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Have you ever had to call for a ride home ?


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Bicycle, or motor trouble ?

My bicycle has never let me down, but the motor has.

 

Planned a long ride up into the hills. got lost and the ride became longer. Hot day, 90+ with high humidity. I ran out of water while lost, probably rode 10 miles of hills with no water before finding a store & my way. Bought and drank a lot of Gatorade, some chips & power bars. Rested in the shade for a while. Thought I was feeling pretty good and headed for home, staying on roads I knew.

Was truckin along feeling good when my left leg skipped a beat or two, passed it off as a twitch. Then the leg locked up. I stretched and rested, set off much slower. Made it about 100 feet and locked up for real.

This was pre GPS days, but I did have a cell phone, Called for a ride, had a hell of a time describing where I was, but eventually my daughter found me and took me home.

After a shower and plenty of fluid I was resting on the bed and cramped like I have never cramped before or since, I chewed a hole in my pillow trying not to scream. I limped for a few weeks after. The leg never did recover completely.

My daughter & I talked about this later, after she had become a nurse, and she told me that had she known then  what she knows now I would have been taken to the hospital & hooked up to a couple of IV's.

I never did recover completely, Long rides were a thing of the past. Now I'm starting from zero.  Again.

If ya need a ride, take the ride, pride will fuck ya over every time  

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Yes with motors.  Your story is semi familiar .  We did a tandem century and it was hot.  Very hot.  I loved it.  Mr. Aire was struggling.  He got a cramp in the last mile.  Stretched and we rode to finish but I could tell he wasn't ok.  Got to the finish and he got a cramp in his thigh so bad that he could not get off the bike--- for like ten minutes.  He could not drive us to the motel.  It was a terrible night.  He should have gone for fluids.  I was very worried.

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Not that long ago I started a ride feeling good but got really light headed & dizzy about 30 mikes in.    I couldn't check my glocose but had a cliff bar but it didn't help.  My wife called my daughter who pIcked us up.  

Not sure what hit me but it hasn't happened since.

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Kindness of strangers

I was still young and healthy, commuting 12 miles each way to a job in a glass plant.

After a 10 hour day of hard work in an exceptionally hot area (120+) I was struggling going home. At about the 9 mile mark I was stopped and hanging off the bars.

A guy in a pickup stopped and asked if I was OK, of course I told him yes. He asked where I lived, I told him. He said he was going right past my house, toss the bike in the back & climb in.

He had to ask directions to the house he was going right past, but I'm pretty sure he saved me a lot of hurt.

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Last week when I broke my bike.  I have called for lots of rides.  I once flatted 3 times in the first 25 miles of a ride and was out of co2 so called.

i also commute to and from work year round, which means lots of riding in the rain.  When I flat in the rain, I will call for a ride rather than spend time in the rain fixing a tire.

My wife flattened yesterday on her morning ride and called for a pickup so it is tit for tat.

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One time when I was ambushed by the deers. I struggled in the dark trying to get my headlight back in the mount but couldn’t see the mount to tell if it was broken or just unhooked. My front brake was knocked off, I wasn’t worried about that. Who needs a front brake? My chain was off the chainring but I could probably get that back on in the dark. The headlight was the killer, I couldn’t ride without it with no moon on a country road. I called my wife as she was on her way home from work. She has a one hour commute. After we got home she looked at me and decided to take me to the hospital. After cat scans, x-rays, etc. they determined I had broken shoulder blade and collarbone. They did some repair work on my face and leg and hip. I was off work a couple months.

that was the only time I called for a ride. My first MS 150 I was drinking only water at the advice of my doctor (she wasn’t a cyclist) and after four hours of climbing hills in 90 degree heat my legs locked up. I coasted into the front yard of a church I was passing by and grabbed hold oh their sign to keep from falling over. I hung onto that sign for about fifteen minutes and some feeling started coming into my legs. I slowly pedaled to the next rest stop about six miles away and drank a bunch of gator aid and ate bananas. I finished the ride and got a shower and two massages. The second day I had no issues. I have never sagged.

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10 hours ago, Airehead said:

Yes with motors.  Your story is semi familiar .  We did a tandem century and it was hot.  Very hot.  I loved it.  Mr. Aire was struggling.  He got a cramp in the last mile.  Stretched and we rode to finish but I could tell he wasn't ok.  Got to the finish and he got a cramp in his thigh so bad that he could not get off the bike--- for like ten minutes.  He could not drive us to the motel.  It was a terrible night.  He should have gone for fluids.  I was very worried.

Fluids and Tums.  Calcium in Tums really helps.  If he was that bad IV fluids are a huge help.  

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I have twice, both mechanical.  One happened when I was riding with my daughter.  She kicked up a stick in the path and the spokes jammed it into her rear derailleur braking it.  The other, my chain jumped off the last cog and jammed between the cog and spokes.  I couldn't get it out, and it broke a spoke.  These both happened in the same spot, about 6 mikes from home.

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Maybe 15 years ago (probably not long after I first put my black Panasonic together) I got a flat about 10 miles from home and had no way to repair it.  I had to use a gas station pay phone to call my wife.

Then a couple years ago when the Great KHS Seat Post Debacle reared its head, she was out with my son and I just called her to make sure she didn't leave before I got there.  I was OK riding to where she was, but I didn't want to stand all the way home.

As far as I can remember, I've never had to call for a ride due to injury, exhaustion, etc but I know I was tempted a few times.  Yes, pride, and I guess I was lucky it didn't screw me over.

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Both.

The Jeep had A/C installed by the dealer.  Did not realize this at time of purchase.  Had issues with pulley alignment and it would throw the A/C compressor belt, which also drove the water pump.  I know this caused issues with the engine due to overheating, but could not get Jeep to realize this.  Ended up selling it.

On the El Camino, the harmonic balancer on the SBC went south just as I exited 45 to take 190 over to College Station.  Coasted to a service station and paid them to replace it.   

There are other car stories.  I shot the pinion gear, or a piece of it out of the differential on the Nova when I caught some air over a rail road crossing and did not let off the gas....

I am trying to remember if any of the other engines let me down but I think that is it. 

On the bike, I was riding with Cuda2K and the Plano Bicycyle Association.  I was not fit enough to hang with them and ended up bonking on a long climb and dropping off the back and riding to my brothers house.  He drove me back to the ride start location and me and my wounded pride drove home.

 

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Sagged twice for ITBS so bad my knee would no longer bend.

Riding a Century with a friend and my nephew, he's really bad at pacelines and ends up working hard pulling in and out to adjust his speed.  Hot day, line with strong riders, I took a lead just as we turned into the wind and in my focus on pulling us through that probably pulled too hard.  A few miles later we noticed a missing nephew.  He stopped to blow chunks.  So some slow miles getting back going, friend had a schedule so had to join another line and go.  I stated cramping, it's what I do.  Got hit with a couple in the middle of a bridge so i could't get off.  Got to the bottom, steered into a field and by then I was completely locked up with one foot still clipped.  We lost a bunch of time while I recovered then walked it off.  By about mile 85, we were WAY behind, rest tops were closed, SAGs gone.... the nephew started riding really inconsistent.  Asked him a couple simple questions, got some whacky answers, I shut it down and called his wife to get us.  We both recovered, but weeks of soreness from those cramps.  Learned to carry my special anti-cramp peppers from then on,

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A few times. On a commute home one day, horizontal rain and lightning made me call for the wife SAG. 

A stick kicked up, entered the derailleur thru the pulleys and ripped the rear derailleur off the hanger. Hanger was bent and several spokes were damaged. Stick caused $300 in damages. I was 20 miles from home. Wife rescued me again.

On a lunch ride, I crossed wheels and flipped landing helmet and shoulder. I was pissed at myself for failure to pay attention and pushed on. In a mile I knew I should call it quits so we turned back and rode the three or four miles back to work. Broken collarbone.

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