Embarrassing unplanned dismounts

[rugby bloke]

We've all had them, times you have come off your bike in frankly embarrassing situations, this is the thread to confess all:
Here is mine, a few years back I had been commuting to work on a batted old MTB, on which the brakes were slowly dropping to pierces. Not being much of a fettler I left it go until the bike was practically unrideable, when I thought I better take it to the bike shop and get it fixed. Riding it back on a cycle route I has ridden 100s of times I came up to a kink in the path followed by a wooden bridge which can get very slippery. As a precaution I applied a dab on the brakes, which my muscle memory had translated as brakes full on, especially the front. The result - an undignified dismount over the handle bars, 5 stiches in my top lip and a broken tooth. Not a car, bike or pedestrian in sight - all 100% my own stupidity.

 

[ianrauk]

I was cycling down a country lane when I decided to dismount so I could have a wazz. Unclipped, put my foot down on what I thought was a grass verge. What I didn't see was that there was a hole in the verge. Resulting in my foot going in the hole, falling over with bike on top of me and badly spraining my ankle. I managed to get the 25 miles home though.
The resulting sprain kept me off the bike for 2 weeks.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Motorbike kickstart up my trouser leg would be the funniest..pub car park showing off to girlfriend..
girlfriend laughed so much she nearly fell of her bike..

as for cycling ...id say not unclipping on a regular basis when first using spds..the wife and fellow flattie users thought i was mad using them..i find flat pedals weird now,feet all over the place etc

 

[TheJDog]

My worst one was arriving at uni one day, hopping up onto the narrow pavement in front of the chemistry building at 90 degrees to the wall, suddenly realizing I was cleated and strapped in with no way to move forward. Then the undignified turtle on its back get the straps undone struggle in front of a stream of students arriving for lectures

 

[Dogtrousers]

Similar to @rugby bloke way way back in history I was doing my paper round (that long ago!) having fitted new brake blocks. I thought I'd test then.

Any early risers would have seen the paper boy proceeding briskly along a straight traffic free road, suddenly be launched over the handlebars.

 

[ufkacbln]

Slightly different clipped story

Bought a pair of detachable pedals for the Brompton and the first day, unclipped to find the pedal still attached to shoe

Unable to put foot down properly so ended up leaning against a car while I sorted

Apologised and showed the driver the problem, then hopped to the pavement

Repeated the performance twice more

Ditched the MKS Cube Exy pedals the same day

 

[Dec66]

I can honestly say that, other than being hit by cars, I've never come off in an unplanned manner.

"Ah, but when you were learning to ride as a kid, you must have".

I never learned to ride a bike. I just got on one which was parked in our back yard one day (which belonged to a friend of my sister's), and rode it and rode it and rode it, round the block for hours, and didn't come off once.

Next day my mum and dad bought me a Raleigh Tomahawk (I'd asked for a Chipper but I was too tall for one).

Part of me wishes I'd learned the hard way, because to this day I still can't ride with no hands. That would cause an unplanned dismount, and no mistake.

A friend of mine had a cracker recently when he put Speedplays on, and forgot about them when we came to a junction near Westerham Hill. The fall was amusing enough, but his attempts to shake himself free of the bike while he was on his back, still clipped in, with the bike on top of him between his legs, was a sight to behold.

 

[Hyslop]

My fall from grace was a cleat related affair.Returning home,I realised that my left cleat was coming loose.With only about 800 yards to go,I wasn't worried.Then I saw some friends,pulled over,tried to put my left foot down....and down I went,with one cleat now slightly askew and firmly fixed to the pedal!As I gazed round,flapping about and seemingly having become one with the bike,I saw my audience.Not only were the obligatory 2 small boys present,but also a number of staff from a care home,and a friend who is a District Nurse-not a cyclist among them.Thats when the fun started,everybody rushed over at once...but....no one knew what to do!Somewhere around this point,some would-be rescuer kicked me in the head(which is why cyclists should wear a helmet!!.By now Id started laughing,the whole thing was becoming farcical.I tried to get free but couldn't and with all the medical knowledge around me,everyone urged me to lie still,might have damaged your head etc.We,but mostly me,were getting nowhere,when suddenly cleat and pedal freed and I struggled to my feet.Ah, they knew what to do now!I was checked from head to foot and finally,when it was ascertained that I wasn't in pain,allowed to go.But not before they in turn got a lesson in what to do should they see a similar incident in future.I cant be sure about this but,when I turned the corner,I just seemedto catch the faintest snatch of hysterical female laughter

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

Mine???

Lets see when I started riding with clip on shoes.... A few time I fell down because not been able to un-clip fast enough or just simply forgetting I was using them..

So after a few weeks and me been much more comfortable with them I decided to go for a spin around the main streets of my town were more people was walking around and so more could see me in my new gear (show off) Na to be honest I was always avoiding heavy traffic routes..

Well I was riding my bike on a main street.. Summer afternoon, late afternoon... Lots of people walking around after the heat of the Summer started to die down...Me? cruising at a leisure speed and enjoying the fresh air of that afternoon.... I looked up and saw the traffic light changing to red... In my head I said "No problem I got this" Un clipped my left foot as I was getting close to the corner... Everything was well thought, I wasn't going to have an embarrassing moment with all the town looking at me... I am too "cool" for that... Corner getting closer.. and closer... Is here...!!! Time to put the foot down..! FFS..!!! Is the left one the one I had to put down..!!! The one that was ready..! No I decided that the one going to the floor was the right one... The one still attached to the pedal...

 

[Smokin Joe]

Out on a ride with Mrs SJ near Ongar in Essex a number of years back, I did the obligatory gob which caught the wind and landed between her shoulder blades. Apologising as one should (Though as a cyclist she was gob friendly) I closed in and proceeded to wipe her back with my (Gloved) hand when we managed to tangle handlebars and both came off.

No damage except a slight scuff to a fork leg on my (Nearly new ) Raleigh Dynatech, though I nearly got myself killed by a car when trying to retrieve the computer that had flown off my bars and onto the road.

The other one from years ago was causing a mass pile up in a road race while trying to scoop my derailed chain back onto the ring while in the middle of the bunch. Even after forty years plus that is still too raw a memory to elaborate on, especially as in the confusion someone else got the blame and I brazenly let him take it. As you would.

 

[Levo-Lon]

@Smokin Joe ..the locked bars,you were lucky to both escape.

friend and me had that as teens..i got a bit bruised but he ripped off 2 finger nails..
it didnt help that i used him as a tarmac brake..he got proper angry i can tell ya.

 

[Globalti]

I was a mountain biker for 21 years and no ride was complete if you hadn't fallen off a couple of times.

My most spectacular off was in Cape Town while riding my third Cape Argus race. My agent there is an honorary Scot named Brian who always stands on the corner of his street at a place called Capri Village serenading the 32,000 passing cyclists with his bagpipes. The first two times I did the Argus we managed to miss each other so on the third year we calculated the timings and worked out when he needed to be out. So sure enough, I came hooning along the road as part of a massive fast-moving peloton of cyclists, carried along by the slipstream. Heard the skirl of the pipes, spotted Brian and his wife and father-in-law, shoulder-checked and pulled out to move across to the right of the road where they were standing. Two things happened: I completely underestimated my speed and found myself needing to brake harder than expected and my wheels went off the tarmac onto what looked like firm stony ground but was in fact a deep drift of gravel. The wheels shot out from underneath me and I crashed down, still clipped in, right at the feet of my friends in a huge cloud of orange dust. They had only had a second or two to register my arrival out of the passing crowd so everything happened very fast indeed, to their surprise. All three of them leaped backwards while I lay stranded and embarrassed at their feet. However we soon recoved and I was able to wash the dust out of my mouth with a cold Coke from their chiller bag before continuing on my way. Thankfully the bike wasn't damaged. They still talk about my shock arrival several years later!

 

[Heisenberg71]

Bloody cobbles, at very slow speed!
Front wheel became trapped and down I went. Feet became unclipped though so no injuries other than my pride.

Only time........so far. Other than multiple nasty pile-ups as kid, but they don't count.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I've had a few over the years. Plenty when I was growing up but a couple of more recent ones were:

Riding downhill on compacted snow I realised that despite my best efforts at gentle braking I was gathering speed towards a corner and unlikely to make it round. Instinct said "try braking a little harder" which led to the bike and I taking seperate slides into the verge.

On a ride up the Long Mynd I was going well and about to tackle the second steep climb of the day. As the gradient steepened I went to change down into low range but suffered a bout of chain suck which brought me to an unexpected halt. I put my foot down easily enough (I use flats) but missed the edge of the road and found the ditch instead so toppled over into the mud.

 

[Ihatehills]

In the summer, I was cycling along a single track road and met a car coming the other way, normally in these situations I stop and lean against the hedge allowing the driver to creep past. However this Time, the driver being quite considerate, had already stopped at a place that I thought was wide enough, and it would have been apart from the bramble that got hooked around my left handle , forcing me to kinda jump off whilst supporting myself against the stationary car. Not a situation that was easy to style out, the driver checked I was alright but was trying hard to stop laughing.