"Oh Shit" moments...

had my oh shit moment today.
euston road, near rocket arms.
handlebars bent. but left the fucker with some scars:)

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Shit. Hope you're OK. Now please head to the draw your own collision thread:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread27103.html

Jesus, that's quite a ding. Hope you're doing much better than the car!

First bit of proper rain the other day resulted in probably the scariest moment of my life, I was approaching a busy t-junction at a fair amount of speed but no more than normal on a wet day. I started to slow down and everything was normal until I was about 15 feet from the white line and all of a sudden the rear wheel was sliding around like mad and I started speed up to find the front wheel had decided it had a mind of its own too. Serious oh shit as I wasn't stopping and I was heading straight out of the junction with traffic coming both ways, just off the saddle and took my feet out the clips to sit on the top tube and try using my feet to stop. Luckily Mr Nissan Navara driver noticed I was in a bit of a caffuful and slowed down to which I came to a stop with the front wheel well and truely in the road.

turns out there was diesel all over the junction, I could see it flowing around on the wet tarmac. I was pretty lucky the driver was switched on and stopped otherwise it would have been goodbye from me!

^^^^ Nasty! That's a straight up incident right there!

Some dude on a blue fixed something or other with some nastily bent forks and a bent front deep v in LMNH assessing the damage. No facials or teeth missing by the looks. Tried to offer a sympathetic look as I left but ended up doing that plumbers teeth suck thing which means something will cost lots of dorrah. Bummr!

I'm fine, thanks for kind words guys. sore hip and road rash, but nothing too serious.
yeah he decided to pull out from the oncoming lane to the street on my left hand side and probably misjudged the speed I was coming at, my only choice was to swerve in the same direction, and as skid started to turn me sideways I ended up on his hood. just like in this pedal documentary huh...

anyway he admitted his fault, settled with nice $$ [I had witnesses], and now I have funds for my new buildup :F

my camera, phone and mcbook air [!!!!] in my bag intact btw.
somehow.

So last night I finished setting up one of my bikes to my satisfaction, went out to ride it properly for the first time this afternoon. I'm going south on York Way and a bus starts indicating right as I come up behind it, just before the steepest bit of hill before you go under the railway. Naturally I decide speed up, overtake it, and enjoy that little bit of hill like I usually do.

Next thing I know my rear wheel locks up and I'm skidding madly along, trying to pull left away from the bus, which I can hear still accelerating behind me, stop with a front brake which to be honest I'm not used to using, and having a hard time managing it thanks to the dust and debris all over the road (what with the big building site just ahead). I stop fine in the end, nearly topple over because I forgot that bike has clipless now, and put back on my chain which has somehow come off despite being no slacker than I have ever had it.

When I set off again everything seems OK, and I join the traffic, which includes a few trucks from the building site. I'm resisting the pedals to slow down a little when suddenly my cranks do a half turn backwards and I nearly go down mostly just from surprise, but fortunately visions of being crushed by the wheels of the truck behind me help me stay upright. Take a look at the bike on the pavement and yeah, the thread on the hub is stripped and my lockring is spinning uselessly.

The real oh shit moment came when I realised I can't afford to replace or repair the wheel and am now going to have to ride my lovely tasteful bike with the only other rear I have, which happens to be the ugliest shade of vomit green known to man.

Glad you're OK.

Went out for a pedal the other week, bike track. So not much to be concerned about, got clipped by a kid of about 10 stuffing about. Pedal hit concrete kerb, tastfully installed by local council, pedal stopped, bike stopped, rider, (with dignity) released handlebars and exited bike stage left. Missing broken bottle by a bee's dick and I note missed by aforemetioned local council. Grazing to hands, L arm and l leg, bike ok actually.... Kid, learned that somethings will always be anatomically impossible even at that age, mummy chastened yet angry with me??? somethting i said perhaps?

When you open a present on your birthday. Find it is the cranks you really wanted. Open the box. And see that there are two Right crank arms. facepalm

Just now, rode over to Battersea and back from Clapton, last ride on UK soils for a few weeks as I'm away to Vietnam for work. Had a superb ride, not super fast but a right royal dream of a ride. No strains or stresses, just fun and smooth. Got back tot he roundabout at Clapton Pond, headed down LeahBridge Road at a fare canter. 2 blokes arsing about jumped the fence and stepped into the road, bus on my shoulder I had nowhere to go but between the gap these fullsome fools had between them. Top marks to the bus driver who slowed rapidly and swerved out to his right giving me some space and recovery time after getting away with running a gap I have no idea how I managed to get through unscathed.
I turn round, and said Bus driver is properly verbalising these 2 blokes who at this point in time are standing like berated school kids on parents eve. So, as a rare event I rolled back to the driver and thanked him.
Feeling like I was ever so slightly more than lucky to get through that one. Much Thanks Mr 56!

Amazing!

Had an oh shit moment last week but it was different for both good and bad reasons! I was forced off the road by a large van trying to squeeze through giving me nowhere to go but onto the grass verge, I shouted "oi" as they were alongside me and rejoined the road once they past to which they slammed their brakes on forcing me to swerve off the road for a second time to avoid face planting the back of the van. I managed to stay upright amazingly as the grass was long and wet, I came to a stop alongside the van to which they gave me a whole heap of abuse about how I shouldn't be on the road etc and that I'm a complete f'ing prick etc. I was a bit shaken up by it all and managed to stay surprisingly calm, i mentioned that they had nearly knocked me off and forced me onto the verge to which i was called an f'ing prick and they drove off.

That was the bad, the good was that they were in a company van and being stationary I was able to get the company name and the registration of the van. For the first time I was able to report something to the police which I was kind of stoked on as I had been at the wrong on of a fair few bad drivers the last couple of weeks with the change of weather. I also emailed the company which has proved to be quite rewarding, it turns out the the director is a cyclist and sympathised with what happened. They mentioned that the driver and his passenger have been called into the office tomorrow with the companies directors, safe to say I think the driver is in a heap of trouble! Its definitely worth reporting things!

Win.

Well done you Chris. It seems you've had some fairly close shaves. Maybe you should have stuck with the Create(?)! :P

Until yesterday, I had assumed that bloodthirsty white van-driving lunatics only occured in all those schocking webcam clips from the UK on Youtube. Nope...
During my weekly commute, I was waiting to turn left here http://tnij.org/ol0s to turn left and leave the two-lane street and enter the segregated bike lane (barely visible as a pale red strip at the top). This guy came from the East direction and wanted to turn left. At this point, I usually want to cross as soon as possible because there might be a tram coming (which was the case), so the white van was waiting for the tram to pass, blocking me from crossing the two-lane. There was a lot of room so I gestured at him to move a bit and let me pass - which he ignored and, as soon as the tram was gone, started turning sharply, forcing me to move away, so I automatically 'pushed' myself away from the van's side (didn't hit it or anything), upon which he opened the window and threatened me. I did not reply and he got out (!) to chase me on foot, shouting friendly greetings to the tune of "I'll kill you, motherfucker." It was not safe to cross at that point, so I had to spin it really hard and ride the wrong way along the two-lane road. After a moment, he sort of gave up so I stopped and shouted something like "are you freaking mad, man?", so he started chasing me again LOL.

As much as I'd want to report this f*cker, I didn't manage to see his registration plate, so I only know it was a white Mercedes-Benz MB100, just like this one http://en.advisto.com/user_images/53750_9576_photo_pernot_020.jpg, though, having happened in Poland, it probably won't be very useful for you lot. Oh, and I was on the heavy, Nexus7-equipped winter commuter with dynamo hub lights, so actually running away from a mad construction worker was a bit of a challenge...

"having happened in Poland"
it may sound harsh what Im about to say, but both me and you know nobody would do anything about this, no matter who you would report this to.

Well done you Chris. It seems you've had some fairly close shaves. Maybe you should have stuck with the Create(?)! :P

Cheers mate, I think the worst drivers live in the countryside! I find riding in Brighton and London much safer, they are used to seeing cyclists on the road during rush hour at least. No way haha, I'm glad to be rid of the Create! The Rystarski is beautiful, it's so light compared to the create, handles real nice too.

Loads of oh shit moments last night. Im sure some drivers are less careful in poor visibility conditions! Can't see that well, they just go for it, pull out and hope for the best. Oh and peds running across the road to get out of the rain!!! FFS

"having happened in Poland"
nobody would do anything about this, no matter who you would report this to.

Of course not, but I would report it anyway. If only for a closure, as now I know I didn't do ANYTHING, except for posting here and am very likely going to meet this guy again at the exact same spot - if not next week, then maybe next month.

locked my bike up outside a fish and chip shop. realised i'd left my keys at home, had to steal my own bike with a hacksaw.

At least beef dripping makes good cutting fluid.

Riding to college and thought 'Oh shit, I've left my lock at home'.

Left bike at Leeds Cycle point. £1 for the day.

locked my bike up outside a fish and chip shop. realised i'd left my keys at home, had to steal my own bike with a hacksaw.

Riding to college and thought 'Oh shit, I've left my lock at home'.

Left bike at Leeds Cycle point. £1 for the day.

If this is the level of 'oh shit' we've been reduced to, I am happy that the world is a bit of a better place.