My First Walk of Shame

[AG_XC]

I had my first walk of shame this weekend and let me tell you did I pick the day to do it. I just finished cleaning my chain when I decided that I would take a nice little ride down to the LBS and pick up a bike computer for my bike. I was about 1/4 mile away from the LBS when my chain went snap. As I did not bring my chain tool with me, I quickly realized that I was SOL. I turned around and started walking home 3+ miles in the 90+ temps. Now to those of you that are way smarter than I am what I say next came to you almost instantly, unfortunately for myself it did not come to me until I was halfway home. Why did I not just walk the extra 1/4 mile and have it fixed at the LBS? Good question and one I will be sure to think of if this ever happens again.

Moral of this story is always carry a multi tool and make sure that you bring your brain with you on your ride.

[rockyrider]

You can always blame disorientation caused by overheating. Oh and always carry a spare SRAM Power Link, makes the chain fix much faster.

[mimbresman]

Live and learn...
Thats not as bad a doing a XC ride solo, without a pump. I did that ONCE. Got a flat high in the Chuska mtns (on the Rez) and ended up walking about 7 miles or 8 miles back to my apartment. Took about 2 hours or so. It was WAY dark when I got in. I was beat!

[rockyrider]

Rather than calling it the Walk of Shame, think of it as the Walk of Doh!

[bomberbarnes]

Rather than calling it the Walk of Shame, think of it as the Walk of Doh!

^this. We've all done it, no shame in that. Shame is if you end up doing the same thing next week :eek:

Walking 3 miles home when the bike shop was so close was a bit, erm :rolleyes: though....

Remeber; you give shops your money, they are there to help you :D

[Marticus]

Moral of this story is always carry a multi tool and make sure that you bring your brain with you on your ride.

Forgetting to bring your brain isn't a function of being a beginner, man. If it makes you feel any better, I've been riding for years and a few months ago, I was fixing a flat tire on the trail and my CO2 wasn't working properly (or so I thought.) I took it off the tube and looked at it as I pulled the trigger. I swear, I could hear the looney tunes theme playing as I did that. I had a tiny freezer-burn scar right between my eyes for about a week, and one of the guys I was riding with called me Cyclops for the rest of the day.

[rockyrider]

Doh! Amazing how cold that CO2 stuff is... Lucky you didn't freeze your cornea.

[OTBSkinloss]

If that's the worst "Doh!" moment you ever have, count yourself lucky. I still pull bone head stunts and I've been doing this for years.

Try leaving your seat pack unzipped, then getting a flat only to find all of your equipment is back up the trail somewhere. Or how about using your mini pump on another bike and leaving it on your living room floor, then getting a flat 6 miles into a 14 mile ride. Ever inflate a 2.5 tire with a shock pump?

Don't worry. I go by the Scott Adams theory. All people do dumb things, but if you're an ass hole you're gone. :D

[50 Mission Cap]

I had my first walk of shame this weekend and let me tell you did I pick the day to do it. I just finished cleaning my chain when I decided that I would take a nice little ride down to the LBS and pick up a bike computer for my bike. I was about 1/4 mile away from the LBS when my chain went snap. As I did not bring my chain tool with me, I quickly realized that I was SOL. I turned around and started walking home 3+ miles in the 90+ temps. Now to those of you that are way smarter than I am what I say next came to you almost instantly, unfortunately for myself it did not come to me until I was halfway home. Why did I not just walk the extra 1/4 mile and have it fixed at the LBS? Good question and one I will be sure to think of if this ever happens again.

Moral of this story is always carry a multi tool and make sure that you bring your brain with you on your ride.

Speaking of brains, I was in a 24 hr race about a year ago. Was racing w/ new wheels I bought on Jensen. Forgot to put rim strips in these ma's. 4-5 flats during a night lap. Ran out of tubes and patches. Walked back 6-7 miles.

[phlatlander]

Drive 30 miles to the trailhead and notice you left your front wheel in the garage. Or your helmet. Or your shoes. None of these were on the same day.

[AG_XC]

LOL! These are some good doh! moments. I know mine wasnt that but it sure felt bad as I was pouring buckets of sweat from this nice little heat wave we are having. 65 degrees one day, 95 the next.

[Moe\/elo]

Great stories, everybody's done stupid stuff like that. You laugh about it later over beer. One time on an epic ride one guys every single chain ring bolt fell out. He thought he was done for. We all took one off for the cause and he was on his way.:D

[bomberbarnes]

Drive 30 miles to the trailhead and notice you left your front wheel in the garage. Or your helmet. Or your shoes. None of these were on the same day.

Drove to Wales last month for a week in Afan (6 hours or so incl Channel tunnel car train thingy). got there to find I had left my helmet at home. And my gloves. And my glasses.

The local QBC loved me!

[tryandgetme]

Great stories, everybody's done stupid stuff like that. You laugh about it later over beer. One time on an epic ride one guys every single chain ring bolt fell out. He thought he was done for. We all took one off for the cause and he was on his way.:D

I would have made him do the whole ride on the small ring

[phlatlander]

Drove to Wales last month for a week in Afan (6 hours or so incl Channel tunnel car train thingy). got there to find I had left my helmet at home. And my gloves. And my glasses.

The local QBC loved me!

You win!!! :D

[longhaultruker2]

Drive 30 miles to the trailhead and notice you left your front wheel in the garage. Or your helmet. Or your shoes. None of these were on the same day.

lmao!!!at least it's not just me!thanx phlat!:p

[davkatreb]

Jesus, dude, the stories I could tell...:o

[robcycle]

Didn't replace worn cleats. Came unclipped during out of the saddle sprinting. Went OTB and broke my collar bone into four pieces. :mad:

Got a flat with no support gear five miles from home. Walked a mile to the LBS, bought a tube, used their pump. Bought a doughnut and rode home :cool:

-Rob.

[real_ss_budgie]

....forgetting to tighten the QR on the front wheel after fixing a flat

[Ripp]

Didn't replace worn cleats. Came unclipped during out of the saddle sprinting. Went OTB and broke my collar bone into four pieces. :mad:

Got a flat with no support gear five miles from home. Walked a mile to the LBS, bought a tube, used their pump. Bought a doughnut and rode home :cool:

-Rob.

OK I've been guilty of many of these things at one time or another but what I really want to know about is this donut selling LBS!?? How cool is that! :D

[robcycle]

... what I really want to know about is this donut selling LBS!?? How cool is that! :D
Oh, the LBS doesn't sell doughnuts, but it is right behind where they make most of the Krispy Kremes for the mid-atlantic.

It's the little perks, ya know? :D

-Rob.

[althegud1srtakn]

i can't even remember what state i was in, but me and 2 friends were on a ride through some grasslands somewhere. it was supposed to be like a 15-20 mile ride, and we were from out of town (2 from VA 1 from CO) and had never heard of a local trail hazard called "goatheads." if you havn't heared of them either, they're these little 4-pronged thingies that some kind of plant drops, i think it's what that plant has for seeds but they're though as hell, and since there's 4-prongs, 3 are always down, leaving one always up. well we all had pumps and 2 spare tubes, thinking that would be enough for anything we came across. a few miles in we saw a river and decided to go for a little swim, and when we got back we had 6 flats across 3 bikes.

we each replaced all the tubes, spent about 2 hours pulling out thorns, and tried to walk through areas with these things, but it was no use. a few miles later, aobut the halfway point, we all had flats and couldn't do sh!t about it.

we kept walking, got horribly lost, discovered we'd somehow made it onto US military grounds, saw warning signs that seemed to imply weapons testing, got terrified, ran out of water, and started getting VERY nervous. Bike shoes suck for hiking btw, my toes were bleeding.

eventually we found the van, but what had started as a morning ride wound up being an all day event. i think it was around 10pm that we found the van, and we thought we'd be back by noon.

[wigger thomas]

I thought this would be about waking up next to coyote ugly.

Man, flat tire fiascoes suck.

Good thing they weren't testing nukes:eek: If they were,just climb in a refrigerator like in the movies.