Commutes we want to forget

I thought it might be nice to have a thread of sympathy for our commutes that just don't go right. Hopefully it is a slow thread...

Today I had a commute I would rather forget. I was riding home and began to notice my front wheel was rubbing on the fork when it passed. I just had this wheel trued for this problem. The ride got progressively rougher and I got a sinking feeling about the situation. Then at mile 10.73 KABOOM!!!! My tire blew out. I was on a downhill with a strong tailwind and going 25 mph. It scared the bejeezus out of me that is for sure. The tire was completely destroyed, no chance of a booting it. I hoofed it for the next 1.66 miles in 100 degree weather wondering what I did to anger the gods. I am thankful I commute in mountain shoes. I guess I am also thankful this was the afternoon commute and I didn't have to walk to work. :rolleyes:

Did you stay upright????

Ohhh....that's scary:mad::mad: And that sucks:mad::mad:

That's one of those things you just can't reasonably plan for - I certainly don't carry extra tires on organized rides or around town rides (I can't commute - long story).

CA

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Originally Posted by Geonz

Did you stay upright????

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Actually, I did but it took some work. I have had flats that went real quick but never such a violent blow out. :mad:

:eek: Ooooaaark :eek:

Good job on staying upright!

For only the second time ever, today I had someone intentionally drive their car straight at me. D@mn near hit me. I really wish I'd been able to get his license plate.

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Originally Posted by Eden

For only the second time ever, today I had someone intentionally drive their car straight at me. D@mn near hit me. I really wish I'd been able to get his license plate.

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Sadly, prior to the blowout yesterday this happened to me. Some punk middle aged man driving a Porsche Boxter down the shoulder to turn into his fancy golf course community. He got to the turn 30 seconds earlier by almost taking me out, I am sure that 30 seconds was worth it. He had already started pushing over when he saw me coming earlier.

My guy (also some punk middle ager :rolleyes:) was at a stop sign controlled intersection. Not only did I get there before him, I was also the vehicle on the right. He obviously thought he'd "teach me a lesson" that cars were faster, so I did not deserve my turn and he should not have to yield to me. I was going straight, he was sort of turning left (its a funky 5 streeter) - we were going onto the same street. He hit the gas hard when I was pretty much in the middle of the intersection and then nearly slammed into me (I'm talking his front bumper probably less than an inch from my front wheel) because there was oncoming traffic and he just had to squeeze by me. If I hadn't been weighed down my my messenger bag and on my commuter I probably could have caught him..... this particular street has a bunch of stop signs so I can keep up with traffic if I'm feeling frisky.

wow, I'm sorry to hear your stories, ladies.
My commute hasn't been bad since the day the truck driver tried to pretend i wasn't there. that was last year.

Wow, I can't believe you were able to keep yourself upright.

I'm having an ok commute day....as I sit here in my sweatshirt that I use when my office is too cold. Yup, I forgot to pack a shirt. Oh well. The day my pants got wet was worse. :D

It is pathetically sad that any of us have commutes which we want to forget. I have two. One ended with a dislocated shoulder and broken finger, the other, still has me off the bike, with a couple of metal parts, and only working part time. I see more and more cycles on the road with gas prices getting so high. At some point people in cars are going to have to slow down, pay attention, and respect us for doing something good for ourselves and the earth. I wish there were a way to have OUTRAGEOUS fines for anytime a car hits a pedestrian or cyclist fault or no. It seems, at least in the US, that people don't change behaviors until it hurts in the wallet. ARG!

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Originally Posted by invsblwmn

It is pathetically sad that any of us have commutes which we want to forget.

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I was more thinking of things like "ugh, what bad luck". Much like the recent story of the shoe in the bike, my blowout, etc... I hope it doesn't turn into a hit by car thread. :(

The guy buzzing me was something I was ready for (I saw him straddling the line earlier). I was proud of myself for being defensive. I am excited that they are going to put a bike path in the area. I will consider that for the afternoons when I have more traffic to share (me not them it seems) the road with.

The tire was one of those bad luck, could have been any ride.
:rolleyes: And hoofing it 1.5 miles was definitely something to forget!

Sorry - didn't mean to hijack. :o

DH had his presta valve get stuck last night so he couldn't air up the tires on his commuting bike - required pliers to loosen. Does that count??

Sorry you had a commute that you'd like to forget. I think if we have those every now and then, it makes us appreciate the times we make it to/from work without any incident at all. I hope tomorrow's commute to and from is much less scary.

Aggie,
Sorry if I turned your theme. It was amazing being able to wrangle your bike into being upright at that speed. A bit of an adrenaline rush? Eh? Congrats on that. Perhaps maybe we could call your post "commutes we demonstated our skills in" :) Take care.

Another "bad luck, but no harm done" stories. My seat rail broke on my commute home once last year. I had to do the whole commute pedalling standing up with no seat to sit on. Hard work despite the lack of hills and it was only 2.3miles!

so yesterday i was going back home and bus driver almost hit me. he passed by me like less than inch distance. then my husband caught him next bus station. and try to take his information so that we can file complain against him. but he refused that, he didn't open even doors and run away. and it seems one lady in car saw this. so she some how sent this cops to help us out.

we explained everything to cop and guess what did he say.. he said there is no accident so he could not do anything and he started shouting on us indicating that we need to be careful, not bus. then my husband said to him if my wife would have been hurt then its a case right ? and that ridiculous cop was laughing and said yes then i can file complaint.

today i didn't dare to ride. i drove instead. i am still in shock. like what is safety if cops are not willing to listen to us cyclist ? i wish same thing should happen to that cop when he is not dressed in cop's clothes. then he might realize.

patel_shital-

That's terrible. What city was this?? I would suggest sending a letter to the police chief. Sounds like he or she needs to educate the cops. You should at least be able to file a report. The (admittedly extraordinary) police in Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach NC had a nice talk with an elderly woman who almost hit me one day. I was riding in the right lane - she turned and almost hit me broadside. Just next to the bridge to the beach - loads of pedestrians and cyclists. I wanted her to know what happened - they agreed. She was quite apologetic (and I bet she's more careful now!).

CA

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Originally Posted by patel_shital

so yesterday i was going back home and bus driver almost hit me. he passed by me like less than inch distance. then my husband caught him next bus station. and try to take his information so that we can file complain against him. but he refused that, he didn't open even doors and run away. and it seems one lady in car saw this. so she some how sent this cops to help us out.

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If you know the time that the incident occurred just call the bus company with specifics on the location. Buses also have numbers ON THEM that you can use to help identify.
The police are not the right people to call in this case, it's this guy's boss.

Police have terrible attitudes, that's just the way it is.

i was in NJ (Jersey city). i was able to file complaint against bus driver to NJtransit (bus was from there). they assigned me the case number. so will see what happens.

but cop need some education. if i am riding car and does not have seat belts on. they are concern about safety. why not in this case? at least he could have speak to bus driver. he was too close that he could have hit any pedestrian if not me.

You have to understand that since no one was hurt, the cop feels like he has more pressing things to do. I'm not "on their side" but i know that they have way too much to do, and too often they're witnesses to fatal accidents.
so take his advice too, and let it go. be careful!

The rides that upset me are when I get yelled or honked or otherwise harrassed.

Otherwise I love commuting. If the weather is extreme, I get an ego kick out of riding. If I have a fall (rare), I have an interesting story. If the weather is nice and nothing untoward happens, I have a nice ride, though uninteresting, more pleasant than driving.

Yesterday I encountered nothing but courteous drivers, a rarity as I usually have one punk. I did have one lady move in front of me without the corteousy of a blinker but I could tell she was about to do it and I had plenty of room. But I had two cars slow to let me merge/cross safely.

I remember a song on the radio a few years back, that went:
"I want to thank you/ You let me change lanes/ when I was driving in my car"

I think of that song a lot, though I'm on a bike. People let me changes lanes, they pass courteously, they make every effort to make my ride safe and peaceful. That is the usual case anyway. There are, of course and sadly, exceptions.