Bug Shield

I got stuck in the mud on my way home yesterday and was unable to continue on. The mud had packed up between the tires and fenders and made them immovable. If I'm not mistaken, it was the first time I've had to call for a rescue.

How about you? Have you ever been unable to continue a commute and had to bail out? Why?

Wind, rain, snow, hail, heat, cold have not stopped me. Mud did.

jyl

Not so far. I have walked the last half mile after repeated flats.

acidfast7

I've had a few times where I got a flat and walked 4 miles or so.

Usually my commute ends here ...

mgw4jc

I had a flat back in March that was bad enough the tire was trashed. I tried replacing it but the tube was bulging through. My wife rescued me. She'll also rescue me if storms come in and it's too bad to ride home. In that case it is a Did Not Start.

Juha

I got a flat tyre / faulty valve on a cold winter commute. I couldn't change the tyre (too cold, broke one lever trying) so I had to call the SAG wagon aka taxi. Even simple mechanical problems can become pita to fix when it's cold enough.

+1 on local pub as a major "commute-ending event".

--J

Artkansas 

One time, a bike store didn't have the size tube I needed and advised me that one just a little smaller would work. I needed one, so I gave it a try.

Several weeks later it got a puncture, and because the tube needed to be over inflated to fill the tire, the rubber was so stretched that I couldn't get a patch to hold. So I ended up dragging my bike to the nearest bus stop and took the bus the rest of the way in to work.

Another time, I had just bought a new bike and a spoke popped. The wheel was so badly laced that the rear wheel immediately tacoed too severely to be ridden. My wife picked me up.

One time I was bike-jacked while commuting to school. I walked to the police station two blocks away and then walked home.

One time I was assaulted by another cyclist and my rear wheel tacoed as he strong-armed me into traffic. I locked the bike where I hoped it would be safe and walked the rest of the way to work.

One time I was feeling ill but tried to commute anyway. The first block was slightly down-hill so I made it. Then I got onto a level street which was so excruciating that I knew I wouldn't make it the 9 miles to work. So I turned around, rode home and crawled back into bed.

tarwheel 

I've never had to make the "call of shame" and get someone to fetch me on a commute. However, I did have to walk 3.5 miles in my cycling shoes one day when my rear tire repeatedly flatted and I ran out of CO2 cartridges. I started carrying a pump and tube repair kit after that -- in addition to a spare tube and CO2. On a number of occasions I have caught rides home with coworkers and left my bike at work when severe thunderstorms popped up in the afternoon. There's no way I'm going to ride 16 miles in a severe storm if I can help it.

ItsJustMe

A couple of months ago I had my front go flat and I stupidly decided to take a corner BEFORE stopping to change it (in my defense, I only realized it was flat about 2 seconds before the turn). I ate it and got a good case of road rash.

That didn't stop me though, I just changed the tire, brushed the gravel out of my wounds and kept riding.

What stopped me was that my RD hanger was bent and when I downshifted a few miles later, it pushed the RD into the spokes at about 20 MPH. It immediately ripped the RD off the hanger, twisted it around a few times mangling the chain, threw the chain between the cassette and the spokes mangling the spokes, then the RD wedged between the spokes and the frame, instantly locking the rear wheel. Luckily I stopped without falling.

I called for a bailout.

I did start walking towards home anyway though, because the mosquitoes were brutal standing there and I had to walk with my bike over my (still bloody) shoulder to try to get away from them.

alan s 

Got a flat less than a mile into my commute once, walked back and drove to work instead. Arrived at work on time and was able to fix the flat at my leisure. Much further into the commute, would have fixed and continued on by bike.

locolobo13 

My commute is on pavement. But that happened to me as a kid delivering papers. Took a short cut thru an alley with a fendered bike. Bogged down completely. Took 1/2 hr to get her going again. Didn't make any calls. No cell phones back then.

BTW: I've avoided fenders ever since.

bbeasley

Saddle sore put me down this week. Got on the bike, rode ~1/2 mile, turned around and got the car.

wphamilton

it almost happened during the ice storm this February. It was only a bit below freezing but somehow there was so much freezing rain and maybe some slush where there was running water that the ice literally encased my drive train. About an inch thick in places. I made the mistake of shifting gears and then the chain was skipping over the frozen up cogs and in seconds, it seemed, the chain links also filled up with ice. At that point the bike was immobile.

Fortunately I had a knife and a small screwdriver and was able to chip out enough to free up a cog and the chain. There would have been no calling for pickup - as it turned out it would have been an 8-12 hour drive at that point. I made it home in under an hour though.

One time that I did call, I had no one to blame but myself. I'd ridden a tire a few miles too far and it wore completely through, split with about an inch of tube showing under a few threads. I was only a couple of miles out so I called my wife to bring my spare tire, changed it out, but there was some problem with the CO2 pump I had then. So we wound up driving in.

If we're including accidents, mine involved an aggressive tailgater, a three inch deep rut in the road by the curb, and consequently a flat that I couldn't fix with a broken collarbone.

bigbenaugust 

Once it involved a difficult flat (tight 20" tire, pinched the spare tube) and company coming to our house for the evening, so there was a schedule to be maintained. I made the call, Mrs. A came and got me, all was well.

The other time it involved my inner ear acting up and being a little dizzy all morning, then going to full-on vertigo on the ride in. Spent 45 minutes sitting on the curb halfway to work with no change, so I got up and carefully rode to light rail to go home. Got home, threw up, and slept it off.

RidingMatthew

i called my wife to come get me last year 4 times due to severe t storms.

Another time my stinking fender stuck, rubbed and rode up with the wheel. I got ride of that bike. I have fenders but I am nervous about putting them on because of that experience.

I have called a friend this year to give me a ride home but really could have ridden but since he did not have a cell I rode home with him since he was waiting for me.

cyccommute 

First, your location says you live in Arizona. If there were ever a place where fenders were superfluous, it's in Arizona

Second, why were you riding in muddy conditions in the first place? There are too many nice days for riding in Arizona to ride in mud. Secondly, you should never ride any kind of trail when they are that muddy anywhere! You damage the trail and the tracks you leave can stay around for a very long time...especially where they get baked like Arizona!

Finally, nothing stops me. I've broken pedals, cranks, frames, wheels, spokes, derailer, etc. I can still ride with all of them. I've yard sale crashed and still kept riding. If I'm commuting, I might go find a bus to get me home but that's about as far as I go.

acidfast7

Kippis!

WillynHook

Does getting hit off the road by a landscaping truck count?

Matariki

I have had to twice call home for my wife to pick me up. Once was when I flatted in a downpour. I replaced the tube with my spare (on the rear of an IGH wheel - not the easiest job) pumped it up and discovered that I had broken off the valve stem. I couldn't bring myself to doing it again. Had it been a bright sunny day I would have. Second time is when my handlebar broke near the stem. I tried to ride one handed but as I was loaded down it was too dodgy.

On the other hand, when I broke a crank last year, I did make it home on the bike with some effort.

ThermionicScott 

Usually I have the good sense not to ride in mud, but if I don't, spinning the wheels backward helps dislodge the muck. Usually there is a twig or pen or something nearby that I can use to get the rest off so that the bike can move again.

joeyduck

My old lemon (not Lemond, lemon in terms of POS) threw the rd into the spokes at the mid point of the commute. No transit, no walking. Called a cab to work and the wife for the way home.

Broke a chain once. Walked towards home until my wife got me, took he a long time though. But the bus was worse, only one passed me in the time it took her to get me. I would have been better off breaking the chain and riding SS.

None others I can think of. I managed to boot the tires and limp to work and home once.

Chitown_Mike

So far so good, but I only have a little over a 4 mile commute. Although this will be my first winter where I'll be commuting the whole season, but I am trying to get the bike and mind ready now. Should be fun and I am sure I'll have stories to share.

So far love the stories and I have learned one thing......replace tires before they replace themselves!

no motor?

I called for a ride after getting a flat on the way home of what was to have been the last ride of the year anyway. I'd been riding later in the year than I'd expected to, and it stung a little to not be able to finish the last commute. But fixing a flat in the light rain when it was in the 30's out seemed like a worse way to end the year.

AlTheKiller

Washed out in gravel, instinctively put my foot down and blew my knee out again. (broke it last year with no health insurance or physical therapy). There was a city worker with a truck right there who got me on my feet and drove me home.

Haven't ridden a bike in the two months since then.

joeyduck

That terrifies me. I have had both ACls rebuilt and no cartilage in most spots on both knees and five surgeries in 13 years on them.

fietsbob

Broken bones count?