dumbest thing I've done

[GLC1968]

When I first started mtn bike riding I rode with a friend who called out objects in the path...roots, rocks, turns, etc. Once I was working really hard to make it up a pretty steep hill - head down and really crankin' - and she called out duck. I thought she was telling me there was a duck in the middle of the trail (there are ducks in the area - just not where we were). I quickly figured out what she meant AFTER my forehead smacked right into a low hanging tree branch. Thank goodness for helmets...you don't have to crash for them to help you! NOW THAT WAS DUMB!

Now that I've given my abs a good workout from laughing so hard...I can share my dumb story. (this story literally had be in tears!)

My stupid biking story:

I had just completed day two of our MS Tour last fall totalling about 115 miles. After lunch, after it was over, I was riding my bike down a cement path to the parking lot where our car was. My tire slipped into a small gap between the cement blocks and immediately came to a stop. I wasn't going very fast to begin with, so I just kind of came to an abrupt halt. Instead of unclipping, I somehow thought that the tire would magically pop back out of this gap...duh...and then I toppled over to my right, landing on (and crushing) a decorative light. Of course, hundreds of people were still around (of the 1500 who rode that tour!) and those that weren't rolling on the grass from laughing so hard, offered to help me up. By the time I got to work the next day, my whole team had heard what had happened to me. I still haven't lived it down!

[Dogmama]

I divorced the dumbest thing I've ever done.

[Kano]

Well, I haven't decided on the good dumb thing to post yet, but, I've had a good dumb idea about the gum on the butt of your pants! You coulda sat in some nice black dirt (given that the pants were black) and gotten dirt stuck to the gum, and then the gum would be black, and the pants would be black, and the gum would be camoflaged and people wouldn't notice it as much, maybe?

Karen in Boise

[eclectic]

Well, I haven't decided on the good dumb thing to post yet, but, I've had a good dumb idea about the gum on the butt of your pants! You coulda sat in some nice black dirt (given that the pants were black) and gotten dirt stuck to the gum, and then the gum would be black, and the pants would be black, and the gum would be camoflaged and people wouldn't notice it as much, maybe?

Karen in Boise

Great idea! Where were you when my brain needed you ? ? ?

[mimitabby]

Well, I haven't decided on the good dumb thing to post yet, but, I've had a good dumb idea about the gum on the butt of your pants! You coulda sat in some nice black dirt (given that the pants were black) and gotten dirt stuck to the gum, and then the gum would be black, and the pants would be black, and the gum would be camoflaged and people wouldn't notice it as much, maybe?

Karen in Boise

HA. try and find BLACK dirt when you need some! Just my luck, i'd have light brown dirt and little sticks and stuff sticking to the gum. lol

[li10up]

I've got another dumb one...didn't use the restroom before heading out on a ride and nature called while on the bike. Pulled off the road and headed for the bushes. It took me about 10 seconds to pee but about 5 minutes to pull out all the little stickers that were stickin' me when I got my shorts back up...hundreds of the little buggers. That was NOT fun.

[KSH]

Sorry to hear about the gum... that really does SUCK!

The dumbest thing I have done? Well, I am sure there are many, and yes I divorced mine too... BBBUUUTTT... bike related:

When I was a kid, I had this bike with a banana seat. And, my friend and I would take turns "pumping" (one person rides on the seat while the other one pedals) each other. (Gosh that sound so *dirty* now!)

Anyways... so I was on the seat...and we had moved it as high as it would go (as you may recall, it was easy to adjust the seat to a new height).

So, my friend is pedaling... and I am riding.. and them... BAM! The seat post comes out of the tube, apparently we had put the seat post TOO HIGH and it wasn't "locked in".

The seat basically goes backwards (as those seats were also attached to the back wheel)... and I'm on the seat still... being drug through gravel in the street... because my silly friend didn't notice I wasn't up top anymore!

I skinned up my knees/legs... and when home whimpering... for sympathy.

My Mom took one look at me and DIED laughing! And was kind of laughing too... because it was pretty funny!

[Lise]

This may qualify:

Yesterday was my last long bike ride before my triathlon next Sunday. I decided I'd strip down the bike, take only what would be with me on the race. I needed to take one key to get in the back door of my building, but the rest of my keyring I hid in my storage locker. I never lock the thing, but there's a padlock on there to keep the door shut.

The tires are filled with air, I have my beverages all set, I tuck away the keys and...lock the padlock. WHY?!? I never do that! I don't even know the combo, it's been so long!

I ended up filing through the screen on the front of the storage locker with a metal file I found in the basement. Reached in and got my keys. Went up to my apartment. Sure enough, the combo's nowhere to be found. Take the hammer and screwdriver down to the basement, and pry the entire hinge + lock out of the wood door of the locker. It pays to live in an old building.

Went for a 30 mile ride.

Came home, went to Home Depot, bought wood putty and a new hinge, fixed up the door (it looks like...it was broken into!). Sheesh. Now it has a little lock with a KEY. If I accidentally lock this thing, I could probably pry it off with an allen wrench!

The funny thing is, if anybody wanted to steal anything from the storage locker, they're welcome to it. I'd rather they not take my Christmas ornaments, etc, but it's nothing that needs to be locked up. The BIKES, on the other hand, are securely locked in another part of the basement!

[Bicyclette]

Lise - Yours reminded me of my dumbest story - not bike related..

when we lived in Germany our front door locked as soon as you closed it ( no key necessary) - of course you DID need a key to open it - you also could not unlock the door if the keys were in the inside keyhole ( which I also did so I would know where my keys were ) - well.. my husband is in England, it's Saturday morning bright and early - it had been snowing so I thought that I would be a good citizen and shovel our walks - I get dressed, grab the snow shovel, go outside and start to pull the front door closed - only meaning to close it enough to keep the cold air out - all the time I'm pulling the door shut I'm saying to myself - don't lock the door, don't lock the door.... and so what do I do? pull the door all the way shut and lock the door - with my keys sitting in the keyhole on the inside - so... I schlep my way up the street to the army depot, present my sob story and they let me go as far as the security office ( 'cuz I have no ID with me ) - I tell them my story again and the guard calls my landlord - the landlord comes to the house and tries to unlock the front door - um, no... my keys are in there - luckily he has a key to the basement door - he opens the basement door, I thank him profusely , apologizing to him for my stupidity which, by the way, he is having a good laugh at and he goes on his merry way.... all's well that ends well... right??? not quite... remember I said my husband was in England?? well.. whenever he was gone I would lock the door that leads down to the basement (see where this is going??) - so I run up the basement steps, grab the doorknob and.... the door is locked!!!! So now.... I'm stuck in my basement!! I refuse to have my landlord come by AGAIN ( feeling REALLY stupid now) and so I look around in my basement for some tools - I find a screwdriver - go back upstairs and proceed to remove the basement door (which was this huge, solid monstrosity of a door) from the hinges so I can get back in the house!! At this point - I'm finally in the house with the basement door sitting in the hallway paranoid that my landlord is gonna come back to make sure I got in all right and see the gaping doorway with no door in it ( which he did not, thank goodness)

Unfortunately that was not the first time I did that - nor was it the last - but it was the most memorable