and dropping my bike in a turn. ALL AT THE SAME TIME












(the last part isn't really true)

[ghettocruiser]

This thread is useless without pics.



Or at least youtube links.

[richardmasoner]

Or at least youtube links.

Your wish is my command.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6uz-1_6VY

[SingleSpeeDemon]

Last week I rode my bike while carrying a bakery-fresh apple pie in one hand.

Nearly lost the pie.

[genec]

Used to pace and race cars coming off the high mountain grades east of San Diego on old Hiway 94. I could easily hit 45-50MPH and on those twisty mountain roads it was difficult for motorists to go that fast, so I paced them until they slowed and then I would zoom on past.

One tiny rock in the wrong place and I would have been a statistic. Didn't even own a helmet on those days.

'Course in my youth, riding hands free down hill and hitting curbs and flying through the air might have messed me up in the same way... but I survived that too.

Then there was the time I rode a friend's bike right through the picture window at the local convent... the nuns were none too pleased.

And that time I rode my bike with firecrackers in the rear basket... to give it more speed... uh, not too swift.

Then there was that time on a fully loaded tour and going through the tunnel after Lompoc on Hiway 1 while pacing a large semi... the wife was none too pleased about that. Personally, I thought it was a hoot. (my "Breaking Away" moment) (BTW I can't seem to find that tunnel today... has the road changed or is it just my bad memory)

And what about the long tour down the length of Baja... Well some folks thought I was crazy... anyway.

[sgtsmile]

Got carried away on a bike ride, and arrived home late for an important engagement with my wife.

LMAO!

I have done that, and almost died!

[scottmorrison99]

Got carried away on a bike ride, and arrived home late for an important engagement with my wife.

I got carried away on a bike ride, and ended up carried away from said bike ride. ( to the ER)

[scottmorrison99]

Sprinting on SPD pedals.

I remember that thread. OUCH!

[powerhouse]

As I'd said in post #21, I'd once passed in front of a speeding freight train while riding through an area I had never been in before. I am lucky to be alive to tell about it. From this experience, I offer this advice:

Don't ANYBODY try this, EVER. Chances are you won't be so fortunate.

[kemmer]

Impressive..... I would never do that...But I have often wondererd if others have!

It was pretty cool. I would consider trying it again on a better bike. The one I used was a crappy huffy/murray type BMX with no chain or brakes and bad tires.