Oh, yeah, that was the first think I checked after getting off the ground at the bike store - "is the bike scratched?" They joked about this at the store - Them: "if you fall, we have bandaids". Me: "but what about the bike??" Them: "that's what we meant".

I've caught myself many times with my head down trying to see what gear I'm in, so that's an easy one. "Hello, the bike is still moving forward!" Too bad Campy doesn't have that flight deck system, that would be very convenient.

I once fell when a car stopped in front of me suddenly. We were making a left hand turn from one of those 4-lane, one-way streets in SF. It was early morning, there was no traffic. Someone walked into the crosswalk, which I didn't see, and the car stopped. My wheel hit the back of his car, I went over the handlebars and flopped onto the back of his car. Then he drove off, apparently missing all this. I then flopped onto the pavement. I was not hurt at all (this was twenty years ago) although the bike had a bent fork. Anyway I picked myself up and just shook my head.