Saguaro

The sprocket tooth went right through the fingernail of my index finger. Did not break the bone thankfully.

Drillium Dude 

Yikes! While I appreciate knowing I'm not the only one out there capable of pulling a *****, the finger in the sprocket and the visual that went along with imagining a chain breaking while standing on the pedals....ouuuuuch

Thanks for the birthday wishes and support. I will say this, though: I really do consider the crash my fault entirely. I'm certain Bob had absolutely no idea what I was doing and his confusion as to my unwarranted move to the left probably caused him to delay momentarily in hitting his brakes - otherwise, he'd have simply braked, let me cross and then asked me to join them back on the trail! He was probably so surprised he never got to react in time. I can't rightly recall how fast I made the move, but I know from start of move to hearing his bike hit the ground only took about 5 seconds - and for a couple of those seconds I'm sure Bob was fighting to stay upright.

Anyway, he let me know today he's not concerned with the pedals (they're riders, and eventually would've gotten some nicking to the quill ends, sez Bob). But I do need to hook him up with a pair of GB Superhood Rapides. The little tab that sticks out the front to facilitate the quick release snapped off both levers when the bike hit the deck, so, although they work, they don't work like they should. I'll be keeping an eye on Ebay, but hope someone here may have some or - who knows? - maybe there will be a pair in the BOC when I receive it in a month or so

DD

gaucho777 

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Sh*t happens. It's how we deal with it that matters. You're a good man. I'm glad the damage was mostly material and replaceable. I'll help keep am eye out for some GB Superhood Rapides.

Lascauxcaveman 

My boneheaded stuff has been the result of more-or-less self inflicted mechanicals.

- Not quite tightening the stem after adjusting it's height on my Kona MTB (Boom. Helmet, meet ground)

- Not adjusting the derailleur after installing a new rear wheel with a differently spaced FW. (Chain slips off small cog onto no cog at all. Boom. Helmet, meet ground)

- Not bothering to check if pedals are screwed in properly on a used bike I just bought. (No crash, but end up walking door-to-door asking for an open-end 9/16" wrench like some sort of tool-hobo so I can ride 12 miles home instead of walking it.)

- And my all time favorite: Forgetting you don't get to stop pedaling while hopping down a curb on fixie (Boom. Helmet, meet ground)

To my credit, I had enough presence of mind to invoke PeeWee Herman when the two roadies right behind me stopped to ask if I was OK: "I meant to do that."

To their credit, they actually laughed.

gaucho777 

When I was a dumb teenager, I was on our local club ride descending a wide suburban road around 30mph. My buddy and I were at the front of the group of perhaps 40 riders. He was on his MTB (he was a very strong rider, went on to become Jr. World MTB champ, and would often bring his MTB on the club road rides) and I was on my road bike. He started bunny hopping the burb, up onto the sidewalk and back onto the street, back and forth. I followed suit--two fools being reckless at the front of the group at high speeds. Yeah, we got reprimanded pretty good for that stunt. No damage was done, but it was a bonehead move nonetheless.

ksryder

I was going to say that I'd avoided those mishaps... then I remembered running over my wife (girlfriend at the time) when she went down on some railroad tracks right in front of me and I couldn't avoid her. Not to worry -- she never lets me forget it. (To be honest it was about 50/50 fault, she had pushed herself too hard that day just a few days after a century, over my objections, and was too exhausted to properly navigate the tracks when we got to them. But when you're married you're wrong even when you're right.)

I just got my first C&V bike a couple weeks ago and I'm slowly learning to be careful with your fingers when using DT shifters. So far I've avoided serious injury but only through luck.

jimmuller 

Bonehead move not involving a crash: Approaching a steep 100-yd-long uphill section I went to downshift, pushed the right lever all the way forward. I don't know whether to think I just reached for the wrong lever or just pushed it the wrong way. Probably the former. We didn't make it up that hill in one shot. No one was hurt, but on a tandem it is always the captain's error. In this case it really was.

holden west

Alright, this is my third entry. Please make sure my name is spelled right on my trophy.

This one didn't even take place on a bike.

We own a house and we have two suites in the basement that we rent out. Each suite has its own storage locker in the garage. Just inside the garage door at the entrance to the lockers was a bunch of shovels, gardening tools and other junk. On the rare occasions I entered this room I didn't pay much attention to some of the metal objects, they kind of looked like RV accessories, pickup or trailer racks or something, left behind by previous tenants.

When our renters moved out, I decided to tidy up the storage room. I noticed one rack was blue. Park Tools blue in fact. Wait a minute. I hauled everything out and realized that for about four years I was in possession of a Park Tools repair stand like this, and a Delta 2-bike storage stand like this. Two expensive things I really needed, practically right in front of my eyes. D'oh!

gaucho777 

My twin brother said I could have his 1985 Super Record-equipped Peugeot PZ10 if it picked it up at our mom's house in Portland. I should have made it explicitly clear years beforehand that she should not sell the bike at a garage sale for $50.

Sir_Name 

Not buying a well-equipped Puch CX bike listed on my local CL for dirt-cheap last summer.

jeirvine 

Done that: forgot I was riding fixed, and stopped pedaling at speed expecting to freewheel. Got launched over the bars from the pedal momentum. Two broken ribs later...

Rocky Gravol

Picking up a French C&V bike,

thinking it would be easy and cheap to fix up.

BFisher

I went over a bridge that was closed in one direction for construction and the open lane was riddled with huge potholes...on a fixed gear. It was my first time ever riding a fixed gear. I don't know how I stayed upright. I'm pretty sure that at one point I just held both of my feet out and absorbed the punishment. I felt like such an ***hole.

Lascauxcaveman 

Well, maybe that was a bit naive; but if you're talking the lovely bicycle you were riding at the C&V meetup in Snohomish last month, it was worth it.

cbresciani

Ok, one more from me and this was a bonehead move on my part. While working on my C40 one day I decided to put on a new chain, popped off the back wheel and set the back of the bike on a small padded stool, put the new chain on and went to lift the bike off the padded stool and discovered I had forgotten to set the chain on top of the stool before installing it.

So the chain was looped around the bottom of the pad and the frame so I had no way of removing the bike, I had to break the chain again and then reinstall. I felt like an idiot!

Drillium Dude 

If there was one, you definitely win! I don't think it's so much that you've made more bonehead moves, just that you're more willing to share them all with us - or you're younger than most of us and have a better memory

How nice it would be to find out you were the proud owner of two Park repair stands (even if you missed out on four years of use) completely by accident!

DD

Drillium Dude 

Any cycling-related boneheaded move is okay by me. Share away!

And, yes, I guess I am "vintage" as of yesterday; but hey, I also climbed a mountain with little difficulty on the day I rolled over the odometer, so I can't really complain

As for the ride on the 26th, well, myself and poprad will be doing about 30/40 miles earlier that morning, so I hope to get any boneheaded moves out of the way on that ride; I think everyone else will be okay for our 12-miler at 1000

DD

Drillium Dude 

Well, you remember when I was going through my conundrum about wondering why I seemed to be losing interest? It appears that was because I was! Ha ha ha! Seriously, though: I am getting ready to thin the herd, and have been getting out and about on the bikes and mountains. I'm trying to take advantage of our gorgeous weather before it all goes poof

DD

Drillium Dude 

Aw, thanks - and for the birthday wishes, too. Don't feel too much different, but I think that's because I try to embody what my little sis posted about me on my FB: "Happy Birthday to the most youthful 50-year-old I've ever known!"

That's a compliment, right?

DD

Drillium Dude 

Damn, Bill, you and I have got to go for a ride again real soon

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thank you on both accounts! I've been checking Ebay and they don't seem very plentiful. They are, however, pretty cool little pieces of British engineering

DD

Bogester 

Well at least Bob has a spare bike...or 50!! They're all awesome though so good on you for trying to fix it.

I don't know if I've made anybody crash but I've sure brought myself down many times. Dumbest one was riding down steep hill at night carry a bag with two bottles of beer. Didn't see the big ditch next to the road (maybe because I didn't have lights?) and ended up doing a complete flip. Bottles survived so I went home and drank them. Got buzzed and admired the gash on my shoulder.

YouthxCrew

- Tried to pass an idling bus on a rainy night, with steel rims, on a street with trolley tracks in both directions. Bus started moving, I tried to brake, then swerved, caught a wheel in a track and bent the front fork of my bike. Managed to catch myself before I hit the ground and pull the bike out of the way of the bus, but the impact going down twisted the front brake and left brake lever, and busted the left crank arm. I still have the bike but it's trash and I'll never repair it.

-Forgot to put the crown race back on the first bike I ever worked on myself and was upset for 2 weeks about the binding steering and worked myself in a tizzy to try to figure out how to fix it before I noticed the crown race sitting on my own coffee table where it had been the whole time.

-On the same bike: Forgot to screw in the bolt for the front brake, stopped at a corner and the brake goes flying off the front wheel and gets tangled in the spokes, sending me into a freshly poured concrete sidewalk.

- Today: Blew off a new tube on the front wheel upon installation and forgot to screw in the back wheel before I rode the bike off.

arex

Something similar happened to me this morning. I was trying to bust loose a thoroughly rusted-in pedal, really straining on it, and then it just up and let go. My thumb hit one of the chainrings, and a tooth went in pretty deep. It wouldn't surprise me if it hit bone, as bad as it still hurts...it bled like crazy.

Bledfor Days

I took off Mafac levers and put DiaCompe turkey levers on a NOS Peugeot U-08. And posted it here.