Ride home fail

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Matthames

Über Member
Location
East Sussex
I was looking forward to riding home in the sunshine wearing my new aldi kit. However, it wasn't to be.

The place I volunteer at is currently being used as a polling station so I had to lock my bike away in the cupboard. Come 3 o'clock my boss had to knock off and was in a bit of a hurry as she needed to go and pick up her kids. After she had gone I suddenly remembered that she had locked up the office and with it the key to the cupboard that contained my bike. I managed to blag a lift home from my mum, this kind of brought home the point about why I enjoy riding in.

So tomorrow I have to make my way in and pick up my bike.

Has anybody else managed to leave their bike locked somewhere and not be able to ride it because somebody ran off with the keys?
 
Never...not in 30 years of cycle commuting.;)

A clever trick I did at Bow Road Tube station early one morning when I had a p*nct*re and couldn't fix it...so I left it on the railings.....Came back nine hours later to realise it wasn't locked up and it was still there.
 

NigC

New Member
Location
Surrey
hackbike 666 said:
Never...not in 30 years of cycle commuting.:tongue:

A clever trick I did at Bow Road Tube station early one morning when I had a p*nct*re and couldn't fix it...so I left it on the railings.....Came back nine hours later to realise it wasn't locked up and it was still there.

I thought you were going to say somebody had fixed it :sad: Amazing it was still there though :biggrin:
 

Gains

New Member
NigC said:
I thought you were going to say somebody had fixed it :ohmy: Amazing it was still there though :sad:


Haha that would definately be a case of the anti-p*nct*re fairy!! :tongue:

Iv *never (touch wood) locked my bike and not been able to then get it back yet (only done about 10 commutes mind you!:biggrin:)
 

Guvnor

Active Member
Location
Essex
A friend of mine had someone lock there bike to his so that when he finished work, he could not commute as he could not get his bike free. 2 days he waited for that person to unlock there bike before he had to remove the lock himself with the blessings of the local plod:ohmy:
 

Shut Up Legs

Down Under Member
I've kind of done the opposite; rode about 23km of a 27.5km commute to work, only to realise I'd left some essential work items at home! So I went back to get them. Total commute ended up being 74km. ;) (oh, and almost 2 hours later than usual)
 

PBancroft

Senior Member
Location
Winchester
We've got a secure bike cage at work which has swipe card access. The other week I tailgated someone in, locked up my bike and headed off to the showers. Was only then I realised I'd left my swipe card at home... :evil:
 

Spinney

Bimbleur extraordinaire
Location
Back up north
Had a near miss once - cycling in Northumberland, had just left Lindisfarne. Cycled up the coast a bit and we were just about to lock our bikes to a fence before going for a wander along the beach when I thought 'I'll just check where my keys are'. Turned out I had left them on the ground when unlocking our bikes on the island. Had we locked the bikes to the fence we would have had to walk miles to find someone with a wire cutter (getting the keys was by then not possible because the tide had come in!).

OH cycled a long way extra the next day to retrieve the keys (thankfully handed in to a nearby shop)...

I always leave my bike locks in the locked position, so I have to have the keys with me to be able to lock the bike up at all.
 

Jaguar

New Member
Location
Norfolk/Suffolk
Guvnor said:
A friend of mine had someone lock there bike to his so ... he could not get his bike free.

I biked to the shop once, locked up and then realised I didn't have my keys so had to walk home to get them (left in the back door, grrr).

And I've left my keys in the door (on the outside) more than once too

I am blonde
 
Went out for a ride one evening last year, came back realized I'd left the keys to the garage in the flat so went to get them. Sat down on the settee and dozed off, woke up about 1 1/2 hours later and remembered that the bike was still outside the garage door. When I got round to the garage the bike was still there fortunatly.
 

Guvnor

Active Member
Location
Essex
Jaguar said:
I biked to the shop once, locked up and then realised I didn't have my keys so had to walk home to get them (left in the back door, grrr).

And I've left my keys in the door (on the outside) more than once too

I am blonde


Sounds like my sister:biggrin:
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
We had a big camper van a couple of years ago (hired) and I locked my bike to the rear rack one night on the campsite, using my trusty and very old D-lock (bought in 1984 :biggrin: ). The bike was standing on the ground, locked to rack via top tube. It rained a lot overnight, and the next day we wanted to go into town to get some shopping... the lock had rusted, and the key wouldn't turn! Half an hour and some 3 in one sorted it out though :smile:

Then, when I returned the van, I brought the bike with me (so I could cycle the 30 miles home). I had locked the bike to the rack using a different D-lock, (it was bungee'd as well, but just as a precaution against it falling off). ...However, I brought with me the keys for the first D-lock :tongue: The guy thought it was quite funny, and together we dismantled the rack on his van (which was not simple) and got the bike free. Then had to cycle home with a D-lock rattling on the top tube (we taped it up a bit, but that didn't last too long). (I helped hime re-assemble the rack, of course) :smile:
 

thomas

the tank engine
Location
Woking/Norwich
Lost the key as a kid once, so me and my Dad bought a little hack saw and "stole" my bike back :tongue:

Next to a busy main road, weren't exactly being subtle and no one seemed to notice or care.
 

arallsopp

Post of The Year 2009 winner
Location
Bromley, Kent
Managed to ride 5 miles back from Croydon to home with my frame locked to a buddy's bike as a kid. Fortunately, both on uprights at the time. In these circumstances, even a 7ft Kryptoflex does not seem very long.
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
I was sitting at a bench outside a train station waiting for someone, and my bike was on a public bike rack, with several others, just near me, unlocked.

I saw a chav, as I think they're called, clock it. He sauntered over, having a look around to see if it was unattended. I was cool as ice and didn't move. He casually grabbed it, whereupon I leaped to my feet, and shouted "You trying to nick my bike?". He jumped about 3 feet and nearly shat himself.

He claimed he thought it was abandoned and was going to take it to the railway station lost property office. Yeah, right. Cheeky scallywag. Probably should have called the plod.
 
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