[Simon_MacMichael]

The idea for this thread came over the weekend when I was riding up the outside of a queue of traffic on the Kings Road, vehicles coming the other way, and approaching a zebra crossing foiund I couldn’t unclip my right foot … was so intent on trying to disengage it that it didn’t occur to me to unclip my left foot. 

Luckily managed to zig-zag through a gap in cars to the kerb and a friendly lamp post to hold on to while I sorted it out, but for a few seconds I thought I was going to end up under the area’s apex predator, Chelseaus Tractorus.

Topic

[matthewn5]

When my mum was poorly, I

When my mum was poorly, I stayed at her house for a few weeks to look after her, and dragged my old 1970s Raleigh Record out of the shed… I spent a few evenings cleaning it up, laced on some new alloy rims (to replace the old chrome jobs) and then headed out to the hills. Cresting a hill, I let the bike rip and got up to 41mph downhill before realising that the old Weinmann brake blocks on shiny new anodised rims had hardly any stopping power, and the road was horribly mossy and slippery with a gravelly middle strip on some of the corners. Worse, I’d forgotten the bike had a ton of trail and wanted to head in a straight line at speed, nothing like the quick flickable steering you get on a modern bike. It was a close run thing and only by using the whole road – luckily, there was nobody coming up – could I bring the old anchors to bear on the new rims and get the bike down to a reasonable speed and get down safely. Then I had to climb up again… with ‘manly’ 52/42 cranks and a 14-28 block, and a heavy steel gaspipe frame, that was an absolute chore too. I went out and bought a set of Ultegra brake shoes and pads, which made a huge difference, and the rest of the time took it much more gently.

[andystow]

They really become useful

They really become useful below about -10 °C. Higher than that and there are at least some decent glove choices.

On motorbikes and e-scooters, they’d likely be useful at higher temperatures due to the lack of self-heating.

[Woldsman]

Scariest thing?  In hindsight

Scariest thing?  In hindsight probably that time us kids got that invite to go on a bike ride…

 

[SlowOldSteve]

I was transfixed by it from
I was transfixed by it from the moment it flew at me. It seemed really large and I was not sure what was going to happen next to either of us! Ironic as I won’t ride a TT bike on the road anymore.

[IanMSpencer]

On a mates’ weekend over near

On a mates’ weekend over near the Long Mynd and we did a ride on a pretty wet and miserable day. Going up out of Church Stretton we arrived at a cattle grid on a slope and I watched a couple of mates nearly do themselves a serious injury sliding on the grid so I hopped off and opened the gate alongside. The rest passed through without incident. I went to hop back on on the 5%+ slope and failed miserably. I looked down and realised I was in too high a gear, dropped it into lowest, hopped on the saddle and slammed my foot on the pedal which caused the bike to flip over my head, depositing me on my back. Covering my embarrassment, I tried again with more care and carried on. 

We then came to a descent, and this is where my pure hatred of rim brakes came from. I’d caught up and thought I was keeping my speed down on a gravelly single track road. I realised that I was gaining speed and braked harder, causing my old Ribble Sportive* to shudder and buck, so I released the brakes – and in the couple of seconds, I gained about 10mph. I repeated this process a couple of times till I’d hit over 30mph and knew I was in trouble. As I turned the next bend, I realised that in about 200 metres there was a stone wall at a T-junction – this had the likelihood of being fatal due to the impact with the wall or a passing car. I spied a grassy bank and in that instant of clarity realised that slamming the brakes on and throwin g myself onto the bank was a better shot than the stone wall. So I did so fling myself, and rolled to a halt with a wrenched shoulder and some bruised ribs and a proper winding, and lots of winpering.

My mates turned up and decided I would live and we road on, somewhat in pain.

For my troubles I was awarded the Hazeley Knob Award for the rider who fell off both uphill and downhill on the same hill.

I have a Garmin trace of the ride including HRM, and until I turned the corner, I was at a steady 110, as I saw the brick wall it hit 175 (my max at the time) and stayed there till I stopped. Speed started at about 15mph and ended up over 30mph before my stop.

* I believe the cause was a poor join on the rim of my Shimano Ultegra wheels that I was aware of but thought nothing of, meaning to get round to sanding it sometime.

[quiff]

1. First corner on a new bike

1. First corner on a new bike I’d just removed from a bike box. Turned the handlebars, but the front wheel remained pointing stubbornly forwards as the untightened stem spun freely around the steerer tube.

2. Not my scare, but on an 18 year old Greek lads’ holiday (Greek holiday, not Greek lads) we decided to hire bikes and cycle over the hills to visit some hot springs (as you do in 35 degree heat). After a long, fast descent my mate complained it had felt a bit wobbly. I reached down and closed the quick-release lever on his front wheel.         

[brooksby]

I’ve fallen on ice once (bike

I’ve fallen on ice once (bike just shot off sideways as I came out of a junction turning left).

Most embarrassing fall was trying to get out of the way of a bus coming out of my village and I thought, “I’ll go up that dropped kerb there onto the pavement for a spell”.

Unfortunately catching my wheel in a worn section of tarmac just before said dropped kerb, and the kerb wasn’t as dropped as it ought to have been: the bike went over, I came off, did a roll onto my back and lay there laughing at my own stupidity as the bus and its passengers all went slowly past…

[brooksby]

I’ve only ever seen them on

I’ve only ever seen them on food delivery motor bikes/motor scooters/scooters/e-bikes – I didn’t realise they were a thing on normal pedal bikes, and certainly didn’t realise that they had an actual name… 😉

[andystow]

I’ve fallen on black ice a

I’ve fallen on black ice a few times. I’ve been doing judo for over 25 years, so never been hurt as a result, other than slight bruising so far. I solved the problem with studded tyres.

[andystow]

Is there a common UK term for

Is there a common UK term for them? Normally here they’re “bar mitts” (which is a brand) or “pogies”, sometimes “poagies”, but non-winter-cyclists are unlikely to know either term.

I was using these ones from Dogwood Designs at the time, but on a different bike.

[Tom_77]

Age 17 cycling to work (on

Age 17 cycling to work (on the road), downhill so had a reasonable amount of speed. There was a group of teenagers on the pavement ahead of me.

A dog being walked on the same section of pavement growled at the teenagers and one of them jumped into the road immediately in front of me. Somehow managed to swerve round her, not sure how I didn’t hit her.

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

kil0ran wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Squirrel that managed to run between the wheels on a fast descent, any contact would have been fatal for said squirrel and likely have put me in hospital.

I mostly love squirrels, mainly because they always seem a bit confused about how to properly squirrel.

I don’t love squirrels throwing themselves in front of my bike and then being confused as to which way to jump next.

I definitely don’t love the squirrel that made me look nuts* whilst running. It threw itself at my feet and then scarpered. Unfortunately, it scarpered up the hill rather than into the hedgerow and carried on for a while so it looked like I was chasing a squirrel up the hill

*hehe

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

I skidded on black ice taking
I skidded on black ice taking the corner onto a bridge too tight.

I had two laptops and god knows what other gubbins in my ruck sack so it was really heavy. Initially I just lay on my back with my limbs flailing as my ruck sack was too heavy for me to get up. A couple of passers by helped me, I was mortified.

That was next to the Thames as well

[Simon_MacMichael]

This reminds me of early 2021

This reminds me of early 2021, I’d just bought a second-hand single speed and took it out for a ride along the Thames one morning. 

It had been sub-zero overnight and the tide had been reasonably high … so as I turned left from Lower Chiswick Lane onto Chiswick Mall, there was a massive sheet of black ice and the bike went from under me. 

Lots of concern (and help in getting untangled from the bike and back on my feet) from a group of people out walking their dogs, but luckily nothing bruised more than my pride.

[kil0ran]

Squirrel that managed to run

Squirrel that managed to run between the wheels on a fast descent, any contact would have been fatal for said squirrel and likely have put me in hospital.

A couple of years ago I had an OTB moment at high speed on my MTB due to a dozy dog owner letting her lab run off the lead (we’ll gloss over the fact it was ground nesting bird season and there were signs everywhere asking them to keep dogs on leads). Owner: “Oh, I’m really sorry, he chases bikes and won’t come when called”.

If I’d hit it I’d have killed it, as it was I was really lucky to get away with cuts and bruises. Looking at my bars and brakes I clearly went fully over, not out of the side door. Couldn’t move for what felt like ages but probably only a couple of minutes. Owner just sauntered off after her dog after she’d checked I could move.

Many, many years ago I had the front wheel of my Grifter work loose, also on a steep hill. No helmets of course, I had a bus behind me and missed hitting my head on the kerb by inches based on where I ended up. It was on that lovely pink chipseal they used in the ’70s. Bruised and grazed from head to toe.

[Author]

Replies