steve2k

On one of my first rides my mountain bike picked up a puncture, I took the rear wheel off and something went flying past my ear. Anyway after struggling a bit I manged to fix it and get the wheel back on and rode it home, and it didn't feel right.
After a week or 2 of it feeling wrong I took it to the bike shop. He said - "that's funny, it's as though someone took out the XYZ and over tightened the wheel to compensate locking the bearings - you'll need a new wheel."

I said "really, how strange?" I still don't know what it was that I lost.

Shellyrides

Nope, she is a foot shorter then me. I tossed the bike back into the truck and went for a hike.

chewa

I did this - ran into the back of a milk delivery float (electric vehicle), because I was looking across the road smiling at a girl wearing a rah-rah skirt! (that dates it as well)

FatherAlabaster

I think I've posted this story before, but one time I was riding on a very large, grassy median strip at night and wound up riding through a shallow ditch. Everything was fine until I failed to get out of the ditch in time. What I thought was a little mound of dirt at the end of the ditch was low-hanging grasses concealing a concrete drain pipe about the same diameter as my front wheel. I rode straight into it, went OTB, landed on my face, and then the bike flipped over and hit me in the back. The friend I was with said it just sort of balanced there on my back for a second. Embarrassing, but nowhere near as painful as the time the QR on the front wheel of a loaner bike I was riding loosened up and let the front wheel come off at a pretty decent speed... Gotta check those...

Chitown_Mike

The image of someone kitted out hiking in lycra and bike cleats is hilarious....whether you were or not, still great image!

CJ C

So which story should I tell first?

Well I was riding the lakefront trail into a horrible head wind and I had a cold and wasn't in tip top form. Decided to cut the ride short and turn around the path is narrow before the 47th street "hill" so not to cause issue i decided to ride through the grass to turn around. Well lets just say 23mm tires, a clyde and a thick grass mud spot do not mix.

Another time In my 20's I just got clipless pedals and about a mile or two back was thinking "man I like these shoe pedal combo thingy", then I had to hit a stretch of sidewalk as the street was under construction. I was coming under a viaduct on the sidewalk when a construction truck darted out of a gate right in front of me. I locked up both brakes and stopped well before the truck, fheww!!! but wait way aren't my feet touching the ground, or crap they are locked in the pedals. So yes i did the 0mph slow motion clipless pedal tip over landed half on the sidewalk and the upper half in guess what???? yep muddy grass. I was red faced, dirty, bleeding and had a whole construction crew chuckling.

One day I was drag racing a hottie in a car in traffic from stop light to stop light on milwaukee ave, lost every time but still fun. Then at one light from a stop i went to crank away, three hard standing cranks and SNAP, my chain just snapped. I went all squirrelly and gained control the hottie honked laughed and drove away two kids walking laughed. I didnt have a chain tool so had to call the wife to pick me up and avoid explaining to her why i was racing lights

Another time in the fall after it rained I was riding a bit too fast and was coming around a blindish turn and saw an elderly couple holding hands covering the whole right side of the botanic gardens MUP and there was a convoy of cyclist coming the other way I had to stop. So I went to stop but accidentally locked up my rear wheel. Which isn't a bad thing, but its when it rained over night and it was in the fall so there were wet leaves and I was round a corner so I was leaning. Well locking up the rear on wet leave while rounding a corner turned into me on my back in the grassy, leafy and muddy shoulder of the MUP. add to that my right foot never unclipped and my bike was on top of me looked funny, having about 5-7 cyclist standing over me asking if I was okay was embarrassing.

One day I was riding down sheridan road and one of the local racing teams about 25 of them were passing one guy asked if I wanted to jump on the back. I delightfully did. Well to HANG on the back put me into a HR zone I only see if am doing intervals and the guy that asked if I wanted to join was talking to me and I did my oscar winning performance of trying to to him while not looking like I am about to die. Unfortunately this guy was a chatty bloke and looked like he was putting in absolutely no effort to keep up with the group. actually of the 5 folks in the back nobody looked winded it looked to be a stroll in the park whistling. well we get to a "hill/hump" by tower rd and to keep the pace and go up it I got my highest Heart Rate ever recorded. I blew up and then in Densel Washington acting mode I thanked the guys for the cordial invite and conversation turned off onto the next main street stopped in a alley and plopped to the ground with my back being propped up against a dumpster. A few seconds later a few guys from that racing team come down that street see me and wave. I guess they were going a different route than the group and stopped when the light went yellow as I went through it to die on the side of the road where they couldn't see me. I would say when they passed and waved I was red faced from embarrassment but I think i was red faced because my heart was in my throat.

So one day the wife and i took a day off work and sent the kid off to school. All so we could take a ride together to the botanic gardens, really our first long ride together. the neighborhood rides and errand runs dont count. So we finally get to the botanic gardens after a really slow ride to get there and she for some reason at the entrance ends up on the sidewalk and then reads a sign that says no bikes on the sidewalk. After realizing what she read not to do but is doing it decides to make a b-line back to the road. Well on that road she quickly thinks she needs to be on in the fastest way possible is ME riding right there. She quickly realizes that she is heading for me so my wife makes the only decision she knows how, she jumps off the bike and launches it directly toward ME. ME who is looking to the left at some flowers blooming and the wonderful site, does not know that on the left my wife is trying to "off" me. So in the end my wrist is sore I have a nasty gash in my shin that is bleeding so bad my sock in now red. Only to walk around the gardens for two hours and then turn around and SLOWLY ride home. Still haven't figured out what is worse, the fact my shin still has a scar from that accident over a year ago, or the fact my wife chose to save herself?

Chitown_Mike

You sound like a fun guy to ride with, if you're ever up around the North Branch Trail let me know, always down to ride. Just I won't launch my bike at you or ride around muddy pits of despair.

Shellyrides

LOL I don't wear bike shoes and I had a pair of jean shorts I pulled over the bike shorts. I did get some looks with my Clyde/Athenian Jersey

CJ C

Hey if your down I am!!! be warned I am a slow rider so you would have to pace down for me. I actually live about 3 miles from the north branch trail but I prefer the lakefront or streets.

Chitown_Mike

I myself live about 2 miles from the Devon/Milwaukee entrance to the NBT. What pace do you usually travel at?

antimonysarah

The century I did a few weeks ago -- I put new tires on, first, and my husband, who was helping, put the front wheel back on, so I'm blaming him for this one: I got to the first rest stop, after some rough grooved pavement, started to set my bike in the grass so I could go hit the snacks, and the front wheel just....fell off. So glad it did it then and not while moving, but I was just worried about whether anyone had noticed and would think I didn't know how to put a wheel on.

kjmillig

Back in January my daughter and I were out on a leisurly ride and I kept having that "why am I moving so slow" feeling. I'm still learning the ideosyncracies of my newish hybrid and decided to check the tires. Way low. Pumped them up the best I could with my mini pump and started for home. I still kept feeling sluggish and inspected the bike at the house. I found that when the tires are inflated to the recomended pressure they rub the fenders. Removing a spacer put in by the LBS builders solved the problem. One more lesson to check things before leaving the house.

Tel0004

Not really super embarrising, but just a dumb moment.

I met a fellow clide on a group ride about two weeks ago. We were both talking about how we would like to have a group ride later in the week, so we decided to meet for a thursday night ride (tonight). It was an out and back course, and we could go at our own pace, so even if everybody else was faster, we could talk to each other.

I show up, and some how when I took the front wheel off, the nut for the quick release was lost. The lawyer tabs are a bit oversized, so I have to unscrew it quite a bit, but I'm still not sure where or when it fell off (I'll search for it in my driveway when there is daylight tommorow.

So I quickly realize I have no nut for my front wheel, so I'm not cycling, and some guy who agreed to meet me now has to fend for himself. I was heading back to the highway, and decided to see if there was a bike store, and there was one about a mile away (I'm now 10 minutes away from the ride starting point. They actually had one and gave it to me for free, so I headed back out, now 30 minutes late, and sprinted to get as far up as possible. About 30 minutes into the ride, I saw my friend (the course was out and back), so I did a U turn, and rode with him to get back.

The original plan was to get 20 miles in, and I still got 15, not bad seeing how I was 30 minutes late. Overall it was a pretty good ride.

Erwin8r

In Seattle, near the UW, I was on the street (I think it's 45th ave at that point) riding with the wife, and wanted to transition to the Burke Gilman trail. There was a short staircase that she wisely chose to dismount and take. Me, wanting to show off, decide I can ride up the short, semi grassy and semi-wet (is anything really semi-wet in Seattle??) incline to the trail. Hmmm... slicks and slick grass do not really mix. In a slow-motion roll that my wife will still never let me live down, I started pedaling up, started spinning the rear wheel, slowed to nothing, tipped over because I couldn't unclip in time, and plopped onto the wet grass with the bike in the air; I'm sitting there helplessly, taking the howls emanating from the wife, and weathering the "you alright?" from passing cyclists...

psalm

There is a little canyon area near me and I decided to take the road less traveled and rode along side the river. I found out quick why it's the road less traveled. It started to deteriorate fast! I had enough teeth rattling and bouncing around so I decided to make a u-turn. As I turned my front tire got onto what I though was hard packed dirt, I was wrong, it was quick sand, well sand that my front wheel sunk into quickly. Still clipped in and falling over fast all I could do was brace for impact and hope for the best. My right leg sacrificed itself between the broken road and my bike. My bike escaped unscathed, but I took some road rash on my leg and elbow. Laying there I wiped away the [strike]tears[/strike] sweat from my eyes and hightailed it out of there. Right at that moment I was happy it was the road less traveled, the only witnesses to my massive wipe out were the trees and the river that laughed at me as I limped my way home.

Mr. Beanz

I'd say 2 year ago now. MTB down a mtn with switchbacks. Doing maybe 25 I was recording a partner ahead of me. Approaching a turn I reached back to put the Flip back into my pocket and feathered the front brake as I was approaching faster than thought. I had adjusted the brakes the night before and set them tighter than usual, mistake!

The front locked up, handlebars turned and twisted to my belly, I flipped over the bars landing on my shoulder/back. I had to lay there for 5 minutes cause I couldn't move. Finally another rider came up and asked if I was OK. I asked him to inform my partner if he ran into him at the bottom. I finally got up and couldn't sit on the bike. I walked back about a mile (thank goodness we were near the bottom).

Partner finally came back up and walked back with me. He had to load my bike on my truck cause I could barely move. Separated my shoulder and jacked my back pretty good. It took me 20 minutes to get my shoes off cause I couldn't lean over. Then 20 minutes at home to get my jersey off.

Well I learned stupid mistakes can hurt you. I know use a lanyard on my camera if I use it freehand on the MTB. That way I can just drop it if I approach a trouble spot.

Stupid embarrassing mistakes!

Oh, the bike was OK!



4602145044_c0450d18ba by mrbeanz1, on Flickr


4602147058_a9874c5f65 by mrbeanz1, on Flickr

Telly

Hmm...

After having a hearty Sunday breakfast, I decided to take a ride to the center of Athens to check out some holiday events. Everything went well, except for something in the breakfast which wasn't agreeing with me, and of course this was the day I forgot to take my lock with me! After 10 minutes of looking around for a solution, I rushed (brisk walk, almost slow run... you *know* the feeling), into a coffee shop, wheeling my bike next to me, handed the bike over to the barrista who had popped from behind the counter with a puzzled look on his face and made a bee-line run for the nearest toilet (handicap).

After the situation was resolved, I walked out of the toilet and was confronted by the barrista, the store manager and a group of puzzled customers who had witnessed the scene, all gathered around my bike which was right smack in the middle of the shop floor! Thankfully, after explaining the severity of the *situation*, we had a good laugh and every time I pass by the shop, I always pop in, say hello and order a coffee... at a leisurely pace! lol

Bethany

Got my new cross bike a couple of months ago. 2nd day I had it, I crashed while going across the wooden bridge I always take for a ride and went head first into the ravine. Handlebars twisted into my chest all the way down and finally landed on my side all tangled up in the bike. It was a week before I could breathe and not feel like passing out.

Coming from a fat bike with 4 inch wide tires, I didn't even consider tire width while crossing the lengthwise planks until the front tire got caught between the boards, bounced me over a couple more boards and the back tire got caught and I headed down the ravine. At least I made it across the bridge and down the side instead of being tossed over the railing. I don't use that bridge anymore even on my fat bike.

Lesson learned. A cross bike is NOT a fat bike. Thankfully the bike was okay after taking it to my LBS.

I gave up on clipless pedals a couple of years ago. Not worth the agony and humiliation of falling over because I can't clip out fast enough. Even when I was fitted for a pair at the LBS, the guy couldn't figure out why I couldn't get in/out during the installation and fitting.

1242Vintage

I was with a half dozen other cyclists on my commute home, hanging on to the back of the group at around 20 mph. Road made a tight left turn, which took me by surprise since I was focused on the wheel in front of me. I drifted onto the gravel shoulder but no traction to stop in time to avoid hitting a tree. I bailed to avoid the tree and ended up sitting on my butt on the shoulder of the road and watching my bike bounce off the tree and out into the brush. Nothing bruised or broken but my ego. Remarkable only a tiny scratch on my relatively new bike and a front wheel a little out of true, but rideable.

Learned a valuable lesson that day. Need to keep the eyes up and watch the road ahead.

Erwin8r

Wow This is what scares me about riding alone through a secluded area...

big_al

Last sunday i enetered a local onnce a year ride named "fakawi" this ride is either 35 miles or 50 I figured I could do the 30. There are over 500 riders in this ride it is all going exceptionally well. the ride takes part riding on the street as well as riding off road. well as we get into the off road part of the ride we are all moving right along and we get into some serious muddy sections. I am pedaling thru to the best I can and as i am approaching an area that we had to cross a water section everybody is off their bikes walking thru knee deep mud. Of course I see this and I am going at 0 mph in the mud I go to unclip and of course I could not unclip on time and down I went handle bar to my rib cage I then bounced off of it into my pedal with my back. To say the least pretty embarassing and now a week later I am still in pain but no regrets I will do it again next year. I did finished the ride at 31.7 miles....

FrenchFit 

I was riding in the city, fairly fast, came around the bend and in front of me was a dozen homeless panhandlers sitting along a wall, just hanging out, drinking some beers perhaps. It was a bad time to take my eyes off the road, the trolley tracks curved that bend too and my front tire dropped right in - over the bars I went. I got to self-rescue myself out of the middle of the street, wrestle with a bent fork and try to patch my bleeding leg in front of an audience. I was quite the entertainment for about a half-hour, but I thought it was pretty funny too.

brwarrior

I've got a couple...

Summer of '85 (between 3rd & 4th grade) we had had just moved into a new apartment and I didn't know anyone in the neighborhood. I was looking at some cute girl when I was riding around the neighborhood one day. You know where this is going... into the back of a parked truck. Collected myself, straightened the bars out and pedaled what was left of my pride back home. To add to that, she was in my class in the fall.

June of '09 I had started riding again. I wasn't about to go full clipless on my mountain bike. But I hated the stock pedals. I bought some big platform pedals with studs and some plastic cages. I was riding on the load rail trail with my buddy. We stopped at a light and I was being lazy and decided to lean against the signal post. It was on my left. My buddy was behind me. I really wasn't leaning enough. Zero MPH and I fall, to my right, landing on the end of the bar. Went to the ER to get checked out as I didn't really feel good about the indentation in my chest. Hell, it's still there. Chest xray showed nothing and they sent me on my way home with some Vicodin. Took one, maybe two and threw the rest away. Did nothing for the pain and I felt like a complete idiot.

Kotts

Riding in clipless pedals, on which I had just cleaned, lubed and adjusted the bearings. On the long uphill stretch of my commute home, when the right pedal started binding. "Oh crap" I think to myself, "I hope I can get home before this locks up, because I don't really have tools to fix it with me.". Continue up the hill, and the pedal binds more with every stroke.

"Well, tools or no, I'm going to have to do something before I bugger the bearings" so I swing to the right berm and start to unclip my right foot. My right foot won't move!?!? THEN I look at the pedal. It was binding because my right shoelace had gotten wound around the pedal axle, and was getting tighter with each turn of the crank, like a windlass.

Here I am, leaning right, with my right foot clipped and TIED to the pedal. Quickly unclip left foot and flail in a generally left-ish direction trying to get the bike to lean left. Nothing doing. The best I can manage is a bizarre uphill and right tilted trackstand, maintained only by my frantic left-side flapping.

This all took place by the local police station, where a friend was walking out to his patrol car. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about 10 seconds, I bowed to the inevitable and rolled over into the grass on my right. My friend in the patrol car slowly cruised up, rolled down his window, and asked if I was alright (to his great credit, he didn't laugh.)

"Unless you can literally die of embarrassment, I'm fine."

CJ C

I have two speeds I travel at Slow and Stop.
its really hard to say, if its a 15-20 mile ride I will cruise at 17-18mph if its a longer ride I will drop to 15mph. I really don't look at that, I base the ride on perceived effort and heart rate.