GlennR

Today i had one.

I was on a MUP and approaching a crossroad. About 10 feet from the road I tried to unclip but my foot was locked in and I couldn't. The choice was to get hit by a car or make a quick left onto the roads sidewalk hoping no one was there. I was lucky and made the left and continued on the sidewalk still unable to unclip. I made it to a quiet crossroad and reached down to get out of my shoe. After examining both the pedal and cleat I saw nothing and decided to ride the 3 miles to the LBS. There we found some debris stuck in the spring causing it to be extremely stiff. I was able to clean it out and the pedal was as before.

I'm sure everyone has had a OH "S" moment... what's yours?

jaxgtr

When I was in a paceline going about 25 and the guy in front of me just slammed on his brakes and moved to the left. I ended up running right into his cassette, and then I went down on my shoulder. Next thing I know, I am looking at the perfectly blue sky and wondering why I on the ground. He told me he hit the brakes errantly as he was really wanting to shift gears. I ended up having 5 surgeries to fix all the damage and have lasting nerve issues in my left shoulder.

chaadster

One I remember was both an “oh sh*t!” and an “oh wow!” moment. I was bombing down a hill in Bloomington, IN— from Kinser Pike into Lower Cascades park, for those who know it— and there was a 90° turn at the bottom. I was aware of the turn as I’d ridden the road before, however I was not anticipating a wash of water which was streaming across the road…right in my braking zone! I knew it would be bad to get on the brakes in the water, so I had to clear the wash and then late brake hard as possible before cranking the bike over for the turn. Well, I felt I went in way too hot and, facing the possibility of slamming the curb and getting pitched directly into a wall, had my “oh sh*t!” moment. Choosing not to resign myself to death, I eased off the brakes and leaned that bike over as hard as I ever have any bike before or since, and miraculously, it stuck and carved that turn like it was a Butterball turkey breast, resulting in my “oh wow!” moment. I’ve trusted Schwalbe One tires ever since that day.

PeteHski

Why didn't you unclip the other foot instead?

GlennR

I sort of tried,I always unclip the left. The right doesn't feel natural and I didn't have time.

PeteHski

So you actually took off your left shoe instead? Wow!

Mojo31

A few months ago, I caught a raised concrete edge and went over. Slid about 15 feet on the pavement on my left knee, shoulder and helmet. First time since my teens that I went over on a bike. Gave me something to think about.

Wife was behind me, and said I yelled “Mother f#@%&r” several times while I slid. So, not really an “Oh S” moment, but something else.

GlennR

Yes.. I couldn't get the right out. I have 20Nm springs in my pedals and it takes a bit of strength to unclip. I always have my left foot on the ground when I snap my right foot out.

And again, it was a split second decision to avoid going into the street. The fact that I had to take my shoe off is secondary.

I guess when I walked off the paved train for a "nature" break I picked up some dirt in the cleats which got under the leaf spring and greatly increased the tension.

PeteHski

Yeah I understand the split second decision part. It would have probably caught me out too. It was just the part about then resorting to taking off your left shoe instead of simply unclipping your right foot. I wouldn't ride any cleats that I couldn't unclip fairly easily on both sides in case of this kind of scenario. I have had cleats get jammed up before on my mountain bike. But never both sides at the same time. Like you I always unclip on the left first, but I can easily unclip the right too if I ever need to.

GlennR

My CX bike with SPD are much easier on both sides.

They do make 12Nm and 8Nm springs for the Look pedals I have. Might need to buy them.

Gonzo Bob

Years ago, my brother and I toured from Munich to Barcelona (and took in some stages of the Tour de France). I think it was day 4 we were riding over an Alpine pass from Germany to Austria. The climb up the pass was pretty gentle but it was raining. We got to the top and there was a sign just before the descent that said "no bikes." My brother got out the maps and looked for an alternate route but I think anything else would require going back down quite a bit and would add 3-5 hours to the riding that day. As we were discussing what to do, a roadie went by and bombed down the descent. So we said, "F* it, we're going down!" My hands were cramping up so bad during that descent from braking that we had to take a couple of breaks in the runaway ramps. And I was probably saying "F* it" all the way down. Luckily we had both put Koolstop Salmon brake pads on the bikes before that tour.

GlennR

Hydro disc would of been nice

mschwett 

i was bombing down a descent here that i've done probably 100 times this year. it has one four way intersection, stop signs all around. good visibility. if there's traffic, i stop. if not, i don't. (yes, yes i know.)

there is only one car in sight, a white rental car (who actually buys a white domestic sedan?) just finished stopping at the left stop sign, entering the intersection perpendicular to the road i'm on, and i'm probably 200 feet away, going 35-40mph. let's call it 55 feet per second. four seconds to the intersection. i don't slow down much, because, well, they're driving into the intersection and it can't possibly take that long for them to get all the way through it. they get halfway into the intersection and ... STOP. like, total dead panic stop. probably realized they should have turned.

the road was dry, but it was a tiny bit foggy/misty as it typically is here at dusk. i brake harder than i've ever braked, both brakes, i get as low as i can. both wheels lock up. the road is straight, smooth, pretty much dry, but at this point i'm basically just sliding downhill and i know that if i turn hard i'll go down hard. i pulse the brakes, yell **** **** **** and lean over hoping to get behind the car. obviously i'm not going to go in front of them. they go forward, i manage to get over a bit (but not into the oncoming lane, at this point i don't have visibility far enough ahead for that) and i clear their rear bumper by zero inches. actually felt the bumper on my right foot.

entirely my fault for not planning to come to a complete stop, and a good reminder that you can't assume car (or other cyclist/pedestrian) is going to behave normally.

ride data showed an rapid drop in cadence and power from 90rpm/250w to 0rpm/0w and a corresponding nearly instant rise in heart rate from 100bpm to 130bpm.... lesson learned.

rsbob 

I was descending in an urban area on a 4 lane road. There was a two way left turn lane in the middle where a car was stopped waiting for the cars ahead of me to clear. Was running in the low 20s since the hill had a good pitch. The cars ahead of me cleared the car which wanted to turn as I quickly approached. The woman in the car looked in my direction and I thought she had seen me so I kept coasting. Just when I was about 20 feet away, she pulls across the left lane and is just entering the right lane. That’s when I said, Oh s++t.

Luckily she spotted me at the last second and stopped in the middle of the lane I was in the center of as well. Not knowing how I did it, I managed to swerve the bike around the nose of her car, missing her by about a foot. The adrenaline was pumping and the shorts remained unsoiled. Her eyes were as big as pies.

Seattle Forrest

I was riding gravel and a bear abled across the first right in front of me. I stopped, waited for it to pass, then turned around and left the way I came.

rsbob 

Was on the MTB rolling along at a leisurely 5-6 MPH on a new trail. Came around a corner and stuck my front wheel between two roots which instantly grabbed the wheel like a vice. The O S moment was realizing I was going over the bars and there was nothing I could do about it. I was very abruptly body slammed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. A phenomenon I hadn’t experienced since being a 7 year old and falling out of a tree. Since my feet were clipped in SPDs and they didn’t release - no sideways torque applied, the bike then came over the top of me and crashed down on me. I was able to ride away.

Digger6255

My OH Sh*t moment was also on a MUP that is my main ride. I was crossing over one of the busier streets and a pickup stopped at crossover and waved me across. I clipped back in and started across but he suddenly decided to go. There was no way I could get unclipped in time so I had 2 choices.

Get hit by the truck or go down. I decided to go down but since bike was pretty new and just finished getting it the way I wanted. I threw myself down taking great care to no let the bike hit the ground. I was laying there on my back stilled clipped in with the bike in the air. The next driver jumped out to see if I was alright so I asked him to grab my bike while I released the pedals.

I was sore for a couple days but the bike didn’t get a scratch!

CAT7RDR

The most recent one happened so fast I did not have time to even contemplate a move.
Pinch flat on the front tire slammed me into the asphalt on my left shoulder and hip going about 20 mph rounding a curve.

The "Oh ****!" came after the crash when I scrambled to get out of the lane before being run over.

Two months out and I am still recovering from a rotator cuff injury and will be for several more months with PT.

rsbob 

This thread proves cycling isn’t for sissies

BkSaGo

Two that come to mind:

One was at the end of ride, rolling down my driveway to the garage. Came to a stop then realized “Oh s***, I haven’t unclipped”. Had a zero speed fall. No real damage to me or the bike.

The other involved getting the front wheel stuck a rut of missing pavement on a city street. The rut was maybe 2-3 inches wide and deep, running sort of parallel to the curb, but angled towards the curb. When my wheel dropped into the rut, it jerked the bike towards the curb. After a brief “oh s***”, I was a able to pop the front wheel out the rut and maintain control to avoid being taken into the curb.

znomit

FTFY.

OP I bet you wished you had got a pair of those pitbulls now eh?

PeteHski

I wouldn’t hesitate for one second if you can’t unclip both sides without serious effort!

rsbob 

Just remembered a very undramatic moment. Bike commuted to work and was just finished and rolling up the curb-cut to the front door at maybe 1 MPH. The front wheel got stuck in a 2” x 1.5” deep pattern cut in the concrete. Totally caught me buy surprise since I have rolled up about 500X. No time to unclip and down I went. No one around then, saving me more embarrassment than I had already.

Russ Roth

Worst moment was a large sweeping downhill, not too tight but really required leaning the bike at 55mph, just got up to speed when I hit a patch of sand and gravel. Both tires lost traction and the bike just slid sideways towards the other side in part due to the curve of the road. Was seriously contemplating seeing if I could bunny hop the ditch and keep it upright into the field as I figured I was heading into the ditch which has boulders in it, instead, right at the yellow line the tires caught and with the way I was leaning still the bike rocketed back across the road. No sooner do I clear the center line when a car comes around the bend in the opposite direction. Missed a head on collision by all of 1-2 seconds at best. Haven't been past 50mph since then.

frogman

Thats super scary Russ, I almost peed my pants just reading it !