WheresWaldo

Inspired by the thread about Allez' scariest moment. Tell us your story.

I have two, one involving me on the bike and one I didn't even know about till one hour later. Neither invovle crashes or dogs.

I was riding with a couple of buddies of mine and we were coming down South Willamette up over Spencer Butte. As we were young and stupid we were actually racing back into town. I was very close to 50 mph when I realized I needed to turn on E 29th Ave. Slammed on the brakes too late, turned the handlebars, layed the bike over as far as I could and slide sidways clear into the wrong lane with oncoming traffic. Just barely managed to get control of the bike and steer it into the correct lane, with car horns blaring. Made the corner at about 35 mph. Thought I was gonna die, never did that again.

Second story did not involve me directly, a bunch of us would routinely ride up McGowen Creek Road, it is a killer climb. Not very long, about 4 miles but steep, I actually had a squirrel out pace me up the hill. Used to take me 45 minutes to climb. Tim and I decided to race down, boy was that stupid. As we come to each corner, he would pass me, then I would pass him building speed as we descended. About the thrid turn, Tim goes off road, makes a remarkable recovery I yell at him in acknowledgement and keep pushing down the hill. I make it to the flat section at the bottom, total time a few seconds less than 13 minutes. Almost an hour later Tim and my other to riding buddies come down the hill. Mind you it's only four miles, Tim looks like he saw a ghost. Apparently there was a sheer dropoff just another foot or two off the road where he decided to have his excursion, not only that but both tires flatted from all the ruts and rocks just off the pavement. He just couldn't/wouldn't ride down the rest of the way until the other two guys showed up and they all took their time getting down the hill.

So what's your scariest moment?

same time

Mine also involves a steep hill.

One evening, I was headed home from helping my friend move. He had given me a bunch of stuff he was going to throw out, so I was wearing a backpack with about 40 pounds of junk in it. I was riding my cannondale road bike, but I wasn't wearing my cycling shoes, gloves, or even my helmet.

Going down a pretty steep hill, I hit a pothole, and my right foot slipped off the pedal as my right hand slipped off the handlebars. I smashed my jaw against my stem, saw stars, and somehow wound up sitting on the top tube, but managed to keep the bike upright.

The bike steered left, and I shot across the road, through an intersection, between the two lines of oncoming traffic (with screeching brakes and honking horns), and into a grocery store parking lot before I managed to get my right hand back on the brake lever and stop the bike. The whole time, my right leg was bouncing comically against the road and then way, way up in the air behind me.

I got off the bike and thought, wow, that could've been the end, and, what did those drivers just think?

55/Rad

2 weekends ago, I underestimated the degree of a downhill turn at around 35 mph and began to drift into the opposite lane. As I struggled to lean further, I touched the brakes and my front end started to wobble. Then, an SUV coming the opposite direction emerged from the next turn bearing down on me.

All I could see was me plowing into the front of the SUV and dying as I crushed through the windshield. Fortunately, the SUV driver saw me and slowed considerably. I somehow found a way to fight the bike back to the point where I missed his side view mirror by mere few inches. It all happened in about 2 seconds.

In the end, no crash or bodily injury, just a bruised ego.

55/Rad

the beef

Seems like all these stories involve big hills. I guess I feel lucky in the sense that I've never had a serious scary moment on the bike.

So the scariest moment for me on a bike would probably be faceplanting while coming down a huge hill when I was five years old. It was near Matthews' Beach in Seattle, coming off of the Burke/Gilman.

I still remember - I was about halfway down the hill on my kids' bike, 16" tires and all, when I randomly decided to slam on the brakes by pedaling backwards. I had way too much momentum and vividly remember flying over the bars, landing on my chest/face/arms. Mommy!!

ElJamoquio

Wow. I'm going to have to stop reading this thread.

I only have one, which does not compare...

My first was at my grandparent's house, when I was about eight or nine. They had a big hill out back, and after a week of flying down it on their random smaller bikes, I wanted to try it on a 'big' bike. I ended up hitting some random hole/divot, flying over the handlebars, faceplanting and breaking my collarbone.

DeterminedMike

Not nearly as bad as the others.

Until I was 9 or 10 I had a bmx bike, and the braking system, as most of you are aware, involves pedaling backwards. Well come Christmas, my parent bought me a new road bike, I think it was a schwinn. So as with any new gift I wanted toi test it out. I decided to take a quick trip down the block. Pedaling as fast as my 10 year old legs could muster I ventured down the street. Coming to an intersection, I decided I needed to slow down and brake. Well out of habit I pedaled backwards, needless to say. Before I knew it, I ran directly into a fire hyrdrant, went head of heels into the pavement and bent my brand new bikes front rim. Talk about lesson learned!

bigskymacadam

only descending too fast on newberry before the turn onto hwy 30. for those of you who havent ridden it, you're not supposed to go that fast ....

DrPete 

This one's not really ON the bike, but far scarier than anything I've experienced on the road...

Way back in my early road biking days, I bought my 1st road bike, a Bianchi Campione D'Italia. I got all into it, and within a couple weeks of owning the bike I rode a 90 mile out-and-back on the Ohio River Valley. The ride went fine, but when I got home I realized that I was numb. I mean I was friggin' NUMB. I figured ah, hell, it'll go away in a couple hours. I stayed numb for FIVE DAYS. I was calling my doctor once or twice a day, and he kept reassuring me... On day 5 I actually got enough sensation back to get it up.

Once I got over the fear of getting on my bike again, I went straight to the LBS and picked up a cutout saddle, and life was good, but I seriously thought I had permanently lost the boys for a while there...

DrPete

Tequila Joe

I had a scary moment today. I was riding home from the office and I was checkin' out a pair of tight jeans with long blond hair walking on the sidewalk. As I passed, it turned out to be a guy!

The image of that dude with a moustach & his butt is now permanently burned into my mind. I need some sort of Vulcan mind cleansing.

BigAnth

i am just now planning to buy my first road bike and you guy are starting to worry me.

SDRider

The moment I got my credit card bill.

Jet-man

I was on the old schwinn varsity riding to the neighbor kid's house - I was in 7th grade. I had a plastic bag w/ some clothes in it - I was hammering down our long gravel driveway - big ring, downhill, in the drops, the bag is swinging back and forth, back and forth - suddenly it's caught in the front wheel - it locks up I managed to skid for about 15' before I go over the bars and get catapulted like a mofo onto a gravel driveway at well over 20 mph. I remember wondering if I'd live as I was riding the locked up front wheel for what seemed like a full minute but was 'prolly about .5 seconds. Aside from much gravel embedded in my back, I was OK - the bike was even fine. Too bad I was too young for Vicodin & rum & coke back then...

Note to self: if carrying a plastic bag on a bike ride w/ 1 hand and keep the bag away from the front wheel.

the beef

Hehe, don't worry. It's not that bad. If you don't do anything stupid, you don't have to worry. Just wear your helmet, ride safely, and don't bomb down hills at 60 mph

awunder

Another Hill Story.

Comming home from work in the rain, down a hill. At the bottom of the hill is an intersection. This is rush hour.

I was sort of spacing out, keeping my head down, thinking about how much I hate riding in the rain when the light at the bottom of said hill changed. Suddenly, it's a wall of traffic. I'm moving pretty good, and hadn't planned on stopping.

I locked up both wheels and the back end started to slide out on me. I slide the last 20 feet to the bottom of the hill at about a 45 degree angle with my former line of travel.

To this day, I have no idea how I managed to keep the think upright.

USAZorro

Urban riding story from about 28 years ago on a cold, spring day. I lived in Rochester, N.Y., which is a city divided by the Genesee River. Being 19, I was very self-assured about my riding, and I just knew that I could blitz by the bus that had stopped on the right-hand side (not considering what would happen if someone happened to get out). Well, this particular time, the stop was very momentary, and the bus was rolling again while I was only halfway by it. I decided to just slow down and let him get clear of me, but what I hadn't considered was that after being 3 feet away from the side of the road, the bus driver decided (with no chance of realizing I was alongside him) that he was too far to the left by about 2 feet. As I considered my options on the right, I noticed the curb was quite high, and now topped with a heavy steel fence - beyond which, and about 40 feet down, were the chilly waters of the swiftly flowing Genesee River - not too far upstream from the large falls. With no chance to stop, my only option was to go as slow as maintaining my line would permit me until the bus was by me. After what was probably only 5 or so very terrifying seconds, I was out of danger. I was unharmed, but understood first-hand the feeling of having your life flash by you.

Az B

Mine was also when I was about 9. The driveway to our house was very steep, and led directly into the garage. (Natch) As I start down the driveway, the chain on my coaster brake bike falls off. I managed to cheat death by aiming for the closed screen door into the kitchen, (luckily the more solid main door was open) and sailed through the screen door, bike and small child tumbling across the linoleum. I don't remember much else except my brother laughing his butt off.

Az

VeganRider

Being hit by a car driven by a little old lady could hardly see over the dash board as I went through an intersection. She had no idea I was clinging on to the grill and hood of her car and kept going till people on the sidewalks got her attention and she stopped. My bike was between her car and myself and I knew I couldnt keep the grip I had and would go under the car. Glad she stopped when she did. Ruined both wheels of the bike; a couple scratches. Got lucky on that one.

Shaman

A great and sloppy downhill, about 15-30% grade range... Soft curves with some hard torque banks... Closing in on my buddy who knew the trail well... And he takes a sharp right and nails the brakes...
The ground before me disappears and turning is NOT an option. "CLIFF AHEAD!!!" my little voice said with a great shaking... The only time I ever went over the handlebars with locked brakes. And a good thing I did! 5 more feet before me was a 15' drop to the gravel road below.

Moral of the story? Never trust a friend that simply says "FOLLOW ME!"

KevinF

Coming down to Front Royal out of the visitor center on Skyline Drive, Virginia. Was cruising about 40mph down and came around a turn to be face-to-face with a deer at most 60, 70 feet away. I don't know what full grown deers weigh, but I was pretty sure that I was going to lose, big time, in any sort of collision. I slammed the brakes (and probably screamed a bit) -- thankfully the deer ran off into the woods. I think I started breathing again about a mile or two later.

the beef

I just remembered a scary moment that happened a while ago.

I had struck up a conversation with another roadie and was following him, we were both going the same way. We had started going down a fairly long 1-mile hill through twisty forest roads that I usually would coast down at about 30 mph or so. Suddenly, I realized that he was pumping away in 53-11. Not wanting to get left behind, I got into the drops and started sprinting after him, eyes on the speedometer, watching the little number go up and up.. 32..34..38..40.. all of a sudden I glanced up and realized that there was a left-hander curve coming up. Very fast. On the side of the road was a wide ditch/creek.

I mashed on the rear-brake out of sheer instinct and immediately lost my rear tire grip- for a few seconds I was holding a sort of 35 mph powerslide on the edge of the road, a few feet away from having a very nasty crash into a ditch. Somehow, I managed to save it. I don't know how. It could've turned out a lot worse.

The guy I was following was still pumping away and didn't even notice I was in trouble, I caught up to him a few moments later and pretended like nothing had happened

'nother

I just had one the other day. I was descending a moderate grade. Very little traffic as it was about 1:30 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm doing about 40 mph, about 2 feet from the edge (which seems like 2 inches at that speed) when I hear a "beep-beeeeeeeep". No oncoming traffic and no shoulder or turnout for me to jump onto so I just hang where I am figuring the guy will go around me on the next straightaway . . . which he did, passing me with probably 6 inches to spare (which seemed like 1 inch!), not even moving out of his lane.

When I realized how closely he'd passed and how little room for error there was and what would have happened if I'd gone down at that speed . . . eeehhhh. It's not a heavily-traveled road at that time of day . . . probably would have been laying in a ditch for a while.

I counted my lucky stars and put the adrenalin to use climbing back up

Jet-man

Az reminded me of a coaster brake story - when I was on my 1st bike I was pedaling down a big hill near our house (paved) going WFO when I lost the chain. The road was a dead-end w/ barracades at the end of it. I managed to turn before the barracades and rip across our front yard at what felt like mach 5. At the end of our yard is a steep drop-off hill and then woods. I had to set the bike down before the drop off - went tumbling for quite a ways across the grass yard but manated to stop just before the 'get-hurt-zone'. I was unscathed to my amazement. If I didn't pi$$ myself, I should have.

oboeguy

Hard to say. I don't recall ever thinking specifically OMGALMOSTDIED, though commuting in Midtown for six months I felt something close to that on a regular basis. After getting doored in a non-standard way (posted somewhere here almost a year ago) every time I see a car door open anywhere near me I freak out.

Oh, I do remember one really scary moment which I'm sure I also posted about here. It involved nearly getting doored at St. Nicholas and 145th (pure Harlem for those wondering where that is). The two people in the car, brother and sister came out and nearly gave me a beatdown because they thought I had hit their car. W - T - F? They nearly kill me with a door in traffic then nearly kill me again with their bare hands over a perceived slight to their car? Oy!

ollo_ollo

I have 2, both last Summer. I was cruising along about 20 mph coming into downtown Olympia taking the lane when a lady in a minivan came into my lane as she overtook, apparently never saw me as she prepared to turn right. I braked but was quickly trapped between her vehicle & some parked cars. As she passed me my left bar end put a scrape in her rear quarter panel and the back of my right hand took a good whack from the mirror on a parked car. She continued her turn into me & the driveway as we passed the parked car & somehow I was able to stay up & get stopped. My hand was bleeding & the bars & rt brake were knocked askew but otherwise ok & it could have been much worse.

#2 was a near collision with a deer on the bike path coming back from lunch one day last summer. I came around a downhill corner fast & this stupid buck just stood broadside in the trail while I locked up & slid. He jumped out of the way when I was close enough to smell him!

urbanknight

I have two also, but neither of them turned out poorly. The few times I did go down it was so fast I didn't have time to get scared. So...

1) Warming up for a velodrome race, my teammate and I were doing jumps (one guy takes off the the other chases, then switch). He jumped, I followed, his foot clipped out of his pedal shooting him out of the saddle and onto the ground right in front of me. I missed running over his head by inches! He loved the free masage by the cute therapist on site though

2) This actually happened more times than I can remember, but almost every time I was in a Cat 5 criterium when some idiot mid pack takes out the second half of the pack and I am caught in the mess. I never went down, but did a lot of swerving and breaking to avoid it.

+1000