View Full Version : Ride foiled by missing gear
I had my ride planned out and was excited to get outside so I got dressed and began collecting my gear.
But I could not find my gloves! :( :mad: I became obsessed with my search but only in vain. I looked everywhere several times.
I think I'll purchase another pair while I try to find them because riding without gloves is uncomfortable due to the handlebar vibration. Are your rides sometimes thwarted by missing equipment or gear? I am feeling extremely frustrated.
OakLeaf
10-25-2009, 02:53 PM
I bought a cheap mesh backpack (mesh is great since I can throw stuff in there while it's still a little sweaty, and it will dry without getting gross) and all my cycling gear lives in it. That way I always know where everything is, and if I'm driving to a ride, I can just pick up the backpack and know that I have everything I need.
There are still times when I've forgotten to wash a jersey and have to fish a stinky one out of the laundry though... :eek: Luckily I have a pair of shorts that I really don't like, that I can fall back on if everything else is dirty. :cool:
Anyway, sorry you didn't get to ride. :( It was a beautiful day in Ohio.
Owlie
10-25-2009, 02:59 PM
My gloves live in my helmet or in a drawer when not being used. I did buy myself a second pair of gloves just in case--I rarely lose things, but if I do, they're usually gone for good.
My rides are thwarted by work, or if not by work, a problem with my bike that I do not have the knowledge to fix.
I do have a box designated to cycling stuff. I keep all of my supplies and tools in it. Usually, everything is together...it doesn't help that I have moved since I can last remember when I used my gloves (or if I still have them). Customarily, my gloves are put in my cycling box or in my helmet :p
shootingstar
10-25-2009, 04:04 PM
Know the feeling. I haven't missed a ride yet, but have occasionally stomped around home trying to find temporarily misplaced gloves, headband or glasses.
Which is not a total problem since I do have a 2nd set somewhere, either brand new or more grotty set. :D Worst thing is not finding my keys or wallet ..I do this temporarily ...and waste half hr. or so finding the misplaced keys or wallet.
I do have a box where all sorts of little cycling gear is stuffed but it does not solve the problem of a thinking cyclist-to-be wandering around with her possessions at home.
maryellen
10-25-2009, 04:10 PM
Had to laugh at this. Last Monday, my ride was delayed 15-20 minutes as I couldn't find a pair of gloves. I have three pairs and I couldn't find one pair! I finally realized I put them all in a new place in a handy box so I wouldn't have difficulty finding them. Hope I don't experience that mental glitch again . . . at least not with cycling gloves.
Owlie
10-25-2009, 04:16 PM
Know the feeling. I haven't missed a ride yet, but have occasionally stomped around home trying to find temporarily misplaced gloves, headband or glasses.
Which is not a total problem since I do have a 2nd set somewhere, either brand new or more grotty set. :D Worst thing is not finding my keys or wallet ..I do this temporarily ...and waste half hr. or so finding the misplaced keys or wallet.
I do have a box where all sorts of little cycling gear is stuffed but it does not solve the problem of a thinking cyclist-to-be wandering around with her possessions at home.
THAT is what delays my rides (or my going to class, or...) I am constantly setting my wallet and keys (they're attached) down somewhere in my room and forgetting where I put them.
And why is that if you decide "I'm going to put X here so I don't lose it", you don't see it again?
Ana, your avatar is adorable. :)
tzvia
10-25-2009, 04:44 PM
In the summer I would drive somewhere cool (like the beach, because I am a heat-wimp) wearing sandals, and then pull out the shoes and OH NO! No socks. So now I keep two pairs of socks in my cycling bag just in case. With everything in one place I now have gone one year without forgetting/loosing anything, which is quite a trick for me. Normally I'm so dense I don't know I don't have something that I need till I'm 30 miles from home so my bike bag is my portable brain. It's not bad in a way, because I'm not stressing over the missing stuff that I don't know I don't have, but at the moment I need it I feel like such a putz.
spindizzy
10-25-2009, 06:06 PM
But I could not find my gloves! :( :mad: I became obsessed with my search but only in vain. I looked everywhere several times.
I am so there with you! Went out to ride last week - same thing happened. I usually keep all my gear in a bag in the car. My gloves no where to be found. I found my leather gloves..and wore those. Not very breatheable - but they cut the wind. And I figure no-one could really see...
Went out again today - and I still haven't found them....I really need to get another pair before someone finds out about my obsession with leather dress gloves and bike gear....:D
deeaimond
10-25-2009, 08:57 PM
same here, i currently have one missing glove...
fortunately i have 3 pairs of the same gloves :p
I used to think i was strange. If i realise i can't find something I will be really upset until it is found, or it has been established to have been stolen, borrowed or damaged. I just NEED to know where it is. of course if it is damaged I'll be upset but not in the oh-my-god-i-cannot-do-anything-else-until-this-is-found way...looks like i'm not the only one. :D
azfiddle
10-25-2009, 09:05 PM
I mentioned this on another thread last week, but losing a pair of gloves led to a serendipitous stroke of good luck.
I left my gloves in a Burger King bathroom when I changed after a ride (we had driven an hour to the starting point so I didn't want to wear my cycling clothes home). When my DH and I went to replace them next day, he won a $250 gift card to the bike store from the big promotion event they were having. I got my new gloves and a pair for cooler weather and stow them in one of those re-useable shopping bags, along with my helmet, mirror, shoes and a couple of emergency snacks.
andtckrtoo
10-26-2009, 05:34 AM
In the summer I would drive somewhere cool (like the beach, because I am a heat-wimp) wearing sandals, and then pull out the shoes and OH NO! No socks. So now I keep two pairs of socks in my cycling bag just in case. With everything in one place I now have gone one year without forgetting/loosing anything, which is quite a trick for me. Normally I'm so dense I don't know I don't have something that I need till I'm 30 miles from home so my bike bag is my portable brain. It's not bad in a way, because I'm not stressing over the missing stuff that I don't know I don't have, but at the moment I need it I feel like such a putz.
We drove up the mountain nearby to a mountain biking trail. We got there, got unloaded and the bikes checked, only to realize I had forgotten my bike SHOES! So yeah, I've done this, too. Now for events, or anything that requires travel by car, I pack the night before and put everything into the car. :P
Wow, thanks for sharing. I feel a lot better now :)
I really want to get out there and ride since the weather is "warming up" (i.e. high of 63 between 2:00pm-5:00pm instead of a high of 49 F).
Biciclista
10-26-2009, 08:16 AM
it's really fun when you leave your front wheel at home.
OakLeaf
10-26-2009, 08:40 AM
it's really fun when you leave your front wheel at home.
Wheelie! :D:D
Heh. I bike commute and have more bike gear than I can shake a stick at (which isn't very hard, come to think of it), but I can certainly think of a number of times that my, uh, work attire had been "foiled by missing gear" :o
I've had to rush out to the local store and buy undies or tights several times, and heavily used wool bike socks have been pressed into service all day. I've only once forgotten pants (and had to wear muddy overtrousers with a nice dressy top :rolleyes:). Since it's now a long way to the closest store I've had the foresight to stock my locker with several changes of clothes, including a least one pair of don't-wanna-wear-unless-desperate undies and bra.
Biciclista
10-26-2009, 09:14 AM
yes! i forgot my bike shorts once. All I had on were my tights. Fortunately the riding event we were participating had some vendors and one had a pair of bike shorts that fit me.
My DH forgot his bike SHOES once too. He actually bought another pair that day because he couldn't just drive back home (3 hours) to get his good ones.
Owlie
10-26-2009, 09:20 AM
Last weekend, BF and I were driving out to the bike trail. We were in the car, partway there (it's not a long drive) when I realized that I didn't have my helmet. I thought I'd left it in the car when it was floating around in the kitchen somewhere. He freaked out for a bit--he thought I'd left it in Cleveland. :rolleyes:
I've also gone back to school without my suitcase. Can you say "Emergency trip to Target"?
OakLeaf
10-26-2009, 09:39 AM
Well as long as we're getting drifty - yeah, I've had a lot more gym emergencies than bike ones.
Back in the early '90s when one wore such things, opening my gym bag to find two shiny lycra leotards and no shiny lycra tights. :rolleyes: (worked out in jeans)
Around the same period of time, no shoes - and I was wearing my work pumps, so begging them to let me wear my outdoor shoes in the gym wasn't an option; but being a very small Y, working out barefoot was. :o
More recently, getting to the gym just in time for class and finding DH had swiped the lock off my commuter bike - the German-born owner let me put my bike in the locker room "choost dis vonce."
No bra to change into after my workout - I still do that at least twice a year. Just last week I got out of the shower and found had to put my sweaty sports bra back on again under my clean clothes. (Braless isn't an option for me - the waists of my tops aren't that big! :eek:)
Miranda
10-26-2009, 10:06 AM
Do you know who this little guy is?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Pig-pen_peanuts.PNG
It's actually ME, in disguise:o:cool:... Charlie Brown's Pig Pen character.
My vehicle, and house 'bike area', are total trash. But, guess what? This is the best way I do not lose my stuff. It's hard to miss my Pig Pen pile... and dig a minute... viola!
Ana... my sweaty bike gloves go straight into my sweaty helmet post ride... this sits as the Christmas tree star on top of my bike Pig Pen pile... right next to the bici, of course;).
Cataboo
10-26-2009, 11:27 AM
Mostly I tend to have multiples of everything and keep them various places - the car keeps one set of shoes, helmet, gloves. the bf's house has another. My house has a 3rd. various other gloves kinda float around. I've got a cycling pack at my house, and another at the bf's. I try to keep a set of gloves in the pocket of the pack, and my helmet attached to the helmet carrier of the bags. I put saddle bags on all my bikes that have all the gear/tools/innertubes necessary for them.
That sort of does keep me straight, but invariably I take the helmet that should be somewhere and leave it somewhere else, and then twice last week I forgot my helmet. that I will always go back to get. Gloves I sometimes will not bother to go back to get depending on how far I got.
Socks I have a hard time finding matching sets.
Biciclista
10-26-2009, 12:30 PM
Mostly I tend to have multiples of everything and keep them various places -
.
Ah, now I know why you have so much Ibex! :cool:
Cataboo
10-26-2009, 12:38 PM
Ah, now I know why you have so much Ibex! :cool:
there was a time when a lot of my stuff was at my Mom's house, or at my house 120 miles away, or at the BF's house that was like 40 miles in another direction. And I was making the drive at least once a week through all places. One reason that I seem to always have a few complete wardrobes in my car.
And invariably I would never ever be able to find anything or whatever I needed would be 160 miles away or something. Then I temporarily moved like 70 miles in a different direction, and things got scattered to the winds till I found a place to live.
So chalk it up to a few years living like that and being a hoarder or something.
Maxxxie
10-26-2009, 01:39 PM
Oh, I hear ya. The worst part about it is that, like another poster in this thread, if I realise something is missing, I will get really anxious about it until it's found. Pacing back and forth throughout the house, wearing the floorboards out, looking for it until it's found. The worst part is when I find the offending item in the very same place I originally looked for it. Bonus points if I looked in that place more than once. :rolleyes:
Max
blackhillsbiker
10-27-2009, 09:07 PM
Bonus points if I looked in that place more than once. :rolleyes:
Max
Triple bonus points if you manage to lose it again before you get out the door.
Deb
redrhodie
10-28-2009, 05:54 AM
I rode to work yesterday morning, and my friend drove me and my bike to my car after work. Unfortunately, my bike shoes are still sitting in her bathroom. Good thing I have a spare pair for tomorrow's commute.
I've forgotten my water bottle on more than one occasion. Doh!
Maxxxie
10-29-2009, 03:31 AM
Triple bonus points if you manage to lose it again before you get out the door.
OMG, it's like you've been hanging out at my house. :o
Max
I found them last weekend and I got out for a wonderful ride! :D
blackhillsbiker
11-15-2009, 04:40 PM
DH works a block away from me, leaves the house an hour later, and takes the car. I've been known (on more than one occasion) to call him with an SOS – please bring my battery pack for my headlight so I can ride home, my regular shoes, my warmer hat... He just laughs (and brings the gear). What a guy!
Deb
MommyBird
11-15-2009, 05:00 PM
We took a cross country camping vacation last summer that included two nights in Moab, UT. We had four mountain bikes with us for campground transportation and sightseeing but we had to ride Red Rocks since we were there.
As we were getting ready to go my hubby asked for the water bottles. I had eight with us for hiking but they were too big for the bikes. Oops.
We stopped at a local bike shop and purchased some with their logo. They became our souvenirs.
They have also become our favorites. They look basically like your standard Specialized bottle but they are an off brand. They open easier and the lids screw on better. I wish we could get some more!
As for gloves, I purchased two sets of all basic clothing needs when I ramped up my cycling for my new road bike last month. I know from trying to keep hubby in clean gear for 20 years that more is better.
It won't be long and I will be able to justify set #3!
My elliptical is feeling neglected but my plantar fasciitis is even less irritated.
Pedal Wench
11-15-2009, 08:21 PM
That's why I carry tons of spares in my "pig-pen" car!
But, once four of us drove to a ride in a friend's car. We got to the start and realized one of them forgot their shorts. We scrounged and figured she could use a pair of boyshort undies. Until we realized I forgot my shorts too. Two out of four of us. :p
We drove home and rode from there.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.2 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.