Viewing 37 posts - 1 through 37 (of 37 total)
  • Embarrassing offs
  • tenfoot
    Full Member

    Had a lovely ride Sunday morning, chucking myself down a couple of the more technical trails in the North Downs around Maidstone interlinked with some nice twisty wooded sections.
    As the ride took me closer to home I decided to extend it by riding along a newly opened towpath along the Medway.
    Seems that the world and his missus were out walking on Sunday, so I kept right over to the walled right hand side of the towpath, to make sure I didn’t hit any of the oncoming peds. Unfortunately I hadn’t noticed a tree stump sticking out of the wall, my bars hit it and I went OTB in front of a bloke and his 2 kids. I felt a bit of a pranny and he looked at me in a “serves you right” expression as I’d just ridden past the ” cyclists dismount” sign on the left hand side of the towpath 😳

    Hopefully a few of you have similar or more embarrassing stories to make me feel better.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    I was sessioning a section of of track at Cannock the other day, and as I was just pushing my bike up the track to repeat a wee bit…

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    tenfoot
    Full Member

    I’d missed that rOcKeTdOg. That trumps mine by miles.

    stevego
    Free Member

    Sunday before last was riding the cross bike on some local singletrack, stopped to allow an oncoming moutain-biker to get passed and failed to unclip. Bike went down and full weight on side of top tube. Cue loud cracking sound and swearing. Top tube cracked. Bloody mountain biker didn’t even stop despite seeing me topple. Frame is now in getting assessed and hopefully repaired as it was the n+1 bike and only just d-1

    MarkBrewer
    Free Member

    I started lift sharing with a guy at work earlier in the year so I sometimes cycle across town to his house. On the way home one day I was coasting upto a crossroads to make sure nothing was coming, it was all clear so I stood up to pedal and next thing I knew I was in a heap in the middle of the road 😯

    Once I’d picked myself and the bike up I worked out the chain had snapped when I stood up to pedal and jammed in the back wheel so as the bike was stopping I was still going forward and went OTB. The worse bit was I landed on the elbow I’d fractured a few years ago and I’m sure there’s another bit of bone floating around in there now 👿

    If anybody had a dashcam on it would have easily been £250 from You’ve been framed, it probably looked hilarious to the people in the car pulling upto the junction opposite 😆

    Klunk
    Free Member

    the bombers on my old kona needed to be weighted to compress the lock out eta or something like that. I was a bit tire towards the end of a ride and over cooked it a tad and managed to throw myself over the bars 😳 😀

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    Many years ago, I did a big ride on the South Downs around Goodwood with (for me) loads of climbing. I’d done it all, and the last bit was a long, fast downhill down a farm track that eventually ran into a road and then ended up at a pub with a car park where I’d left the car.

    It was late afternoon / early evening when I got back and the car park was full of walkers and the beer garden full of drinkers. And inevitably after a long ride and a last hammer downhill, just as I came to a halt I cramped in both legs, failed to unclip, balanced for what seemed like an eternity and then toppled over gently. All the while everyone watching soundlessly, all thinking ‘why doesn’t he put a foot down?’

    But to add to it – the fall was so gentle it didn’t dislodge me so I’m now lying on my side in a pub car park still attached to my bike. Eventually the cramps subsided enough to enable me to get up, and in embarrassment I load the bike into the car and drive away without saying a thing, and without anyone muttering as much as a WTAF?

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Riding fort william on my hardtail, stopped for a breather. Chap on a dh bike says “Isn’t that really difficult, on a hardtail?” “Nah, it’s really not that bad”, ride off…

    eddiebaby
    Free Member

    Not an off so much but still embarrassing. I was commuting home on my Bad Boy SS from our trading estate office in Didcot. I’m static on the hill at the lights on the bridge over the railway when I hear the bus from Milton Science Park pull up behind me.
    Lights turn green, I rise to the attack and my Scoop saddle nose hooks into my shorts and pulls them down to lower buttock height. Behind me I hear a revving bus full of commuters so can do nothing other than throw in the 15-20 pedal strokes in to get to the top of the slope before standing in the pedals and pulling the shorts back up.
    A couple of minutes later I had to cycle through the nice young people disembarking the same bus at the rail station.

    At least nobody recognised me from the front so there was no eye contact.

    Ming the Merciless
    Free Member

    Exiting a bomb hole I’ve ridden 100’s of times I looked over my shoulder to see if I was being followed and then I’m sprawling on the floor with a nice graze on my elbow and a very sore shoulder. It was bone dry and perfect conditions and I dropped it at just over walking pace!

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    Riding around Llandegla car park,low sided round a corner as the back wheel slid out. Grade3 dislocation of my right shoulder. Had to be reduced under general anaesthetic and was used as a teaching case as it was so textbook perfect.
    I was working there at the time…….

    Alex
    Full Member

    So many.. but latest one was falling into a stream on Saturday. After saying ‘I don’t know why this bridge gives me the heebies as it’s impossible to fall of it’. I then tried again and nearly fell off the other side. Luckily my riding buddies were very supportive and hardly took the micky at all 😉

    gavinpearce
    Free Member

    Not me but a mate had an OTB at the very start of Barry knows best – yes just past the the
    Logs! He was cranking away and I think somehow clipped a pedal on a stone. In slow mo he went over. He’s a good rider too. I was just disappointed that no one else witnessed it!

    kayla1
    Free Member

    There’s a loop that I do most mornings that involves a field we call ‘The Lovely View’. On climbing up to it, the same we way do every time we do it, I took a slightly different line into the field, straight into a pothole and straight over the bars at a mighty 1mph 😳 😆

    rocketman
    Free Member

    Broken rib after a pathetic attempt to pop off a little jump one-handed all cool like just because a couple of girls were walking the other way. Landed crossed-up went OTB and my bike cartwheeled past the bemused girls.
    “I’m alright. groaaaaaaaaan”

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Straight into one of the 4ft deep puddles on the Sarn Helen track just south of Betws on Saturday. Why are there always bloody walkers around to watch me make a prat of myself? 🙂

    bruceandhisbonus
    Free Member

    Last summer I was out on a solo ride up Bennachie (local hill outside Aberdeen – 528m according to wiki) and having struggled all the way to the top of one of the peaks I was just starting the fun bit of coming down. I slowed down to walking pace to pass a couple of walkers and somehow managed to go over the bars right in front of them as I passed. It was a nice flat path so no idea what happened, must’ve been a stray rock sticking out of the heather I didn’t notice as I was saying “it’s a lovely afternoon isn’t it” to them.

    To compound the embarrassment, why rear wheel was left buckled (and then declared unfixable by LBS) so I had to walk all the way back down. Quickest way down was up over another one of the peaks on the main walkers path/rocky scramble. It was misery.

    milky1980
    Free Member

    Riding the first big climb on Brechfa’s Raven, got to the bit after the slippy rocks and the hairpin turn. Spinning up the next steep bit in my lowest gear at, ooh, maybe 2mph when I get to one of the small drainage gutters that I know is only an inch or two deep. Cue my front wheel stalling in said 2 inch gutter and me very slowly and perfectly going OTB and landing flat on my back. Got up and the bike was perfectly placed upside down on the bars and stem somehow and I was covered in gloop all down my back. Thought I’d got away with it until I heard a semi-distant voice giggling from one of the walker trails nearby 😳

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    1st..rolling along.. Tried to put my glasses in my pocket.. Rolled into a tree.. Smashed my nose

    2nd..rolling along.. Looked down at my gears. Slipped on root. Smashed helmet and nose

    Both at about 5 mph.

    hanchurch
    Free Member

    When I was at uni, a couple of mates and I had been riding round the campus down stairs, over benches along walls etc for an hour or so with no major offs, on my way home I fluffed a bunny hop up a curb at about 20 mph and skidded along the pavement on my shoulder, hip and knee.

    globalti
    Free Member

    Plenty of offs when I used to mountain bike, especially the one on a night ride when I rode down a big step formed by soil backed up behind a tree trunk lying across a slope. Thought I’d done it with great style so I went back up to show them all how it’s done…. and rode it too slowly, went OTB and ate dirt. Happily it was clean woodland dirt and not rocks or dog poo.

    Probably the most public crash was on the roadie, riding the Cape Argus race. My SA agent is in the habit of standing at the roadside serenading the passing cyclists with his bagpipes. The first two years I rode the Argus we missed each other but on year three I worked out the timings and he said he would be there with his wife, kids and FIL and a cool box of drinks. So I’m whizzing along in a massive endless peloton of 32,000 riders, hear the skirl of the pipes, shoulder check, move across and head for what looks like the gravel shoulder of the road where they are standing. What I didn’t know was that it was deep loose gravel, so as I arrived both wheels washed out and I crashed on my arse, still clipped in, coming to a stop right at their feet in a cloud of orange dust. I don’t know who was more surprised; they hadn’t seen me coming amongst all the riders so only had a second or two to recognise me slowing down. Happily the only damage was to my pride… oh how we laughed…. and still do, every time I go there. I expect they will remind me again on Sunday when I arrive in Cape Town.

    pocpoc
    Free Member

    Riding a level(ish) singletrack in the Peaks with lots of little dips and shallow, hard bottomed puddles. Happily splashing through them, getting more confident.
    Right up until the one that was a bit deeper and quite muddy in the bottom. Straight over the bars and landed in the rest of the sizeable puddle. Worst bit was I landed on my feet, fell slowly to my knees and couldn’t stop the momentum carrying me over to laying in it front first. In late October. It was freezing!
    Only seen by the mate I was with, but it gave him great amusement.

    EDIT: Added pic off the offending puddle (with abandoned soggy gloves)….

    rascott
    Free Member

    Inaugural ride on my new Spesh Camber 26″ FS bike out on the SDW near Cheesefoot. Early December 2012, clear blue sky, sub zero, frozen muddy ruts. Coming down the bridleway enjoying my new found full suss assisted confidence. Hit a frozen rut at too sharp an angle and front wheel gets knocked side ways and I sail OTB. As I lay there recovering I look up to see a group of about 20 ramblers having a tea break in one of the hay barns. Only comment offered was “It’s OK – he bounced”

    retro83
    Free Member

    Tried to bunny hop one of those joins in the road on my road bike. Stuffed the landing big time which meant my full weight went straight on the nose of the saddle, via my gooch, causing it to bend in half. With nothing now to support my weight I slipped forward, fortunately my descent was stopped by my beanbag hitting the top tube.

    I was still clipped in and at the time being new to SPDs I couldn’t unclip so I just rolled to the side of the road and sort of fell off in slow motion.

    The whole thing was witnessed by three builders sitting in a parked up white van who gave me a bit of a cheer before laughing their arses off at my expense while I sat at the side of the road trying not to puke.

    freeagent
    Free Member

    Big roundabout at Tower Hill (near Tower Bridge, London) one of my first rides clipped-in.
    traffic lights changed to red as I approached, I stopped in the ‘cyclists box’ but forgot to unclip – gracefully fell sideways onto the deck.
    The two vehicles stopped behind me were a dustcart + a while van full of builders, all of whom cracked up laughing.

    doris
    Free Member

    A few years ago now at the cymcarn dh tracks, last run of the day i think. Got off the uplift and pushed up to the start ramp and waited with my mate as we were hoping that nigel page and few young speedy racers would set off before us. But they were having a long chat so we set off with gusto and furious speed so as not to loose face in front of the world cup racers! it all goes wrong as we hit the first big jump at the top in full view of nigel page and friends. My mate gets the jump wrong but as i am about 2ft from his back wheel i watch with intent as he crash lands in front of me and i proceed to land on his bike and pile off into the bushes. We were both up in a flash and away down the track i’m sure there was a round of applause as we went :o)

    WillH
    Full Member

    Commuting home, at the transition from an off-road shared path to the end of a cul-de-sac I have to pass through a narrow gap – gate post on the left, low (~1 foot) fence on the right. Done it hundreds of times.

    On this occasion I managed to clip the gate post with the bars, front wheel span 90° and I started to go over the bars. I very nearly managed to recover but by this time my forward momentum evaporated and I was kinda half OTB but still clipped in. I sort of slid over sideways in a heap.

    The group of school girls walking the other way made a spirited but ultimately futile attempt not to laugh while one asked if I was ok. I can confirm it’s not possible to unclip with dignity whilst on the floor. 😳

    Kahurangi
    Full Member

    Can someone post the video of TINAS going OTB for me please?

    Doh1Nut
    Full Member

    This morning I tried to avoid a cow pat
    Which not only did I fail to do but managed to wash out the front wheel and fall on the spikiest cheese-grater concrete farm track.

    I am now sitting gently bleeding into my work shirt and trousers – and I need to straighten my mech hanger at lunch time. 😥
    And try to clean the cowpat off my camelbak and shirt

    swamptin
    Free Member

    I’ve had plenty of just riding along when suddenly on the deck moments. One was when I lived in London and in front of a bunch of tourists I went from perfectly upright to the same position, but horizontal, on the deck in torrential rain. Turns out I’d hit a small bump in the tarmac.

    My mate had quite possibly the best one in California. Came down Braille on a rental, had been pinning the whole trail and decided to show off to the boys gathered at the bottom of the trail with a nice big skid. Cue hard lock of the front brake.

    wilder
    Free Member

    First time riding the blue at CyB when it had just opened, I exit the first section a tad too quickly while simultaneously trying to read the waymarking. A major speed-wobble ensues and I end up sort of running along the tarmac with the bike round my legs, eventually tripping over it and landing in a heap. I still remember the utterly baffled look of the rider behind.

    jonm81
    Full Member

    When quite a bit younger I had borrowed my sister’s pink (not that dark fuchsia pink, proper girly barbie pink) road bike as my MTB was broken again. Whilst motoring along at a fair pace and enjoying the speed I forgot that road bikes have skinny tyres and promptly rode over a drain. What followed was a spectacular OTB after watching in horror as the front wheel disappeared down between the slats in the drain cover.

    All this was about 20m from a very busy bus stop. One of the old dears from the bus stop comes running over, gets about 5m away then turns round shouts “Oh it’s ok, it was a boy!” then wanders off back into the queue. I then had the shame of walking 2 miles home with bleeding hands, knees and elbows pushing a now broken pink bike.

    ant77
    Free Member

    Walking Bottom car park in Peaslake.
    Demo day for Specialized the other weekend.
    Trying out one of their e-bikes.

    I could leave it there, but…

    Rode a short distance, just 10m or so, up the track then turned to come back to wait for my mate that was getting set up. Managed to clip a log hidden in some grass and because of the angle I was turning at I ended up flat on my back in front of all the Spec staff and waiting punters…

    Lester
    Free Member

    doing a climb on tdmb, got to the top of a section, might have been a border, about 50 people all chilling, watching people arrive and depart.
    looking at the next section with water bars didnt notice that id put my bike right next to a step down hidden in the grass, straght over the bars in front of everyone, doh 🙁

    joshvegas
    Free Member

    Cutting about town on my fixie skidder.

    Wee skiddy stop at the lights and mid way out of removing foot from clips and strap i got a green so changed my mind and shoved my foot back in straight through the gap between very loose strap and toe clip so there i was with my foot stuck at the ankle and all my weight forcing me to topple.

    Totally unhurt but unable to free myself infront of alot of drivers waiting payiently and laughing. O had to drag my self and bike attached to ankle to thd side of the road.

    colournoise
    Full Member

    Ming the Merciless – Member
    It was bone dry and perfect conditions and I dropped it at just over walking pace!

    My speciality.

    [video]http://vimeo.com/219672796[/video]

    [video]http://vimeo.com/219669055[/video]

    [video]http://vimeo.com/219672047[/video]

    Bonus points to anyone who can identify all three trails. One’s easy, one’s not too hard of you’ve been there, and last is tricky (especially with the camera mount malfunction).

Viewing 37 posts - 1 through 37 (of 37 total)

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