Comedy off's

[Dangermouse]

We have all had at least one, so whats yours.........mine was when we were at a double crossing of a roundabout on a cycle lane, I unclipped for the first crossing and crossed without incident, then I rested my heel in the pedal and went to the second part of the crossing but my foot must have moved forward and clipped back in without me knowing, lots of people pipping their horns later I managed to unclip and stand up.......very embarrased and a grazed elbow....whats your comedy off.

 

[Arch]

Riding out in the countryside with a big bunch of people, I was lagging behind a bit, and decided to pull over to take my longsleeved top off. There was a nice verge beside the tarmac, a few inches higher than the road surface, so I pulled over, and put a tiptoe down, instead of coming out of the saddle to get a flat foot down.

Only the verge turned out to be a few inches lower than the road, with long grass. Down my foot went, down and down, until I overbalanced completely, rolled right over, and slithered down into the ditch under the hedge, still 'on' my bike, bum on saddle, foot on pedal, hands on handlebars. So I ended up upside down, bike sticking out of the ditch, wheels spinning idly in the air.

Stuck.

Luckily, although I'd been lagging, I wasn't quite the last, and a couple of mates rolled up behind me and helped me out...

I do wish it had been caught on film though. I'd love to know what it looked like!

 

[Dangermouse]

HAHA Arch thats just my kind of luck

 

[Night Train]

I've done the same as Arch but was driving a Land Rover at the time. The grass verge was just a deep ditch with all the grass cut to road level! Pulling over to stop meant the Land Rover rolled over onto its side in the ditch.

I've not had 'comedy off' yet, the offs I've had hurt too much.

 

[subaqua]

i have posted this before .

new MTB ( light) , with 1st set of clipless pedals, riding it to work, put it into the granny gear to ride up the towpath like i had to with the old (heavy) bike. pedalled hard as i used to do on the old bike and the front wheel lifted and the back went sideways with me still attached.

 

[Sandra6]

I've done the same as Arch but was driving a Land Rover at the time. The grass verge was just a deep ditch with all the grass cut to road level! Pulling over to stop meant the Land Rover rolled over onto its side in the ditch.

I've not had 'comedy off' yet, the offs I've had hurt too much.

Had similar in a VW transporter, but didn't topple. Instead we got stuck and it took several men, some climbing ropes and a very lovely fellow VW driver about half an hour to get us back on the road.
I've only had one fall from a bike, a hired mtb out at mabie forest, not sure about comedy value but my triple spin after the over-the-bar dismount was worthy of a bronze in the gymnastics!
Oh, and there was the time I borrowed my brother's bike when I was 17 and forgot the all important lesson of not using the front brake, and ended up on my face at the first set of traffic lights.

 

[Alan Frame]

As a nipper, I decided it would be fun to cross my arms over and hold the left hand side of the bars with my right hand, and right with left.
Not a good idea.

Also, carrying a spare pair of forks in your hand whilst riding along can lead to exceedingly abrupt braking when said forks contact front spokes.
I don't think I would bounce as well nowadays so try to avoid such situations.

 

[Night Train]

Had similar in a VW transporter, but didn't topple. Instead we got stuck and it took several men, some climbing ropes and a very lovely fellow VW driver about half an hour to get us back on the road.

A friend of mine, on the same day and place of my incident, did a three point turn 'using' the grass verge. He managed to stand his short wheel base Land Rover upended, on its back door, in the ditch!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Very minor but today I stepped onto verge to get out of the way of a blue light police car, only it wasn't the verge I thought it was; it was a shallow ditch full of stinging nettles...

 

[Cheshire Celt]

Mines was yesterday blowing out my arse on some hill slowly stopped to have 30 secs tried to clip in didn't make it and ended on my side lol

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Out on my MTB proper 2.years ago in Hamsterley, man-made red run, fast and steep/curvy, overshot on curve into the rocks/shale and unclipped just in time.....to have no step within reach and toppled sideways, wheels in the air and laughing my boobies off

 

[TheDoctor]

Well, I have cycled slowly through a ford, while ribbing a mate for wussing out and going across the bridge. You tell me what happened next.
Correct
Slippery surface + slick tyres = Sploosh!
Her gales of laughter were only stopped when she realised that her mobile was in my pocket, which was somewhat waterlogged by this time.
I have also seen a mate (a different one) emerge from a pub after some refreshment, grab his bike, leap into the saddle and miss by a mile. He landed on the other side of the bike in a heap, and the bike then toppled onto him. And I nearly dislocated a lung.

 

[Risex4]

If we're not counting the guaranteed comedy offs when you are stpuid enough to be out cycling in snowy/icy conditions...

Mine was a good few years ago on a footpath-cyclelane which runs underneath a main road. At the far exit of the underpass is a blind tight right hander (with the cycle lane taking the inside) so you always go dead slow just because you know you're going to meet another cyclist or ped on the wrong side coming the other way. It doesnt help that on this right hander is a metal railing to seperate the foot path from the cycle lane, Im guessing to stop cyclists overshooting the corner and mowing down a load of un-supsecting peds....

Anyway, its a normal wet Autumn morning, the surface is plenty greasy as I approach the underpass, usual drill; stand up on the bike, crawl it through, be prepared for anything coming the other way. Sure enough, as Im half way towards the turn another cyclist comes around the corner into view, being equally cautious. With a nod of the head I think bah, I'll conceed, jump onto the footpath half and cruise around the outside to give us both room. So I slowly start the maneuvere, but don't actually (at least not fully) jump the bike over that tiny little curb they put in place to seperate footpath from cycle track. Cue me railing the wheels along this little curb, not being able to turn the wheel, slidding on the grease, gliding along at a stupidly slow speed looking at the other rider (who had stopped) with puzzlement and resignation as I gradually coast around this curb into the railings...

It was just the complete lack of speed which made it rather silly...

 

[paddy01]

Too many over the years but a couple of stand out items since returning to cycling aged 30..

On re-commissioning the old Klein MTB to get me out cycling again, gave it the old heave ho on the bars accelerating away from a junction.. didn't know that the 1 piece thin alloy Mission Control stem had suffered a little metal fatigue over the years.. tore the stem in half, went over the front in a graceless heap catching my thigh on the jagged stump of the stem in the process. All performed in the middle of town, and right in front of a lady with a wicker basket on the front and child in carrier on the back of her bike. Boy did I feel special that day.. and it was a long ass walk home in spd shoes.

Few months after that having repaired the damage (to the bike and me ) I'd taken to doing Friday evening MTB rides organised by a local shop. Trying to re-live my early MTB years I was chasing one of the 20 year old shop whippets down some fairly technical single track when it all went spectacularly wrong. Went over the bars, only the spd's were a little on the tight side so feet stayed attached. Said whippet laughed heartily whilst helping out of the tree from which I and the bike were hanging upside down, still firmly attached.

Mind you my then fiancee wasn't laughing when I came home with blood running down my arms from the gashes as it was 2 weeks before the wedding... this incident has gone a long way in the n+1 stakes

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've had several comedy falls over the years. One was in the days before clipless pedals and mountain bikes, the touring club I used to ride with would include a certain amount of off road rough stuff in the Sunday ride. On one Sunday we were crossing a field and my front wheel started to slide into a hole, I went to get a foot down and realized I had tightened my toe straps more than usual, I couldn't get a foot out and slid gracefully into the hole still attached to the bike, when I managed to disentangle myself from the bike and emerged from the hole the rest of the lads were stood at the bottom of the field and began to give me marks out of ten for the fall.