OT: what's the dumbest thing you've done lately

[bcroslin]

I need some cheering up today because I did something, or more like didn't do something, and I feel like a total dummy.

Long story short, I'm supposed to get on a flight to travel to Panama tomorrow morning and my wife looked at my passport and realized it was expired. I swear I got it renewed in 2009 by alas no, it's not a little expired - it's a year expired. So no vacation for me. Thankfully my wife and daughter are being good sports and they're going to carry on without me.

Please make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only dummy on PL.

[Joel]

Ouch! That said, check out the below. You may be able to catch up with them...

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/expedited.html

P.S. I've gotten on the wrong plane. That's my contribution to the thread!

Good luck!

[rePhil]

You are not alone. I dropped my Nikkor 80-200 2.8 in a Lake once. Thankfully it was in it's case. Embarrassingly there were plenty of witnesses.

I had the passport thing happen too. Fortunately i was able to expedite it in time.

[OtayBW]

I need some cheering up today because I did something, or more like didn't do something, and I feel like a total dummy.

Long story short, I'm supposed to get on a flight to travel to Panama tomorrow morning and my wife looked at my passport and realized it was expired. I swear I got it renewed in 2009 by alas no, it's not a little expired - it's a year expired. So no vacation for me. Thankfully my wife and daughter are being good sports and they're going to carry on without me.

Please make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only dummy on PL.
I've done some dumb things, but I'm sorry: I can't think of anything that tops that right off-hand! :D

[zennmotion]

I need some cheering up today because I did something, or more like didn't do something, and I feel like a total dummy.

Long story short, I'm supposed to get on a flight to travel to Panama tomorrow morning and my wife looked at my passport and realized it was expired. I swear I got it renewed in 2009 by alas no, it's not a little expired - it's a year expired. So no vacation for me. Thankfully my wife and daughter are being good sports and they're going to carry on without me.

Please make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only dummy on PL.

An Expedited passport renewal is an absolute possibility- it costs a bit but can be done within 48hrs even from Florida. I do international work, last minute passport issues are not uncommon. I have used, and I have pointed colleagues to use a local (Arlington VA) passport/visa service that is absolutely top notch- a family business located just a few minutes from Embassy Row, they will walk your passport through the process, stand in line, wait for service and FedEx it back to you or even directly to a departure airport. PassportandVisaOnline.com 866-618-VISA. There are lots of these services, but I know these guys well and they have gone the extra mile for me and people I work with many times. Dude, it's vacation time with your family! What's it worth?

Oh, and by the way if it makes you feel any better, many/most embassies and consulates will not give you a visa or authorized entry if you have less than six months or so on your passport. So this was an issue even before you probably conceived of your international adventure. The new US passports now come with a card version that looks like a credit card and can be used in place of a traditional paper/book version for travel in N America (Mex and Can). It's also valid ID that you can carry in your wallet that, unlike many drivers licenses, does not include your social security number- I hate that this key piece of identity theft risk is used so casually in so many places.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

I'll keep these bicycle related :):

Went to a bike race without my bike.

Went to a bike race without my shoes.

Went to numerous rides without bike or shoes.

Managed to crash into a traffic cone going 8 miles an hour

Put chamois cream on my face thinking it was shaving cream.

The list goes on.

[mg2ride]

I showed up to work with a collard, button up shirt on inside out.

Had to walk out of a meeting laughing at myself.

Kinda had my feelings hurt that no one noticed.

[bcroslin]

I've already looked into driving to Miami to expedite a passport renewal and it's not worth the hassle and money. If I were heading to Paris or London I'd be driving down there tonight but not for Panama.

[zennmotion]

I've already looked into driving to Miami to expedite a passport renewal and it's not worth the hassle and money. If I were heading to Paris or London I'd be driving down there tonight but not for Panama.

Re-route the family to Paris then! When does the Tour start again?:banana:

PS. Yes, I'm serious. On ne vit qu'une fois...

[Vientomas]

I did the same thing a few years ago. Just before a vacation to Mexico I noticed my passport was expired. No vacation for me. I too looked into the expedited renewal, but it was quite expensive and there was no guarantee that I would receive it in time. I hope to never make that mistake again.

[smead]

Last month on a double century I forgot to pedal on my fixed gear rolling down scenic hwy 1 in CA while eating a PBJ and did a full on face plant. Picked up myself, the bike, and my pride and left a PBJ and blood mess smeared over the road. And it was my birthday to boot.

[LegendRider]

I need some cheering up today because I did something, or more like didn't do something, and I feel like a total dummy.

Long story short, I'm supposed to get on a flight to travel to Panama tomorrow morning and my wife looked at my passport and realized it was expired. I swear I got it renewed in 2009 by alas no, it's not a little expired - it's a year expired. So no vacation for me. Thankfully my wife and daughter are being good sports and they're going to carry on without me.

Please make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only dummy on PL.

Bummer. But, on the bright side, you can train like a madman while they're gone.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

But the biggest bonehead move of 2015 currently belongs to my friend. He had a big get-together at his place to watch the USA-Mexico soccer friendly about two months ago on a Tuesday. Big turnout at his house, pizzas delivered, huge spread of food out. 20 minutes after the match was supposed to start, we still couldn't find the TV channel. I finally pull out my phone and look it up. The match was scheduled for Wednesday, the following day.

I don't see any of you overhauling my friend for that award anytime soon.

[572cv]

Your wife saved you from a worse situation: finding out at the airport. On one of our recent trips a friend was at the airport in Montreal, bags and bike checked, waiting for boarding. "Paging Mr XX, please come to the service counter...." His passport was within the 6 month period at the END of the trip. He was not allowed to board. He did get it renewed and showed up about 2 days late, at no small effort.

Everyone on this forum with a passport should put the renewal date on their iCal or whatever calendar, a year ahead of the expiration date. Saves trouble big time !

[Idris Icabod]

A guy I work with went on a cruise with his family but forgot his passport. His family (parents, wife, kids, sister and nieces) got on the boat and he frantically returned to the airport to fly back to Tucson to retrieve passport (also trip fell over a holiday so no chance to overnight passport). So he pays an arseload of money for a convoluted flight, has my buddy break it to his house to retrieve passport and meet him at airport. The only bit of luck he has is my buddy checks front door first before breaking a window and it isn't locked. He met the cruise at the next port of call but made an expensive vacation even more pricey.

Next family trip he went on he drove to San Diego and rented a house. He turned up and there was already luggage there. Turned out he went a week early so he turned around and returned home in the same day.

The only dumb thing I remember is I once threw the item I bought in the grocery shop straight into the mailbox rather than the piece of mail I had in the other hand.

[Louis]

I've done plenty of bone-headed things, but one good bike-related one was on a club ride about 25 years ago. The starting point was around a 45 minute drive from my apartment, so I drive out, hop on the bike and do the ride. At the end everyone is milling around chatting. I think there was a picnic involved, etc.

I started to look in my saddle bag for my keys, but no luck - they were locked in either the trunk or passenger compartment (I don't remember which). So a good buddy of mine had to drive me all the way home, where I got a spare key from the apartment office, opened my apartment, got a spare key to the car, and drove back out to my car. What a hassle. Luckily, other than wasted time, no real harm was done.

[zennmotion]

Winter backpacking trip. Forgot the sleeping bag. It was supposed to be 3 nights out, I lasted just two. Pack was nice and light though...

[bcroslin]

Bummer. But, on the bright side, you can train like a madman while they're gone.

This. I committed to 6 gap last week so I've got some miles to do.

[mg2ride]

At least you didn't drive you bike into the garage door!:bike:

[jmeloy]

An Expedited passport renewal is an absolute possibility- it costs a bit but can be done within 48hrs even from Florida. I do international work, last minute passport issues are not uncommon. I have used, and I have pointed colleagues to use a local (Arlington VA) passport/visa service that is absolutely top notch- a family business located just a few minutes from Embassy Row, they will walk your passport through the process, stand in line, wait for service and FedEx it back to you or even directly to a departure airport. PassportandVisaOnline.com 866-618-VISA. There are lots of these services, but I know these guys well and they have gone the extra mile for me and people I work with many times. Dude, it's vacation time with your family! What's it worth?

Oh, and by the way if it makes you feel any better, many/most embassies and consulates will not give you a visa or authorized entry if you have less than six months or so on your passport. So this was an issue even before you probably conceived of your international adventure. The new US passports now come with a card version that looks like a credit card and can be used in place of a traditional paper/book version for travel in N America (Mex and Can). It's also valid ID that you can carry in your wallet that, unlike many drivers licenses, does not include your social security number- I hate that this key piece of identity theft risk is used so casually in so many places.


I've used Swift Passport in Chicago twice and they were great. Got me out of a jam similar to yours.

[bcroslin]

An Expedited passport renewal is an absolute possibility- it costs a bit but can be done within 48hrs even from Florida. I do international work, last minute passport issues are not uncommon. I have used, and I have pointed colleagues to use a local (Arlington VA) passport/visa service that is absolutely top notch- a family business located just a few minutes from Embassy Row, they will walk your passport through the process, stand in line, wait for service and FedEx it back to you or even directly to a departure airport. PassportandVisaOnline.com 866-618-VISA. There are lots of these services, but I know these guys well and they have gone the extra mile for me and people I work with many times. Dude, it's vacation time with your family! What's it worth?

Oh, and by the way if it makes you feel any better, many/most embassies and consulates will not give you a visa or authorized entry if you have less than six months or so on your passport. So this was an issue even before you probably conceived of your international adventure. The new US passports now come with a card version that looks like a credit card and can be used in place of a traditional paper/book version for travel in N America (Mex and Can). It's also valid ID that you can carry in your wallet that, unlike many drivers licenses, does not include your social security number- I hate that this key piece of identity theft risk is used so casually in so many places.

I did this years ago to try and get on a flight to Iraq tha thankfully didn't happen. I looked into doing expedited locally in Tampa and its going to cost upwards of $600 and I won't get the passport back until Wed at the earliest. It's just not worth it.

[bcroslin]

At least you didn't drive you bike into the garage door!:bike:

OMG you're right. That was just awful. Ok, that makes me feel better.

[zennmotion]

At least you didn't drive you bike into the garage door!:bike:

That was my wife driving. Our tandem was surprisingly OK other than ripping out the brake levers and shearing a seatpost in half. The car roof on the other hand... we don't talk about it.

[makoti]

I cost myself $157 last weekend because I was trying to decide between Burger King & McDonalds for a post-ride grab n' go meal. Was turning into the McD's on the right, looking at the BK on the left and...hit the curb. Broke the ply, tire done. Most expensive fast food ever.

[Louis]

I was trying to decide between Burger King & McDonalds for a post-ride grab n' go meal

I think the lesson is to stay away from that type of place at all costs...

[commonguy001]

Had a brand spanking new (400 miles) Ducati 1198 in 09 that we'd just finished installing Ohlins super bike forks and a TTX rear shock on. it was all buttoned back up and I didn't visually verify the kickstand was all the way down when my buddy rolled it out into the driveway.
Well it sat there for about 15 seconds and slammed down on the shifter/clutch side and that was that. The dumbest thing I've ever done to this day.

I think it cost me 2.5k just for new plastic not to mention clip-ons, clutch lever, shift lever, etc, etc.

[shovelhd]

At the last race I did, I forgot my bibs. I borrowed a set, started the race, crashed out hard and ended up in two hospitals.

[sjbraun]

This thread could go on forever...

[giverdada]

i did the same thing a day before heading out to do the NYC Century so i was lucky to be able to use canada's expedited passport service that requires $40 extra or something, and a proof of travel (ticket, itinerary, reservation…) to get me a passport in 24h. amazing. and lucky. and dumb.

rode to the shop to pick up our car after having the swanky new roof rack installed. took the front wheel off my custom strong and set the bike down upright on the dropouts and rear wheel while reaching up to loosen the forkmount skewer on the roof rack. strong wind blew the thing over onto its drive side. second day out from a full LBS tune up. idiot moment fer sure.

[eddief]

tv on top of frig in kitchen did not turn on.
check all the wires and no go.
must be cable box, go to comcast and they give me a new box.
still no go.
decide to try another plug in 4 plug box...then it works.
need all the plugs and can't figure out why usual plug doe not work.
go to outside breaker box and flip and reflip breaker switches.
no go.
neighbor goes to get his volt meter.
as we are moving frig to get access to receptacles...I notice the gfi button on the plug.
DUH!

[Louis]

I notice the gfi button on the plug. DUH!

Always check the easy stuff first...

[eddief]

so not used to even seeing them even though I know what they do...and this one is behind the frig...so never see it.

you mean like RTFM?

Always check the easy stuff first...

[8aaron8]

Bought a brand new macbook air last year and about two weeks into owning it I was looking over my favorite website while drinking coffee in bed and the inevitable happened. Coffee spilled all over the key board and it took $800 to fix it:mad: So now I have a $2100 laptop:banana:

[Elefantino]

At least you didn't drive you bike into the garage door!:bike:
Yeah, at least ... :crap:

[bcroslin]

So here's the bright side to my colossal screw up: my mother-in-law went with my wife and daughter and things have been very touchy with her recently. She did something a few weeks ago at my daughter's grad party that I still haven't forgiven her for. On the way to dropping them off at the airport this morning she was in rare form and at that point I realized that I may have drowned her in the Panama canal had I gone. Even my wife made a comment about how she didn't know how she was going to deal with with her for a week.

I get a week of peace-and-quiet and some riding. I think I made out OK on this one.

[PQJ]

Riding a beach cruiser on the beach at HHI. Happen upon a gully. I could've sworn the day before it was a foot or two deep. So this time around I decide to gather momentum going in so I can power through it. As I approach the entry point I see that it looks deeper than a foot or two. Much deeper. But by then it was too late. I barreled in, did a somersault completely under water, and had to drag myself and the bike out. Gave the many onlookers a bow. A blow to the ego, but so what - I'm resilient. My iPhone? Not so much. Having to buy a new phone off-contract sucked.

[eddief]

from now on I will tell myself that any time I do something less stupid than that.

[merlinmurph]

Drove 2 hours to a wedding - a week early.

Showed up at the airport @ 5:00 AM - for a 6:00 PM flight.

Dishwasher didn't work.
Called service, guy shows up.
Well, I had never heard of a dishwasher being connected to a wall switch.
Simple fix, anyway.

[bironi]

Saturday I finished a mountain climb and after descending was looking to check out a new restaurant. I turned off a 60 mph hwy on a small road right across the hwy from the restaurant. I was hoping to do a little u-turn so I could be assured of a safe crossing to check out the restaurant. Well as I approached the fog line I saw there was a car coming from my left so I tried to do a track stand, but I had forgotten that I was not on my fixed gear. So there I was with my feet 9:00 and 3:00 when I realized I had to bail. For some reason I was reluctant to do the Laugh-In flop, instead I uncleated my right foot and launched myself to the right with my right arm outstretched. My ribs and hip took the full impact. I was out of breath and very surprised by how much pain ensued. A couple of the restaurant employees were calling out from across the hwy asking if I was alright, but it took a minute or so before I could speak and I wasn't sure if I was ok. So I now have very sore ribs and hip just because I ride my fixed gear so much that I forget the geared bike handles differently. I'm just amazed how much it can hurt just falling off your bike at 0 mph.

[Louis]

So here's the bright side to my colossal screw up: my mother-in-law went with my wife and daughter and things have been very touchy with her recently.
:
:
I get a week of peace-and-quiet and some riding. I think I made out OK on this one.

Hmmmm, I think I now know what REALLY happened with that passport renewal...

[Elefantino]

So here's the bright side to my colossal screw up: my mother-in-law went with my wife and daughter and things have been very touchy with her recently. She did something a few weeks ago at my daughter's grad party that I still haven't forgiven her for. On the way to dropping them off at the airport this morning she was in rare form and at that point I realized that I may have drowned her in the Panama canal had I gone. Even my wife made a comment about how she didn't know how she was going to deal with with her for a week.

I get a week of peace-and-quiet and some riding. I think I made out OK on this one.
Hope she doesn't read your posts...

[weaponsgrade]

There are some real gems here. Here's some of mine. Sometimes when I've got the grill going I'll put an empty plate on top of the grill cover to warm up the plate. Over the weekend I had something on the grill, went in to get a plate, came back out and put the plate on top of the grill cover, and then immediately opened the grill to check on something. The plate did not survive the fall.

A few months ago I replaced the water pump on my car. It was my first time and there's a lot of stuff to take out and put back and you've also got to get the timing belt put on correctly or bad things will happen. Anyway, I managed to get everything back together properly and was feeling pretty good, but I didn't tighten down the crank pulley bolt enough. I don't have an impact wrench or torque wrench that goes up to the specified torque. But I read on some webpage that you can just tighten as much as you can and the bolt will tighten as the crank pulley turns. A few months later the crank pulley came loose, belts went flying, and my wife got stranded at Costco. Further inspection showed that the splines on the crank pulley stripped out and the threads on the crank bolt and more importantly the crank shaft were damaged. Luckily I was able to retap the threads on the crank shaft and purchase a replacement crank pulley for about $100. A friend from HS and who used to be a car mechanic recently moved into a place just a few blocks from me. He came over with his impact wrench to help and the pulley is now back on and properly torqued.

[cderalow]

I need some cheering up today because I did something, or more like didn't do something, and I feel like a total dummy.

Long story short, I'm supposed to get on a flight to travel to Panama tomorrow morning and my wife looked at my passport and realized it was expired. I swear I got it renewed in 2009 by alas no, it's not a little expired - it's a year expired. So no vacation for me. Thankfully my wife and daughter are being good sports and they're going to carry on without me.

Please make me feel better by letting me know I'm not the only dummy on PL.

http://www.travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/where-to-apply/agencies.html

Follow, find, apply... get within a week or so... especially if you've got an expired one in hand.

[BobO]

I committed my dumbest cycling moment just this past Saturday. I have been working on a deadline for two projects critical to the future of my fledgling company. Been pulling some longs days, losing sleep, and inadvertently skipping meals. Saturday I decided that I had time to do a two hour ride and that would include one of the steepest hills in town that sits about halfway in the route.

Just a couple hundred feet from the crest of the hill I stood up to finish strong,...BONK!!!

Yes, 60 minutes of hell getting home. It hadn't even occurred to me that eating like crap on an irregular schedule would cause such a problem until it happened. I am a fricken moron, I know better. :rolleyes:

[druptight]

I once missed a flight home from Vegas by 24 hours. 12:05AM flight on Sunday, didn't register on my Vegas afflicted mind that the day turns over at midnight so I tried to check in at about 6PM on Sunday not realizing that I'd already missed my flight by 18 hours. I called the airline all indignant about why they couldn't find my reservation. Cost me $400 for a one way ticket home on top of an already expensive bachelor party weekend. Worst part is that the airline had upgraded me to 1st class for the non-stop home that I missed. Ended up flying middle seat on Jet Blue on the Vegas red eye AKA the flight from hell.

[Fishbike]

Booked what I thought was an inexpensive flight from Budapest to Prague. SO we show up for our 3:00 p.m. flight. It was at 3:00 a.m. Cost an extra $800 to get there. Ugh!!!!!!!!

Another really stupid moment was when I was on a taxiing plane and looked out the window at another plane and said "Oh look -- Air Iran." Needless to say it was AirTran.

[merlinmurph]

One more, from last year.

Sitting in Savannah airport, going back to Boston.
Thunderstorms come thru and flight gets delayed, so I'm sitting in some chair just outside the gate area, 40 feet from the gate, reading away on my tablet.
An hour goes by, still waiting, tons of announcements being made, and you eventually end up ignoring them.
Finally, I look up and see a plane leaving the gate. My gate. Oops.
I sheepishly go up to the agent and ask if that's my plane. Yup.
Luckily, there was one more flight in about an hour, and I was the only person on it.

[Dead Man]

This was a couple years ago... and I don't know how "dumb" it was, but it was embarrassing.. somehow it just popped into my mind

Dinner with clients, swanky joint... I take a bite of broccoli, then take a sip of wine - as I'm kind of vacuuming the sip of wine into my lips, I inhale some of the little broccoli bits that are half-chewed up in my mouth and reflexively cough into my wineglass, shooting about half the chewed up broccoli straight into the glass with a wonderful SPLOOSH sound. Looking down at my glass, little green pieces are swirling around disgustingly, and my clients are staring at it/me with looks of alarm on their faces... one open-mouthed, caught mid-sentence.

I had no recourse but to down the entire glass, to get the mess from view. Which was appropriate for multiple reasons, at that point.

[19wisconsin64]

there are some good ones here! clearly, the folks on this forum are far smarter than i am, and have learned from their mistakes. me, i never learn, so i came up with a little work around for my problem...

my day job is working on older properties...renovating them. i'll travel to a job site by plane with a large wheeled suitcase with enough gear to last me 2-3 weeks. the work is hard, and the days go from about 6 am to about 10 pm, 7 days straight. by the end of the job i get a little "tired".

and it won't be until a month or so later, after returning home, that i realize i misplaced my luggage, and all of it's contents. this would be laughable if it only happened once, but after four times....... like i said, i don't learn from my mistakes.

now i hop on a plane and show up wherever i'm supposed to go wearing jeans, work jacket, t shirt and work boots...and go immediately to costco wherever i land. buy what i need, and hopefully i'll remember to bring some stuff back home.

oh, and i've done the passport thing too. now, my wife handles all the important things. she's pretty amazing to put up with me!

[muz]

Couple months ago riding a double century. I summit Mt Hamilton, fill my water bottle, put on my vest, start the descent. I go on the drops and flip up my visor, now realizing that I am not wearing my helmet! Stop, call the organizer so a worker can pick it up at the lunch stop, then have the most cautious descent you could imagine!

[DarkStar]

I was scheduled to go on vacation for three weeks last month, completely forgot and worked through my vacation. Felt like a total dolt.

[Dead Man]

I'm pretty sure I've told this one here at some point, but I am reminded of something that WAS pretty stupid....


There's a narrow, 2-lane, windy, steep, and BUSY road, of which about 1/2km provides linkup between less busy, totally cool to ride on roads. But it's always stressful coming up that short part, because it's hella slow, hard, and you ALWAYS get motorists backed up behind you.

I'd just completed the linkup and had turned off onto the nice quiet empty country road that is ultimate goal, gasping and exhausted from hurrying up the linkup. I grabbed my bidon and sat up, wobbling around not really going fast enough to be riding hands-free... sucked some water, still gasping, and then sloppily just sort of 'threw' the bidon back into the cage... except I missed, and my drive-side crank just happened to be coming into the top position as the bidon was sliding down my seat tube - CRUNCH - the top blows off the bottle, geysering the last of my water, locking up my crankset, and distracting me enough that I run right off the asphalt into deep pea gravel - still no hands on the handlebar, and now the handlebar kind of flopping around in the gravel, can't even pedal... absolutely out of control, I manage to bail off the bike, somehow getting both feet unclipped and together in the gravel at the same time to one side of the bike, slide, land square on my ass.... but somehow still had my hand on the handlebar and kept the bike from going down. Therefore, since the bike never lost uprightness, I still consider this one a "save!"

[paredown]

We were pell-melling down I95 from NYC to a wedding outside Baltimore last Friday and hit traffic. We texted the bride to be, and said we were running late. We get a text back--"The wedding is tomorrow night!"

Then she thinks it may have been something she had done--we had to convince her that an engraved invitation is pretty much foolproof if you can read.

It worked out OK--we used the hotel reservations we had thought would be used after the wedding, caught up on our sleep, poked around on Saturday, went to wedding, had a blast and dead-headed home.

In years of crazy travel though this was the first serious mistake so we can live with it.

[stackie]

Last weekend, was leaving Home Depot with wife. Commented how cheap the diesel was and asked if she needed to fill up. She replied, sure, want to pump for me? So I got out and filled her car with premium gasoline. We got on the freeway and made it about a mile before the engine started to sputter. I instantly figured out what I had done. Pulled over. Car towed to dealer. $1200 repair bill.

Good news? Auto insurance covers this eff up. Also, never have to pump fuel for wife again.

Eff Mercedes. Only German car without a device to prevent this mishap. Bastards

Jom

[nesteel]

I got over zealous after my freshly painted bike frame arrived. Do I let the paint cure for a few weeks? Nope. Now I have a perfect imprint of the FD clamp on the seat tube.:mad: Moron.

[martl]

- participated in a large italian bike marathon once. As usual, they gave out bags full of freebies and giveaways, amongst them an italian brand of Gel. Which i took with me on the ride. When i drank it, i realized it wasn't nutritional gel, but massage oil (pine flavoured)..

- once, i changed my mind in the very last second not to drop my banana peel on the flat grass to the right of the road, but into the bushes on the left side. That rotation caused my handlebars to twitch and sent me face forward into the tarmac. One day of hospital, multiple areas of road rash, torn upper lip. Dent in the top tube of my then brand new 2000€ Scott Scandium frame, too. Still have the scar to remind me.

[Michael Maddox]

Two weeks ago on my "neighborhood loop," about a 35-mile jaunt I can do when I don't want to get too far away...

Rode into a nearby gated community and found the guard shack closed and the owner's gate closed. I barreled around the CLOSED sign in the driveway, through the visitor entrance, and straight INTO the aluminum bar across the drive. Granted, it was well-shaded, and I have NEVER seen that gate down before (it comes down from the right, rather than the left), but I saw it just before I hit it and grabbed a handful of brakes.

BOOM, clank.

The bar sheared off from its bolts. I went down, luckily not hard, right in front of a real estate agent and customers just beyond. No damage to anything but the gate.

I know there's a video of this going to pop up, eventually.