General Cycling Discussion - Most embarassing thing you have done while riding?

Okay I live in a town where no matter what everything always seems to be up hill, so one day I had been riding all day it was likely a 160km's so a century I did a ot of them back then, and I just got to the top of the hill and was going to a buddies place and it was like half a block away on what seems to be the only flat ground in town. so I was catching my breath with my head down and I rode directly into the back of a car, went clear over the handle bars and ended up sliding off the trunk in a heap. I was so embarrassed I just fled, I have no idea if I damaged the car I was only about 17 at the time and I was just completely embarrassed by what I had just done. I got to my buddies and just flopped on the floor I had two huge bruises when my legs had hit my handle bars I had a few square inches of road rash on my face and my arm and shoulder, my bike rim was slightly bent and it was about two years to admit that I rode head on into a parked car I was so taken back by what I had done. I am a little ashamed that I probably damaged this car but I honestly did not think about it at the time only that I had just done something really stupid. I cannot watch Wayne's Wold to this day without blushing when the girl yells Hi Wayne and then hits the hood of that Camaro.

I fell off my bike, on a crowded bike path,when I was new to clipless pedals. :(

I fell off my bike, on a crowded bike path,when I was new to clipless pedals. :(

I did that too, I was on the road though stopping for a red light and tipped over on my side... there was a car behind me so I pull the bike off the road and popped off the rear wheel like there was a malfunction LOL I was pretty red faced though LOL

+1 on the 'rode into the back of a parked car' thing.

I was 13 or 14, had just left the house and was looking down at my feet wondering whether I'd made the right choice in shoes. Did I want to be comfortable getting there or did I want to look cool when I got there? Decisions, decisions <BANG>

No harm to the car but I bent my front forks way back. They cost the whopping sum of 4.50GBP to replace and as my parents refused to up the cash, and my pocket money at the time was 50p per week, I spent the whole summer bike-less while I saved up.

And naturally, it turned out to be that rarest of rare things, a beautiful summer in Britain. Perfect for bike riding.

Wiped out while trying to ride standing up with no hands. Luckily, it was on a suburban street at night and nobody was in the area - the next car didn't drive past until just after I'd managed to get back on my feet.

I was in the driveway of my house, ready to dismount from clipless pedals-- i always lean left, unclip left first but for some reason, i unclipped left but leaned right.....you know the rest. ;-)

There's a light on my afternoon commute that I can only make about 1% of the time. When there's no traffic blocking, I have to roll through the light before just as it turns green, and go all out--because of the timing of the lights. So....

...one day I'm really gonna make it, and I roll triumphantly into the intersection at max speed, maybe 28, and cut the corner hard--with the wrong pedal down. Crunch! I stayed up, but I did a wicked fishtail and attracted much unwanted attention.

Fell off my bike while standing waiting to cross the street. I pretended to look at something wrong after I picked myself up. Luckily, no other cyclist nearby except auto traffic.

Fell right in front of a really cute girl on the bike path. I hit a patch of loose sand and instead of keep on pedaling, I stopped and then of course feel.

Fell in front of a line of traffic at an intersection. For some reason I started leaning right but was unclipped on the right. I somehow caught something on the way down and gashed my thigh, Though faint, I still have the scar from 2 years ago.

Both happened with clipless pedals.

First day with clipless pedals, I was leaving work on a major university campus. Fell over and landed right on an attractive co-ed. She was very cool. And a cyclist. She was kind enough to come into the restaurant I ran on campus every day for the next year and remind me. And all of my employees.

last year, I was out for a morning ride... rode HARD for a mile or so and came to a stop light. Light was red so naturally, I stopped... Left shoe was out of the pedal, right was still locked in. I felt myself start to lean a little too hard right and was feeling pretty exhausted so my first reaction was to pick my bike up with my right leg and kick it out to stabilize myself. Too little, too late. I went over the side of the bike and landed on this van that was also waiting for the light to change. I got a little busted up but not bad, a scrape here or there and felt a little bruised. They guy was a little nervous about whether I was okay or not, I said I was fine and apologized for landing on his (work) van. No damage to the van, just a smudge where I wiped the dirt off of it. It was a tough ride home from there, felt a little sore, bruised ego, and never really managed to catch up on my exhaustion cuz the fall cranked my adrenaline up.

First day with clipless pedals, I was leaving work on a major university campus. Fell over and landed right on an attractive co-ed. She was very cool. And a cyclist. She was kind enough to come into the restaurant I ran on campus every day for the next year and remind me. And all of my employees.

she came in every day because she wanted you to ask her out, not because she wanted to break your balls. women don't go out of their way to break a strangers balls. you blew it.

Ran into a parked car in my driveway the first week I had clipless pedals staring at my feet not looking up. Second week I forgot to unclip and toppled over at a stop light....in front of the smoke pit of a high school. The teenagers first asked if I was ok before they burst out laughing at me.

Third week I fell twice, once i turned around too slow, too steep of a hill and in a tall gear.....later that week at a stop light I fell onto my girlfriend who was doing a rare ride with me....have not fell in a long long while....knock wood.

sorry let me clean this up, originally composed on my iphone.

Me, too -- parked car, while riding no-hands on my old Stingray, savoring the best chili dog in town; spilled half the topping on the trunk lid, wiped off what I could, and went on my way, GLAD that no one saw it.

Ran into a parked car in my driveway the first week I had clipless pedals staring at my feet not looking up. Second week I forgot to unclip and toppled over at a stop light....in front of the smoke pit. The teenager first asked if I was ok before bursting out laughing at me. Third week I fell twice, once i turned around too slow, too steep of a hill and in a tall gear.....later that week at a stop like I fell onto my girlfriend who was doing a rare ride with me....have not fell in a while....knock wood.

Okay you need padding LOL next time this starts happening again grab the pillows off the chesterfield and duct tape them all around you, because that is a lot of falling... :) J/K

By far the most embarrassing..

Wearing cycling shorts, so quite obviously commando underneath. Foot down at a stoplight at a busy intersection, light goes green and I take off and slide back onto the saddle. When I do the shorts snag "just right" on the nose of the saddle and rip a giant hole in the back. No choice but to keep riding..

Rode my vintage 10 speed (it wasn't vintage then) on a busy downtown street while a festival was going on. Tons of people walking around, buying food, sitting in lawn chairs. I was about 12. Trying to look cool. Failed to notice gutter with slats about the exact width of my front tire, which lodged in them, sent me over the handlebars and onto the ground face first. It was like those teen adolescent movies where hundreds of people of all ages are laughing uproariously at you.

My wife's new Saturday morning thing is what I like to call her Tour de Yard Sales. She rides her road bike, I ride my Big Dummy and we ride around the area checking out yard sales, produce markets, etc. This past Saturday at the very first sale we stopped at she stumbled upon a big ole Barbie doll house, with like 7 Barbies, a Barbie car and all kinds of other Barbie crap, that she just had to have for one of our grand daughters.

So here I am, peddling my ass all over town with this big doll house strapped to one side of the bike, with bags of crap on the other...of course with all the Barbies poking their heads out of the freeloader so they could enjoy the scenery. Then, when we stopped at a little farmer's market, sure enough a couple of women I work with spot me, got a good chuckle ("that is so cute!" :eek:). Yes, of course they have spent the morning today ensuring that the entire company knows what a great, cute, possibly gay, grandpa I am. :o

A couple years ago I went with a friend on a long ride. The trail went to this po-dink town and stopped. But since it’s a rail-trail, going to this town is a slight incline.. Well, at this time I haven’t been riding for bout a month AND I still had my tank of a mtn bike. I was struggling to keep up and by the time we got to this town, I was virtually spent, but since the trail is downhill now, I was looking forward to the return trip. We decided to stop at a gas station cause his current g/f was working there. We get there and I went to pop the front wheel up on the side walk, something I’ve done thousands of times in my life, but at that moment in my life, I was just too exhaust. So I popped the front wheel up…..and right down on the sidewalk edge, tacoeing (is that a word?) my front rim and falling over, right in the middle of this gas station. I had to call my wife and wait bout 45 min til she showed up.

My wife's new Saturday morning thing is what I like to call her Tour de Yard Sales. She rides her road bike, I ride my Big Dummy and we ride around the area checking out yard sales, produce markets, etc. This past Saturday at the very first sale we stopped at she stumbled upon a big ole Barbie doll house, with like 7 Barbies, a Barbie car and all kinds of other Barbie crap, that she just had to have for one of our grand daughters.

So here I am, peddling my ass all over town with this big doll house strapped to one side of the bike, with bags of crap on the other...of course with all the Barbies poking their heads out of the freeloader so they could enjoy the scenery. Then, when we stopped at a little farmer's market, sure enough a couple of women I work with spot me, got a good chuckle ("that is so cute!" :eek:). Yes, of course they have spent the morning today ensuring that the entire company knows what a great, cute, possibly gay, grandpa I am. :o


Lol!

My wife's new Saturday morning thing is what I like to call her Tour de Yard Sales. She rides her road bike, I ride my Big Dummy and we ride around the area checking out yard sales, produce markets, etc. This past Saturday at the very first sale we stopped at she stumbled upon a big ole Barbie doll house, with like 7 Barbies, a Barbie car and all kinds of other Barbie crap, that she just had to have for one of our grand daughters.

So here I am, peddling my ass all over town with this big doll house strapped to one side of the bike, with bags of crap on the other...of course with all the Barbies poking their heads out of the freeloader so they could enjoy the scenery. Then, when we stopped at a little farmer's market, sure enough a couple of women I work with spot me, got a good chuckle ("that is so cute!" :eek:). Yes, of course they have spent the morning today ensuring that the entire company knows what a great, cute, possibly gay, grandpa I am. :o


I am sure your masculinity was safe anyone with daughters or granddaughters knows the scoop, I have 4 nieces that belong to my sister and I am always wear pretty bracelets that they made me and I am a pro at braiding hair and the whole deal. I once had to walk through the mall at christmas with a princess rub on tatoo on my cheek because I was with my niece and she though it was the greatest thing since sliced bread so I swallowed my pride to not upset her LOL

Rode once with shorts that were too short... :twitchy:
(-You figure out the rest...) :o

Came up on a group of girls putting along at like 10mph, I say "on your left" and pass in a standing climb with hands on bar ends, I get about 20 foot past the two girls and I hear a ping ping ping then the ground rushed up and hit me in the face, the front wheel spokes snapped and front fork crumpled. My arm and face got a bit of road rash but I was alright, the girls stopped and asked if I was alright, I know I was a nice beet red and felt like a total tool.

Stoppie gone wrong in front of a carload of cute girls. They got to see a middle-age guy hang in mid-air for a few seconds before crumpling in a heap.

Not too long ago I was having one of the best rides back from work yet. Keeping up with traffic, contesting the speed limit with them, getting a solid workout, and feeling confident in every way. I signal and pop over into the left lane, passing plenty of pedestrians on this busy afternoon. Go to take the last corner before the parking garage, and don't brush off enough speed and push on my outside leg. I go down on my left side.

I manage to slide downhill 30 feet, cars lined up in the other lane waiting for the green light getting a great show, and an old couple deeply concerned about my now bleeding everything. Also, my ass slid along the pavement, burning through my shorts and leaving my plump left butt cheek out for all to see. I walk my bike the remaining 40 feet to the parking garage, pissed off.

Rode once with shorts that were too short... :twitchy:
(-You figure out the rest...) :o

Yup, only my shorts were baggy and I was riding my recumbent high racer on a busy bike path. I don't normally wear boxers, but I did that day, lol

I notice that the vast majority of these embarrassing incidents have taken place directly in front of cute girls. I'm starting to think that the cute girls are somehow causing them. Somebody should look into that.

I uhm............well.............I.....man I dunno if I should really say this.

I smoked a cigarette. :o

It was over thirty years ago but,well nevermind.

Not much. The worst I can think of is a pedal strike when taking a left in the middle intersection. Less scary, more holy sh*t the car behind me is going to kill me. Luckily I didn't fall, I was just on the receiving end of a rather violent fishtail, my butt hopped off my seat, but I was "in control".

Not too long ago I was having one of the best rides back from work yet. Keeping up with traffic, contesting the speed limit with them, getting a solid workout, and feeling confident in every way. I signal and pop over into the left lane, passing plenty of pedestrians on this busy afternoon. Go to take the last corner before the parking garage, and don't brush off enough speed and push on my outside leg. I go down on my left side.

I manage to slide downhill 30 feet, cars lined up in the other lane waiting for the green light getting a great show, and an old couple deeply concerned about my now bleeding everything. Also, my ass slid along the pavement, burning through my shorts and leaving my plump left butt cheek out for all to see. I walk my bike the remaining 40 feet to the parking garage, pissed off.


Ouch...

Okay is is not a biking one but it is a higher up on the stupidest things I have done list. I was 15, and was skateboarding with the usual crowd in the yard of a nearby school a friend of mine just got his license and drives up all happy and proud so have seen back to the future 1 too many time I grab the back of the car and tell him to go, so he lets off on the break and starts idlinging forward, I am being passed by snails, so I said speed up, well he floor it and got it up to about 60kph in this parking lot I am holding on for dear life, not expecting this much of speeding up. suddenly something is terribly wrong. I have not got a skateboard under my feet anymore, I had hit a manhole cover and lost a key piece of equipment, I end up sliding about 50 feet across the ashvault wear no shirt and just a pair of shorts and shoes, I literally had solid road rash from my head to my toe, I slid on my right side and still have the scars to this day from all the skin I left on that ashvault I hobble home have the most painful shower ever because the whole wound had gravel and dirt and tar all in it that needed cleaning then I was practically mummified for a week with gauze on all the road rash, not one of the brightest things I have ever done. Unfortunately it makes the top ten list of stupid things but it is closer to ten than it is to one LOL

I am a little displeased with Micheal J Fox though it looked so easy on TV.

This happened many years ago. I was looking at my watch while riding and rode right into the side of a parked van. Fortunately there were no injuries to me, the bike, or the van.

A friend and I decided to play chicken on our bikes. He turned left at the last moment and I turned right.

It took us a few minutes to untangle ourselves from the mess of bikes and limbs.

Pretty lame compared to some of the previous posts as I've only been riding for a couple months, but here it is:

A few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon I was just riding around in a leisurely fashion in Riverton, outside of Salt Lake City. I use quill pedals, and for some reason I felt that since my pedal straps were a bit loose, I'd just reach down while riding and pull them tight onto my shoes. So I forgot all about it, and a while later I come to a red light where a couple hotties are jogging. As I go to put my foot down I realize the straps are too tight to pull my feet out. I start to tip over and in the nick of time yank my foot out, but my foot has come out of the shoe and so now I have recovered but am standing at the red light using my sock. I hope no one notices, take off again at the red light with my sock on top of my shoe on the pedal, and then pull over after I cross the intersection.

The end.

When I was a kid I tried to take a shortcut home over a frozen lake, where everyone was out skating. Didn't get too far....

Tabriz

Pretty lame compared to some of the previous posts as I've only been riding for a couple months, but here it is:

A few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon I was just riding around in a leisurely fashion in Riverton, outside of Salt Lake City. I use quill pedals, and for some reason I felt that since my pedal straps were a bit loose, I'd just reach down while riding and pull them tight onto my shoes. So I forgot all about it, and a while later I come to a red light where a couple hotties are jogging. As I go to put my foot down I realize the straps are too tight to pull my feet out. I start to tip over and in the nick of time yank my foot out, but my foot has come out of the shoe and so now I have recovered but am standing at the red light using my sock. I hope no one notices, take off again at the red light with my sock on top of my shoe on the pedal, and then pull over after I cross the intersection.

The end.

This one made me laugh out loud

I went to hop up on a curb that I'd hopped every day for a month, just after switching to trekking bars, and guessed the speed or possibly the height wrong and ended up crashing into a utility pole. in front of a nice restaurant. at dinner time. to the amusement of a bunch of older people on the patio.

Was ridding with a friend and to close behind. They stopped at the top of hill and I had no choice but to do likewise. Problem is its to steep to do this without the brake and its a coaster brake bike. Soon as I put my foot down I start rolling backwards. Must have rolled a good 20 feet backwards down hill before flopping in the grass. Entertained some fisherman. I never mind doing stupid stuff long as no one gets hurt. The world needs to laugh more.

I did the "new to clipless pedals low speed crash" into the middle of the street. Bruised my new brooks saddle!!!!

I consistently (and stupidly) try to trackstand on my geared bike at stops. I also consistently (and stupidly) fall off awkwardly since I have toeclips.

Roadside glacial potholes filled with fresh clear water at the summit
of a fairly vigorous climb, riding a bike tour
along the southern coast of Norway..

Time for a Skinny Dip,? You Bet!

First time I road with clipless pedals, I pulled up to my car at the end of the ride, forgot I had to unclip, fell over.

When I was a kid I was tried to pull a u-ie hands-free with my eyes closed. I ended up hitting the curb. Surprisingly nothing else happened.

I actually had my first two clipless tips last night, at the end of a critical mass event when everybody was standing around chatting; in front of about 300 other riders. The first time was okay, I tipped, unclipped, and stood up. The second time, I jumped around, almost knocked over a homeless guy, and was hoisted up by a couple big guys until I could unclip my left foot.

I left pretty quickly after that.

a critical mass event

That is where you made your first mistake. ;)

Pretty lame compared to some of the previous posts as I've only been riding for a couple months, but here it is:

A few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon I was just riding around in a leisurely fashion in Riverton, outside of Salt Lake City. I use quill pedals, and for some reason I felt that since my pedal straps were a bit loose, I'd just reach down while riding and pull them tight onto my shoes. So I forgot all about it, and a while later I come to a red light where a couple hotties are jogging. As I go to put my foot down I realize the straps are too tight to pull my feet out. I start to tip over and in the nick of time yank my foot out, but my foot has come out of the shoe and so now I have recovered but am standing at the red light using my sock. I hope no one notices, take off again at the red light with my sock on top of my shoe on the pedal, and then pull over after I cross the intersection.

The end.

I saw something like this on the MS City to Shore one year, along with the more usual sort of clipless falls. He topped your story, however, by having his shoe come off the pedal after he got back on. It fell off into traffic and he had to stop and retrieve it.

That is where you made your first mistake. ;)
All things considered it was a pretty good time - a much better workout when corking than just cruising along. :) Here in Miami, the event is not so huge as to cause problems.

Accidentally "pooted" myself while grinding up a hill some decades ago. Was probably 15 miles from home and in a foreign land with minimal language skills. Potentially very, very embarrassing, but there was a roadside stream that allowed me to save some dignity.

Turned out that was the first day of a stomach virus episode that knocked me down for about 5 days.

I was riding slightly downhill in the Avalon Mall parking lot and was so busy looking out for cross traffic (a wise move considering the homicidal car drivers that are so much a part of the St John's, Newfoundland roadscape) my front wheel went into a pot hole. And it stopped. I didn't. I wound going over the handle bars and did a face plant on the asphalt and gave myself a concussion. Someone came over to help me up but I went down again and only gradually regained full command of myself. I still have a bump on my chin to remind me.

Back in the 80s we used to race triathlons in speedos and not much else. So glad there were no digital cameras back then.