[Closed] Idiot

😂 🤞

My best was driving 3 hrs with family, inlcuding a 4 & 6 yr old + 1 yr old twins to the QECP day/night enduro

and realising Id fogotten the poles for the tent

suprefli of this parish lent us a tent & possibly saved my marriage

Interleithen uplift years ago. Bunch of guys had driven up from Manchester, leaving early in the morning.

Got to the carpark and discovered they'd left the keys for the chain securing the bikes back home Manchester.

Elliot the uplift driver directed them to a nearby farmer who cut the chain off for them.

Drove back to Interleithen and discovered they were actually booked on at Ae

I’m amazed this doesn’t happen more often. Good luck OP.

Pre-kids my wife forgot to pack the tent for a camping trip in Tasmania. Luckily we had a survival tarp for through walking and rigged it up off the car. Worked a treat, if a little odd to wake up and see a cow had forded the creek and was tripping over everyone else’s tents! Would never have seen that if we’d been in a tent ourselves.

Drove from Halifax to Glencoe for some winter climbing, got to the hostel before finding I'd left my boots at home. It's quite difficult to find winter boots in Fort William, in a size EU48

I keep the keys for my roof rack and bars in my car so I avoid such situations.

David Cameron still the man to beat at this game.

Drive from Oxfordshire to Cornwall to windsurf. Take everything except masts.
Buy new masts down there. 2 of them, full length before 2pc became common.
A month later driving down with all my masts in a mast bag on the roof, including the new two I hear a twang from the roof rack and the bungee cord holding the front of the mastbag has come undone and at 3 in the morning on the M5 heading south the mast bag has ejected and is lain squarely across the centre lane. We slam on the brakes and start walking back up the deserted motorway and then see lights in the distance.
The artic hit the bag square on crushing 6 masts in two locations.
Back to the same shop as before in the morning.
D'Oh!

I have Thule keys N130, N136, N157 and N188 if they are any help. I am about an hour away, near Ammanford.

And that why the keys for my rack have this on them

The thule locks are pretty pathetic, you can force them in seconds with a screwdriver. Of course this can knacker them, but they were never that good in the first place, just a casual theft deterrant- in all honesty more of an inconvenience to the owner than to any actual thief.

and the bungee cord holding the front of the mastbag has come undone

NEVER rely on bungees alone. But you know that now...

I worked at a petrol station in Portsmouth and a family from Leeds pulled in asked for directions to a church and road I had never heard of.

Turns out that instead of being slightly late for a wedding in Portsmouth, they were going to be very late for a wedding in Plymouth.

Forgot keys? I drove me & my son into the Peak for a ride. Popped his bike out the back of the car. Wheel on, ready to ride. Got my bike out: I’d forgotten the front axle-kept in the house rather than the garage to inconvenience thieves. Darn! Ride started later.

There's a legend of a shetland TTer I know who travelled down to mainland Scotland, got to the start of the 25tt and realised he'd forgotten his saddle. Did the race saddle-less and won!

I think my worst one was driving from Teesside to York to visit friends we'd never visited there before. Pre mobile, never mind smart phone days. Got there and realised I'd not got the address or their phone number!

Unlucky OP. Unless you've got it off already them can you make a lock removal key out of an existing key?

Thule locks are mostly decorative, all the lock barrels can be removed in seconds with a key blank. Google Thule lock removal key and see if you can grind an existing key into one? Could use a paving slab as a grindstone. Saves wrecking the lock.

Good to know I'm not the only one. Thanks @Ambrose, the key I need is N144. Anyone near Llanelli got one of them?

Does loading up the car to go for a club ride then driving to said club ride in a different car count? Not me but an ex's dad did just that. They weren't even similar cars, an Almera and a Rover 200!

The artic from Cornish Surfing Supply Shop hit the bag square on crushing 6 masts in two locations.

@Pictonroad the blurb says the barrel removal key only works when the lock is unlocked already. I'm trying to avoid forcing the locks, I know they dont deter thieves but they're a bit of reassurance that clamps won't spring open on the motorway. Replacement key hopefully arriving by post on Monday or Tuesday.

Unless you’ve got it off already them can you make a lock removal key out of an existing key?

I think the lock needs to be unlocked before the lock removal key works, otherwise if a thief ever got hold of a removal key (not hard) then all Thule locks would be openable / removable.

Edit - too slow

In the early 00s I  drove from Fife to Bristol and it was only when I got to Bristol and wasn't able to  get the car doors to lock that I realised I'd left my car keys in Fife and had opened and started the car with the keys to my boss's van. From that point on I just had to accept I couldn't lock the car for the rest of the week and hope it would continue to not be to fussy about the ignition key so that I could get home again.

I once dragged our caravan from Durham to Glenluce, left it all set up & locked, ready to return on the following Saturday.
I get to Corbridge & suddenly realise I haven't got the caravan key so I find a phone box (1980's) & phone my Dad who's looking after the shop, to see if he can see them in the house. Of course he can't so we head back home to look. It's only after an hour of searching/panicking I remember which trousers Id been wearing. Yes, the ones where everything fell out of the pockets when sat down.
So the key was down the side of the car seat all the time.

Does loading up the car to go for a club ride then driving to said club ride in a different car count? 

Yes, it certainly does. World Class Idiotry by the sound of it 👏

Drove to Cannock (about an hour) got ready to ride lifted bike out the back. Realised front wheel was still in the garage. Drove home.

Another time drove to Cannock, forgot spd shoes. Drove home. I now keep a spare pair of flat pedals in the spare wheel well of the car!

18 Bikes in Hope have saved me and a friend a couple of times.

Him: got to Hope and realised he'd left his helmet at home. They lent him one for a donation to Mountain Rescue.

Me: got to Hope and left my front axle at home. Same result.

Lovely, lovely people, helping stupid, stupid people.

Next time this thread rolls round.

Another time drove to Cannock, forgot spd shoes. Drove home. I now keep a spare pair of flat pedals in the spare wheel well of the car

... only to find I've left my pedal spanner at home!!

When I worked at Halfords we had a Web order for 2 carbon Road bikes and a set of Thule roof bars. We built the bikes and he came in on a Saturday to have the bars fitted. We fitted the bars, loaded the bikes and waved him off.

Ten minutes later he was back with the wreckage having driven at speed into a multi storey car park.

We built 2 more bikes and fitted some more roof bars to his fortunately undamaged roof rails.

Ten minutes later he was back again having driven back to the same car park.

In a little under 2 hours he'd written off £4k of bikes, £400 of roof bars and at the second attempt an Audi A6. I suspect he'd had better days...

18 Bikes in Hope have saved me and a friend a couple of times

I think it was them that also saved the day when a certain forum member (who I won’t name to spare their blushes) left their front wheel at home

My best was when we were away for the weekend in the Malvern hills. Got up early and did the Malvern classic route

Parked in the middle of nowhere. I was in a Ford Focus and you can unlock the boot without unlocking the rest of the car. Threw my bike and muddy gear in the boot, then remembered I hadn’t unlocked the rest of the car as I heard the ‘thunk’ of the boot shutting and realising I’d left the car keys in my shorts which were now locked in the boot

Spare car keys were back in Manchester. Much faffing followed by a big rock and 150 quid for a new side window

I heard the ‘thunk’ of the boot shutting and realising I’d left the car keys in my shorts which were now locked in the boot

I did that at the one and only triathlon I've ever done. I suppose it serves me right really. I was even still stood in my damp wetsuit. Luckily the car was a Vauxhall Nova that only required a borrowed welding rod from a service van parked next to me to pop the mechanism.

"rock and 150 quid for a new side window"

Should of done the windscreen. Then got the windscreen repair mob out ... insurance.

Long day teaching snowboarding in atrocious conditions (snowing hard with very, very wet snow). Get back to van in the dark, ready for a treacherous drive down the hill and home. Wearily toss board and backpack into the back of the van. Step away for a pee behind a tree. Discover that van has automagically re-locked the doors (since I've only opened the boot, not a door). Reach for keys to unlock. They're in my backpack.

When you get back, swap all the locks for the SAME number and keep key on the same ring as car keys. Then keep another in the car or on the bike. First think I did when. I bought bars and four bike racks.

I know someone who drove his son to a race knowing he had not checked his race bag to be sure he’d packed everything. Hard lesson for his son.

But then I left two front wheels at haldon after giving my nephew an MTB lesson. An expensive Stans Crest shaped lesson. We’ve all done something.

Broke a spoke today. 10 minutes to dinner I decide to fix it;
wheel out and cassette off - 7 mins left
I've got a spare spoke (+ 1mm but close enough) 6 mins left
unscrew spoke from nipple - 5 mins left
lace spoke in - 4 mins left, I might just do this
flick spoke nipple inside rim with slightly too long spoke while rushing...aaaargh!
Aluminium nipple, natch, can't get it with a magnet!
The irony is there's no rush coz I don't need that bike until at least Tuesday 🙂 I'll have a play tomorrow

Parked in the middle of nowhere. I was in a Ford Focus and you can unlock the boot without unlocking the rest of the car. Threw my bike and muddy gear in the boot, then remembered I hadn’t unlocked the rest of the car as I heard the ‘thunk’ of the boot shutting and realising I’d left the car keys in my shorts which were now locked in the boot

Can top that, also Ford Focus, away on hols in Galway (Ireland) about 200kms from Dublin and the spare car keys. Was getting stuff out of the car boot and left the keys on the boot sill. Was closing the boot and saw them in my peripheral vision, could have made a grab for the boot door but even in that split second realised that I could just open the boot again and also the doors were unlocked. Cue the boot hitting the keys at the perfect angle to trigger the central locking.

Luckily there was a good key smith in the town who, although unsuccessful picking the car door lock was able to get a key cut from the results of his attempts.

I have done the keys in the boot thing as well, with one of the very first Mondeo estates in the country.

RAC got me sorted by prising the boot apart and using a rod to activate the boot button on the (fortunately visible) remote.

Only other option was smash a window. RAC guy advised to always smash a movable window as they can be / are cut to shape, rather than the fixed shape ones (like a quarterlight) which come from the manufacturer (new model, so no stock anywhere).

Should of done the windscreen. Then got the windscreen repair mob out … insurance.

Two things; one is how the heck would you get home? Second, the cover is generally windscreen and glass so any window damage is covered.
From LV:

Yes, LV= car insurance covers all glass in your car under windscreen cover.

Not saying all insurers are the same but on that point they generally will be.