No mishaps on the roadie but on my mountain bike....

50% compression fracture of the T5 vertibrae from popping wheelies / catwalks and showing off to my daughter & wife. I went over backwards and couldn't unclip. The fracture was a result of landing on the big plastic lid of my CamelBack. I'm almost a 1/2" shorter now as a result.

Fractured rib from the saddle punching me in the gut when going down a long set of steep stairs

Fracture rib, various abrasions & contusions from failing to land a jump off of the Waterfall at South Mountain AZ.

When I first started on clipless pedales, I fell over and tore up my knee in the exact same spot three days in a row. (I stopped riding for 1 week to let it scab over properly)

T.J.

One of the reasons I wrote this thread is to show people how much better we get after each pedal stroke.
You think that I'll still get passed by a chick in 39/25? I barely exist in that gear.. I usually do 39/19 now & I might be able to output five more watts now...
Not an amazing improvement - but incremental nonetheless. By the time people finish reading their own post - their bodies have rebuilt/recovered from those incidents; which already makes them better than they were yesterday.
Unlike threads where there are supernatural/once in a blue moon numbers; that's the best they can do. By posting our lows... it's only logical that we're stronger...
You're all better now - beyond what you've posted in this thread

Ride On
-Peter

Okay, I'll play.

Going down the 8 mile steep grade into Steamboat Springs from Rabbit Ears Pass West, I am so scared that I keep it to no more than 35 mph (while being passed by just about everyone else, who are doing 45-60 mph) and I stop every couple of miles to rest my hands which are tired from braking and recover my psyche (but, no one else stopped)!

Recently decided I would "Blast through" a tumbleweed on the trail and spent the next ten minutes unwinding pieces of tumbleweed from my rear der and cogs. Smart move!

While going about 35 mph down another steep hill with rumble strips near Dolores, Colorado, and with a shoulder filled with old car bolts, etc., I refuse to move over, causing the guy passing me to have to go across the rumble strip so he can keep going at about 50 mph. He was not too happy, and yelled some rather nice things at me! Wish I felt safe descending faster.

I have been passed by so many female riders that I don't consider it unusual (hey, we have a LOT of great female riders around here, and they are FAST!) But being passed while on my roadie by the 12 year-old-guy on the grungy, squeaky mtn bike was a bit hard to take!

Fell over twice in a row on my roadie when I first got my clipless. But, fortunately I did that in isolation with no audience.

I lube my bike so much that the LBS dreads it when I come in and jokingly complains that my bikes drip grease on his floor. I tell them I spend so much and have given them so many referrals (I have had 5 referrals buy bikes from them) that they should THANK me!

Well, enough of that!

Fun thread.

Don't think about your speed while you descend, just go with the flow, once you get to the bottom you can look down all you want.

...and I'm such a clueless newbie that I don't know what this bit refers to. BTW, even though I'm married, riding around the Rose Bowl has as its greatest pleasure being passed by at least six women, each with a lovelier butt than the last, on each lap. Not much of an incentive to train harder for speed, but I keep doing more and more laps!

A few years ago when I was getting back into cycling, a group of buddies and I were out doing a big, long climb in the Rocky Mountains.

About 1/4 way up, we were passed by a girl. Passed? Ha, she blew by us like there was a bear chasing her. Of course, as neanderthal as men can get, there were a tonne of yapping about her butt, team kit among other comments as she disappeard around a corner.
About 3/4 of our way up we met her again but she was her way down after reaching the summit!
About 1/2 of our way down, we met here again but she was on her way back up. WTF?

5 neanderthals schooled by a girl

T.J.

This made me remember one I had forgotten.

Mid-week, mid-morning, riding along the path at the beach at a relaxing 28kph (there was no one on the path at the time), I happened to see this gorgeous female walking along the sand. I took a nice long look and the next thing I knew I was in a superman position flying through the air and my bike was stuck in the sand about 10' behind me. Did a tuck and roll then stood up. It was not too bad until I noticed, as I stood up, about 15 or so people stand up and applaud me. I had to at least give a courteous wave and a thank you, then off I went to regain my ego . By the way, the girl I was looking at saw the whole thing as well and was also applauding

...and you didn't ask her out right then and there? Tell us she's your wife now!

^^^ Hahahah that must have been fun.

Let's see, I rode hard with a guy who was about 65 who was recovering from a bad crash the week before...he was going easy. I watched Leah Goldstein hammer so hard up a steep hill on a circut road race, I almost got sick just standing there. I can't imagine what the pro 1,2 peloton thought when she caught up with them. I caught up to a a woman on a old Schwinn Varsity'esque road bike with a big bag of fresh farmer's market veggies on her pannier rack...She jumped on and rode the rest of the way with me into town at about 35-36 kph the whole way. On a wheel or not, that was impressive. Around here, there's always someone stronger regardless of what you're riding and where.

I don't believe I'd have told that one.

Set off on a 50 mile group ride and dropped after 9 miles due to heat exhaustion.

My worst:

Mountain biking on the 5th of July last year, didn't eat breakfast, because breakfast makes me ill. Didn't occur to me until later that I hadn't eaten dinner the night before either since I had a few burgers for lunch.

I bonked BAD. So badly, in fact, that a guy who had broken his frame while we were together on the trail walked it back to his car 10 minutes before I rode out.

When I got back to the trailhead, another ride had just changed into hiking gear to come rescue me.

The only thing that kept me going was pure fear, a huge thunderstorm had picked up and about 4 trees went down across the trail while I was out.

this forum is easily the funniest thing i have read in a long, long time.

thanks to all of you, especially monistat man, balloon guy, and the brave fellow who started this thread.

i can't stop laughing.

i have a question, though. how does one hit a parked car?

You get so tired uphill and you try to look down to not demotivate yourself so the next thing you see is a car 1 foot from your wheel . Happened twice to me so far

I participated in my first race ever today, the Cliff Drive circuit race. 11 miles (four loops through Cliff Drive/Gladstone Blvd). It was...interesting. I went out in the Women's Beginners class. There were 9 of us. We started a minute after the Men's Beginner class (there were about 40 of them) and a minute before the Junior racers (there were about 25).

I sucked really bad, because I've never raced before so I didn't have the first idea of what I was doing. I tried to just hang with the pack, but I wasn't feeling really very confident about the turns, due to the fact that it had been raining all night and much of the morning, so the road was pretty wet, so I got behind the pack after the first trip through the park. There was one other woman who was behind me, but I think she might have quit the race, so I'm pretty sure I secured the last-place finish for the Beginner Women. I used to do this to myself all the time in Cross Country, too. For no good reason, I hold myself back--save myself for more miles and more hills that don't exist.

Still, I had fun. Pretty much any time spent on my bike is fun time. My schedule for today was planned: wake up, get my ass handed to me at the races, go home, shower, go running errands. My day went pretty close to schedule. I awakened, rode down to sign up for the race, discovered I didn't have enough cash to cover the entry fee and the one-day insurance card, rode home, raided my wallet, rode back, signed up, watched the Masters race, raced in Beginners race, came in last (I think), went home, talked to my folks on the phone, cleaned up, ran errands, wrote up day's activities.

I think I could have actually done quite a bit better--at least finished with the pack, but I didn't really push myself, and after I got pretty far behind the pack, I pretty much stopped trying at all, and just fell into my natural commuter pace of around 15mph-ish. 15mph does NOT make for a good showing on an 11 mile bike race! I can ride for hours and hours and hours at that speed, but I wasn't doing some long-distance gig, so it was for naught. Oh well! After the race was over, I stuck around to watch the Cat4 guys take off, and then I was thinking, "I need to get my happy butt home, clean up and go run the errands," and I had plenty of pep to get on home in my usual pace.

A Bento Box is a takeaway lunch from a Japanese restaurant. Or, if you do Japanese style cooking, it is your own packed lunch in a very nifty little lunch box kit.

I am guessing the other guy's bike must have had either a manufacture or model name that looked a little bit like "bento" if you only vaguely caught a glance of the lettering.

No, this is a Bento Box: https://www.rei.com/product/47919280.htm

It's a little food-holder that mounts on the top and head tubes.

- Warren

Wow, that is mad nifty!

And I learned something new today, too

- I got dropped by a woman about 15 years my senior on a hybrid with flat bars and panniers (and I thought I was really flying at the time).
- Fallen over 8 times at intersections trying to unclip (twice in front of attractive women).
- I bonked 10 minutes into my "comeback" ride.
- While I can bunnyhop out of a water rut on my MTB at over 80 km/hr, a tomato sized rock can bring me to a dead stop on a hill.
- I managed to scatter my pump, waterbottles, computer, shades, and dignity when I hit the back of a parked car going 35 km/hr.
- I have crashed every bike I own (unintentionally) at least once within the first week of ownership.

Yer not gonna wax a g-ride until you start taking those pills dude

Thanks for sharing - that's one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long time!

Back in the mid 80's, I had strapped a seat bag to the rear rack of my Trek. (I have no idea why it wasn't strapped to the seat ). At the end of the day, I realized that the seat bag had shifted, drooped through the rack, and been rubbing against my rear wheel for an unknown distance. Not only did I wear through the bag, but I also wore a nice groove in the plastic Belt Beacon that was inside the bag. For those of you who don't remember the Belt Beacons, they were flashing orange lights that were about the same size as what you see on roadway construction crew signs.

Haven't had too many on a road bike, only one comes to mind.

Was riding home from work one night (about 17 years ago) and a car decided to pace me the rest of the way home (about 5 miles). Pulled up to the front step and was so exausted that I forgot to release my straps (105 clip pedals with cleats) and fell over right in front of them. Impressive pace but the dismount left some to be desired.

Mountain biking..coming down the trail after it had just rained heavily, saw two hikers coming up and moved over to make room, only to sink the front wheel in the mud and do 3/4s of a front flip. Came to a stop sitting on the ground with both feet still clipped in, still holding the handle bars and the bike sitting vertical on the rear tire between my legs and still managed to put a nice gash in my knee.

Riding with friends, showing off doing a wheelie and looped it straight on to my arse (I was clipped in). Never knew the ground could be so hard. Had to go to the movies that night with a donut pillow for my aching arse Boy did I catch a lot of flack for that one!

my first mountain bike ride i got dropped by a group of little kids that were no more than 12 yrs old. that was two weeks ago

I've fell over 3 times thanks to clipless. once in front of a bus full of kids, and once getting ready at my first race

I've had 3 easily preventable serious crashes since getting my road bike, the most recent breaking my collar bone

I'm undisciplined and too competetive for my own good

i've had to lay down on the side of the road to avoid fainting

I can't figure out how to properly refuel on longer rides

I'm afraid of what will happen the first time i get back on my bike and stand up

OK, I'm riding on a local bike path, full kit etc. and I see up ahead a large group of people congregated on the path. I'd guess 2 or 3 hundred folks there. As I get closer, I realize they are getting ready to start a running race and the emcee is giving out instructions over the pa system. Since I cant get by I elect to turn around, narrow path, of course I mismanage the turn, cant get unclipped and down I go. All 3 hundred people turn around at the commotion, the announcer says (over the PA) "Sir! Are you all right?!?"

I weakly say something to the effect of "I meant to do that" and off I go.

It's funnier now.

I still say you guys got to get over being passed by girls. many of them are serious atheletes that have great ability.
I do have one thing to contribute. I started by riding recumbents, still ride them now and then and realy enjoy it.