So, I'm riding down my favorite road on my evening 15 mile ride. The road has a good surface, decent scenery, bike friendly neighbors and few if any cars when I notice the chrome-plastic plug on the left side of my handlebars is about halfway out. I'm doing about 20 mph and in my deep-happy-ride-zone so, I give the plug a good smack to pop it back in. OH CRAP!!! The next thing you know the bike is fish floundering all over the road and it takes me two to three seconds to realize that I'm the idiot that just about wrecked me and that I was not having total spontaneous frame failure.

So, please learn from my mistake. Do not apply large perpendicular forces to the ends of your handlebars as this may result in rapid destabilization of the vehicle and possible injury or death.

Feel free to post your own swift moves.

woooh! close call, huh.

Wow...this reminds me of the time I dumped a full cup of orange juice on my fav DKNY suit (birthday present, would never pay that much for an outfit on my own!) because I looked at my watch. Dumb dumb!! Me, not you...well, maybe you too!! :-)

LOL
best I did was as a kid and ran into the back of a parked car when not looking talking to a "friend" who laught the rest of the way home. Soft parts did hit the stem. ooooch.

Ok I'll share another...High school...I was talking to my two friends, I am in the middle and we are walking down a sidewalk. I am turning my head talking to my one friend and smack, right into a light pole. They literally fell down laughing!! Could have told me there was a pole in the middle of the sidewalk!! I suppose I could have looked where I was going too. Oh, and no to your question, I'm not blonde, I'm a STRAWBERRY blonde!!

I was riding a trailbike through the 'burbs in a quiet street with no traffic one morning when the engine started mis-firing. Without thinking, I reached down to grab the sparkplug lead to see if it was loose. The next thing I remember was wondering what hit me so hard I had crashed the bike. Took me a while to realise it was the 20,000 volts running through my arm that did it. DUH

omg..i did the same thing joetown, but when i hit my handle, I was riding along the side of a storm drain channel, which was dry, and almost swerved to the edge and fell in....

I started to actually "laugh out loud" when I imagined someone actually doing that going at a fast speed lol

I ran into a window air conditioner unit while on my trusty Trek 820. That was a damn tough bike, I think I bent the bar end slightly and put a huge dent in the AC unit. That was pretty funny.

My buddy was helping me deliver papers when I was a kid. We switched bikes for a little bit, I gave him my mountain bike and I took his 10 speed. He warned me that out of the 4 options for the brakes, (2 on the drops and 2 up above), only 1 worked. The lever on the right drop, (rear brake). Well I was cruising along in a neighbordhood and came winging into a driveway. About 20 papers in one hand and the other on the brake. As I was approaching the garage I grabbed the rear brake, the wrong rear brake lever. I realized my mistake about a quarter of a second before I slammed into the garage. I swear you could hear the impact from 2 blocks over. Newspapers were everywhere. I quickly traded back the bikes. Luckily only my pride was hurt.

...this one could also be appropriately titled, "Too lazy to stop". Just last evening before my ride, I stuck in a replacement for one of those cheap chrome plastic flying "C" plugs. I even had to put some tape around the end, 'cuz there wasn't enought friction to keep it in - that's how the other one came out (which I found, but had already been run over by a car).

Anyway, I noticed that it was just a little gap showing that it wasn't flush with the end, so I gave it a little push with my thumb. Yeah, I knew I would have to apply a little counterforce to keep straight, but as we both discovered, that's a hard thing to judge while in motion. My line broke for a second and so I stopped to get it in properly. I laughed when I read yours 'cuz I'm thinking, "What are the odds?"

Reminds me of the time I needed to borrow an Aerobed from a friend and though it was a good idea to sling the 10 + pound burlap case on my back and ride. Each stop was a near accident (as it would shift my weight drastically from one side or the other).

I'm sure I'm not the only roadie who wipes off the tires after being forced to ride through some glass. You know...you use the web of your glove (between the thumb and index finger) to reach behind the seat tube and wipe the rear tire for a few revolutions. Problem is that when you go from an old clunker to a tight road frame, distances aren't at all the same. Remember the sound of a baseball card clipped against the spokes? Slightly lower pitch and not as much fun when it's your thumb between the spokes at 18 mph!

I think my best one so far is the time I came to a crosswalk where the bike trail intersects a busy street. I creep to a stop and lean over to push the buttom to make the light change. However I forgot to unclip first....... I felt like a total idiot falling off my bike in front of all those cars driving by.

On a slightly unrelated note, when driving the car once I heard a constant clickiong noise which I ignored as it was 4am and I was on my way home. 3 miles form the house I hear a big POP!!!! My car tilts forward and to the side and screeches to a halt. The clincher beling my front left tire had come of and was rolling ahead of the car...

If it makes you feel any better, I did the exact same thing once. I rescued it, but barely.

My other "not so bright" move was when I was a kid. The local construction crew had a bunch of those orange safety cones setup, and I decided it would be fun to slalom in and out of them. It was on a level road and after a while, I got into a nice rhythm so I sped up a bit. Well, you can guess what happened -- I eventually missed missing one of the cones. Plowed straight into the thing. Wiped out the cone and darn near one construction worker. I was a mess and had to explain to Mom and Dad just how it was that I crashed. I gave the construction crew a good highlight to their day though.

The other night while out watching a friends local band, I started a conversation with a cyclocross guy I knew. In conversation, this cutie brunette comes up and starts listening in. Well, we were talking about our training, that days ride(mine was 21mi), caloeies/carbs and the Century event I'm doing in Spring. Anyhow, the cutie brunette starts asking me questions on cycling, impressed with my workout routiene(for some reason) so I started hamming it up pretty good...about 5 minutes roll by with that hottie when I realize my GF is standing right behind me.....DOH!

I did the EXACT same thing coming down a long steep hill. I whipped back and forth so hard my shoe released from the pedal! I thought I was dead. I have no idea how I kept from wiping out.

So, my friend, you are not alone.

PS - When I got home I glued the plug into the handle bar (then changed my shorts).

ha i did the same thing just last week! was crusing over a bridge and noticed the bar end cap wasnt sitting in str8 so i gave it a shove. well u know wht happens after that!! lucky i kept a hold of it and straightend up. mental note to self, dont do that again!!

That reminds me of a stupid thing I did :adjusting the front de-railer whilst riding in thongs, WHAM collected the rear fender of a parked car ,took some bark off my toe,

A couple times, when I've been in that "deep-happy-ride-zone," I've ridden right off the pavement. Nothing like a drop off asphalt, onto rock, then into a ditch to wake a cyclist up. Kept the wheels on the ground both times.

Here's a couple of those for you...

Pedaling along on limestone bike trail and realize its getting realy warm. So instead of stopping to remove jacket I do it on the bike.....HEY! how did I get down here on the ground and why is there a big tear in my shorts .... dupid!

One of my favorites... Frisbee with friends years ago. I was running over this slope after the frisbee and running fast and watching the frisbee. My friends all said they saw me go over this little slope and after I disappeared they saw this little tree shake a lot. I hit that tree and next I know I am staring at the sky. Glad I was stoned that day

I can think of a few others ... I think these were enough. Can't help but laugh at yourself sometimes.

Reminds me of going off the pavement on my first MS150 when I was 16. I kept from crashing going off but when going slow back on to the road my wheels came out from under me. I landed wheels in the road body on the gravel still have the scare on my elbow from this. People past asking if I was ok, but I was to busy cheking the bike over. Didn't relize there was a 1/4 to 1/2 inch dent in my elbow until I was riding pain pain pain.

One time I was at a corner waiting for the light to turn and I couldn't unclip from my pedals. Keeled over like a falling tree right in front of everyone... and there was a lot of people waiting to cross. The funny part is after I fell, I stayed clipped in.... people were looking at me like I was a crackhead lol