My workplace is just off the BusWay I ride for 10 of my 11 mile trip to work. I have to cross the BusWay and a drainage ditch to get into the parking lot and rear access drives of the buildings adjacent to where I work, one being a Sherwin Williams paint store.

Taking great care as I always do, I get across the BusWay, the ditch and into the rear access drive of the strip center housing the paint store. I note a step ladder to my right and left front and pedal on ... straight into a strip of 2inch wide masking tape, helmet high connecting the two ladders. I didn't crash but, the two ladders certainly did.

Where I cross the BusWay is in the middle of a chicane, it takes a lot of attention to get across without being nuisance or danger to the bus drivers. They fly through this section. Thinking my great danger is behind me, I run smack dab into masking tape. Never saw the tape until I hit it.

Awesome thread!

The most embarrassing thing to happen to me while riding wasn`t actually a crash, but here goes anyways. I was comming home from the supermarket with a decent load of groceries in a shallow basket that I have mounted in back. Comming up on a 4-way intersection there was a long line of cars waiting for the light and not enough room to get by them on the right, but being on a bike, I saw no reason why I should have to stick to the road. After all, the sidewalk was clear. So I pulled out to my left a few feet and swung hard towards the curb, planning to just bunnyhop it and be on my way. Unfortunately, I had forgotten all about my groceries. First off, I had just tied the bag shut and dropped it into the basket with no bungie or net `cause I hadn`t planned on any acrobatics going home. Second, bunnyhops don`t work very well with a loaded bike. The front wheel made it OK, but the rear never came up until it hit the curb and bounced my bag out and sent the contents rolling out into the traffic I was trying to get out of. I was able to salvage a lot of it, but the tomatoes didn`t fare too well and I didn`t even try to lap up the quart of milk that broke in the street.

Accident might be a stretch. First week going clipless. Not unclipping. Falling over just as getting off your bike in front of all at the post office.

Too bad we don't have all these on video that we could string together in a blooper reel...

Prevailing theme? A sudden, surprised exclamation such as, "ACK!!," followed by the sound of a helpless and pathetic crumpling of skin, bones, and aluminum. LOL!

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4623/crscq7.png

I was making a left turn from the left turn lane of an arterial road, saw the light turn yellow, and started sprinting for the intersection giving it all I had. As I entered the intersection, I realized I was going way too fast to turn smoothly. I ended up turning as left as I could, entering the sidewalk at the curb cutout, and crashing into the side of a small raised lawn patch surrounding a McDonalds. I hit the ground, no injuries, just damaged pride and a front wheel that needed a minor truing.

I was a newbie that didn't know how to turn effectively. I have since improved my turning ability, learning how to countersteer to lean harder, and weighting the outside pedal to get an even better lean. Fast turns are fun!

Hey,

I had a splat! at 0mph. I was trying to show off at a red light because I was bored. More specifically I was trying to "stand" on two wheels till the green light. A quite stimulating challenge. Well I am not that good so I can only do it for like 10-20 sec. ... What happened that time was my clip-pedal didn't come off. So I landed on my side with all the cars and pedestrians around me.

On another time, I had a flip-over. I slammed into a sidewalk block at high speed 90 degrees(!). I was dumb and slammed my front break at the same time. Totally no-no. Rear wheel jumped up and entire bicycle flown over me. Well technically "through me" as I ducked out / ran of the way. The bike flew only for 1-2 meters but it did it in totally cool vertical manner like you see on action movies.
I wish I meant to do it, but you ain't see me do it again.

Oh crap. Have any of you guys slipped off of the clipped pedals? Both feet at the same time? I had that at a traffic light. My feet dragged hard against the asphalt intending to keep myself upright, but all weight went to my groin. Thank goodness for my thigh muscles. I walked away with a groin strain and a bruised pride. (I just popped an ibuprofen and was running fine the next day.)

... I wish we can regret before things happen. ...

T

I forgot to clip out of my pedals once and just sort of fell over. I think the only people around were looking away for those few seconds (I got up like a rocket afterward) because they didn't mention it. I know if I saw someone just sort of fall over I'd make fun of them ;).

Not a riding accident... more of a close fall... Was first really snowy day here this winter (almost never snows here) and as leaving work there were plenty of cars behind me waiting to go through the guard station. It's a simple turn when leaving and I was going pretty darn slow but nearly fell (saved myself) but felt stupid about it. Cars are heavy enough that the amount of snow we had didn't phase them :s.

Talk about wishing we had some video ... :D

While I was not commuting, I feel like an idiot and want to share it. :p

It was 60F today and I took a nice 27 mile ride on my fixed gear after working from home.
I think I should have taken a different bike or worn something besides a t shirt and baggy shorts.

1) I miss clipping in and somehow manage to veer right off the road while crossing an intersection. I recovered and made it back onto the road without wrecking. This bike has 23mm tires so that is almost amazing in and of itself.
2) While getting on my bike at a very busy intersection I somehow managed to almost fall down. Instead I jumped off of it. Massively bruised ego. :p
3) While accelerating away from the next intersection somehow I forgot about my toe overlap and decided I needed to turn with my foot in the way. Did a nice number that involved me veering to the right.

No injuries. Just feel like an idiot.

Hey,

Toe overlap? So you smushed your foot on the front tire while moving, right? How did you keep yourself upright?

Tomo

P.S. When you slip off both clipped pedals simultaneously, do you land on bottoms of your feet? I landed on my up-side of my feet. So I got dragged on sinewy top-side of my feet. To this day, I have absolutely no idea how that happened. Am I wrong in thinking this is due to having no straps? (I have em now.)

When I went to high school, I used to ride my bike to and from school daily. Every 3-4 months it seemed, there'd be some miscreants who'd think it hilarious to steal all the quick-release levers from every bike which had them. No idea what they did with 50+ quick-releases, but whatever. At the time, I wasn't aware of those locking quick release things, which would've saved me a lot of grief.

On one such lovely spring morning, I found myself quick-release-less. The loss of the lever wasn't so much of an annoyance as having to either walk the bike home or call a cab. Since it was a nice day, I opted for the walk. About 10-15minutes in, I got impatient and decided to sit in the seat and kick my way forward down the street. The front wheel at low speeds stayed in the dropouts fine, so I got adventurous and started pedaling slow, 5-6mph. I made it about a mile this way, when finally, crossing an intersection, the wheel pops out of the dropout, and the fork just goes right through the spokes, sending me head-first over the bike, right in front of a turning car. I wasn't hurt, but it was incredibly embarassing to do that at 5mph in slow-mo.

Yes, toe overlap. Every bike I have had in the last ten years has had that feature. You would think I would remember it. :p

I think as soon as my foot contacted the tire I jerked my wheel in the opposite direction. Hence the veering off to the right and why I did not fall.

Well, falling over from forgetting to unclip...at least 5-6 times. Ungainly looking? Yes. You want embarasssing? Ok, well I'm on my way home the other day(20 mi ride) and I feel a familiar 'feeling' in my...how can I put this delicately?...but it's not a 'MAYDAY!! situation so I figure I can release a little gas and be able to continue on my way unabated. So, I'm climbing the 'Big Mutha'...20% grade @ .5 mi and decide to stand up and let a little gas go...well needless to say more than gas was released and I SAT BACK DOWN when I reached the crest not knowing anything beyond a little gas had been released. My ride is semi-rural and the 'Big Mutha' doen't have any houses around so I gotta park the bike in the ditch...well you know the rest...now THAT was embarassing...it was an accident...and I WAS riding...so sue me if it doesn't qualify! :p

Actually, the most embarrassing bike accident I ever had (or would have been, but nobody saw it) was waaaaaaay back when I was delivering newspapers as a kid. Does that count as commuting?

I rode a dirtbike w/ one bag on my back and another on the horns on my bars. I had a double route. It was winter. I was just about fully loaded with papers, which I hadn't bothered to put in plastic bags. There wasn't fresh snow on the ground and I was lazy, plus I had to pay for those bags myself.

However, there were big crusty piles of plowed snow in the parking lots.

Remember... I'm about 13. Big crusty piles of plowed snow and a dirt bike. You do the math.

I was riding along towards my route, up one pile, down the other side. Up another pile, down the other side.

The next time I went up one really big pile of snow, down the other side, and...

... racked myself when I hit the parking block at the bottom, doing an endo into the slush, papers flying everywhere. The same papers I had NOT bothered to put in plastic.

Quite honestly, I don't remember how that day ended, but I'm pretty sure I had to go back to the newspaper and explain why I needed more papers. My memory is a little foggy after the crash, probably because I have since blocked the memory of the pain to my young, sensitive, and as yet untested nether regions. :eek:

Traffic light. Clipped out of SPDs with left leg. Leaned right.


Yes, it was my first week in SPDs. It certainly provided much mirth to the drivers near me.

I was riding back from a party on a fixie (and yes, I had more than I would have if I were driving) and stopped at a stop light. Next thing I know I'm lying on my side fully clipped into my pedals with my hands still on the bars - I had forgotten to clip out and put my foot down.

Oh yeah.....

When I first got back into "real" road cycling, about 2 years ago, I had just purchased that red '89 Paramount you've all seen....I hadn't changed it over to STI as of yet, still had the downtube shifters and 9-speed D/A - Ultegra mix....anyway,....I decided to go on a club ride with some old friends....they were mocking my d/t shifting oldschool Paramount....well, we got to a steep little hill on one of the backroads and as I stood up to hammer the hill, I felt a jerk....then the bike just stopped.....the rear wheel had pulled out of the dropout and lodged against the seat tube....I did my best track-stand impersonation, but alas, I went over with a thud....I managed to utter something like "I'm goin' down".....

Nothing injured except for my pride.......we all really enjoyed the next 15-17 miles as I stayed towards the back and listened to the occassional "I'm goin' down" ....and "welcome back, barndoor" comments :)

When I first started commuting, I was a little timid about lane splitting. On one of my first attempts, traffic started moving, and I saw an opening behind a bus to get back over onto the right shoulder. While checking traffic behind me to make sure I had room to get over, I ran straight into some garbage cans left on the street. I ended up ontop of the garbage cans, 3 lanes of traffic behind me stopped, and my bars were twisted 45 degrees as I tried to ride away with some dignity.

YIKES! Embarrassing, I guess, but the incedent sounds much worse than simple embarrassment to me- glad I never had that one happen.!

Not a fall but embarrassing. I have a late 80’s Trek Pro Series road bike with semi horz. dropouts. I had changed the rear tire the night before and I was at a stop light early in the mourning. I get ready to take off and pedal down hard and to my surprise I go a few feet and become thrown onto the bars in front of a car that is trying to turn. I hadn’t tightened my QR skewer enough and the wheel shifted in the dropouts. I got off the bike and ran back to the sidewalk to fix the wheel. I am glad it didn’t happen when I was going fast.

Although I have my own learning curve on clipless, it is funnier when it happens to the MR. One day we were cycling, he is a tad bit slower. I was patiently waiting for him at a stop sign in biking jersey and tights with my left foot unclipped and down on the pavement (looking like a pro). He pulls up on my left, doesn't unclip and falls over on me. He doesn't know how to unclip and he and his bike are on top of me. Of course there were many people watching.

A colleague - yes truly - recounted this.

The entrance to the previous building I worked in, was ultra steep, two car lanes wide, leading down into the basement - like roadies have to walk out and it has the concrete hatching to provide grip in the wet type steep. There are roller doors and a swipe style entry system about halfway down the ramp. So to my colleague; he has left his pass in his back pack. He very slowly descends the ramp, whilst reaching into his back-pack at the same time – he thinks he is some sort of yoga yogi by the way. Then as he gets near to the swiper, he panics because he has not managed to extract his pass and pulls hard on the front brake. Of course he goes straight over into the dead dog/turtle position. Problem is he is clipped in and his hand is stuck in his backpack, on which he is lying. And – according to him anyway – he was still kind of pedalling. One of the following motorists-co-workers got out of his car to rescue him.

This is probably not that funny, but this type of thing always seems to happen to my colleague - so knowing him makes it really funny to me.

I have done exactly this, under exactly the same influence. The car beside me was so freaked out he ran a red light.

First time going clipless out in the great wide open. I had practiced for a few laps around the local park and decided I was ready for riding in traffic. At a major intersection, I blended into traffic to take the left turn and was the first at the red left arrow light. Only at the last minute did I remember that I was clipped to my bike, and as if in slow motion, fell to my right. There was no stopping it. In a double left turn lane, ten cars in each lane, I met the pavement. Several motorists took the time to roll down their windows and applaud. I deserved it, and after righting myself before the arrow turned green, took a bow. I'm sure I was the topic of conversation at dinner tables and around the bar that night.