Shuttle fail stories

bturman
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Durango, CO US
bturman
Edited Date/Time 8/17/2014 4:21am
So my buddy Patrick and I were shuttling the other day and we goofed up. We were riding a trail that we'd never ridden before and didn't know the exact pick up location, so we decided to ride it and call the shuttle driver with our location once we got to the bottom. But... we left our phones at the top! Whoops. Needless to say, we had a fun time getting in touch with the shuttle driver. After riding clear back into town and asking a few strangers to use their phones, an hour or more later we were finally reunited with the driver. Lesson learned - don't forget your phone at the top!

Anyone else have a 'shuttle fail' story to share? I know there are some funny ones out there...
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k.shiz
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Los Angeles, CA US
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269th
k.shiz 5/3/2011 12:34pm
5/3/2011 12:34pm
Professional car wrecker Steve Wentz never told me that he engaged the e-brake on the van when it was my turn to drive that lap. So I drove down a few miles of steep mountain road back to the pick up point wondering why this van was driving like shit. I was going fast enough down the road to dissipate the smoke billowing out from the rear axle but when I pulled up to the pick up point and slowed down, I saw the van was chugging white smoke. Steve and Matt had beat me down the hill and had their jaws on the ground when I pulled up. We ended up backing the van into a huge puddle to cool the brake/axle down. It boiled the puddle for over 5 minutes before it cooled down enough for us to figure it was safe to drive again. The e-brake never held the van still again on anything more than a three degree incline. Oops.
kev1n
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skrillacon valley, CA US
kev1n 5/3/2011 10:44pm
5/3/2011 10:44pm
ya... being someone who doesnt even have their permit yet, and yet still takes turns on shuttle laps. ive done that before. not a pleasent smell...

also having to hold onto 4 bikes int he back of a truck because the tail gate popped open while driving is pretty epic. good way to get the blood pumping.
bdamschen
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Spreckels, CA US
bdamschen 5/12/2011 10:26am
5/12/2011 10:26am
Riding with a pretty big crew- it was my wife's turn to drive. Shuttle was way back in the boonies of town and pickup point was kinda hard to find but this was our third run or so. We get to the bottom, no wife. Wait around for like 10 minutes (about how long it would take to drive top to bottom), still no wife. Because I'm the guy married to her AND it's my truck, I get elected to ride farther down the steep ass road to find her, but all I found was a mean dog that wasn't tied up. We finally decide to ride back up the road only to find her about 3 or 4 turns up the hill. She pulled of at the wrong turn out. So busted. Normal shuttle time: 20 minutes from dropoff to dropoff. This time: about an hour and a half
90supra
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Los Alamos, NM US
90supra 5/12/2011 10:41am
5/12/2011 10:41am
Not really a FAIL but still interesting:

Doing the "Bender Shuttles" up in Silverton a few years ago, we piled (IIRC) 12 bikes and guys into a Nissan Titan the belonged to a guy who had gone to the hospital and was brave enough to leave the keys with Bender to use a shuttle vehicle. Got a little sketchy driving up the old mining roads in that truck with all those guys. By some miracle we didn't lose any bikes off the truck. Was an adventure to say the least
swilson669
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Chico, CA US
swilson669 5/12/2011 11:00am
5/12/2011 11:00am
Got to the top of the trail I've been building/riding for the past year and a half this past weekend and we found out there is now a locked gate across the shuttle road. FAIL.
bturman
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bturman 5/12/2011 11:01am
5/12/2011 11:01am
swilson669 wrote:
Got to the top of the trail I've been building/riding for the past year and a half this past weekend and we found out there is...
Got to the top of the trail I've been building/riding for the past year and a half this past weekend and we found out there is now a locked gate across the shuttle road. FAIL.
Ahhhhh. That sucks!
dtroyan123 5/12/2011 11:33am
5/12/2011 11:33am
swilson669 wrote:
Got to the top of the trail I've been building/riding for the past year and a half this past weekend and we found out there is...
Got to the top of the trail I've been building/riding for the past year and a half this past weekend and we found out there is now a locked gate across the shuttle road. FAIL.
cut the lock!!!
patrickjmale
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Half Moon Bay, CA US
patrickjmale 5/12/2011 11:35am
5/12/2011 11:35am Edited Date/Time 5/12/2011 11:35am
Me and my buddy planned out the shuttle logistics to work like this: 1) park my car at the bottom 2) drive his car to the top and leave it there 3) smash bikes down a 5 mile descent 4) arrive at my car parked at the bottom 5) drive my car back to top 6) my buddy gets in his car and we both drive home happily.

This all works great, until I decide to leave the keys to my car (parked at the bottom) in my buddy's car (parked at the top). Of course, we realize this at the bottom.

shuttle FAIL!
Will_Schwabacher 5/12/2011 11:45am
5/12/2011 11:45am
One time that happened to us with the lock on the gate, so we brought some bolt cutters up there and put one of those chain repair links (the ones u can just unscrew) on the back of the post where it wasn't visible.
One time it was just me and my buddy with his ford ranger shuttling the closest dh trail to my house. It was my turn to shuttle and he took off down the hill once we got to the top, I walked back up to the truck after doing a little trail work at the top and realized he had ridden down with his truck keys, probably from habit. So after a minute or two I realized I could put the truck in neutral without the keys just by turning the part where the keys go into, so i just rolled down the ridgeline shuttle rode to where my friend was with the keys, (he had started walking up the hill but didnt get that far)
bdamschen
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bdamschen 5/12/2011 11:58am
5/12/2011 11:58am
Will_Schwabacher wrote:
One time that happened to us with the lock on the gate, so we brought some bolt cutters up there and put one of those chain...
One time that happened to us with the lock on the gate, so we brought some bolt cutters up there and put one of those chain repair links (the ones u can just unscrew) on the back of the post where it wasn't visible.
One time it was just me and my buddy with his ford ranger shuttling the closest dh trail to my house. It was my turn to shuttle and he took off down the hill once we got to the top, I walked back up to the truck after doing a little trail work at the top and realized he had ridden down with his truck keys, probably from habit. So after a minute or two I realized I could put the truck in neutral without the keys just by turning the part where the keys go into, so i just rolled down the ridgeline shuttle rode to where my friend was with the keys, (he had started walking up the hill but didnt get that far)
Hahah, balls to roll the truck down a ridgeline w/ no steering.
Mikerider
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Renton, WA US
Mikerider 5/12/2011 12:09pm
5/12/2011 12:09pm
After a long practice day we were bringing the trucks back up to registration, and the soft wet road way gave out when another car tried to squeeze by the truck. The driver needed a change of pants but with the help of a rather large tow truck it came out relatively easy.

bturman
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Durango, CO US
bturman 5/12/2011 12:33pm
5/12/2011 12:33pm
Mikerider wrote:
After a long practice day we were bringing the trucks back up to registration, and the soft wet road way gave out when another car tried...
After a long practice day we were bringing the trucks back up to registration, and the soft wet road way gave out when another car tried to squeeze by the truck. The driver needed a change of pants but with the help of a rather large tow truck it came out relatively easy.

Haha, did U-Haul ever find out?
Redwoodrider
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Santa Cruz, CA US
Redwoodrider 5/12/2011 1:32pm
5/12/2011 1:32pm
So we left my car at the bottom of this trail and my buddy drove to the top. After dropping a few thousand feet we were back at my car. Where's the keys? in my buddies car at the top of course, whoops. It takes like 40min to drive it one way, lucky for my buddy he hitched a ride from this creepy weird dude who drove him up to his car. We were laughing our asses off and thinking he might be a goner.
Joe_Graney
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Joe_Graney 5/12/2011 2:34pm
5/12/2011 2:34pm Edited Date/Time 5/12/2011 2:37pm
May of 2010 in Lousa Portugal with the Syndicate and Cedric. The shuttle vehicle was a rental minivan, with no bike rack, holding six riders, six new carbon V10s about to make their maiden test runs, and Ricky Bobby as the return shuttle driver. The sliding door had to stay open with bikes hanging out the door.

First run up the hill with Steve driving, he has it pinned up a steep loose dirt and sand road for about three minutes, the tires spinning the whole time trying to gain traction. Eventually the van just stopped, the temperature gage was pinned and it shut itself down. When we got out we found the power steering belt hanging off. Minnaar grabs a stick, while Peaty and Ratboy assist to get the belt back on.

That was the first of about 30 runs over the next couple days.

I'm glad the van was under Roskopp's name.
Iggz
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Scotts Valley, CA US
Iggz 5/12/2011 7:10pm
5/12/2011 7:10pm
I spilled my 'Zona

Marshall
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Malibu, CA US
Marshall 5/12/2011 9:14pm
5/12/2011 9:14pm
patrickjmale wrote:
Me and my buddy planned out the shuttle logistics to work like this: 1) park my car at the bottom 2) drive his car to the...
Me and my buddy planned out the shuttle logistics to work like this: 1) park my car at the bottom 2) drive his car to the top and leave it there 3) smash bikes down a 5 mile descent 4) arrive at my car parked at the bottom 5) drive my car back to top 6) my buddy gets in his car and we both drive home happily.

This all works great, until I decide to leave the keys to my car (parked at the bottom) in my buddy's car (parked at the top). Of course, we realize this at the bottom.

shuttle FAIL!
FAIL!! we use tis method a lot, and I have always worried about doing that... We almost did the other day but caught ourselves.
bpatterson6
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Englewood, CO US
bpatterson6 5/12/2011 9:17pm
5/12/2011 9:17pm
One time my DH bike fell off a friends bike rack while shuttling. A few guys in a Ford truck show up asking if this is someone's bike belonging to our crew. I said yes. That's mine. HOLY SH**!! Thank god for honest people!
DHtutor
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Coeur D Alene, ID US
DHtutor 5/14/2011 7:10pm
5/14/2011 7:10pm
im gonna keep it simple....
no more room inside truck to put bikes
a kid held on to the back of the truck
road got sketchy
kid got sketchy
heard a scream
hit a huge bump then another scream
thought it was his head that i ran over
found out it was only his front wheel.... and fox 40...

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