Most embarrassing moment!



G

Guest

Guest
I had such an embarrassing moment the other day. While I was out riding, I came to a robot which turned red and as I was beginning to brake, I slid on oil that was on the road, probably spilled by some truck. Needless to say, I could do nothing and fell to the ground, right in front of a taxi. I was feeling really stupid when I got up, covered in black oil from top to toe on one side. Luckily I was not hurt, only my ego. (yes, woman have them too!!)
 
admin i think she means a Traffic Light :)
heh i know the feeling eheh iv done a few semi declip flailiure falls :). iv when to declip but the road was slanted and i just decliped before i kissed the pavement. and all the cars got the privilege of seeing my expertise :)
 
Since we're revealing our darkest secrets, here goes.....
Few weeks ago, just as I was coming to the end of a training ride, I chose a back road into town. Now in Stellenbosch there are a lot of wine farms, so it's not strange to see tractors with trolleys hooked up behind filled up with grapes. So obviously once I saw the tractor I had to catch up to it, since it was going at about 50 km/h...it's the whole alpha male thing, I just had to do it ;D
So there I am, tucked up behind the trolley with the grapes. But the tractor hit a huge bump in the road and obviously some grapes just happened to fall in the road, so that I could conveniently "glide" over them....damn those grapes are slippery. The stuff sent me off the road and into some bushes (luckily not too hard) next to the road :eek:
Of course there were the obligatory crowd of people present....don't even want to know what they thought!!!
Yep...that was probably my last gung-ho stunt ever :D
 
My first race ever (80k Houtkapper) wasn't a major event, but big and tough enough to attract HSBC and Ster Kinekor ( SA pro teams). I was so new to cycling that did'nt know any of the pro teams, or even that they would participate in such an event. Everyone at the race was the same to me, just a bunch of guys and gals coming for an 80k ride! I was under the impression that the pros were sponsored club riders. As there was no seeded start, everyone went at the same time. Not knowing that the pro's usually line up in front, I boldly took up my position right next to the HSBC team and even joined in with some pre-race chat! The race started and I stuck with the leading pro bunch, determined to give them a ride for their money. The first few k's wasn't very fast, but around the 10k mark I realised that the pace was picking up! 15k's into the race and they just kicked into another gear and disappeared into the distance! I remember the HSBC team car come past me and the guys inside just staring at me with puzzled looks on their faces! Boy, was I knackered! I think I finished the race in 4hrs30! I could'nt walk properly for three weeks after that! At the finish, various people gave me very funny looks! :-[
Oh well, at least I can say that I led the pro peleton and the race for 500 metres! ;D
 
LOL @ Vo2 ;D

Yeah, there's an unwritten rule in licensed racing that says that there's no real racing or break aways in the first 10kms or so while everyone "warms up" - even after warming up an hour beforehand.

My embarrassing moment came about 7 years ago when I too was learning how to clip in and out of my new Look pedals on my new racing bike. Unfortunately a year of being used to toe-clips on my MTB made me try to pull my foot out instead of twist to the side. I feel over in slow motion with both feet firmly clipped in. ;D
 
First one. Just before I switched over to cleats I was using toe clips. Pull up at a traffic light with a few freinds in tow. I'm balancing, waiting for the light to change and realise that it's taking to long. So I lean over to unbuckle my left foot and fall over to the right. Right in front of a car that was stopped there. My freinds reckon they never even heard a thud, my thigh absorbed all of the impact.


Second one was with the cleats. Pulled into a freinds driveway. I was about to turn right and had already started to lean over, my front wheel catches a groove and goes straight while my body is going right.
 
It was at a set of traffic lights that my moment also happened.

The lights were red and I was patiently waiting with the other traffic, but from my point of view I could see the other set of lights changing, so I placed my foot on the pedal to get a fast get away. The lights changed to green and off I went.

One turn of the pedal , two turns of the pedal , and then the chain broke, I was catapulted into the handlebars and over them on to the road.

Embarrassing Yes.
Painful , more than I care to remember.

funny how I have come off more than I care to remember whilst cycling off-road , quite often me and the bike leave each others company in spectacular fashion, but none have ever been more painful than the above incident.(roads hurt :'()
 
Well I've been reading the posts here in this thread since it came out, and I thought to myself that there will never be any reason for me to post here. I was wrong.

Last Saturday was THE most embarassing day of my cycling life. I fell down 3 times, all due to clipless pedals.

Fall # 1: Stop at red light, unclip left foot, lean right, fall on road.

Fall #2: Get up after first fall, fix chain which got out of small chainring, start to pedal and move. Taxi cab almost brushes my thighs, I get startled, I fall. 2nd fall in 1 minute.

Fall # 3: Riding at side of road, bus cuts me off and stops to unload, try to unclip but can't so I keep going. Unfortunately, a bunch of people are going down the bus, so I have to stop. I try to unclip but can't. So I fall.

Talk about bad luck, plus, some guy laughed his ass off so loud during Fall # 2.

I hope this does not happen again!
 
hehe...accidents come in three's! Guess you've had your share, eh?
 
I've had enough falls to last a month, I shouldn't expect to fall anymore until December!
 
Riding to work this morning for the first time in more than a week - hallelujah for the sun 8).

Instead of unclipping at a traffic light in Jo'burg city centre (easier to get away if any unsavoury characters approach ;)) I practised my bike stand.

Unfortunately I'm a bit out of practise and while turning my front tyre to maintain balance it rolled over a small stone which rapidly altered the position of my weight over the bike. Needless to say, i nearly did a fantastic face plant but just managed to unclip my right foot in time. Doing a bike stand does tend to draw quite a bit of attention I had all eyes on me during the performance. :D
 
Riding along Ontdekkers in Roodepoort near the KFC. Huge articulated truck comes past me on the apex of the bend. I see that there is gonna be no space for me in about 2 secs so I do a Bunnyhop onto the pavement/sidewalk(On a road bike :eek:) Front wheel hooks on pavement (Not a great bunnyhop I guess) back wheel flips up. I end up underneath bike in flower bed on other side of pavement. Now ego is very bruised so I quickly unclip (Upside down is not so easy :-[) and make my way to the road where about three cars had stopped to see the show ::) I sped off at max speed hoping could catch the truck... to do what once I caught it I don't know 8)
 
Cycling home from work one night. Dark, light rain. Coming down a nice straight hill, wide road towards a roundabout. So sweet when you can time it right and just sweep round to your exit. Keeping a lookout for cars that might be on the roundabout. Quick judgement that if I get a move on I can beat the car that's coming the other way and is indicating to cross my path on the roundabout. Start giving it some welly, up to 40-45 mph. Everything looking just right. This is going to be good. Totally committed now. No stopping me. Or so I thought. Dopey in the car behind me decides he's going to turn left at the bottom and overtakes me with 20 yards to go. Oops I think, but no probs, he's turning left (uk). But he decides that he'd rather wait for the car that's coming up to the roundabout in the other direction. Damnation. Wet road. Stationery car. Nowhere else to go. Skid. Swear. Sudden impact. Rider and bike in a big heap behind the car swearing profusely in the glare of the headlights. Luckily I managed to skid the back end round so I just got a bruised knee and bruised pride. Bike was undamaged. It was a cheap mountain bike type monstrosity that weighs in at 40lbs. Back end of the car was less lucky. Hehe
 
Years ago I did a grand tour of Europe. Boat across the Channel To Boulogne, through Belguim, the Ardennes, down the Rhine, the Moselle, through the Black Forest, through Switzerland, over the Alps into Northern Italy and eventually back to Paris. Great trip. What happens? Bike gets nicked in central Paris!! :mad:Have to travel all the way back by train and boat wearing cycling shorts and shoes!! :eek: Have to explain to every second person in schoolboy French why I "have mislaid le velo"! ::)
 
lach.gif
 
Why is it you never remember how the crash happened? ???
One minute you're riding along free as a bird - next minute you're lying face down in some dirt. What happens to the time between free as a bird and face down? Twilight zone I guess...
 
Hey Old Timer, that was hilarious ahahahahahahaha! Mislaid le velo eh? HAHAHAHAHAHHA!

Just curious, what were the specs of the bike that was stolen?