Unlucky losses by the roadside.

[clarion]

Ever Ready lights do seem to do the jumping off bit don't they.

I mean, I hated the bulky old things, but they were all I had, so eight miles home with no front light wasn't funny.

Probably the reason I now pack at least two front & rear...

[tiermat]

I am miffed at the loss of the buff, too. I have a tiny head, and need a kiddy-buff. The one I had was black with tiny silver stripes and made me look slightly pirate-ish. All the replacement options are brightly coloured and covered in Disney characters and the like.

try finding some of the Kukuxumu themed ones, not quite as kiddy-lika and some cool (in a Catalan stylee) designs.

[Ian H]

A computer

My Oakleys, fell out of back pocket (in case) into oncoming traffic. According to witness, approaching car swerved to run them over 

I hit an appalling bit of road near Ruislip in rush hour traffic and the rear light leapt off. A nice motorist stopped behind me, sheltering the light lying in the middle of the road until I could retrieve it. Made my day, that did.

[Charlotte]

A pair of panniers off the back of my GPz1100 on the A5 going through Milton Keynes at stupid o'clock in the morning, at stupid o'speedo MPH.  Like a twonk, I'd not bungeed them on.

I noticed their loss almost immediately but couldn't turn round on the dual carriageway for about five miles to go and get them.  When I finally retrieved them from lane two, they were horribly scuffed up from bouncing down the tarmac at _[cough] miles an hour but the contents (including my glasses and Sony Walkman) were unscathed.

Bloody remarkable, I thought.

[Jaded]

Lost my sunglasses a few times - but that "what am I not wearing" moment has always turned me back befroe a car has run over them.

I now have one of those old people's cord things to make sure that i don't leave them on the pannier rack when I am having a pee.

[Pingu]

A bunch of keys on the way home from work. Retraced my route but didn't find them 

[alan]

my virginity

[border-rider]

The bike trailer, full of shopping.  Once or twice now - but I hope I've fixed the problem.

[Valiant]

Over the years.

Rudy Project sunglasses with my best lenses (£130's worth)
Loads of Topeak White lights
An LD600

Me too. You don't notice them going either until you get home and it's already too late. Had a couple that came off the bars and got tangled in the cables so got saved, proving that Shimano's exposed gear cables maybe ugly but come in handy sometimes. Like a proper eejit I keep replacing them with the same thing. 

Same here, which is a shame cos they were nice lights and at £10 a pop, it worked out expensive in the long run

[fuzzy]

A fistful of lights.

Several yards of skin and blood.

[Riggers]

£10 when I took my repair kit out to mend m'puncture in Lewes 2 years ago. See, still rankles.

[TheLurker]

My front wheel. 
Leant it against side of the car whilst loading rest of bike into car.
Shut tailgate.  Got into car.  Drove off.

[Aidan]

A Cateye computer. It jumped out of its brackert while I watched. I stopped within yards but it went into long grass and depsite 10 minutes searching it had gone forever

[PaulF]

my virginity

Why, exactly, is that unlucky

[αdαmsκι]

Rear LED light while cycling along Regents Canal.

Cycle maps.

1) I lost the NCN map for the northern part of the Lôn Las Cymru ride while doing the ride.  We had gotten lost in a wood & spied the track we needed, but to get to it required pushing the bikes down the valley side, which was a forest.  When we escaped the forest and were on the track we needed we realised that the maps had been swiped out of the side pocket of the rucsac by the trees.  We knew the name of village that we were heading for, but with no map we didn't have a clue how to get there.  Ended up having to ask a passing farmer for directions. 

2) When crossing the Afsluitdijk in The Netherlands I lost the map of friesland, which was in my jersey pocket.  That covered the next part of the ride I was doing, but fortuantly it was well sign posted and I also had a regionally map of the netherlands and I didn't get lost cycling through friesland.

[Phil]

my virginity

Why, exactly, is that unlucky

It wasn't voluntary.  His seatpost snapped 

[pcolbeck]

a cold tin of BEER I was given to savour at the top of The Beacon on L2B; a car squished it

Wallet, with all money, credit cards etc on the ride to Portsmouth for PBP 2003

but no passport  I've often wondered what happens to people who pitch up at Gatwick / Dover etc to find it's expired / lost / their 3 year old child's etc. I suspect there is a little office where they print you out a temporary duplicate in exchange for a large amount of ££££s (cheaper than cancelling your holiday but probably only just)

TT could probably tell us....

No they just send you home. A couple of years ago I was arrived for a Lufthansa flight from Manchester to Munich to find I had Mrs Pcolbeck's passport with me instead of my own. The kind lady at the Lufthansa desk put my on the first flight the next morning for no extra charge though.
Its a bit mad really when you can rive right through Europe without getting out your passport once but try to get in or out of the UK ...

[Elleigh]

I lost a panier, but noticed and retrieved it straight away.  I've lost my glasses a couple of times

[Greenbank]

but no passport  I've often wondered what happens to people who pitch up at Gatwick / Dover etc to find it's expired / lost / their 3 year old child's etc. I suspect there is a little office where they print you out a temporary duplicate in exchange for a large amount of ££££s (cheaper than cancelling your holiday but probably only just)

If you're in the UK then as pcolbeck says, they just send you away. For domestic flights you'll be ok if you've checked-in online beforehand (then you don't have to show any ID).

If you're not in the UK (i.e. you've lost it overseas) then you've got the fun of finding a local UK embassy and paying ££££ to get a temporary duplicate. Mrs G had this fun earlier this year.

[Mr Larrington]

A Cateye computer. It jumped out of its brackert while I watched. I stopped within yards but it went into long grass and depsite 10 minutes searching it had gone forever

One of mine did that, after an off caused by a wet steel plate.  I didn't bother trying to find it, though, as I had seen it plummet into the depths of the canal chiz

[Tiger]

I have found loads of lights and pairs of sunglasses on the road over the years.

[Tiger]

Doh - hadn't seen the whole thread of similar vein.

[teethgrinder]

Pete Turnbull often loses his direction on the roadside.

[marcus]

Marcus could tell a story...

Well, I could mention that I lost my brevet card & most of my control receipts on Saturday on one of Ian's audax permanents (I left the zip undone on my rack pack). But that would make me look like a complete idiot so perhaps I won't mention it after all.

[rower40]

My bottom-bracket dynamo while doing a solo training ride (against the clock).  (I didn't have a road bike, so was using my commuter/tourer.)  I felt a bump, as though I'd hit a pothole that I hadn't seen, and thought nothing more of it.

Then later that day, and many miles away, I noticed that the dynamo had gone.