Stupid Things We Have Done

Inspired by Clockwork's response to a recent thread:

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I think somebody should start a thread, for stupid things we have done.

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OK, I am game, and here are some of mine:

*Installed tires backwards (I still do this in my less “present” moments—fortunately it is pretty obvious once you put the wheel back in the frame)

*whilst in lively conversation with a customer, attempted to install her eggbeater pedal on the INSIDE of the crank (very embarrassing, but again, distraction played a key role).

*forget to tighten completely the stem bolts before test-riding someone’s lovely custom ride (can you say scary as the handlebars slip forward while braking)

*forget to put the seatpost/saddle in bike box before shipping (I still do this on occasion)

*fall on my *** moments after thinking I have perfected the “track stand”

Let's hear them...we are all incredibly human:p:p

I'm guessing you don't mean stuff like marriage.

*snicker*

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I'm guessing you don't mean stuff like marriage.

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oh no I am guilty of that TOO...

seriously, CYCLING RELATED.

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Originally Posted by Zen

I'm guessing you don't mean stuff like marriage.

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*snort!*

I spend way too much of my time, energy, and talents second-guessing myself. For instance, my house, as many of you know, is in renovation mess and has been for months. The house next door went on the market as I was buying mine. I ALMOST went to see it, but I already had a pending offer on mine, so I didn't. The couple who bought it have not done any renovations--at least not that's obvious--they are out playing and having parties while I'm still kitchenless. Their house was cheaper, too, and it has a screened in porch. Not going to at least see it was a stupid thing. But my house has more "charm". Whatever.

Oh, and the marriage thing. I wouldn't call getting married stupid in my case--I was happily married for seven years. It was probably a bit stupid to stay in that race for an additional 10 years, though.

As for cycling related, I can say that the SMARTEST thing I've ever done is buying a bike from Margo! The stupidest was crashing by crossing wheels with the guy in front of me and going down so hard that I had to be taken out by a helicopter (but crashing that bike led me to Margo). Oh, and going for a 70-mile ride with one bottle of water, no snacks, and no money. That was dumb.

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Originally Posted by Zen

I'm guessing you don't mean stuff like marriage.

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It's probably the smartest thing I ever did as a teen.

Veronica

#1 to #3: Rode my bike into the back of a parked car. Why #1 to #3? Broken nose, 2 broken teeth.
#4: Building my first bike, running the front der cable over the wrong cable guide under the BB shell.
#5: Getting the little nipple gizmos that let you put a Presta tube in a Schrader wheel, putting on the new rim tape, remounting the tire & tube, starting to inflate the tube when I noticed said gizmos still sitting on the work bench.
#6: Cutting the brake cable on my road bike getting ready to replace it (I didn't want to drag the ragged end through my fairly new housing) and then discovering I had picked up MTB brake cables and of course LBS was then closed.

If I wasn't stupid, I wouldn't have any claim to fame. (By the way, as a non-pro I regard mounting tires with the labels on the non-drive side as just a way to get a cleaner looking bike. In the same vein, when we flatten bikes for shipping at Bikes-not-Bombs we alway put the pedals on the inside of the cranks, so I might have thought that was deliberate.)

Put my back bike panniers on the wrong sides of rack, like wearing shoes on the wrong feet. :o

Forgetting to wear a bike helmet..rare but suddenly highly noticeable to self within 10 ft. after cycling off.

Cycling for 30 kms. with my wallet balanced on top of my back rack with panniers clipped below. :eek: Believe me, I discovered the rolling tire, already wore down a slight mark on the leather of wallet. We were riding on the road in a rural area with moderate traffic. Just amazing... :o

I rode for months with a twisted cleat, and for weeks with a rubbing brake. Much of the time the 2 things overlapped, causing every ride to be slow and painful, but still I pedalled on, thinking my body was the problem.

Forgetting to put the bike covers on the bikes during lovebug season. A seven hour drive with a roof rack was quite messy. Its amazing was a dead bug can get caked into.

Just think of them as learning opportunities.

Riding a frame that I crashed into the back of a car for another few months. When it failed, it really really failed.

OK.. this one's not me (I swear!). My friend drove her car into the automatically lifted up garage door... with the bike on the roof rack! To make it worse, after the bike / rack and car were repaired, her husband did the exact same thing to his bike a couple of weeks later. (It was a new house, new concept :rolleyes: ). At least his lightspeed wasn't injured. But -- I hope that I have learned from them!

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Originally Posted by jesvetmed

OK.. this one's not me (I swear!). My friend drove her car into the automatically lifted up garage door... with the bike on the roof rack! To make it worse, after the bike / rack and car were repaired, her husband did the exact same thing to his bike a couple of weeks later. (It was a new house, new concept :rolleyes: ). At least his lightspeed wasn't injured. But -- I hope that I have learned from them!

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When it comes to roof racks for bikes, there are two kinds of people: those who have, and those who will.

Not me but DH and I still make fun of him (so do many people). Ran into the back of a parked 18 wheeler leaving campus back in 2004. Ambulance ride, sprained wrist and hefty hospital bill later he deserves a little ribbing. I sent photos to everyone of him sporting bruises, with a bandaged wrist, holding a sign that said "Roll on 18 Wheeler". (It is an old country song). :p

And because I am dumb the one that comes to mind. I fell over because I leaned to the side I was clipped in on. The bad part, it was at the intersection of 2818 and George Bush Dr in College Station, yes a large intersection right by the big old Bush Library. It didn't go unnoticed.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by jesvetmed

OK.. this one's not me (I swear!). My friend drove her car into the automatically lifted up garage door... with the bike on the roof rack! To make it worse, after the bike / rack and car were repaired, her husband did the exact same thing to his bike a couple of weeks later. (It was a new house, new concept :rolleyes: ). At least his lightspeed wasn't injured. But -- I hope that I have learned from them!

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Standard operating procedure for me when I had a roof rack - and parked my truck in the garage - was: bikes on the roof = garage door opener came OFF the visor and got pitched into the back seat! :cool: I never wanted to do that. Now....the bikes ride on the back of the truck, and I sweat everytime I stop at a stop sign or light with someone behind me ("Oh, please stop. Please stop. Please, please, please.....").

Some of the local gals here know I'm something of a half-arsed birder. One time, I was out for a ride, and I heard a bird call, and spun to look for it. I rode right OFF the road -- onto just a dirt shoulder and stayed upright, thankfully. But the surprise + the twist + the jolt of the dirt = I threw out my back! Ugh, it was a loooong, painful ride home to the ice packs, the Advil, and the phone number to my chiropractor!!! :eek::o

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Originally Posted by lunacycles

*Installed tires backwards (I still do this in my less “present” moments—fortunately it is pretty obvious once you put the wheel back in the frame)

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Maybe not quite as obvious as you think. ;)

Rode several double centuries with (undiagnosed) pulmonary emboli, thinking the chest pain during the last one was just indigestion from a carnitas burrito the day before. :rolleyes:

3 times I have failed to disengage my foot from the clipless pedal in time to prevent slowly and ungracefully (and always with someone watching) tipping over. Luckily, this has not happened for awhile now. I have probably just jinxed myself.

Stupidest thing I've ever done on or with a bike?
Met up with some gals on the rail trail, started chatting with them while we rode, ended up riding 40 + miles when I'd only been riding about 15 max up to that point (uphill I might add), and rode for about 10 of those miles with knee and hip pain that just about killed me before I had the good sense to ask them what might be causing it. Turns out it was my seat height that they helped me adjust. I could barely walk up the steps when i got home and couldn't walk very well the next day.
That hurt!
Gray

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Originally Posted by lunacycles

*Installed tires backwards (I still do this in my less “present” moments—fortunately it is pretty obvious once you put the wheel back in the frame)

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Depends on the tire! I actually outline the directional arrows on my Conti GP4000s in silver Sharpie, because they're very hard to see otherwise, and to my eyes it's not immediately obvious from the tread. I'm not the only one either, because I had a little "help" with a flat on the road a couple of weeks ago, and dear helper put the tire on backwards. :p Good thing I made sure to check it as soon as I got home, although I honestly didn't notice a difference in handling.

I don't have any doozies for this thread that I didn't already contribute to the last one. Yet.

But, I'm new to skorts, and when I have to pee, I keep trying to reach underneath the skirt to get the shorts off, as I would with underwear or pantyhose under a regular skirt. Is that stupid enough? ;)

On the way to my 2nd ever triathlon I had my bike on my rear rack and I missed the turn but thought "no problem, I'll just go down a mile and take the grid road back" so I did, after a rain on a gravel road.

Of course I unloaded my bike and Duhhhhh the rims and tires were covered w/ gravel grit. Luckily someone had some paper towels and I cleaned it off best I could, still not thinking of any repercussions from it.

I made it through the tri, made it home and went on the club ride but 15 miles out of town I had a flat. However, I know how to time it! Our main LBS wrench was riding that night and changed it for me saying " hmmmm that is strange you have a lot of gravel caught in here" :rolleyes: La de da de da :rolleyes:

I didn't know you could put a tire on backwards. How do you know???? What happens?

Not all bici tires have directional tread. I suspect it's not that huge of an issue in any case, since the contact patch is so small. Probably more of an issue in the wet than in dry conditions. As I said, I didn't notice any handling issues when my rear tire was on backwards. But then again, it was likely underinflated in the field, too.

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Originally Posted by Aint Doody

I didn't know you could put a tire on backwards. How do you know???? What happens?

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Many bike tires have tread that has a 'direction', like this for example:
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/p...PA700PAS32.jpg
http://www.lakewoodconferences.com/d...ire__C1103.jpg
The grooves in the tread are designed to slant in a certain direction to help with traction. Putting them on backwards is not the end of the world but supposedly will lessen traction in some way.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Not all bici tires have directional tread. I suspect it's not that huge of an issue in any case, since the contact patch is so small. Probably more of an issue in the wet than in dry conditions. As I said, I didn't notice any handling issues when my rear tire was on backwards. But then again, it was likely underinflated in the field, too.

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It's a VERY big issue on mtb tires - wet or dry.

My biggest mistake was a crash that I caused while riding with 3 other friends. We were riding two abreast with me in the front left We were doing a route that we do together, and I do alone, all the time.

Part of the route goes through the grounds of our art museum. We're supposed to take the second right turn along the main road. For whatever reason, however, I always want to take the first right turn. Do you see where this is going?

Normally, I catch myself but on this particular ride I started to make the turn. A split second later, I realized my mistake but by then the damage had been done. My riding buddies scattered in different directions and one of them fell from his bike,although he caught himself before he hit the ground.

Nobody got hurt, thank God. But I burst into tears; I was so upset. My friend that fell tortured me about it for a while, no matter how much I apologized. The other people in the group were more forgiving.

It was a humbling experience, especially since I pride myself on being a good group rider.

Oh my, good thing I don't possess a whole lot of pride. I got bucked off a spin bike. Uh huh. Over the handlebars on a spin bike.

Picture this, I've been mountain biking for a while, feeling pretty hot about myself. I've decided to try racing and since I lacked a road bike I figured spin class was perfect. I got myself some shorty shorts and a snug little basic jersey. I made a big show out of grabbing a bike with clipless pedals and adjusting my seat.

As the class progressed I was thinking I was quite hot stuff against these little soccer moms. 1/4 turn? P'shaw! I did full turns, and full turns, and full turns until all of a sudden I realized I was going to vomit if I didn't stop.

Naturally I just stopped pedaling forgetting all about the big red brake. With the force of an elephant that 40lb flywheel came around and shoved my legs another rotation, hurtling me into the bars. I probably would have gone over had my cleats not faithfully held me. I do believe I eventually went off the side, with a bang, of course. The whole class was staring at me. I started taking a class at a different time.

This is not my stupid but I became involved in it. While doing a "fall colors" photo shoot for work we approached a light behind our "team car." I don't think we were expecting it to turn red, but it did. As we stopped Staci apparently forgot about her pedals and started to topple towards me. She screamed, I looked and saw what was going down and as I was unclipping my left foot, tried to dive right. Fortunately I got my right foot out, but not until my bike had slid left with my foot attached and I was squatting quite awkwardly in the middle of the road. Impressive stuff right there.

though it's not bike related.

The instruction for black dye say to use gloves.
There is good reason for this.
I look like I just rebuilt a Chevy engine.

Fallen being unable to get my feet out of the clips. Standing perfectly still.

When I first started using the clipless petals, I quickly got the knack of taking my feet in and out. Then I went for my first (well it was supposed to be) longish ride with them. I was with a friend who just got on a bike and I had gotten to the top of a little rise, waiting for her. I was almost perfectly still, until something happened (lost my balance, wind blew hard, who knows) and I found myself going shoulder first into the grass.

Since then I've gone down three more times, all while standing perfectly still.

Ride 40 miles on an MS training ride with rubbing brake pads, not knowing my brake pads are rubbing, push hard, think I'm a wimp, or having a bad day, and, give myself an asthma attack. I was pretty used to having good days and bad days with my lungs, but refusing to give up. The wonderful SAG volunteers are trailing along trying to get me to stop. I finally stop, rest, and quit. And feel like a quitter, like I let someone down. :( SAG crew takes great care of me, loads bike, and hauls me back to the parking lot. When I load my bike in the car, I discover the brakes have been rubbing. :o Now I check them, twice, before every ride (have to take the
front tire off to get bike in the car).

Have also fallen over with my feet stuck in the clipless pedals, resulting in a minor break to my nose. My helmet probably saved me from having worse injuries from the face plant to the concrete steps.

some good ones...reading through just reminded me of pretty much my worst adult crash. going to meet a friend at the bagel shop, taking the uncool but hey it's early in the morning and no one's really out "shortcut" by riding the 1/4 block up the sidewalk instead of going two full blocks around to hit the one way streets correctly...huh, there's a guy power washing the sidewalk, better watch that hose across my route...yeah, wet hose, very slow moving tire = unbelievably quick trip to the ground! Road rash, sore hand for weeks, and SUPER grateful I wear a helmet! dumb....:rolleyes:

Yesterday...packed the pannier with clothes for the office, including my suede boots. Grabbed a perfectly ripe pear and tossed it in on the way out. Yikes! Picking pear pulp out of the suede was a nice distraction during a particularly long staff meeting.

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Originally Posted by Aiacha

Fallen being unable to get my feet out of the clips. Standing perfectly still.

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That's so not uncommon that I don't even count it at a stupid thing at all, just something that happens.
If I thought that was a qualifier to post in this thread i would have done so much sooner.
Said Zen, who fell at the corner of Connecticut and L street in downtown DC

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Originally Posted by Zen

Said Zen, who fell at the corner of Connecticut and L street in downtown DC

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That was you? :-)

I once got stuck in my pedals. New pedals, didn't test out the tension before I took out (a mistake made only once). Tried to unclip and both feet were firmly stuck. I stopped by a parked car, leaned against it, and took off was able to free myself.

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Originally Posted by LilBolt

Yesterday...packed the pannier with clothes for the office, including my suede boots. Grabbed a perfectly ripe pear and tossed it in on the way out. Yikes! Picking pear pulp out of the suede was a nice distraction during a particularly long staff meeting.

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At least the pear pulp was on the outside of your boots! :rolleyes:

After getting home from a vet appointment in which the vet told me my dog had food allergies, or something worse, and would be on mega expensive dog food forever, I...

backed my SUV over my $250+ baby stroller AND the other kids little bike in the driveway. I was a bit distracted:rolleyes:...

The bike kid says "MOM! Of all people! How could you kill my bike?:eek::confused::( (boo hoo hoo) ". (DH hates the bikes, btw)

That's being a bad bike mommy:o.

Dhrrrr....

In the pre-TE days! My usual foot wear was only flip flip sandals, which was fine until I changed to DMR V12 pedals.

http://www.dmrbikes.com/res/img/cata...ge/PEDV12M.jpg

Then one day my foot slipped and somehow both sandals came off................aaaaaaaagh, trying to pedal with bare feet on these pedals was agony!

I am now a reformed person, yes, I wear trainers.

Clock

I guess this is what my DH does...When my husband and I ride I have a tendency to stop when I see something to pick up, or when I am in pain. One day he went to stop behind me and could not clip out, over he went. On a busy road in La Jolla during the golf thing at Torrey Pines. Lots of cars with windows rolled down, he has a tendency to get turretts syndrome (kidding) and curses up a storm. Every car that passed asked if he was alright. I had to apologize about the language and say that he was ok.