Stuff we find on rides thread

[newfsmith]

My strangest find was on a cold (5F), windy, winter morning. Alongside the road to work was an empty cash drawer. I stopped to ponder it and decided that it looked in pretty good condition, and hadn't been there yesterday when I rode by. So I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. Since it was a cell phone I reached the state police, explained my find and location on the edge of 2 towns. They knew a convenience store had been robbed the night before and routed me to the appropriate police department. The only problem was that the police wanted my car license plate and make. I explained that wouldn't help them since I was on my bike not in a car. They wanted me to wait for them to arrive, so I asked that they come sooner than the 30 minutes they suggested, explaining my concern about hypothermia in the cold and wind. I did pull out the mylar blanket I always carry in the winter to break the wind more, but was pleasantly surprised when a police car pulled up within 5 minutes. The officer was quick about taking what information I could give him, looking at my ID, and taking down phone numbers. He also checked that I was ok cold wise before letting me head on to work.

[Crankin]

That's a great story, Newfsmith!
I haven't found anything, except roadkill (squirrels and chipmunks), which I quickly ride around.

[Running Mommy]

one day I was riding alongside a road with heavy residential and a big plastic soup ladle came flying out of a backyard fence.
I found that odd and amusing...

[maillotpois]

There was a big metal frying pan on Pepper Rd. the other day. It was pretty dented on one side.

I once saw a whole pizza. In the box, but the box was open enough so you could see there was a whole pizza in there.

[shootingstar]

A toilet cover.
Often, find a sock or 2. Why??? Or maybe people dry wet socks on the back of bike rack somehow?
A burnt out van in the middle of ravine bush. Now that was creepy. It was early morning. It did look like arson. (I knew a guy, an ex-cop, who committed suicide by setting himself and car on fire. So upon seeing this several years later, it turned me cold...on a hot day. I was cycling by myself.)

[OakLeaf]

Lately I've been seeing banana peels on the road EVERYWHERE. What is up with that? Nobody in my club throws banana peels off while riding. The other clubs around here ride very, very hard and wouldn't be able to peel a banana while riding. This area isn't that densely populated. Yeah, I see solitary roadies or people I don't know in groups of two or three, but not enough to account for all these freakin' banana peels. This week, I even found a banana peel on the road I live on. I've lived here for 12 years and I have never seen another cyclist on my road, except the time I led two of my club-mates on a short cut. Is it raining bananas when I'm not looking? What's going on?

[Biciclista]

wild monkeys?

[talespinner]

On a tour along the Lewis and Clark trail a friend collected state license plates she found along the road. After 6 weeks she had 5 plates from different states.

[sundial]

A Coozie with a zipper.

[BikingNurse]

Two weeks ago I found cans, cans, and cans. Not to mention an obscene ammt of trash. I went back the same way and we collected enough cans to fill two 13 gallon bags and I also took a yard waste trash bag and filled it as much as we could. (I took my 7 yo. son with me to help.)

It kinda worked out for me because I am using all the cans to recycle to put towards my MS ride next month.

[7rider]

Yesterday, I found a credit card reader on the road.
I picked it up and brought it home - definitely the heaviest thing I've carried in a jersey pocket.
The merchant was not identified on it, but there was a toll free number for a help desk. So I called. The woman was shocked that I found it and was making an effort to return it. DH said the unit probably has credit card numbers stored in it somewhere. I figured someone was pretty freaked out about not having it. She couldn't give me the name of the merchant but could connnect me directly. So she did, and I left a voice mail.
But, it was Saturday a.m. I wonder if this guy won't get this message until Monday a.m.?
Well...I can only do what I can do.

[Selkie]

My headlight picked up something sparkly on the pavement this morning, so I pulled over and checked it out. Turns out that it's a little gem--almost certainly a cubic zirconia because the setting is sterling silver. The setting was pretty beat up, probably got run over several times. Looks like it was once an earring.

[Mad Kate]

Roadkill in good enough shape to return to collect (mit rubber glubbies and bag). Bubba gets the honor of harvesting the feathers for flytying.

And, shhhhh, don't report to Fish & Game, m'kay? It could be a tad embarrassing . . .

I’ve a wildlife salvage (road kill) permit, which I never used. There are always a few road killed opossums around here. There was one right on a sharp corner along the way to my office. Many of my colleagues ran over it earlier. They asked me to remove it, so they won’t have to drive over it again. I took a look at it and rode off.

[moderncyclista]

There is a guy that rides around my town in the spring/summer in just a speedo on his bicycle. He has long hair and a moustache.

He is locally known as "Speedo Jesus."

He's like the "White Whale" (I did put the proper name of this classic book, but the TE forum blanked it out) of cycling in my town. He's elusive and mysterious. I have seen him, but haven't had the nerve to ask what is going on with the speedo. Truly, a strange person to find on a ride.

[Eden]

There is a guy that rides around my town in the spring/summer in just a speedo on his bicycle. He has long hair and a moustache.

He is locally known as "Speedo Jesus."

He's like the "White Whale" (I did put the proper name of this classic book, but the TE forum blanked it out) of cycling in my town. He's elusive and mysterious. I have seen him, but haven't had the nerve to ask what is going on with the speedo. Truly, a strange person to find on a ride.

If that's the fellow I'm thinking of, I've heard his story.

Many years ago he was in an accident and had a bad head injury. As with many who've damaged their brains, his inhibitions are not quite all there and he was apt to do things that other people would think twice about.

He said he just got too hot one day and that's how he started riding around in nothing but a thong. He seemed to enjoy the attention that it was getting him a bit, but he also seemed a bit overwhelmed by it as well. I just read recently that he passed away and it seems likely that it was suicide.