How often do you need rescuing?

[Ming the Merciless]

About 15 years ago the chain snapped on my mtn bike in some woods on my commute home. It was February with snow on the ground. I had my chain tool to fix it but my hands simply got too cold to sort it out. So I walked half a mile to the nearest village pub. Bought a pint and sat by the fire. Rang my wife and she picked me up about an hour later.

That is the extent of rescues.

 

[Sharky]

Too many times.

3 crashes. Rescued by helicopter, ambulance and by a passing motorist.

Twice called the OH out. Once suffering from extreme cold, snowing and already had a couple of punctures.
Another time, discovered my frame had broken. Could have ridden home, but once I realised, too worried.

Leaving the office, my cassette went. Colleague gave me a lift home. On another similar occasion, used a toe strap to turn the cassette into a fixed gear and was able to ride the last 10miles home.

Puncture 3 miles from home. Complete darkness. Rang my daughter and she brought out a spare wheel (benefit of having a spare set of wheels ready to go) and I was able to finish my journey.

A long time age, when I was 14, me and a school mate attempted to do Prescot, Llangollen and back. About 90 miles. We were within 15 miles of home and my mate was too exhausted and he called out his dad.

Similarly, the first time I rode the London Brighton. I'd ridden to the start and got as far as Tunbridge Wells on the way back beforehitting the "wall". Would have been 140 miles there and back. The next 3 years rode and managed to get all the way back.

The above spans about 60 years of cycling, so perhaps not that bad.

 

[Spiderweb]

Only once for me, I had a rear wheel spoke break, I’ve had this happen several times and can usually adjust the brakes and ride home with a buckled wheel but this time it was on my best bike with lightweight wheels and a low spoke count, the wheel was really out of true and was rubbing on the frame.
Called my wife for a rescue, it was fun getting my bike into the back of a Fiat 500!

 

[PaulSB]

When I had my heart attack I was out near Norton Lindsey and I finished the ride, very slowly and with several stops but finished it.

Good man Dave........

 

[vickster]

I guess 3 times last year for different reasons/in different ways
1) I got caught totally unprepared by a downpour during LD1, close to a station, so travelled 2 stops closer to home and cycled the rest of the way.
2) rear mech got ripped off, wheel damaged and chain completely fubared by an unseen long thick bit of wire in the road. I was about 2 miles from home, again in the rain! Bike locked up as could not be wheeled and I got 2 buses home as they were due, collected bike later in car.
3) accident, I was rescued by ambulance, taken to A&E, uber home. Bike was rescued by my brother

I do have ETA rescue cover, but no appropriate for any of the above.

That was in the space of just under 3000 miles I guess

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Just the once, and it was a physical issue rather than mechanical. My aged brain underestimated a distance on a map, and my aged legs overestimated their ability. I tried to bail onto the train when it was clear I wouldn't get home, but there were cancellations and issues on the tracks. My good lady came out in the car to rescue me.

 

[slowmotion]

Twice, when I couldn't get my frozen fingers to work to fix the punctures. I did however ride home after a heart attack.......via the off-licence.

 

[PaulSB]

I've just realised I may have misled you all. On the occasion of my heart attack I did ring my wife and ask her to meet at my home station.

She asked why. I said I didn't feel very well. 😂😂

 

[ColinJ]

I broke a couple of spokes in my rear wheel on a forum ride to Blackpool and back. We were about 20 km from Blackpool at the time and the low spoke count wheel went so far out of true that it jammed. I had to remove my rear mudguard and disconnect the rear brake to allow the wheel to turn. It was wobbling alarmingly so I didn't take any chances on the remaining ride to Blackpool. There was no way that I was going to risk the ride back so I said goodbye to everyone else and caught the train home. To cap it all, the train stopped halfway back and didn't move for an hour. I can't remember what the problem was but I wasn't pleased about it!

I did a couple of hilly rides when suffering from my first pulmonary embolism! (Not from choice - I thought that I was fighting off a cold. Things became much worse a couple of weeks later.) I managed to limp home both times even though the clots could have killed me in seconds if they had broken up and moved further up into my heart, lungs or brain...

I tried to get rescued when I had my second embolism. I had been riding again for a couple of months, a year or so after recovering from PE #1. After a few rides up and down the local valley road I thought that I was ready to tackle the long Cragg Vale climb. It only averages about 3.5% for around 8 km but its mid-section steepens to about 8% for a few hundred metres. I started to feel ill riding up the steep bit and as soon as the gradient eased I realised that I was going to black out so I got off the road and sat on the grass verge. It was one of the few times in my life that I decided to be sensible... I got my phone out to call 999 and found that... I had no signal. I was too weak to move to somewhere with better reception so I simply collapsed at the roadside. I came round some unknown amount of time later, drenched in sweat, my heart pounding, and my head throbbing. I gave up on the rescue, freewheeled down the hill, crawled home along the valley, and went to bed.

 

[ColinJ]

... and my aged legs underestimated their ability

I think that you/they OVERestimated their ability!

 

[HMS_Dave]

Never had a full on breakdown but im not the type of cyclist who rides long mileage on a bike. Cycling for me was a weight loss aid, now i just enjoy it. My bikes are a fat bike and an elephant bike. That's it. Reliable cycling...

 

[Deleted User]

Never.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Only once


Broke my chain about four miles from home and had no mobile signal. I was walking along the road when a passing motorist stopped, he turned out to be a cyclist and loaded the bike in the back and drove me home.

We used to see each other fairly regularly after that then he just disappeared and I assumed he'd moved away. Passing his house only last week I pulled up and asked the woman who was coming out of the gate if she knew where the previous occupant, Derrick, had gone. It turned out she was his wife and he had died of a heart attack ten years ago while out on a ride

 

[mjr]

"Rescued" means needing assistance to get home/other destination, be it cab, lift, train, RAC, army lorry, whatever.

I assumed you mean "needing" rather than "accepting". A couple of times I've thrown the towel in because the weather's miserable, it's the umpteenth puncture and I ran out of farks to give so I accepted the lift from someone with a bike rack or big car.

I don't think I've ever really needed rescuing but I have carried a bike home at least once, when the front wheel bearing failed and jammed. Riding it more would have cut nice deep dropouts by spinning the axle, or more likely destroyed the axle

It doesn't include having your bike fixed by a companion or passer by.

Not my bike, but a ride companion did once ride to buy a tyre from a nearby bike shop after someone's tyre failed about 25 miles away from home. I was pretty impressed that a small village had a bike shop open on a Sunday.

 

[Mo1959]

None so far. Walked 10 miles after a snapped chain. (Now carry tool and quick link). Cycled home after smashing my collar bone into 3 bits with the sharp end almost through the skin.