Arkadee

I am sure there are some great stories out there of wrong turns, forgotten gear and self-inflicted wounds. I would love to hear some of your war stories.

Mine happened on day one of my first tour last summer. We were departing from Nakusp BC to ride the Slocan triangle and I strapped my Garmin GPS to the handlebars as I had done many times before, then mounted up and we were underway. Within a matter of 1km I was lagging behind my two buddies and struggling to climb the first hill out of town. By km 3 I was completely dropped and I was not even able to gain ground on the flats. I was in a complete state of disbelief as I had trained hard all spring and early summer, logging twice the miles of the other two guys, yet here I was, dying in the first five km. Finally about six Kms outside town, the guys stopped to allow me to catch up. after a quick chat, I went to restart and noticed my front wheel was barely turning. As it turned out, I had mounted the Garmin just a hair to close to the secondary brake levers and it had jammed the front brakes the first time I had touched the lever. Not quite enough to lock up the whelp completely but I had actually ridden the first six Kms with my brake on.

Once I fixed the problem, I was able to keep up and the rest of the tour felt like it was all down hill. Okay, not quite but it was easier than those first few Kms.

Derailed

I do lots of dumb things,but I've been remarkably lucky. One of the dumbest, however, was dropping a map I needed on the outskirts of Muscatine, IA and not noticing that it was missing for several miles on what turned out to be my least-pleasant day on the Northern Tier.

I was so demoralized after going back to get the map (which, miraculously, I found) that I got a hotel for the night -- the only one for the entire tour. However, there was something magical about that Super 8; the next day I was fully recharged, and the rest of the tour went as smoothly as could be.

https://hpscott.wordpress.com/2010/0...the-night-off/

Bicycle365

Quit and gone home

indyfabz

I stopped to take some photos and change out film on a lonely, bumpy road in Andalucía. I would keep a spare roll of film in the fanny pack which also held my wallet and passport. I pulled the pack out of a pannier, changed the roll and then got set to continue riding. As I was starting down a bumpy descent, I thought I heard a car behind me. I looked back and out of the corner of my eye I saw the pack sitting precariously on the top of my left rear pannier. It would have surely fallen off during the descent and I would have been in serious trouble when I reached the next town. No way I would have had the energy to return to the spot.

In WA I left my Camelback hanging on a fence post and rode away from a ferry terminal. Fortunately, I realized my mistake after only a couple of miles.

mdilthey

I took my helmet off at a gas station in Maine. It was our first stop of the morning, and I set it on the ground to fill up on water and snacks.

Some 38 miles later, I reached up to adjust it, and it wasn't there. I hadn't even noticed. Boy, did I feel dumb. I had to buy a new one at Wally World and had a magnificent mushroom head for the rest of the tour.

Roughstuff

I have several.

One was not setting up my tent in North Carolina on the blue ridge parkway because "I couldn't see in the dark." When the thunderstorm hit I quickly figured out how to set up my tent in the dark RAIN.

One was getting out of my tent at night to answer a call of nature and leaving the door unzipped and open. The raccoon that got into my tent gave me a warm welcome when I snuck back in.

I hid some money in the folds of a curtain while at a motel in mexico (you can't trust the safe). It was so well hidden I forgot about it till I was 50 miles away the next day.

nun

Drying a synthetic T-shirt in a microwave......it only melted a bit

Erick L

Lost my wallet twice by putting it on top of my front bag and riding off. First time, I got it back a few weeks later via mail, cash still in it. Second time I found my cards spread all over the road, no cash in sight.

fietsbob

Having my Carry -on pack opened, While I Wore IT, at the AMS Airport, and getting my passport return ticket TC's and cash in Guilders stolen .


Spent a couple days in the airport until The US Embassy gave me a boarding permit in lieu of the passport. Arriving SFO without one was a $60.. fee.

I got the TC's replaced.. had to buy another Passport.

Next trip I got and wore a Moneybelt and had a singlet base layer sewn to hold it comfortably while I rode the Bike ..

indyfabz

The first story reminds me of an experience had by someone who used to frequent this forum, sometimes posing questions which seemed to have common sense answers. He was generally quite prone to puffery. He dropped a lot of money on a custom bike and gear. The first time he set up his tent during a tour, which came after only about 25 miles of bike trail riding, he put his rain fly on upside down but didn't realize it until the deluge in the middle of the night flooded the tent.

The second story reminds me of my own stupidity of last spring. I did a 3-day to get ready for a longer trip in MT. The second night I left some Amish sticky buns, which were to be my breakfast the next morning, out on the picnic table of my campsite in a heavily wooded state park. Coons got most of them and sounded like they were on sugar rushes a la Cornholio in that infamous "Beavis & Butthead" episode. Unwilling to eat sticky bun remnants that had been gnawed on my 'coons, I had to settle for a Cliff Bar for breakfast.

mobile_simon

Leaving my Oakley sunglasses on the summit of a mountain, worst backtrack ever.

Setting up my tent in the pouring rain, and the rain stops 5 minutes later. Not really my fault but I was still annoyed.

Roughstuff

Re: your Oakleys. For every one of my major items, I have what I call a "pain in the @ss distance." By that I mean...is it too much of a PIA to go back and get it? For the $200 I left in the curtain fold, i took a whole day to go back and get it. For a water bottle or something like that much less.

Re: rain. I tell everyone....if it isn't raining while you set UP or break DOWN your camping equipment...you'll do fine all night or day. Since I wild camp if I see stormy weather coming I'll often stop early and set up before the rain really hit.

Trikin'

Just starting out in the morning on a bright sunny day I stopped to change out my glasses and placed them on my lap for my sun glasses, however I forgot to put them in the case and rode off not realizing they fell off. Rode the rest of the trip (3days) without my proper glasses, that was a pretty tough ride.

BobG

In the summer of 1968 a high school buddy and I cycled from VA to Land o'Lakes, Wisconsin. While we were climbing a hill one hot afternoon in Saginaw MI a fellow in a pick up slowed down beside us and began shouting through the passenger side window. I had a short fuse and was not in the mood for harrasment. I waved my middle finger and told him to **** ***!............. Turns out he was offering us a ride up the hill. Groan!

mtnbud

Lots of great stories here. I especially like the raccoon in the tent.

Second most stupid - stealth camping in a high school football field and having the sprinklers turn on around 2 am.


The most stupid happened maybe 15-20 years ago. A touring buddy and I had huge dinners in a restaurant in Mt Vernon Oregon (Yes, that's Mt Vernon Oregon) and then stealth camped for the night off some gravel road in the middle of nowhere. According to my map, there was a small town just 10 miles down the road (Suplee). I decided not to eat anything that morning as we always would buy meals in towns and I was looking forward to a good "small town" diner.

10 miles later, we arrived in Suplee to find out there were no services and no sign of a town. I looked at the map and thought, no big deal there's another town 10 more miles down the road. Road signs kept promising we would be to Izee soon. Rather than 10 miles, it was more like 15. At 25 total miles, we finally reached Izee and all that was there to see was a weather beaten sign with the words "Welcome to Izee. The sign was so worn, it was barely readable. There wasn't even a house.

The next town was Paulina, 40 more miles down the road. Rather than pull out some food and eat, I decided I'd wait until I found a nice shady spot to stop. There was no shade to be found anywhere! It was over 100 degrees. Little tar bubbles were coming to the surface of the road and melting into black goo. After 35 or 40 miles of riding with no breakfast and 100 degree heat, I bonked bad. I first had a frustrated tantrum, then stopped and dug through my panniers to find all I had was a full package of fat free fig newtons. I ate that whole package, but it didn't really make up for my lack of calories.

We eventually made it Paulina though my buddy was riding far in front of me because he was not enjoying listening to my tirade. Lucky for me, there was a store in Paulina and it was open. After a nice long break on the front porch of the store and a lot of calories, I was felling much better.

Buffalo Buff

Getting drunk as **** in the middle of the day. Was fun times but made ****ty progress and woke up dehydrated

spinnaker

Similar thing happened to my buddy. We were leaving the area near the Milan airport. Headed down a bike trail toward Pavia. Very flat even a little downhill, within 10-20 miles he was just exhausted. I had ridden with him before but never with gear, we figured it must be that. Reluctantly we decided to separate. He speaks fluent Italian so would have little problem getting help. I speak very little Italian but was confident I would be able to find our host's home for the evening.

I found our host's home and he informed me he got a call from my buddy and he was at the train station. I was curious at how he got there so quickly. He would not admit it at first but turns out he got a ride.

The next day we were tooling around Pavia planning how we can continue the trip with him taking the train and be riding. He stated to complain about his wheel .feeling funny. Turns out his brake was engaged the whole time. I could have killed him.

But the year before that I went with someone else for some reason at last minute I decieded to wear my contacts on the plane, which I never do. Arriving in Italy, I realized I did not have my glasses. I can't wear my contacts all of the time. Just too uncomfortable. The first couple of days of the trip was spent getting glasses. I am sure that buddy was not pleased. But they are the best glasses I have ever owned. Wearing them right now. Even my eye doctor here is amazed how thin they are for the strength of my prescription. I regret not getting another pair last time I was there.

Now an extra pair of glasses is the first thing I pack.

spinnaker

I have done this twice on tour. Both times, thankfully I did not go far before realizing what happened. After the second time I now hang my helmet on my bike when I get off the bike, even on local rides. I figure the only way to lose the helmet then is to have bike and / or helmet stolen. And who want a sweaty helmet.

spinnaker

On my tour of the Oregon coast we came to a small roadside town and pulled into the marina parking lot. I knew there was a lighthouse in the area that I wanted to see. I saw the sign but checked the GPS but there was no road showing. Somehow my brain told me that it was just a lookout point for the light house. Of course not asking around or checking my Nexus 7 for a map, I made the steep climb outside of town. I saw the sign for the lighthouse and turned in. I kept going, down, down, down and eventually got to the lighthouse and the flat road leading to the parking lot I was just in.

On the same trip, we were told that the back road outside of Klamath was open to the Redwoods Park, be it a little rough. We decided to take the back way without double checking with the locals. Made the climb only to find the road closed and over grown. Not wanting to chance the road was completely out after a few miles, we rode back down the hill and back up again on the main road. Later entering the the park, I checked my GPS. We were only a mile or so from our dead end That was not a good day.

mev

Failed to properly check my visa. Hence, I arrived in China on an expired visa.

I was on an extended trip across Russia and then an additional ride of 4000km in China. Prior to departure, I worked the sequence necessary to get a Russian visa [invitation, application, visa]. I had a little bit of time left, so mailed off for a Chinese visa as well. This was February 2007 and my request was a two-month visa with a six month validity between August 2007 and February 2008. I got my visa back and saw "August" and saw "February" and didn't think much about it until eight months later when I departed Russia. Turns out the visa was valid from February 2007 until August 2007 - and hence expired when I tried to enter in October.

I noticed somewhat too late, and by then just decided to fly into Beijing and sort it out. This resulted in a side trip to Hong Kong (fortunately, I had some extra time) that is described more fully in my journal: Mike's bicycle ride through China: Visa problems and the trip to Hong Kong: September 29th

Runner up was trusting my plane tickets to a round-the-world expediter company that went bankrupt in 9/11. Eventually got money back via credit card, but it did result in rerouting the last months of my year abroad.

Lou Skannon

I was at a campsite and needed to do some laundry but had no washing powder. I thought shower-gel would do just as well if I put plenty in the washer. I went off somewhere for a few minutes and when I came back; a big crowd of campers were standing outside the laundry, watching a 4 inch wall of foam spreading across the car park.

djb

I suspect all of us have done that, relying on non existant shops or whatever, or waiting for the "perfect" spot to eat.....I figure you only do that once and then always have some food in a pannier and I have certainly learned to stop when hungry and eat wherever, Ive never had to go as long as you did, but it sure isnt pleasant when there is no gas in the tank but you have no choice but to continue.

Erick L

I opened my palm removing a stuck pedal. Chainrings hurt.

Doug64

I once rode the Oregon Coast from south to north.

Rowan

Several.

I got on a WestJet flight from Los Angeles to Calgary. Some time into the flight, a flight attendant walked down the aisle and asked if someone else was Rowan. No. I put up my hand. She came to me and told me that my passport had been picked up from the floor of the airbridge.

Uh-oh!! Fortunately, this was before getting through airports became a real issue. The attendant said not to worry. The passport would be passed to one of their pilots and he would bring it up on the next WestJet flight from LA to Calgary the following day. And that she would "vouch" for me to get me through the immigration check. And that is exactly what happened.

I picked up the passport as promised the next day at the airport. It was not entirely proper for the pilot to do what he did, but it all worked for everyone involved.

Except... Machka and I wended out way across by car to do the UMCA Mid-West 24-Hour time trial in Iowa, and our aborted attempt at the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200 randonnee. We crossed the Canada-US border several time without hassle, except...

When we came to the last crossing to get into Canada, I was refused entry. The primary basis was that I didn't have enough funds on me to stay in Canada for the permitted six months. In the end, Machka drove over the border, withdrew several thousand dollars from her account, and I counted it out on the counter. I finally got the entry visa which instead of a simple rubber stamp, was a fancy gilded sheet of paper that was stapled to the passport.

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On my very first tour, my rear freewheel hub basically collapsed after the cone worked its way in and broke the race. This happened on the hottest day of the ride thus far. I tried to gemmy a fix by using some large washers I removed from a road sign (I used to carry a 9-inch adjustable wrench with me in those days). It sort of worked, but my biggest problem was lack of water to drink. I did have two cans of beer in a front pannier, and, well, I got sort of desperate.

Trust me on this. Hot beer is not thirst-quenching. And for some reason, the intoxicating effect is rapid and not particularly pleasant. Pulling that ring tab was a pretty dumb thing to do.

I came across some abandoned farm houses, and sought water, but there was nothing to be found. Then I found a tank with the windmill pump next to it. I pitched my tent, and drank tentatively from the suspicious looking water in the bottom of the tank.

Not long after, a battered old LandCruiser pick-up pulled up, and the land owner suggested I stay at his place because a storm was coming in, and my tent might even blow away. I didn't hesitate to agree with his plan.

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The mind can play awful tricks and more so when asleep. Back in 2003, I landed in Dunkirk, France, from a ferry from England, and set off headed for Belgium and the Netherlands.

At the end of the day, I looked for a free-camp site, and discovered a disused railway line behind some sand dunes. A road ran on the other side of the dunes parallel to the railway line.

I set up the tent right on the tracks because that was the flattest spot (the sand had built up between the sleepers/ties), cooked and ate a meal, and turned in.

Then sometime during the night, I swear I heard a train siren, and sat bolt upright in a muck sweat looking for a strong light and waiting for a train noise to get closer. This track was abandoned, wasn't it? Gee, I am sure I checked for evidence -- rust on top of the rails, weeds, sand up to the level of the rails.

I went back to sleep after a while. And be darned if it didn't happened again several hours later.

I figured that the siren most likely was the horn of a truck or two on the nearby road.

There are more, but I will leave them for later.