Impending moments of Doom - not too serious please

[Ming the Merciless]

Downhill about 30 mph and I get a front wheel puncture. I am gradually slowing still upright when finally I hit a small bump and the bike flips sideways and I scape my way down the road to a stop. Some raw skin and blood but luckily not too bad. Boy did it sting.

 

[a.twiddler]

Downhill about 30 mph and I get a front wheel puncture. I am gradually slowing still upright when finally I hit a small bump and the bike flips sideways and I scape my way down the road to a stop. Some raw skin and blood but luckily not too bad. Boy did it sting.

Ouch!

 

[Eribiste]

sphincter closes to f64, car blithely sails away. Those brakes are a faff, but bloody good.

Good depth of field but I bet the images come out a bit dark....

 

[Dogtrousers]

Some time ago we were dog-sitting some frends' very old (21 yr) dog. He was a nice old dog, but a bit insane and with sketchy bowel control.

I'd been out riding and went for a relaxing soak in the bath. They live in a bungalow, and I came out of the bathroom, and stepped straight into a fresh warm turd with my clean bare foot. Ik, ik, a thousand times ik.

 

[Emanresu]

Someone stole the towbar off my car. Panicked as I had driven the new (2nd hand) car to go to pick up a bike and had the towbar carrier with me. Without the towbar, no carrier and no bike. The towbar was there when we bought the car, and now it was gone.

Scratched head and looked underneath the rear bumper and surprisingly towbar was there but out of sight. It hadn't been taken. It was a factory fitted electric one . Somehow I had pressed a button in the boot and it had retracted without me knowing.

The story is one that my family brings up - often.

 

[DaveReading]

Engine stopped while doing about 75 in the outside lane of a busy M6 ...

 

[oldwheels]

Reading this lot I thought I had lived a pretty tame life until I remembered the time many years ago when we had just got a tandem very cheap.
At the time we lived in Bowling near Clydebank and had gone for a practice run to Cardross four miles beyond Dumbarton. Coming home down a steep hill to the traffic lights at Dalreoch as you come into Dumbarton the lights were at red so braked hard. Front brake cable snapped and back brake was not much use so effectively no stopping power. Fortunately nothing was coming from the Loch Lomond direction so we survived but I still break out in a sweat when I think on the possibilities.

Strange, like @DaveReading my younger son had his engine cut out in the same area at the same sort of speed.

 

[Punkawallah]

The Dumbarton Triangle?

 

[Emanresu]

Another towbar carrier issue. You know that sinking feeling when you look in the rear view mirror and the bike isn't there any more?

Used the side mirror to see that it had fallen over but was still attached. Straps held fine (thankfully) but had scraped a inch or so off the handlebar. Spent this morning replacing it which wasn't expensive though I'd hate to think of the cost if the bike had come off and bounced all over the road. Lesson learned.

 

[DogmaStu]

15 years or so old, cycling home from school on my BMX.

It was a racing type, no front brake, only rear. My home was halfway down a steep road that ended with a busy T-junction, concrete wall opposite.

Heavy rain. Local council truck pulled up on the verge ahead, Worker's huddled in the back, door open, waiting for the shower to pass.

Brake failed. I weighed my options and decided to bail...I stood on one pedal and hopped off onto the verge. When I stopped rolling, I got up, collected my BMX and the Worker's and I just stared at each other for a few moments.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Reading this lot I thought I had lived a pretty tame life until I remembered the time many years ago when we had just got a tandem very cheap.
At the time we lived in Bowling near Clydebank and had gone for a practice run to Cardross four miles beyond Dumbarton. Coming home down a steep hill to the traffic lights at Dalreoch as you come into Dumbarton the lights were at red so braked hard. Front brake cable snapped and back brake was not much use so effectively no stopping power. Fortunately nothing was coming from the Loch Lomond direction so we survived but I still break out in a sweat when I think on the possibilities.

Strange, like @DaveReading my younger son had his engine cut out in the same area at the same sort of speed.

Ah! Next to Dalreoch station, I know that junction well!

I have never had any issues there (touch wood), but I can well imagine that, as well as the following junction across the bridge and then the roundabout after that, being a bit hairy at times!

The Dumbarton Triangle?

This being Dumbarton, it is more like a star... Coloured brown...

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have a very distinct memory of a mystery crash I had some years back. Steep downhill, wet leaves, going fairly slowly, and thinking "What's going on? I just can't control this".

The mystery was - when I picked myself and the bike up, the rear wheel was pringled. So did I break a spoke which led to me losing control, or did I skid and put sideways pressure on the wheel breaking a spoke?

Either way the end result was me sliding down the hill on my backside preceded by the bike slightly ahead of me. I suspect that it was a spoke breaking that precipitated the whole wobbly performance but I don't know.

 

[cougie uk]

Is it the same squirrel?

We had a squirrel run between the wheels of my bike and my pals bike who was alongside me. We must have been nudging 20 and I think the squirrel was doing it for a dare. Great skills on him.