Bl00dy Bike's No Good

[philipbh]

Saturday - perfect early morning ride of about 15 miles before the sun burnt through the mist, anticipated roundabouts and traffic lights effortlessly.

Didn't need to unclip the whole way....

Rolled up to the drive way and unclipped left foot and as the bike came to standstill, instead of staying vertical it juts toppled over to the right - with my right foot still attached

Panic - Oh F*** - This is it ... PLAY <sound of bike on concrete>

I was laughing so much - I didnt get up for a bit (cue Mrs BH thinking I had had a proper fall / respiratory collapse / HA)

Not laughing so much today though - my right hip & bicep took a bit of a whack judging by the bruising / pain

Just when I was thinking I was getting the hang of it...whats that you say pride comes before a what...?

 

[BigSteev]

...and this is the fault of the bike how?

 

[TWBNK]

I did exactly that when my cat sauntered out in front of me as I returned from a ride

Our cat is an evil being and I should have realised that, when he sits in the road glaring at cars and making them stop for him before wandering off with an air of arrogance, I wouldn't have a chance of unnerving him.

I unclipped my left foot and braked at the last minute. The cat stayed still, glared at me and the bike slowly tipped to the right. Once I had hit the floor the cat dawdled off. I am sure I could hear it laugh.

 

[kewb]

i slid down the back of a van at roadworks the other day both feet still securely fastened to bike , bloody car behind sounded like it was throwing a fit with laughter , it was full of teenage boys in baseball caps , had to get myself out of bike and onto pavement with the lights still at red to cheers of "yah funny " or something like that anyway .

 

[philipbh]

...and this is the fault of the bike how?

I blame the pedals...and accept full responsibility

The way it goes is: unclip left, foot down and stop - bike inclines to the left - unclip right and so no usually no problem on the road or on the drive

Still I had a good laugh about it and so did Mrs BH later, so the "moment" wasn't without some value

 

[Globalti]

Not pushbike but motorbike related - I once rode all the way from Inverness to Newcastle upon Tyne in pouring rain, having decided to junk my solitary Scottish camping trip in the face of never-ending rain and midges. Got home to my parents' brand new house soaked, frozen and mentally wrecked. Went indoors for a meal and a long soak in a hot bath. Went out later in lovely clean dry clothes to move the motorbike from where I had abandoned it, still fully loaded with tank bag and panniers, right beside the swamp that the builders hadn't yet turned into a garden. Got astride the bike and my right foot slipped off the edge of the path and with a slow inevitability bike and I toppled sideways straight into the swamp. I remember lying there with liquid mud pouring down my neck, trapped under the bike while my sister screamed with laughter. I wasn't amused.

 

[Milton]

Overbalancing, or making a tit of yourself in public is surprisingly easy. I recently pulled up outside a row of terraced houses where the front doors are straight onto the pavement. Dissmounting an eyeing up a place to chain up to at the same time I suddenly found myself falling forward over the bike. That's alright I thought, just push myself upright off this front door only to find it opening slowly inwards with me and bike slowly slipping to the floor. I had the double embarrassment of ass out to the street an a very red face into some strangers house whilst lying on top of my bike. Fortunatly I was able to extricate myself before anyone came to the door so apart from passing traffic and feeling like a complete idiot no harm was done.

 

[automatic_jon]

When I was still using the toe strap pedals which came with my bike I had just cycled almost all the way from Portsmouth to Southampton General Hospital (which I was pleased as punch with myself for). I pulled up at the last set of traffic lights outside the hospital and completely failed to get either foot out of the straps. I fell right over with such force that I rolled, with the bike still attached, onto my back with the bike on top of me in front of a very long queue of traffic. It really was the most embarrassing thing I think I've done in a long time.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

You're on your own philip - never happened to me

 

[Mike A]

I came close just this afternoon...

Cycled down to the village to pick a few things up. It's a nice downhill for the last bit. Did the job, got back on the bike, foot on pedal, bum on saddle - only to realise that I'd left it in top gear, I'm facing uphill on a very sloping car park and I'm unable to get any forward motion at all. Murphy's law being what it is, as well as sloping up, it also fell away to my right - my favourite side for falling off on! It was at this point in the proceedings I began to wish my top tube clearance was a little greater...

 

[g00se]

I refer the honorary members to a post I made some months ago:

https://www.cyclechat.net/




Borrowed my other half's tourer with straps. Was pootling down the main traffic-calmed shopping road and came up close behind two stopped, parallel busses - one in the bus stop - one in the road. Unhooked my left foot and stopped. Then pushed off slowly and turned right to head to the offside to see if I could get around the one in the road and filter outside the traffic. I then remembered the traffic calming would cut me off so I turned the bike left to drift up behind the bus....

Of course, it's only a foot or two and I'm just about rolling - so the bike falls over to the right and I forget the strap and slowly and gracefully roll over onto my back with the bike on top of me.

To make it worse - it's right in front of a bus stop - with a load of pensioners waiting for the trip home. I pick myself up and try to nonchalantly push it up onto the pavement to hear one old fella say to his wife "what happened there"? She replied: "I think he was trying to do a wheelie"?! BTW - I'm in my forties.....

 

[Eddiethelaowai]

one of my colleagues had a similar incident (not SPD related but equally funny) - pulling up to a red light, my friend decided to grab hold of a nearby signpost to balance himself, not realising it had been freshly painted - he quickly let go with surprise but forgot both his feet were on the pedals and sure enough ended up lying against the kerb with everyone else coming up behind almost falling off their bikes with laughter (in China, a white guy falling off a bicycle is great entertainment).