What's YOUR "prime case of stupid"?

[Trader]

OK...so we've seen the video of the 19 year old going airborne in his Trans Am.

 

There were several comments something like "hey...we've all done stupid things and been lucky enough to live and tell about it":doh:

 

So...now here's the chance to tell about it!

 

Mine was pretty simple...but its the one that sticks in mind the most (yes there were others!)

 

I was riding TOO FAST on one stretch of winding up hill road (Albion Rd. for you folks who know Hamilton, ON)

 

The last corner was a tight right and I just couldn't get it to go around the corner.

I drifted into the oncoming lane just as I was cresting the hill.

 

It was steep enough I couldn't see over it and it is only blind chance that I didn't become a hood ornament on some car!

 

I still get shivers when I think about what might have been.

 

So Whats yours???

 

I'm thinking this might lead to a LONG thread

[Freebird]

Yea, it would be a very long thread even if I was the only one here who posted all the stupid things I have done. It's just a matter of giving it some thought and deciding WHICH one I want to admit to.

[Bvinson]

I am in the same boat as Don. Which one? I have an idea... Let me ask my wife, she seems to remember them all.

[etcswjoe]

I have done so many I just thank God I am still alive.

 

One example long ago: I had bought a new (used bike) and was driving on a gravel road and hit the breaks too hard and you guessed it down I went, the worst damage was a broken mirror and my pride.

[Eck]

Well, I hate to admit this one but..

I was loading my new 05 Venture into my brand new enclosed trailer with out the trailer being connected to my truck or using jack stands..Oh yea.. what a mess i was in..

 

I pulled partially into the trailer, made sure my windshield would clear the header section, tucked my head down a little and slowly proceeded inward..

 

Next thing I knew the ramp door was flat on the ground and the trailer was on about a 75 degree angle upward..

 

I was scared to death that the trailer was going to snap upward where the trailer hitch was pointing straight up in the air boxing me in...my wife was screaming "what can I do what can I do.....I yelled get back....gave it all the throttle she had and peeled out forward.

 

The tongue slammed down against the cement driveway as my front tire hit the forward wall of the trailer..

 

I hit the kill switch and just sat there checking for dampness and warm objects in my pants..

[Flyinfool]

Oh man, so many choices.

 

I guess the biggest stupid I ever did was to get married when I did.

Had all of my blood in the wrong place.

That ordeal ended 24 years ago and I have not repeated the same mistake.

[slick97spirit]

Mine comes pretty close to Ecks.

I had a newly purchased (and hardly ridden) RSV Millenium #107 I was so proud of! Also had a newly purchased and never used tilt trailer. Don't get ahead of me! Decided to try to load the new bike on the new trailer right after a rain with no one else home. Yep just me and my dog. Dogs don't understand my voice when it's 8 octaves higher than normal for some reason. Anyway, got the bike up the tilted trailer and even hit the wheel chock. Problem was the trailer didn't tilt back down. There I was with 900 lbs of bike at a 50 deg. angle to the ground on a wet trailer and holding it up there with the front brake only. Right, it didn't hold long. These things can be hell to back up on level ground some times. Try doing it at 15mph backwards with the front tire sliding not rolling. Busted my lower fairing (hadn't put 50 miles on the bike yet) and traded the trailer in that day. I truely felt like an idiot later on as I thought about it.

[Sylvester]

A 1964 Chevelle has the same distance between center of tire as the distance between train tracks. We would let some of the air out down to 20psi and get on the tracks and run down a mile or two to the next mile road and turn around and ride back.

 

I know you are thinking about it.........................................................................

 

 

 

 

Yep we saw the wig wag light coming at us from around the bend.

 

 

God was good and let us make it to the mile road and bail off. That ended that chapter of my life.

 

[hunter 1500]

I had a 21.5 foot Bayliner and was going fishing all by myself and back the boat in and had to part about 200 yards away. Got back to the boat and realized I had forgot the plug. I have done this with other boats but at least the plugs were inside the boat not a big deal. This one was outside on the transom at the bottom. Lucky for me it was in the summer and the water was warm so I took my pants off and went swimming. Took about an hour for the pump to pump all the water out. lol

 

Not me this time but the same launch. I was waiting to pull the boat out with a couple of freinds on a weekend and the launch was busy and we just were waiting our turn and this guy came and cut in line to put his boat in. Loaded the wife and two young kids in the boat and unhooked the boat from the trailer. He then starts backing down the ramp and stopped quick about halfway. Well you can imagine the rest. The boat went flying off the trailer and landed on the ramp with the bow still on the trailer and it pointing at about a 45 degree angle in to the air. The wife and kids were screaming, meanwhile we were laughing so hard I thought I would split a gut. No one got hurt.

[SilvrT]

Yea, it would be a very long thread even if I was the only one here who posted all the stupid things I have done. It's just a matter of giving it some thought and deciding WHICH one I want to admit to.

 

heh ... c'mon Don... let's hear 'em all

[Condor]

I have never made a mistake...... so far today....

[SilvrT]

On our route home from Venture West III we were coming thru Yosemite Nat'l park. Slow, twisty, narrow road all the way. Older couple with their older friends in front of us ... poking along at about 1/2 the speed limit which I think is about 30 mph .... I kept looking for an opportunity to pass as he just wasn't gonna stop and let me by (no shoulders to pull over) so we came around a left corner and I was ready... it was, like most of the others, an "S" but I figgured I had enuf room to get by if I cranked it hard... which I did ... a little bit too hard and just as I got my front end out and we were passing the old guy, here comes a car around the other bend and by this time, my speed was almost too fast and I really had to lean into it...even Nina was leaning.... we barely made it ... our tires came within inches of that oncoming car's tires and I figgure if both of us hadn't leaned into that corner, we would have not been here today to tell about it.

 

That's one.... how many others am I allowed?

[DBOB]

Well, I hate to admit this one but..

I was loading my new 05 Venture into my brand new enclosed trailer with out the trailer being connected to my truck or using jack stands..Oh yea.. what a mess i was in..

 

I pulled partially into the trailer, made sure my windshield would clear the header section, tucked my head down a little and slowly proceeded inward..

 

Next thing I knew the ramp door was flat on the ground and the trailer was on about a 75 degree angle upward..

 

I was scared to death that the trailer was going to snap upward where the trailer hitch was pointing straight up in the air boxing me in...my wife was screaming "what can I do what can I do.....I yelled get back....gave it all the throttle she had and peeled out forward.

 

The tongue slammed down against the cement driveway as my front tire hit the forward wall of the trailer..

 

I hit the kill switch and just sat there checking for dampness and warm objects in my pants..

 

I have also had the missfortune of going " trailer skiing " in an enclosed trailer. Talk about a pucker moment! My trailer was on top of our drive way and the lot was raised about 6 feet. Thankfully we stopped when we crossed the street and ended up in neighbors' front yard. Was very lucky no one was coming down the road!

No damage except for prde.

Don

[Hummingbird]

I have to admit that I distinctly remember 2 major "STUPIDS" that I committed, both of which I am too ashamed to admit and haven't spoken about them in 50 years or so.

 

the movie dumb and dumber but in real life comes to mind.

 

As I mentioned earlier, in both cases 'but for the grace of God, I would not be here'

[Trader]

Come on folks....we are all family here!

 

What is the stupid thing you did where you could have ended up badly injured or dead.

 

Marriage doesn't count although you can be injured in many different ways...but that's a different subject.

 

Something that as a direct result of YOUR dumb actions or could have had a bad consequence.

[KarlS]

At 55 I too have way to many to list, but the one that still makes me laugh: Bought a brand new S-10 pickup (first year they came out) drove straight from dealer to u-haul and had a trailer hitch installed. Drove from there to home and loaded the boat and a friend of mine and headed to northern Michigan for a week of fishing on Houghton lake. Set up camp on North shore and had to drive to south shore to launch boat. (very large lake). Friend got in boat, I back boat in water, water not deep enough for boat to float off. I jumped out and pushed boat off trailer. Went to get back in truck and door was shut and LOCKED. Only keys in truck, both sets. Truck 1/2 in water and running while others waiting to launch. (only 2 ramps). Police couldn't even get into this truck. Police drove me to chevy dealer who called the dealer I bought it from to get the key code and made me some keys. Police drove me back and police, me and a crowd of about 30 people all had a good laugh. Things were a lot different back then, wonder how out of hand people and police would get today.

[PastorPaul]

The dumbest thing I have done recently is I backed the bike into the yard. Not realizing that a neighborhood dog had crapped in the yard right where I put my left foot down to stabilize the bike. Let me tell you fresh dog crap is slick as ice. the bike went down with me rolling in the yard and finding another pile from same dog. Dog no longer resides in my neighborhood thanks to the dog catcher. Had a lapse of judgment and said a few choice words at which time my neighbor who was laughing histerically reminded me I was a pastor.

[DragonRider]

This happened when I was 18, you know how we felt then.....nothing can happen to us....RIGHT!!!

 

I had just gotten my 1962 VW and called 3 friends picked upa a couple of 6 packs and went riding in City Park in New Orleans. We were just riding around the park, its about 8 PM nobody around, we are doing about 40 mph and I come to a bridge that crosses the lagoon where they rent paddle boats.....now this is not an ordinary bridge, its not level with the road, it arches upward so boats can go under it, well I hit it way to fast and we are airborne for about 20 feet beyond the bridge, land on all four wheels, and one of the guys is hanging out of the sunroof, dont know how he didnt get tossed out, but he didnt. That was the first time I had ever driven across that bridge, my buddy told me to slow down but it was too late...........might have been a record setting jump for a VW. And the car survived with no damage, those were tough little cars............

[hig4s]

Yea, it would be a very long thread even if I was the only one here who posted all the stupid things I have done. It's just a matter of giving it some thought and deciding WHICH one I want to admit to.

 

Hmmm, I don't know if I want to admit to any of them, and just the list of dumb things done on motorcycles would take awhile.

[saltcreep]

I'm just going with latest one.. there's too many to list

I put the plungers on the forks on backwards when replacing the fork seals and could not

understand why it was bottoming out so bad.

 

I also mistook the bleed screw for the clutch as a grease fitting. I knew something was wrong when there were red drops coming from the ceiling. Brake fluid was somehow squirting way up in the air.

 

I'm mechanically inclined by cycle-stupid and am still learning.

Edited August 24, 2010 by saltcreep

[Brake Pad]

about the age of 20, I was replacing the rear drum brakes on my kawasaki.

I bought some kind of brake drum cleaning, from a can. I went ahead and sprayed the inside of the drum, then installed the new brake shoes, slapped it all back together, and took it for a ride., came to the corner, and could not stop. blow the intersection at 45 mph. (Major intersection. scared the S*** out of me.

 

second this year. rode the bike over the the west coast of florida, knowing we'd run into rain. 2 up pulling the trailer. by the time we got to Sanibel Island, the winds had picked up to 65 mph. and frigging pouring. we rode throught it, then crossed the 3 bridges going to the Island. cross winds, pushed the bike, like I was on ice, laying into the wind, and the trailers was heading the other way. I did some intence butt squeezes there. I had NEVER been to afraid. not to mention, the dumb cages, tail gating us down the bridges, laying on there horns.

We never found the dark blue saab that passed us on the right shoulder, comming down the bridge. His ass would have been mine. Be hard to drive with 4 flat tires, and no windows, and a few holes in the engine.

[barend]

I had to be in the attic and there were no stairs just a trap door. Going down I figured I could position the trap door, flip it up and drop down before it closed ...... Well, not quite! I was left hanging with my fingers jammed in a self tightening clamp and my feet about a foot of the ground. They had to cut my wedding band off but no broken bones or major damage.

 

I look back at some of the stuff i've pulled and remind myself that if anybody else had done that, I would have called him/her a stupid idiot.

[eazyduzzit]

I was 15 and didn't have the money to fix the rear brakes on my Kawasaki 90, so I would stop it by down shifting to 1st and popping the clutch. The back tire would slide me to a stop. WAIT, that's not the dumb part!

 

The girl who lived across the street from me had invited the whole cheerleader squad over to practice in her front yard.

I came home on the bike, turn into the driveway and pop a wheelie. I ride the wheelie almost to the end of the driveway, bring the front wheel down and down shift to first to stop, problem was I down shifted to neutral instead of first. I pop the clutch and it felt like I sped up instead of stopping. I rolled through my parents carport, into the utility room and stop when I hit the washing machine.

The cap on the gas tank catches me by the genitals and my nose on the window sill above the washing machine.

 

I was so embarrassed, I opened the window and climbed through it into the back yard and laid in the grass until I could walk again.

[bkuhr]

'92 Ft Lewis Wa, Buddy had expensive jacked up truck, floor was about 4 feet high, big balloon tires, like big foot. Old target on arty impact range was duece and half with front bumper winch. Buddy wanted winch for his truck. O dark thiry, so no one sees us, we load up tools and head out to impact range with lights off. Never saw impact crater we drove into. Front went straight down, smashed front bumper, pushed front wheels into rear of wheel wells, balloon tires jump out of crater, rear end goes straight down, smashes rear bumper, balloon tires jump out of crater. Now we try to regroup, steering wheel folded back over steering colum, buddy cracked some ribs, Big knot on my head, passenger windshield busted out. Truck still drives. Call it quits and drive (limp) home, front wheels dragging on fenders. When sun comes up realize missing rear liscense plate, oh sh*t. Back out to impact crater to collect plate. Buddy tells insurance hit deer and crashed in ditch up on MT Ranier. In hindsight lucky no livefire going on. I think that old duece is still there, with its winch:)

[oldgoat]

ok just one of mine from when i was a stupid kid.

at age 14 i got me one of them wrist rocket sling shots. well i was bored and found some of my grandpas .22 shells. now seeing as i couldnt take out my .22 unless grandpa was around.

i snuck out with the sling shot and the shells.

for some reason i placed 2 of them in the sling shot pocket and let them fly

hitting a brick wall. now for the life of me i never thought they would have a snow balls chance in hell of going off.. one must have hit just right at enough speed from that slingshot and i heard a bang. and breaking glass. 6 ft from me was grandpas 54 ford pick up with a nice new hole in the windshield..

let me tell ya a willow branch hurts and hurts even more when ya have to cut it yourself to be punished...