Stuff we find on rides thread

[Crankin]

I never see anything good. Occasional wrappers from candy, road debris left over from winter, and dead animals. I guess people around here are too conservation minded and don't throw stuff out of the window.
The only time we found something was when we had to pull over on the sidewalk for my husband to adjust something on his bike. It might have even been on a walk, I can't remember. Anyway, we found a wallet. So we got home and searched the woman on Google. She had moved from the address on her license, but she still lived in Boston. When Steve called her, she was so happy; she was leaving the next day on a business trip to Europe and had no ID, so she drove out here to get the wallet. I think when she saw my husband, she thought she might get a date, but then I came to the door...
She had stopped to fix a flat and her wallet dropped out of her jersey. She rewarded our honesty by giving us a gift card to Starbucks.

[Jolt]

This wasn't on a ride, it was on a hike, but it was a weird thing to find. My friend and I found a busted-up printer or copier (don't remember for sure which it was) along the Midstate Trail in Rutland this summer. It wasn't that close to a road either (that we knew of anyway). Pretty random.

[lph]

This wasn't on a ride, it was on a hike, but it was a weird thing to find. My friend and I found a busted-up printer or copier (don't remember for sure which it was) along the Midstate Trail in Rutland this summer. It wasn't that close to a road either (that we knew of anyway). Pretty random.

what, you don't take your printer/copier with you when you go hiking?? good thing you found one, then

i found a wallet once, forget where. managed to track down the owner, a woman from the middle east, recent immigrant, who barely spoke norwegian and no english. arranged to meet at a central spot, was met by her husband, heavily bearded and in traditional i.e. non-western clothing.

he spoke flawless queens english and presented me with an excellent, very old french cheese, brought back from their latest trip to paris. that had me chuckling the whole day.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

i found a wallet once, forget where. managed to track down the owner, a woman from the middle east, recent immigrant, who barely spoke norwegian and no english. arranged to meet at a central spot, was met by her husband, heavily bearded and in traditional i.e. non-western clothing.

he spoke flawless queens english and presented me with an excellent, very old french cheese, brought back from their latest trip to paris. that had me chuckling the whole day.

Wow, I love that story!

Some town dumps (like ours) require you to pay a small disposal/recycling fee when you bring them computer components to dispose of. That's why I saw a big computer monitor thrown over the steep side of a dirt road way out in the country last year, on one of my favorite rural rides. I bet that's why that printer got dumped.

[Eden]

I have a similar experience to LPH's . Actually I've found 3 wallets while cycling... all three I managed to track down and return to the owners. One had been left on a car roof after the owner bought gas, and two had been stolen.

The story of one of the stolen ones was quite similar to LPH's. It obviously belonged to an older man - there were medicare cards and other things in there, but most of the the things inside indicated that the person was either from out of town or had moved here recently. I called some of the numbers I found in the wallet and managed to get the boyfriend of the man's daughter, who called him. The couple was still in the store where the wallet had been taken and I probably found it before they even realized it was missing. The person who took it probably just removed the cash then tossed it out of their car window a few blocks from the store. The couple was very sweet - only a little English, but they wished me a merry christmas and I think the woman gave me a hug, even though I was still in my wet cycling clothes.

[cylegoddess]

Its pretty clean here in Canberra, but occasionally stuff pops up;

roadkill( three in last month, poor skippy.)
a torn up phonebook. It was really windy so it had made it over about 10 km. I wondered the whole ride. who has time to tear up a whole phone book?( or strength.)
a mans rain jacket covered in white paint stains. I took this home and washed it,and it did me well until I bought a proper cycling jacket. then it went to salvos.
4 dead cockatoos( the power lines. cant they do something about those things? terrible)
One nice cardigan( which I hung over a fence, someones school jumper)

And I do have a possible explanation for pants.
My husband and I, went to a party where we ate some mysterious cake, that had a sign on it - one piece at a time.Being greedy, we ate two( he had three). Severak hours later( I been hiding in back room, afraid of monsters) he came in from cold, with no pants on , just pajamas he had under pants to keep warm. So I said, where are your pants. He smiled and said, Ive been walking around the suburb and I woke up on a park bench, surrounded by kangaroos, in the misty morning light!! So I said, but WHERE ARE YOUR PANTS?!! He said, Ive no idea!! I vaguely recall thinking,oh drat these pants, I dont need them!! and chucking them( with wallet, credit card and three hundred in cash, no less). We got the pants and wallet back( sans cash and credit card) and Im still wishing that I had as much fun as he did( I thought a interdimensional creature had kidnapped me ,and vampires were in the nect room! what a party pooper!)!!! No more mysterious cakes, for me ever again( but gives those garments a mysterious and decadent sort of gloss for me now)

[Zen]

Oh my!
I haven't eaten any of that type of baked good since 1979

[Brandi]

A great bike light and a small velcro pig that hangs out on my handle bars now!