[Closed] Cycling rights of passage...

glueing tubs is quite a relaxing job, barrring the stench.
It's like waxing leather walking boots or a brooks saddle. Very satisfying.

I concur, quite therapeutic really.

Servicing a cup and cone hub for the first time and feeling how smooth it is...

Faceplant.

Stripping a thread the night before a big ride and breaking a sweat.

Truing your own wheel.

Stripping a thread the night before a big ride and breaking a sweat.

Ah yes, I sheared the head off a pivot bolt the day before flying out for a week in Morzine. Fair to say I broke a sweat!

Servicing a cup and cone hub for the first time and feeling how smooth it is...

Proper black art stuff that!

Fitting headset cups with a block of hood and a hammer,

Building a bike, rather than buying off the shelf

indexing a rear mech perfectly

I'd add bleeding brakes to the list too.

collar bone

Repairing a tub.

Sudocream cream.

Infected arse hair follicle.

Walking along a track pretending you are riding a bike along it.

When riving along and seeing a manhole cover you ease the throttle / lift you weigh up slight up slightly in a subconsciousnesly manor as the wheels pass over it.

Seeing a man with a big beard makes you think of Sheldon Brown.

Buying parts secretly like an alcoholic hide their drinking.

Having an old bike or frame that you will not throw away for scentimental reasons.

Snowdon

scentimental reasons

the way it smells?

Riding 100 miles (in one go)
Building a pair of wheels from scratch

First free-range log.

Getting the bar tape on a road bike right....

Setting off a speed camera

getting caught in rain so heavy that you just accept and somewhat enjoy getting completely drenched.

Getting every part of the bike and yourself dirty (some parts may only become wet/gritty) in one ride.

Getting both wheels off the ground for the first time.
Breaking a bone.
Cycling home without any lights on.
Being stopped by the police for speeding.
Going into a bike shop and not being patronised.
Riding a bike you built from the tubes up.
Hitting a sheep.

Hitting a sheep 😯

Accidentally. It's not a hobby or anything.

sitting in the bus stop at Peaslake, drinking a cup of coffee and eating a cheese straw after sessioning Barry's

Fitting headset cups with a block of hood and a hammer,

Everyone should have a go at building a wheel. Getting it true is alomst as good as a 4 jaw chuck.

Wearing your first ever pair of padded shorts

Chamois cream

Paying more for your bike than you did for your car

First alpine col

Failing to unclip in front of a whole load of people (ideally of the opposite sex)

Getting down something with no idea how
Dolly Waggon Pike
First hour long descent
Stuff behind the Nat West in Swindon

Megavalanche

Failing to unclip in front of a whole load of people (ideally of the opposite sex)

For bonus points, topple slowly onto the bonnet of a police car.

First chairlift to the top of your first ever bike park run 🙂

Being chased by a dog.

Getting a tyre off without using levers/spoons.

Getting a tyre on without using levers/spoons.

Repairing a puncture at the side of the road or in the company of feral sheep.

Getting nailed by a taxi while riding home drunk. (Actually I don't recommend it.)

Having a bike stolen.
🙁
Stopping for cakes and tea and not caring how many calories because, dammit, I just rode for the last four hours.
😛

Riding into a parked car because you were looking behind you, then hoping no-one's watching as you pick yourself up off the floor.

Bonking
Pinning on a number
Being hit by a car 🙁

First 200 miler in one go.
Riding fixed.
Taking your first corner on a fixed bike
Doubles
Your first, really fast chain gang where you're thundering along at 35mph in a big crowd and it's not hurting you in the slightest.

The three peaks.

And the not recommended things
First snapped crank
First snapped frame
First time being hit by a car
First fight with a motorist
Pushing your bike home 13 miles because it's broken catastrophically
Pedalling home 13 miles with one leg because your crank snapped.

Paying more for your bike than you did for your car

you own a car!!!!

Jonba - Yes, a proper bonk is a triumphant a rite of passage...Speed dropped to a wobbly 3 miles an hour, head down, legs shaking and the longest 5 miles home you'll ever ride.

overtaking cars descending a col

First 24hr solo

First day on crutches (today as it happens)

That zen like moment on a long trip when everything is just right.
Smiling from head to toe ,you feel tuned in to everything .
🙂

fixing someones bike in your LBS when you only went in for a brew

being asked for advice:

'what bike should i buy'

etc.

Borrowing your sisters jeans,
Your grandmas cardigan,
Your dads "hush puppies",
Your mothers beard,
Your NHS glasses from the 70's you purchased from a Pop Up in Brick Lane,
Your 70's Peugeot roadie with flipped up bars,

Then getting ended by an Addison Lee minibus.

[i]overtaking cars descending a col [/i]

Overtaking cars on the flat 😉

overtaking cars descending a col

Overtaking cars on the flat

Overtaking cars climbing a hill

Fitting and adjusting front derailleur.

Bunnyhop

First post on STW 😉

Climbing a very high mountain in Spain, when you thought there was no way you were going to do that today. Coming down from said mountain and crying at my achievement.
Replacing rear shock seal kit and it working afterwards.
Replacing gear cables and indexing them perfectly.

First actual mountain
First uplift
First race
First DNF because you realise halfway through it's not any fun
First ride in a foreign country
First time you get faster than the people who got you into riding
And at the risk of upsetting certain people, first black route.

First time hearing "the beeps" at the start of a DH race run.

indexing a rear mech perfectly

Getting the bar tape on a road bike right....

already covered the stuff I was going to list. First ride on clipless and falling over.

realistically 200mile and 24hr solo probably won't happen 🙁

The first time you get that moment of complete silence just before the 'whump' as the wheels hit the ground again and you're still the right way up and rolling...

This still gives me a big grin every time it happens.

groin area meeting a quill stem

aaaah yes ^^^

First Shin/Platform Pedal with Long Pins Interface

Also - First 30mph >>> Baggy Chain Link Fence Interface [deeply impressive front-flips result]

Also - First 30mph >>> Baggy Chain Link Fence Interface

Dare I say first time shaving your legs to see how it feels/ some other reason that you do it to justify it to your wife/others.

Dog crap bottle mouth sick
Moth mouth cough nose sick
BigBreakfast big hill peleton sick
Hangover too fast whoops sick

Last week I punctured and found out that the two spare tubes I had in my pack were also punctured. Doh! I've been riding for 15years and this was the first time I'd tried the knotted innertube trick. It worked a treat 🙂

mrblobby - Member

First post on STW

Using the wrong words in an STW thread title, totally changing the context of the phrase only for some pedant to come along and correct you in the most patronising manner.

Rights/Rites [/rolly eyes, Jean-Luc Picard facepalm img]

Have we had falling off ? 😀

I took my brother for his second ever mountain bike ride at the weekend, and his first proper crash- heard a big skid, looked over my shoulder to see trees getting shaken around. "You alright?" short pause. "That was BRILLIANT! Now get me out of this tree!"

So yeah, there's one I reckon. Not just crashing, but [i]embracing the crash.[/i]

First night ride

Pulling an all nighter fixing most of your bike after that 5 minute repair job you tried to do before bed sparks a cataclysmic chain of events.

recovering a stolen bike!

Taking all the skin off your shins with your pedals.
Ending up upside down in a ditch, still unable to get yourself unclipped, while your mates point at you and laugh.

Rights/Rites [/rolly eyes, Jean-Luc Picard facepalm img]

DOH!!!!!

Definitely Megavalanche

First nose blow that doesn't go on your shorts

Explaining to your boss for the first time that, despite being a fully grown Adult, you broke your arm/shoulder/leg/finger playing with your push-bike in the woods.

Waking up warlier at the weekend to go riding than you can manage in the week to go to work - 20 years and still going strong on that one!

Seeing as this started with tubs:

Putting on your spare tub after getting a puncture in the rain. 🙂

Plank of wood to make a ramp. Jump over your pals lined up on the ground.

First time you end up upside down in a tree, bonus points for not quite being sure how you arrived there for a good few min

grounding your pedal going round a corner on a fixed gear

having to replace wheels because you've worn out the rim braking track through riding and racking up the miles

getting to the top of a climb that is well known and thinking afterwards 'that wasn't so bad, so what about.....'

going riding with someone who has a proper flash bike and a big mouth, and riding them off your wheel 🙂

Getting the gear shifts dialled for the first time.

Panicking about weather the LBS will open in time for a last minute part prior to a ride, and so not being left behind

Building your first frame up from scratch.