Forget your keys?

[Melalvai]

Everyone's locked their keys in the car one time or another, and a friend of mine said "That's another perk of biking!" Well, most of us can still fail there.

This is what my daughter wrote on our family mailing list today.

Mom said maybe we could bike to the library. The library is six miles away. I said what the heck-I didn't know it was six miles. When we got there, we locked up our bikes and got some books. When we were about to leave, Dad and Mom realized that we had only the key to one of the locks. Mom and I went to her lab...okay lots of interesting stuff happened. Now we fast-forward to the part where Mom has to work at the lab and Dad and I biked home- three miles from Mom's lab-and we found a new problem: Dad forgot his keys, including the one to his house, and the garage remote opener. Dad managed to open the screen of one window and I managed to push open the window. Dad took the screen off and I broke and entered in my own house. The moral of this story is to NEVER EVER be smart enough to lock your doors if you are going to forget your keys.

In my defense, I did tell her it was not as far away as ____ ____ (a place she biked to once) but a little further away than her school. And would you believe...I came back to the lab tonight and forgot, yes, you guessed it, the lab key!! (Security let me in.)

[SJCzar]

One Sunday last month I was all excited to go on my first group ride with a new area bike club that I had just joined.

I put my bike up on the roof rack and went inside the get the rest of my stuff. I decided that I didn't need to take my whole key chain with me, so I just took the house and car keys.

Of course when I got to the ride start (45 minutes from my house) I realized that my bike was locked to the rack and my key was on the kitchen table. I was so bummed because it was a gorgeous day and the planned route was really nice. I have now put a spare in my glove compartment.

[Geonz]

My Gazelle, as a Dutch commuting bike, is set up like a car - to "drive" it you have to have the key in the ignition. There's a built-in lock that goes around the rear wheel, and has a cable lock with it. This is nice 'cause parked in the garage, the key is in it and I just don't have to think "Do I need a lock where I'm going?" On the other hand, I have walked off and left it 'locked' - but with the key still in it... but, of course, this isn't Holland so unless you knew to look...
The other downside is that I can't exactly ride around with all my keys dangling off the side of the bike, so that key is separate from my keys. If I don't remember to put it on the hook on my keychain, then I can put it down.... anywhere... so I have the spare key tucked in the seat bag.

[Melalvai]

We discussed the "spare key in the seat bag" and decided that was like putting the door key under the mat. It would work...only if you remembered to remove the spare key from the seat bag every time you locked it up. My husband would very likely remember to take it out, but forget to put it back, leaving himself in exactly the same situation next ride.

Another funny quirk to this story is that a couple weeks ago I had to rescue him on my bike when he locked his car key in the car.

I'm starting to see a pattern.

[Geonz]

My thinking is that even if I do forget to put the spare key back, it will be one time not having to be rescued. And if I seem ot only remember the spare key being in the seat bag, then maybe I can have a spare spare key somewhere else...
... now I am going to call the police evidence office, where my wallet has landed after being found loose in teh mails

[susiej]

I've biked to the train and had to turn around and bike home because I left my vehicle (cars and bike lock) keys at home. It makes for a grumpy (and late) morning. My husband has biked to the train and forgotten the key to his lock, but had the key to my lock, and managed to lock both bikes to the rack with just a U-lock. I think he defies the laws of topology to do it.

[indysteel]

I have a slight permutation to this story. I haven't (knock on wood) forgotten my keys or locked them inside of something, but at a ride last week, I forgot to close my front car door and didn't realize it until we pulled back into the parking lot. So, while I had my keys with me and my purse was "locked" in my trunk, the car was visably open for the nearest thief. Luckily, no one had taken advantage of the situation and all was where I left it.

[enzed]

A couple of weeks ago, it was a sunny saturday afternoon.
There was a big market held around 7Km away, so I thought I'd ride to it and check it out.
As soon as I had locked my bike to a fence, I checked my pockets for my phone. My phone was there, my keys weren't.

So what did I do? - I rang home & asked if my keys were there.
The answer being yes, they were hanging on the hook by the front door.
I then walked 1 km to the nearest bus stop, waitied 15 mins for the next bus, took the bus home, got my keys, waited 10 mins for the next bus heading back, and had to walk 1km from the closest bus-stop to the market, unlocked my bike and rode home.

It took me over an hour to retrieve my keys and bike - definitely not one of my brightest moments.


I've a knack of doing silly things like that.
In the past year, I have "misplaced" 2 sets of keys, fallen of my bike a few times because I've been in a too-high gear on a hill climb (I've still got scabs on my knee from doing that stunt last wednesday) & other silly stuff.

Happy riding


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