what was your most ill-advised cycling act?

I'm not sure if this is what you're getting at, but: the day I didn't put my front wheel back in properly, then hopped a curb; wheel came out; cracked rib...etc D'OH

Trying to adjust my big cog at 3.30 a.m. in the yard at work. This involved riding up the yard, turning round to ride back and clicking the gear shifter so the chain will slip onto the big cog (it hadn't been dragging over all the way).
While looking down to see whether the chain had crossed onto the big ring in the pitch black dead of morning I suddenly crashed straight into a white van parked in the yard. Hit it with full force and smashed the rear light.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by IMHooker
I'll start:

Riding 180 miles in a single day (12 hours) after a one-year layoff and no training whatsoever. Only a 20-year old would do something that dumb.

IMHooker... hats off to you for managing that!

accepting a dare to ride the length of my street with left hand on the right brake hood and vice versa.......made it about 20 metres before the inevitable...🙁

Oh...also trying to adjust the computer magnet pickup with the bike upside down and getting my middle finger jammed between the spokes and the fork when I spun the wheel with my other hand.....goodbye skin.

About 12 years ago... I'd just gotten my first mountain bike and was riding in my first race. I was seriously fit from road racing and had no problems getting myself up to the front of the race. Of course I'm really chuffed with myself and thinking that I'm a mountain biking genius... 😎

...so it's me and another guy dicing for the lead and he opens a bit of a gap just before a long fast downhill. I think no problem I'll catch him... half way down the hill I misread a little ramp and although I get some great air my feet and my pedals become separated :eek: (no clipless pedals here! and my MTB handling skills were not very good 🙁 ) and Nic does a superman over the bars at about 50km/h - in front of a small crowd that had gathered to watch people getting air over this ramp 😄. I landed on my head - split my helmet clean in two, serious roasties over various other parts of my body.

I've done some dumb stuff working on bikes. Working on them a lot, you get comfortable doing it and let down your guard.

Working on disc brakes a couple of times i've spun the wheel to see if i've adjusted it right and forgot to move my finger. The disc cuts into the finger pretty deep let me tell you.

Working on the big chain ring, I've forgoten to move my finger, only to have it stuck in between the derailur and the teeth of the ring. The ring will go right through a fingernail.

Just 2 weeks ago. I had a bad headset that i was planning on replacing the next day. I was out for a ride and got a bee in my helmet. I took the helmet off, let the bee out, and then couldnt stratp it with one hand. I figured I could do it fast enough, so I took my hands off the bars and straped my helmet on, as i was doing so, my weight shifted, and because the headset was tight, I couldnt correct my direction so i rode off the road into a gravel pit. Ouch. Whats even better than that, the day before I got hit by a car because the guy was on his cellphone and didnt see me.

A long time ago... looking round giving my mates some grief for the time I was putting into them going up a hill. Planted my bike and face straight into the back of a parked car. I was still looking behind when it happened, hammering up hill. Hurt everything, nose, chin, chest, ribs, pelvis, knees, black and blue. And I had to find new mates so I could live it down 😄

This was one of my mates....

Riding down a quiet suburban road near the end of a ride and decides to take his jacket off - no problem, both hands off the bars so that he could stuff it into his back-pocket. While both hands are effectively in his back-pocket he hits a speedhump and loses it, landing shoulder first on the ground still with both hands in back pocket. Co-riders almost fall off their bikes laughing... 😄 friend is writhing in pain as he's broken his collar-bone. 🙁

Co-riders still remind friend of incident 10 years later😉

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by MidBunchLurker
This was one of my mates....

Riding down a quiet suburban road near the end of a ride and decides to take his jacket off - no problem, both hands off the bars so that he could stuff it into his back-pocket. While both hands are effectively in his back-pocket he hits a speedhump and loses it, landing shoulder first on the ground still with both hands in back pocket. Co-riders almost fall off their bikes laughing... 😄 friend is writhing in pain as he's broken his collar-bone. 🙁

Co-riders still remind friend of incident 10 years later😉

last winter i had to put my hands in my back pockets to keep them from freezing. my thin gloves were not enough in the near freezing temperatures. i would ride with my hands in my back pockets for miles, only to pull them out near intersections.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by MidBunchLurker
This was one of my mates....

Riding down a quiet suburban road near the end of a ride and decides to take his jacket off - no problem, both hands off the bars so that he could stuff it into his back-pocket. While both hands are effectively in his back-pocket he hits a speedhump and loses it, landing shoulder first on the ground still with both hands in back pocket. Co-riders almost fall off their bikes laughing... 😄 friend is writhing in pain as he's broken his collar-bone. 🙁

Co-riders still remind friend of incident 10 years later😉

A mate....sure. 😄

Rompinrhino,
Tough week that one!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Rompinrhino
I've done some dumb stuff working on bikes. Working on them a lot, you get comfortable doing it and let down your guard.

Working on disc brakes a couple of times i've spun the wheel to see if i've adjusted it right and forgot to move my finger. The disc cuts into the finger pretty deep let me tell you.

Working on the big chain ring, I've forgoten to move my finger, only to have it stuck in between the derailur and the teeth of the ring. The ring will go right through a fingernail.

Just 2 weeks ago. I had a bad headset that i was planning on replacing the next day. I was out for a ride and got a bee in my helmet. I took the helmet off, let the bee out, and then couldnt stratp it with one hand. I figured I could do it fast enough, so I took my hands off the bars and straped my helmet on, as i was doing so, my weight shifted, and because the headset was tight, I couldnt correct my direction so i rode off the road into a gravel pit. Ouch. Whats even better than that, the day before I got hit by a car because the guy was on his cellphone and didnt see me.

Passed a car on the left about to turn left at a busy intersection and I was at 45 km/hr. I was in oncoming traffic. I passed on the left, I could have been mashed by him or the oncoming traffic. Reason: I realised my brakes wouldn't stop me from ramming into his behind when he suddenly slammed on his brakes to turn left. I was lucky I didn't get hit by anything. This is what is called following too closely, too fast. Lesson learned: car can stop a lot faster than bicycle.

Drafting behind an 18 wheeler on a highway and reaching 76 km/hr while 4 meters behind. If there had been a small object on the road I could have hit it and been sent flying. There's no way I could have reacted to suddenly seeing something 4 meters in front of me and closing at 76 km/hr on it. I did that last summer. Just realised now how dumb it was.

Other than that, screaming at a cop who was behind me in a cruiser and saw me roll through a stop sign. He [censored] me off because he told me I didn't look around at the intersection and could have been mashed by a car . I told him I was fully aware of vehicles approaching and that I yielded to the lady crossing the street in front. I was rude though to scream and the cop wasn't being an [censored] or anything, I'm lucky he just drove off after I yelled at him. He probably could have given me a ticket.