craziest thing you ever did on a bicycle?

flickerx

seeing as how its friday and i'm bored and all... anyone got any crazy tales of stupid things they did on a bike? i got one but i'll let others talk first.

Ghost Rider

flickerx wrote: »

seeing as how its friday and i'm bored and all... anyone got any crazy tales of stupid things they did on a bike? i got one but i'll let others talk first.

As a kid I deliberately cycled my Chopper off a three-foot high stone ledge on Malahide beach just to see what it would feel like going nose first into the sand.

It was pretty interesting. What happened was my front wheel (about the size of a large pizza) simply dropped onto the sand and lodged there, causing the rest of the bike with me on it to flop forwards into the sand with the wheel acting as a fulcrum. I ended up upside down with my head in sand, laughing.

unionman

flickerx wrote: »

seeing as how its friday and i'm bored and all... anyone got any crazy tales of stupid things they did on a bike? i got one but i'll let others talk first.

Every Friday night from September '85 for about a year I cycled from Churchtown to Kilmainham with no lights, dressed all in black. Yeah, I know, wild huh? Gard pulled me over once in all that time and told me to 'Take it easy son...I think Vincents is on call tonight".

I had another one, but it's very like Ghost Riders, invloved a much cheaper, nastier bike, and was off a roundabout onto asphalt in a housing estate in Kilmainham (1978 or thereabouts). I survived.:D

Oh, and I once (once only mind) cycled a bright pink bicycle through town. Verbal abuse had to be heard to be believed.:o

MREGAN

I cycled a BMX of a cliff at the back of portstewart Harbour about a 60ft drop into the sea. Just had to keep the feet on the pedals to prevent the obvious. Still managed to hit the inside of my knee of the bars badly bruised but nothing to worry about.

RasTa

Cycled from my bedroom and then downstairs on my BMX when I was younger. Mother was not impressed.

mkdon05

when i was about 10, me and my mates made a ramp and were jumping on the bikes. I decided to put the ramp at the end of a hill and took a 200meter sprint for it. I went about 15-20 foot in the air and landed on my head. I was knocked out cold.
Still remember coming to and thinkin, Fcukin Hell that was wicked

Ma freaked out though. One of the other lads ran and told her what happened cos he though i was dead.

Raam

Ghost Rider wrote: »

As a kid I deliberately cycled my Chopper off a three-foot high stone ledge on Malahide beach just to see what it would feel like going nose first into the sand.

It was pretty interesting. What happened was my front wheel (about the size of a large pizza) simply dropped onto the sand and lodged there, causing the rest of the bike with me on it to flop forwards into the sand with the wheel acting as a fulcrum. I ended up upside down with my head in sand, laughing.

Similiar to you, but on Portmarnock beach, and by accident...
I was cycling along the mini pier (I think there is a pipe under it) and decided to pull a wheely. I didn't see the seaweed so I ended up skidding of the thing into a rock pool about 4 feet below. Not my finest moment.

flickerx

cycling off a cliff?? christ thats pretty hardcore. did the bike get lost in the water?

me: a friend had this deathtrap of a mountain bike, one barely working brake, both wheels buckled, gears not working, etc etc. we were messing around in town on a very long weekend, just doing "the drift", when at the top of the hill at gardiner street near mountjoy square, i hopped on and gave him a crossbar down the hill at full speed, breaking all the red lights (not that we could stop anyway). at the junction of sean mcdermott street we flew threw the cross traffic, causing two cars to screech to a halt and one just clipping us as it came to a halt, causing us a serious wobble which put us both on our arses on the kerb, the two of us laughing our heads off, no injuries though. incredibly dangerous and stupid thing to do... when you're younger though, i guess you dont care (see above examples for proof of this )

Alkers

Probably the most eventful was jumping the steps outside O'Reilly Hall in UCD on a cheap full-suspension MTB. Landed it but snapped the bottom bracket in half, buckled both wheels and destroyed the pivot on the frame. Maybe a 6 foot drop over steps to flat on concrete.
I've done much bigger stuff since (e.g. Whistler) but always on a bike made for it.
Anything else that comes to mind is either childhood injuries or times barely making it home alive while cycling home drunk.

Ghost Rider

It's true. All children are situationists.

flickerx wrote: »

when you're younger though, i guess you dont care (see above examples for proof of this )

beans

Drunk, cycled into the Phoenix Park and up to the Papal Cross. Took stock of the vista before me, then hurtled down the grassy side at speed.

Not clever. Ended up on my ass, but unhurt and rather pleased with myself.

Outer Bongolia

tore down a one way street in Cork one night drunk off my head

flickerx

had a feeling that most stories would be from childhood or drunken dares alright

me and my mate went down that hill on gardiner street when we were ~19 or so (not drunk, just hyper)

somewhere along the line you lose your bottle for these sorts of things!

star-pants

wasn't really crazy....
or intentional...
but humourous to others...

Cycling (whilst standing - you know not sitting when you're cycling along?) on a boys (my brothers - who's chain I had to fix before I went out on it) coming fast-ish round a corner,
pedal came off - I landed *painfully* on the crossbar, wheel went crooked and crashed headlong into a fence...
Bruised the inside of my thigh and hurt myself off the fence too.
Limped home with the pedal in my hand...get in the door...
brother says " oh yeh...I forgot to tell you that pedal comes off sometimes"

*sigh*

r3nu4l

Well mine is really stupid

I was about 8 and had been watching an episode of CHiPS where there was a motorbike display team in action.

So I got out my super deLuxe bike, cycled as fast as I could down a straight road in my housing estate and attempted to mimic what I'd seen.

So I lifted my feet off the peddles, stood on the saddle with both feet, lifted my hands off the handlebars and held them out either side of me. So I was standing upright on the saddle with no hands on the handlebars.

Needless to say, the wheel turned, I lost my balance and fell onto the ground at speed, my shoe came off, I scraped my forehead, nose, elbows and knees. I was lucky not to kill myself. :rolleyes:

dub_skav

Reckon I was about 16 and gave somebody a crossbar from Lamb's Cross down to Dundrum. This was when Sandyford was still in the sticks, before shopping centres, bypasses and such. Bike's brakes didn't exactly function so downhill accelarating all the way, we went flying throught the red lights in Dundrum village laughing maniacally.
Pretty stupid looking back

FrankGrimes

Was actually just telling this story last night as it happens...As a kid I had the world's worst handmedown bike ever. This thing was ancient, tiny, white massive thick white bubble wheels and a brake lever instead of cables.

Good thing was it was pretty indestructable. When I was about 7 I used get up early, hide down the end of the green till the postman arrived, and then just as he was coming out our driveway I'd try to nail him with a full on ghostie attack.

Think I got grounded over it in the end, but was easily worth it.

RxQueen

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Was actually just telling this story last night as it happens...As a kid I had the world's worst handmedown bike ever. This thing was ancient, tiny, white massive thick white bubble wheels and a brake lever instead of cables.

Good thing was it was pretty indestructable. When I was about 7 I used get up early, hide down the end of the green till the postman arrived, and then just as he was coming out our driveway I'd try to nail him with a full on ghostie attack.

Think I got grounded over it in the end, but was easily worth it.

hahahahahahaha thats the funniest one yet!! did you ever get him !

unionman

flickerx wrote: »

seeing as how its friday and i'm bored and all... anyone got any crazy tales of stupid things they did on a bike? i got one but i'll let others talk first.

Friend of mine, back in her art school days, cycled home through the Phoenix Park after a heavy Tequila session. Too tired to continue, she curled up on a bench to sleep it off. Woke up with the dawn and continued on home...unmolested and intact.

She still shudders at the thought.:eek:

shrapnel222

just saw this on the front page and reminded me of a not so glorious moment when i was a kid. when i was about 8, i was out cycling with a friend of mine, and coming down the hill going pretty fast, a thought just popped into my head- what would happen if i put my foot in the front wheel? needless to say, that's exactly what i did, and before i knew it i had a face full of tar, ripped shirt, torn skin in most places (this was the summer so t shirt and shorts) which had made forceful contact with the tarmac. didn't even have time to realise what had happened when my friend who was right behind me didn't manage to avoid the tangle of bike and body and ran straight over me before crashing himself.

twas a glorious summer day

paddyb

r3nu4l wrote: »

Well mine is really stupid

I was about 8 and had been watching an episode of CHiPS where there was a motorbike display team in action.

So I got out my super deLuxe bike, cycled as fast as I could down a straight road in my housing estate and attempted to mimic what I'd seen.

So I lifted my feet off the peddles, stood on the saddle with both feet, lifted my hands off the handlebars and held them out either side of me. So I was standing upright on the saddle with no hands on the handlebars.

id used to do that but i think i alway had one hand on my handlebars. id be cycling along, put my feet on the crossbar and carry on down the road

and ghosties, i had totally forgotten about them

secman

Went down Knocmaroon hill on a fixed cog racing bike. Its a track bike , no brakes and pedals just keep going , you cannot stop them until it naturally slows. Remember having to take my feet off the pedals as they were too fast for me .
Jesus when i think of it, obviously had no Mortgage at the time !

DublinWriter

I was 11 and had saved up enough to put a speedo on the handlebar of my Raleigh Grifter.

I was belting it down the road where I lived, trying to set a new land-speed record and was concentrating too much on the needle of the speedo and getting same over the 20 MPH mark when I didn't notice that the council had put a small 1 foot high wall into the entrance of the park to stop car joy-riders accessing it at night.

I hit the low wall at about 22MPH. The Grifter remained stationary but I did not. I managed to continue on arse-over-tit without bike for about 20ft and landed unceremoniously on my back in grass.

The force of the impact bent the forks right back and gave the front wheel an unusual oval-characteristic.

Of course these days, kids are only allowed do that on their PS-WII-3's or whatever and at all times are supervised by an adult.

Ciaran B

shrapnel222 wrote: »

what would happen if i put my foot in the front wheel? needless to say, that's exactly what i did, and before i knew it i had a face full of tar, ripped shirt, torn skin in most places (this was the summer so t shirt and shorts) which had made forceful contact with the tarmac. didn't even have time to realise what had happened when my friend who was right behind me didn't manage to avoid the tangle of bike and body and ran straight over me before crashing himself.

twas a glorious summer day

Mine also falls under the ‘I wonder what will happen if I do this?’ category.

About 15 years ago I was cycling home after football training and for some reason I decided to see if I could cycle with my arms crossed. Not crossed as in across my chest but crossed with my right hand on the left handle-bar and my left hand on the right. First step was to go no-hands, this went smoothly enough. Step 2 was crossing hands and grabbing the handlebars. Needless to say I wobbled and fell right off. Unfortunately I was cycling along the canal and careered right in. I was covered in slime and mucus and God knows what else. Took me an age to get my bike out as well.

Mint Sauce

nothing crazy springs to mind, the odd dangerious thing, the odd painful thing,
**
used todo a lot of mountain biking, mainly single track, was going down a down hill section that had become a very rutted, but other cyclists and rain water, ranging from 6 to 12 inches deep and 18 to 24 inches wide, full of rocks and crossed with exposed tree roots.

had only just mastered bunny hops at the time, so was doing this section at full belt, bunny hopped some of the roots, to land on the side of the rut, throwing my feet of the peddels, landing on the crossbar, feet getting dragged in the dirt, metel pedels cutting in to back and front of exposed shin and calfs before eventully bringin the bike under control

pausing only to pick the dirt from my bloodied shins, cheecking everything was still in its place after contact with the cross bar, before heading to the next stage
**
now mainly doing road cycling, alot older, alot wiser, was doing a charity road race earlier this year, 110kms, most of it in the pouring rain, was cycling in pack, me in the middle, pouring rain, spary, almost an inch of standing water, not able to see a thing, brakes hardly working due to all the water, would have only taken on of us to slip for all of us to be taken out

later on the ride there is a 30 to 40% decline, some of the riders experienced the worse of the days weather coming down this, with a sharp left turn at a roundabout at the bottom, with a few inches of standing water, again, little braking due to extreme conditions, some of my mates who came down at this time said it was the only time they were scared on a bike

roadmanmad

I used to practice going over the handlebars. Its a very strange feeling. However, knowing the sensation I believe has saved me from serious injury on 4 to 5 occaisions.

Manone

I think bike accidents are a rite of passage for true bike lovers. If you don't get back on the bike after a tarmac induced scar you aren't meant to feel spandax on your buttocks.

My own happened on my first bike down our drive in a race, where I managed to run into the stone pillar at the bottom breaking the front brake and the bracket for the front handlebars rendering the bike useless and me going arse over tit. Parents weren't happy as the bike was a day old.


Another one that springs to mind where I attempted the no hands no feet on pedals method of cycling. I managed to go star shaped drifting off to the right perfectly to bury my head into the tarmac only to realise as I dusted the grit from my brow that my history teacher was following behind. Not good as I also fancied his daughter who was in the passener seat.

But my most recent incident on a bike was last week were 4 muppets walked out in front of me on a cyclelane. The front wheel locked up and backend reared and somehow I managed to vault over the handlebars without a scratch standing in from of the idiots with the bike in a heap behind me. Not sure how I managed it. Glad I hadn't my SIDI's on that day.

Mr. Skeffington

When I was a secondary school student I cycled straight over the grass part in the middle of Templeogue roundabout on my mountain bike and was hit by a car on the far side! I lived to tell the tale:D

uberwolf

wheelie of my first drop off. 15ft. I had to pysche myself for ages. I'd love a video of some of things I did in the day. I wasn't the wildest in the group, but the sheer control and speed of things we did.

Don1

8/9 yrs old. BMX with stupidly fat tyres. Trying to keep up with older brother and his geared MTB. Throwing the bike side to side going as hard as I could, attempted to take a corner while still doing this. Big fat tyre decided to go sideways and stop. I did the standard human cannonball into the tarmac face first, bike followed. Knocked out, helmet, hand grip, saddle and four permanent teeth bit the dust :rolleyes: Hospital for three days for observation. New saddle, repaired hand grip, new helmet, temporary crowns on teeth back on the road in under a week!! I didn't think a whole lot of the hospital trip until the doc informed me that if I hadn't been wearing a helmet (only had it three days incidentally) he was in no doubt that I would've died. :eek:
I, now 25, have taken up proper mountain biking. Needless to say I have a helmet and a slightly interfering sense of self preservation! I am overcoming it though!!

311

Cruisin along on my grifter ,see some girlies by the wall and I decide to do a wheelie ,to show off my superhuman bike skills (I was about 10)

Just as I pass them and my front wheel is about 3ft in the air ,the front wheel decides to part company with me and my bike.
Probably the worst fall I've ever had ,my face crashed into the road and the girls had a right old laugh .

Them where the days:D

Capt'n Midnight

cycling out of the gate at home look down while changing gear and turned into the bumper of the car across the road. bike just stopped and I fell sideways. worst part was the neighbour watching it all. stupid rather than crazy

didn't do the forks any good and buckled the down tube but the bike was usable till it got run over by a bus , but that's a different story


crazy stuff would have been loads of descents of wicklow hills with paniers on that regularly hopped off, worst being coming down shay into glenmalure and a front panier hopped off but was still dragged along the ground by the strap

Raam

The bro' had bought a silver Raleigh Strika with his communion money and I had been given his old bike, a blue Raleigh Ranger. A mate of mine already had a black Raleigh Strika. Obviously we needed to find out which colour Strika was the fastest. So we had a race, all on our respective bikes. My Ranger was featuring a broken front brake with the cable wrapped around the handle bar.

Half way down the road the cable got stuck in my front wheel and I was catapulted over the handle bars face first into a Mini parked on the side of the road. I was knocked out, broke my nose and a little finger and had to go into Temple St. I still remember being wheeled around the hospital in a wheelchair by my Dad and some woman asking, "Oh my god, what happened? Did he get knocked down by a car?" I looked like Quasimodo for weeks. The Ranger is long gone, but we still have the trusty Strika!