Chuck M 

A couple of years ago, my wife had to go on a liquid diet a few weeks before a surgery. In order to be supportive I went on it with her. I was still running and riding and was not concerned because I had some extra pounds I could lose. I had a crash I have yet to determine was from someone's sprinkler getting into the road on a turn I took at 20+ mph or blacking out from the calorie deficit. I'm leaning towards the calorie deficit because I actually came to in the middle of an intersection with my bike about 20' in front of me. My "Oh Doodie" thought was someone was going to come along in the dark and run over my bike. Then I realized my Bontrager lights should alert them my bike was in the road. A bigger "Oh Feces Balls" thought crossed my mind when I realized they probably wouldn't see me in the middle of the road.

BTW, when my wife came in and saw me tending to the road rash, I blamed it on the sprinkler which I may have invented in my mind so she wouldn't feel bad about me doing her liquid diet. I've also gained back any weight I lost while on the liquid diet so that is another "Oh Crap" situation.

Chuck M 

I think this post wins the thread if there is a competition.

Russ Roth

I've done some stupid things in life that could have easily done me in but that was the closest I ever came. Only though in my head was "if I die, MJ is gonna kill me" which was hilarious when I stopped to think about it and made me realize how much she mattered.

MinnMan

I've had plenty of those moments.

One memorable one - when I was using my old KHS as both a commuter and a winter bike, at some point in the spring, I swapped out the studded tires for regular tires. And then I didn't ride it for a few days.

When I commute, I go a few blocks from my house on flat terrane, and then turn on a short street that has about a 5-6% grade down to a traffic light. I start going down the hill and realize I have.....no brakes! Stupid, when I swapped tires, I forgot to re-fasten the tightening levers on the long-reach Tektro brakes - full squeeze on both brake levers applied no pressure at all.

And it's a red light and there is traffic coming in both directions!

It's a commuter, so flat pedals, and I tried dragging one foot on the pavement - but that had essentially no effect at that grade.

There is a bike lane on the cross street. I somehow managed to make the tight turn into the bike lane - going the wrong direction of traffic b/c cars waiting at the light didn't give me any angle in the right direction....

Almost got myself killed through negligence....

MinnMan

Here's another - and I've posted about this one before.

In a group ride, ahead of me there's a wheel touch. We were going in the low 2x mph. Several people go down. I was able to shed some speed, but in the chain reaction of people going down, suddenly there's a guy who falls on his back, his body at 90 degrees to our original direction...and my front wheel is moving directly for his head. When I last was aware, I think the wheel was less than a meter away from contact.

I don't know how I did it, but the next thing I know, I've dismounted, my bike is thrown off to my right, and I am standing almost directly over him - just a little to his left. He looks up at me and asks me why I''m standing over him like that.....

I've posted about this before when the topic comes up about how do you unclip in an emergency? I don't know how, but, you just do.

roadie276

I've had a time or two when I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I should (oncoming car distracted me in one case, at least), and I found my front wheel in a like 1/2" crack going lengthwise down the road. Sounds innocent, but these things will put you down immediately if you start to overbalance and can't correct, as people are probably aware. Both times that I think I can recall, I managed to sort of bunny hop out of the crack, nearly spill due to front wheel suddenly being like 3" from where it was, and recover with nary a problem besides the massive adrenaline spike that resulted.

rumrunn6

wow, good for you! your experience level & cat-like reflexes saved yer butt! when preparation meets opportunity (hate the word luck) noticed you didn't mention considering riding up to an object like a tree or fence to stop at & lean on. or a worse option, looking for a grassy yard to take a fall on

rumrunn6

great story! but yeah it's weird, but I've dumped bikes & landed on my feet my whole life

rumrunn6

haven't been that fast but of all my post-ride regrets, speed is the most common. why is it so darn fun?

GlennR

Once I made the left I had clear space and time to figure it out.

Would up being something between the petal and carbon leaf spring that increased the tension. It was corrected by using a screwdriver to open the spring and whatever was there came out. I've since had 2 uneventful rides I also found a good technique for uncliping me right foot. So now if it were to happen again I can use either foot.. .as suggested.

MinnMan

Yow.

I think my max speed is in the high 40s. I've been on long mountain descents where higher speeds were possible, but I just don't have the cajones to trust it.
I'm most comfortable at higher speeds where it's most safe - i.e., straight road, good pavement, and I can see the road turning back up hill after the bottom.

GlennR

You never know the road unless you just rode it.

There's a hill called "Fish Hatchery" here, it's about 1 mile long and you can easily hit 50+mph. normally I ride up and know the pavement was fresh and smooth. But one day I took a different rout and went down. About 3/4 of the way down I saw that a large square section of blacktop had been worked on and the top layer was not laid leaving a 1-2" drop in the surface. My only reaction was to bunny hop it which I did.

At age 65 I don't heal as fast so I try to keep max speed in the low 40s.. unless I just road that section that day.

ussprinceton

there was a small snake on the road that I ran over. Luckily it wasn't too big as to where it would make me crash. Better yet, it didn't bite me

Iride01 

My most recent was a few months ago. I had just left the house and was coming to a stop behind a car at a traffic light with a car behind me and no where else to go. I couldn't get my foot unclipped and I had to stop or hit the car in front.

Then all of a sudden I realized I could un-clip the other foot and all was well, with no embarrassing impact to the car or fall. <grin>

Wound up being one of the screws in my cleat had become loose. I guess since the shoes were maybe as much as ten years old I should have checked the security of them a few times since putting the cleats on.

billridesbikes

The moment I learned you could get a custom bike built for yourself.

MinnMan

That reminds me of another. When I was living in Canberra, I was on my first ride up into the Tidbinbilla mountains. We were on a long descent doing, I don't know, 30-35 MPH, and I was maybe riding 4th wheel, though of course we were well spaced out. It was a quiet road, not quite 2 lanes wide. Up ahead, a. red bellied black snake about 2 meters long starts crossing the road. The guys in front of me held their lines and crossed ahead of it, but it was moving too fast for me to do the same. I had time to alter my line and crossed behind its tail. I'm not sure what scared me more, going down with the snake in my wheels or the venom. Later I learned that their poison is "not so bad" compared to other venomous species in Australia.

Seattle Forrest

Seattle Forrest

I went over the bars once as a kid, and landed on my feet. Literally hit the ground running. Couldn't stop in time and ran right into a wall, my arm hurt for a week, but it could have been so much worse. I counted they as a win and kept riding bikes.

rumrunn6

[QUOTE=Seattle Forrest;22217989]I went over the bars once as a kid, and landed on my feet. Literally hit the ground running/QUOTE]hehe nice! now that I'm older & riding MTB, I find myself on my back, looking at the sky, a bit more often