# Scariest moment on ride?



## beermonster (29 Apr 2012)

For me it was last Friday, climbing a steepish winding hill and hearing the screech of brakes behind me. Braking lasted a fair few seconds so the kid must of been moving at a fair pace! No prizes for guessing what he was driving.. lowered saxo with every Halfords add on he could find in shop!
Anyway after negotiating my bike off he roared again, k**b


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## dirtjumps (14 May 2012)

Got to be going down a long winding road (get about 20-25mph) and out comes a 4x4 BMW out of no where and how I didn't hit it I don't know Phew!


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## Nigel-YZ1 (14 May 2012)

Had a few, I've mentioned the caravan towing truck in Tickhill before.
Having an idiot come head on to me, overtaking at 70mph+ and passing within a foot of my leg, under my waving arm is the prize winner. I really cannot face the idea of dedicated road riding again after nearly a year. What I have in my life now is worth too much to lose.

Somehow there really has to be a rethink of road law enforcement, and the re-establishment of common sense.
Why do people have to risk death just to go from one place to another?


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## Fnaar (14 May 2012)

Mine was a sheep suddenly deciding to cross the unfenced road I was whizzing down at 40mph+ broon troozaz moment!! 

Sent mobile phone stylee


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## RaRa (15 May 2012)

Getting hit by a stretch limo for me, idiot was in a left hand drive and had a pile of boxes on the passenger seat he couldnt see over so he just pulled out in front on me. Left me lying in the road after I'd left a large human imprint in the side of the door.


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## fossyant (15 May 2012)

Probably a stupid mistake we make on a club run once. Had just climbed out of Flash onto Axe edge, then turned off the main road in an easterly direction, to skirt the south side of Buxton. About 10 of us barrelling down a hill, sharp left hander, one rider over cooks it, takes it wide, as everyone else follows. Van coming up the other way.  How we all made it down the side of the van and the stone wall on the wrong side of the road, I don't know.  

Had numbeous crashes/car incidents, but they weren't scarey, just 'oh this is going to hurt' as you just don't have time to think about it. 

Crashed on a bend descending the Cat and Fiddle some years back, hot day, hit spilt dairy produce (common tanker route). Sliding across the road at 25 mph on ones bum, and you can see the cars coming towards you. fortunately they stopped, I jumped up and legged it to the side of the road. Massive hole in my shorts (like Cav's in the Giro this week) and a huge hole in my arse. Skinned hand, elbow, side of leg. Only 12 miles to cycle home with my butt hanging out. My that stung, especially in the shower  That said, I was in the pub the same night showing off the war wounds.


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## GrasB (15 May 2012)

In the middle of a fast alpine descent when I hear a loud cracking ping beneath me. Look down to see one end of my QR skewer missing.


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## machew (15 May 2012)

Going sideways through a ford on a tandem


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## arallsopp (15 May 2012)

Mentioned before, but definitely heading along a country lane in the early morning, dew on the grass, dry road running parallel to fence, horse other side of fence, synchronicity as we match speed, posts flashing by, legs thundering, all means of expression reduced to velocity....

Then the fence ends. 5 metres before the field does. Suddenly, I've got 3ft of horse head 2ft behind me. Turns out, a recumbent can out sprint a horse if the rider is suitably motivated.


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## Rickshaw Phil (15 May 2012)

I went for a ride in the snow a couple of winters ago using knobbly but not studded tyres. It was good fun and I found the grip was surprisingly good so I started to get quite confident with the conditions..... until I got to this corner.

The road is downhill and the descent steepens as you go round the corner. Add to this the fact that the snow had been compacted and polished by the farm traffic and I suddenly realised there was no way I could slow enough to take the corner. The choice was brake, probably lock the wheels and fall off or don't brake and slide off the road.

I chose to brake and despite doing it as gently as I possibly could, the wheels did lock and I ended up lying on my back still holding onto the bike. Luckily the crash was more embarrassing than painful as I ungracefully slid to a halt, but that moment of realisation that it was going to happen and there was nothing I could do about it was scary.


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## MrJamie (15 May 2012)

Happily accelerating down a 10% hill on a dirty dusty road (clearly too fast), sharp corner and side of a house fast approaching pull the brakes, rear locks up instantly and back end slides out at speed, release the brakes and collect it but that split second moment when i realise i cant even try to take the corner at this speed and my brakes arent up to slowing down my mass and started that horrible thought process of deciding what to hit. Thankfully 2nd time round but literally only a second later brakes didnt lock up and i straightline braked towards the bushes on the opposite side of the road and managed to come to a stop only partly in the bushes. Mostly stupidity, but also poor weight distribution on descent, but a very scarey reminder at the time.

Only other thing i can think of was cycling at about 30-35mph in a 30 with no houses(tsk tsk) and being surprisenly overtaken by a landrover with some moron screaming out of the window as they passed hugely over the speed limit, gave me a proper wobble.


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## jdtate101 (15 May 2012)

My scariest moment, would be when the car pulled out in front of me (my latest accident). When things seem to go into slow motion and you know it's coming and all you can think is "This is REALLY going to hurt".


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## BrumJim (15 May 2012)

Many years ago.
Coming down to the South Gate at the University of Birmingham. This is a decent slope, with a nice s-shape. At the bottom is an archway, then the A38 Bristol Road. As big and busy as it sounds.
So, its raining. Standard brakes, so first thing that happens when I apply the brakes is nothing. Eventually the blocks remove the water from the rims, and start to bite, but it is always a bit of a wake-up call until they do. Except this evening, they don't. Well, not until the brake cable on my front brake snaps, they don't. At which point I am now braking downhill on the rear brake only in the wet, and the rims still aren't clear. So I grab a load more rear brake to clear them more quickly. At which point the rear brake cable snaps too! I'm now left with a decision as to what is going to stop me, and a raised flower bed on the right wins.

As I walk the bike back home, I get near to my house and suddenly realise how lucky I was. The next big stop would have been down towards the Pershore Road, almost as busy as the Bristol Road, but without the convenient flower bed on one side, and with a mark on the road that I always used as my last minute braking point. So I'm glad they did go earlier!


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## Hont (21 May 2012)

fossyant said:


> Had numerous crashes/car incidents, but they weren't scary, just 'oh this is going to hurt' as you just don't have time to think about it.


 
+1



GrasB said:


> In the middle of a fast alpine descent when I hear a loud cracking ping beneath me. Look down to see one end of my QR skewer missing.


 
I'm clenched just thinking about that.

My scariest moment would be coming down a 15% hill at nearly 40 mph, around a sweeping bend. Suddenly the tree cover dissappears and the wind - which was mostly behind me - is now a 25mph crosswind. I get huge speed wobbles, grab the brakes (which, as you probably know, just makes things worse) and *know* I'm going to come off. After what felt like a minute (but was only a second or two) the bike stabilises and I decide that 25-30 is perfectly fast enough for the rest of the descent.


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## Psycolist (23 May 2012)

When Adam were a lad and Eve still a Virgin, I used to commute by bike in London. On one snowy morning , on a heavily cambered road that was normaly 2 lanes, I came to a set of red traffic lights with a Routemaster double decker sitting at a stop. On this morning there was so much snow in the centre of the road and the kerb that the normal 2 lanes were down to a useable one lane. I saw the lights turn to green so started to move forwards which took me up the inside of the back of the bus. The bus driver put his foot on the go pedal and the buses rear wheels just spun causing no forward movement atall. What did happen was that the spinning wheels on the heavily cambered road just made the back of the bus, slowly slew sideways towards me, and it kept coming, and coming. I just lent the bike over sideways and threw myself towards the pavement. How my feet got any purchase on the ground I cant imagine, but those reactions saved me from being pulled into the spinning wheel. The still spinning wheel of the bus just touched my now layed down bike, and as it did so, got some grip on the road and lurched forwards. I dont know if the driver ever knew of my plight, I like to think not, coz he just went sailing off down the road without a seconds hesitation. I, however, walked the rest of my way on that day, and even now, wont ride in the snow....


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