What is the thing you see most on your rides?

[CorsairMac]

Anyone ever see random single shoes lying in the road or at the kerbside?

I often wonder a) where they've come from and b) how on earth did the person wearing them not notice they'd lost a shoe!! I know I have some dizzy days, but I'm sure I'd wake up if I was walking along and suddenly found one of my shoe was missing.

and random single socks!! I was giggling on this one coz I've always wondered the same thing. oh...and C)if it's a kid, what did they tell their mom about why they only have 1 shoe or sock?

[DirtDiva]

Personally, Corsair, I'd have blamed it on my brother. Heck, it might have even actually been his fault when we were kids - we weren't exactly nice to each other sometimes.

tlkiwi - I'm sure I heard somewhere that the average Kiwi lives no more than 40km from the ocean. How cool is that?!!

The furthest place from the sea (as the crow flies) in NZ is right by the lake in Cromwell.

[maggieH]

Mostly farms: corn, soybeans, blueberries, cranberry bogs, & turf farms. Lots of horses, no cows. Sheep on two fields, goats on one. On weekends I see one field being used for dog-training classes. Housing developments: McMansions where there were cornfields last year and also historic mills and houses dating back to the 1700's. There's a llama farm next door to our development and wild turkeys come into our development. Small airports: Sometimes I lead a 16-mile "three airport ride." On longer rides I'm in the Pine Barrens. Overhead: Helicopters, small planes, airliners, and military planes from McGuire. Not much traffic on my routes, plenty of bikers going much faster than I ride.

In one of the towns, there was a wild turkey that would come out of the woods behind a house and chase bikers. It was funny being chased a quarter of a mile by a turkey and I always looked forward to seeing him. One day when he was missing there was a lady on the sidewalk, "No turkey today?" I asked as I rode by. "They killed him, number 33." she replied. There's a house by that number across the street and down a ways, and I inferred she was angry about the avicide.

[On_yer_left!]

Pedal Wench, was that during Day 3 of Ride the Rockies? Saw it too. There were so many bikers stopped there I thought somebody had crashed..

[On_yer_left!]

what i see: the flatirons of the Rocky Mountains, fields of sunflowers against blue sky, huge dead snakes, prairie dogs yelling "biker, biker!" and running for their holes (saw one flip himself on his back trying to yell out his alarm -- almost fell off my bike), pro cyclists gliding effortlessly by me, packs of elk and deer, storm clouds coming over the rockies, truckers flipping me off, roads winding between canyon walls, summer wildfires lighting up the hills...

Rare sighting: during a ride in July called the Triple Bypass (120 miles over three mountain passes), I saw something that shocked me out of a very pissy mood. I'd spent most of the ride struggling, swearing under my breath, contemplating quitting, my head down and mood about as dark as can be. Coming down off Vail pass, going about 30 miles an hour, a dark shape came from the side of the road. A huge bear had started walking calmly across the road, in broad daylight, right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, thinking, "I'm gonna hit him. I'm gonna die. He's gonna stop and eat me. I'm gonna die..." He kept going and disappeared into the brush, and I was shaking for the next 10 miles.

It's like something had reached down, given me a huge slap upside the head, and yelled, "SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU MORON! Look around you. It's beautiful, it's amazing, you're lucky to be able to do this, so shut up and appreciate it!"

Life on a bike.

[emily_in_nc]

What I see most when I ride around here: trees (hardwoods), rolling hills, cows, horses, dogs (mostly chained or behind fences, thankfully), fields, farms, and pickup trucks passing me.

Yep, I live in the rural south...

Emily

[betagirl]

In the summer, corn and soybeans. Soybeans and corn. And maybe a cow or 2.

In the spring and fall, empty fields of cut corn and soybeans. Cut soybeans and corn.

In the winter, spinervals DVD's on my TV

[skibum]

I see a variety of things on my rides, but today, it was lots and lots of runners. Our route took us past a 5k race. Also, Team in Training was using a part of the route we were riding for their long Saturday. They had a big group -- must have been about 50 runners.

[Pedal Wench]

OnYerLeft- yeah, the newbie foal was on day three - same thing with us - thought that there was a crash because there were bikers everywhere, but we were all watching, in complete silence and awe, this little miracle on the side of the road. The farmer was up the road aways, smiling like a proud new papa. I'm jealous of your other sights on your rides. I would FREAK if I saw a bear. Out in Yellowstone, we had to hike past a grizzly. I was terrified - and fascinated! Got a few great shots of him, though.

[RoadRaven]

tlkiwi - I'm sure I heard somewhere that the average Kiwi lives no more than 40km from the ocean. How cool is that?!!

The furthest place from the sea (as the crow flies) in NZ is right by the lake in Cromwell.

Mmm... have to plug Middle Earth... love it here... I am 10 mins from the first of three rivers near me... 35 mins drive from the ocean, and 25 mins drive from the forest and mountains... 2 hours drive from "Mt Doom" (Lake Taupo and the ski slopes)
Its a wonderful place to live

[kestrel]

- crazy little squirrels that can't decide if they want to cross your path or not

- gopher snakes crossing the path/road (a lady in a SUV safely stopped traffic and escorted/carried the huge snake off the road.. kudos to her!)

- little birdies harassing the crazy little squirrels

- those damn guys in their little green Velo wear

For awhile, I *swear* the same guy was lapping me on Old La Honda road.. I know that I'm slow, but thinking that I've been lapped 3 times was demoralizing. Apparently there are *hoards* of people wearing the same jersey.

- those friendly of guys in their Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club wear

- tandems! i love watching tandem teams!

[shewhobikes]

you won't believe what we see. Just today:

Great church signs. As in, "Without the bread of life, you're toast."

Hay bales, appaloosa horses, signs for Lickskillet Road and Bachelor Ave, houses from the early 1900s made entirely of stone with tin roofs and plastic flowers rooted by the mailbox,

a white t-shirt with black letters that said "God Has Been So Good to Me" draped over a fence,

mist rising over a lake with dogwoods on the banks turning red,

the ususal road kill--squirrels, possums, an occasional turtle, unidentifiable squashed furry things,

a big herd of cows headed at a trot toward a pickup (dinner time!) followed by a huge flock of those white cow birds, whatever they are,

a house with icicle lights hanging across the front and a halloween skeleton hanging on the door.

I promise, we're not all rednecks. But when you get out in the country, this is what you see!

[BikeMomma]

Too many freakin' cars, gravel trucks, etc etc!
Wildlife: hawks/fowl, rabbits, coyotes, squirrels
Roadkill of the above, especially the last one (saw a dead wild pig one day)
Stray dogs, some of them chasing me!
Yea...ummm...nice calves, among other nice body parts
Oh! Lots of cows with the other kind of calves...
Horses! Luv them horsies....
Not to mention the nice bikes....

-BikeMomma

[seagrape]

Wow! You guys get to see a lot of cool things! I get to see really big, seafront houses... A couple of marinas... If the sea is calm, maybe a ray breaking the surface or even a wild dolphin. Other than that, the streets here are urban/suburban and my road rides a pretty limited... Actually, I'll probaby hightail it down to a local state park and just lap it. There's too many pedestrians/bike riders (not cyclists ) and outta staters on the road here, especially with tourist season coming up.

I do get to see the occasional crab crossing the road...

[nuthatch]

In the summer, corn and soybeans. Soybeans and corn. And maybe a cow or 2.

In the spring and fall, empty fields of cut corn and soybeans. Cut soybeans and corn.

In the winter, spinervals DVD's on my TV

Beta, I'm seeing the same thing. I think we need to move to Boulder with On-Yer-Left! Or let's give cyclocross a try and keep riding all winter!