The stupidest thing I ever did on a bike was when I first installed downtube shifters. I had this sudden thought, wondering how bad it would be if you reached too far to shift and grabbed the tire. So I found out.

Fortunately I was wearing padded gloves and barely touched spokes, but barely was more than enough.

I learned this one the hard way. All it cost me was my beloved Bianchi 928 T-Cube race bike. I leaned over to fiddle with the speedometer pickup on the fork and plowed into a curb at 20 miles an hour, snapping the headtube clean off. I found myself on my back with my bike in two pieces.

don't brake hard if you've only got one hand on the bars.

there's an unspoken analog... "we'll get along fine as soon as you realize i'm always right."

Nearly caused chaos on our local tram network by leaving my rucksack on board.



I just walked off and left it lol could have shut the whole network down if someone had got jumpy about it.





Yesterday someone left a laptop in Piccadilly Gardens and the Bomb Squad carried out a controlled explosion on it after stopping all transport and people coming near it.





But I asked a driver and he radioed to say I had left it and I got it back fairly soon.





Doh lolhttp://republican.ie/forum/public/st...fault/ohmy.png http://republican.ie/forum/public/st...fault/ohmy.png

i was on a cross country trip. following the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route through Louisiana. it crossed the Atchafalaya swamp along a five or six mile bridge (one in each direction) that must have been built in the 40's.

it was early morning rush hour. there was zero berm. the road was narrow. drainage grates made me ride three feet from the concrete rail. i made many people, very, very, very angry.

On 9/11, a friend offered me a ride home from work in his pickup. I accepted. We walked out to his truck. I took off my backpack so I could get in the cab and put it on the ground. Then I hoisted my bike into the bed of the truck. We got in and left.

Nine miles later, as we were approaching my house, I looked down at my feet in preparation to grab my backpack to get out. Ooops. So, after getting home, I had to pedal back to work. Happily, the industrial park was pretty much deserted, and my backpack was right where I left it.

Meanwhile, my cousin, who worked in the twin towers and was the reason I was so distracted, was having a much worse day. Happily, he survived.