Crash, bang, wallop! An errant tree root laid across the trail sees me seperating from my bike and flying through the air, followed by the inevitable hard impact with the dirt. The bike meanwhile cartwheels down the hill.

I dust myself down. I’ve hit my knee pretty hard, and the palms of my hands are stinging from breaking my fall. No blood, no lasting damage. I untangle the bike from the bramble busy it’s now resting upon, straighten up the bars and carry out the necessary post-crash inspection.

All looks fine. Then my eye is drawn to the handlebar. The right hand side grip has shunted along the bars a bit, revealing some smashed carbon fibre. Oh dear.

Like a bad mechanic, I forgot to fit the bar end plugs when I swapped the bars over and this is the price I pay. If I had remembered to fit the plugs, this crash damage would likely not have occurred, and I wouldn’t now be looking at having to lop the end off with a hacksaw.

So learn from my mistake and make sure your bars have some plugs slammed in them. You never know when they might come in useful!

Anyone else made similar blunders? Let’s hear them in the comments box: