DANG! That’s quite a little journey from an honest mistake. Bummer.
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For the apple people, I started using a checklist in the notes app, and just adjust it for each race. It’s kept me from doing multiple visual checks when I preload my car 
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Same here … even if it’s a local drive to do some training in another area.
it.
It’s just Nate singing you all the things you need to take.
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PSA: Don’t forget to bring your OWN CLOTHING
My wife and I ride for the same team. We have a ton of team clothing. After one batch of laundry, a pair of her bibs got hung up in my closet. I’m sure you can guess which ones got tossed in my race bag on race day. I found out that I had the wrong bibs when I went to get dressed for my second race of the day and could only get them up to my knees. All wasn’t lost since I typically double up at crits and bring two kits and just needed to do the second race of the day in my same bibs from race one.
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Arrived at a gravel ride last year with no helmet in the car. Debated pretending it was the was the early 1990’s and going without. It was early and the closest LBS was not open. Drove 20 minutes to a big box store that sells bikes and bought a budget helmet. In rushing around, either left my SCICON race day bag (TR approved) on top of the car or in the parking lot. Arrived at back at the ride start with a helmet but no shoes, Garmin Edge, Varia, Silca torque wrench and some other stuff. Retraced steps. No luck. No ride. Replaced everything. There is a lesson in this somewhere that I am still trying to figure out…
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There is a company local to me called Pedal Industries.
They have the Race Day bag. Slots to put most of the things people above have forgotten about.
I got my shoes once for a MTB Race. Used my 6 inch leather work boots. Obviously without cleats on my Shimano pedals. Blister city.
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This sounds super daft but I think it’s a great tip that I received from a team mate.
‘If it comes off the bike, it goes in the bag.’ I used this whilst packing my bike up for it’s first airline trip and subsequent journey home.
Everything from the valve caps to the pedals went in the ‘bag’. Nothing got put to one side, it went straight into the bag. Once I’d removed an item, I placed the tool(s) I’d used in an overnight travel wash/toiletries bag. This meant I knew I had the tool(s) to fit the item and I wasn’t tempted to pack excess equipment.
I do appreciate that having the time to do this in an orderly fashion is arguably the most important factor.
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… own beer?
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You drove that fast because you forgot shoes? I think you need to check yourself. That’s not the funny story you think it is.
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Not anything that would prevent a ride but it sucks to see a “battery level low” message from your PM just when you’re set to go. So since then I always have a spare PM battery with me.
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^-- this!!!
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I’m pretty paranoid about accidentally leaving things at home. I think it comes from years of scuba diving.
I leave extra gear and tools in my truck semi-permanently. I’ve been eyeing that new Ford Lightning electric pickup with the front trunk. I could fit a whole bike shop in there…
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A few years ago my OH and I had entered a duathlon a few hours from home and had booked accommodation the night before.
Having got half way there we realised that the bikes were locked to the bike rack on the car, but we didn’t have the keys for the lock. We spent most of the rest of the day in hardware shops looking for something to cut the lock with.
We got to our accomodation late to find that they didn’t have our booking. More time spent sorting that out before we were finally in a position to get our kit sorted and ready for the morning.
OH had forgotten his running shoes, the shops were closed and wouldn’t be open by the time the race started. So he ran off road run legs in his normal shoes with no grip.
Not our most successful weekend!
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Don’t forget your hand pump and plug …or more than 1 C02
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Forgot my Wahoo Bolt for a ~20 min TT. Had to base on feel. Smashed my time by a minute. ha!
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I forgot my water bottle for a CX race one time, it was 3 hours from home. I didn’t realize it in til I got to the event 
.Luckily there was a convenience store right down the road. So I bought a Smart water with the sports top, but it barely fit in my bottle cage. Sure I didn’t need water as many race CX without it but I personally need some just in case.
Now I make a list on my phone just like the examples above and actually pack all the essentials besides my bike in my car the night before. So far I haven’t forgot anything, fingers crossed.
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So tangential to this…in my first full IM, I was using a Garmin Forerunner w/ a quick release so I had it for all three legs - in my cap for the swim, on my bars for the bike and wrist for the run. Or at least that ws the plan…
For got it coming into T2 and hit the run with no idea on my pacing…was planning on running ~9 min miles, 8:30 max. In the first 10 miles I had a couple of 7:30 splits…needless to say it did not end well.
Walked in the last 15 miles…brutal.
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Left my race number in the hotel room when I did my first 10k. Luckily I managed to convince the sign-in desk to give me a new one.
I was on a family holiday a few years back with my wife and kids, and my sister and her family. Her husband brought his bike to do some long hilly rides, and we decided to meet him at a castle for a day out about 60 miles from where we were staying (he’d ride there then put the bike in the car for the return trip). Needless to say his forgot to put any shoes or street clothes in the car before he left, and no-one thought to bring him anything to wear. He spent the whole day being a tourist in his bibs and socks.
I also managed to forget to bring my driver’s license when going on holiday, which I needed to pick up the rental car when we got there. Cue a rather hasty drive all the way back home from the airport to get it, made the flight with about 10 minutes to spare (luckily my wife insists on getting to the airport with more than plenty of time). We now have a running joke about always having our driver’s license, passport and boarding card on our person when queueing for literally anything.
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