ryansu

A hand held jack hammer from the rental place while the (ex) wife was out of town with the car. Compact but heavy!

zacster

6 pounds of USDA prime shell steaks and 2 bottles of Italian DOCG wine. Not odd but certainly tasty. Just yesterday as a matter of fact.

P!N20

I found out that kiddy seats are really good for portaging bags of grain for brewing.

pcb 

As usual, my best stories are other folks' stories. Had a customer come into the bike shop back in the day carrying a 2-liter jug of water around his neck with thin twine. Odd, I thought, then I noticed he had a prosthetic leg. This would've been 1980 or so, some time before advanced prosthetics, and I had never come across a one-legged cyclist. Our minds were blown, and full of questions. He was cycling cross-county, sending his disability checks ahead to various locations along his planned route so they'd be waiting for him further on down the road. Kept him on a schedule, I guess, if he didn't want to run out of money before he reached his next check.

We tweaked his bike, he filled his jug with water, slung it back around his neck, then he strapped his prosthetic leg to the top tube and spun away one-legged.

I personally have only had mild cargo weirdness, both times with a Burley (maybe?) trailer. We'd sometimes cycle to the Fuji America warehouse in Oakland, NJ, and carry some bikes back in the trailer. It was kinda dumb, and a real pain, but I guess we wanted to make a point?

And I used that same trailer to haul my 4 VW Rabbit wheels across the highway to the tire store to change to/from snow tires, can't remember which now. I coulda borrowed a friend's car, but, you know, had to make a point.

Whatever trailer that was had a lot of lash, and with any kind of decent load there was always back/forth movement at the hitch, and frame shock when you slowed or stopped and the trailer banged forward. Yuck.

branko_76 

This is not only a Tom Waits song, it's an entire album...

noglider 

120 lbs of belgian block stones.

Russ Roth

Myself

The real oddest was probably assorted human bones; I was doing archaeology field work and I and another guy were looking for a Roman theater in Serbia and searching a farm field that hadn't been used in years even though it was supposedly cleared of munitions/mines but had some deeper pits/shell holes that let us see a little deeper without digging. Turned out the theater wasn't there but a 4th century cemetery was. We collected samples and rode back to the dig house.

branko_76 

Where in Serbia?

Russ Roth

We were exploring around the Roman fort of Viminacium in the village of Starre Kostolach (spelling of the town might not be right)
Went with a university group from Albany that was poorly done by the Albany director, but the Serbian crew that were running things were willing to let us get more hands on. Would have loved to go more but not through the university. Really loved it there and the people, went to Cyprus for the next three years.

ltokuno

7' inflatable shark. Fully inflated. Does it still count if it wasn't my bike?

madpogue 

Would count double if it were on a Landshark.

sheddle

heyoo your friend is crashing here can you pick him up

noglider 

Does it count if you weren't carrying it?

Rocket-Sauce 

Back when I was a bike messenger here in Boston, I carried all sorts of odd things. Most of my clients were 80hour lawyers, so getting a call to "go buy a gift for my wife" were not that uncommon. This was how I learned how expensive fur coats are (were? are they still a thing?). One time I was instructed to go to the gift shop in the observation deck of the Hancock tower and buy a specific jigsaw puzzle.

Every Friday, I was one of the most popular messengers in town. One of my not very regular clients was Boston Beer Co (Sam Adams). They were pretty infrequent, and never worth the trip out to Jamaica Plain (8 mile round trip for one job!). But, they famously destroy old beer -which in reality means they give it to the employees. They let me take a 1/4 barrell of whatever I wanted from the "to be destroyed" section every friday.

I would let the strap out on my messenger bag, and sort of use it to strap the keg to my lower back and balance it on my saddle for the 4 mile (very bumpy) ride back to the office. I wish I had a picture of that! By the time I got it to the office, it was usually pure foam. But free beer is good beer.

RobbieTunes

Took two trips. Soooo bulky.

machinist42

While I'll grant you the Pleurotus ostreatus are tasty and fine, what you may be trying to pass off as B. edulis appear to be, from the pinkish pores, Tylopilus fellus, or the Bitter Bolete, which does hew true to its common moniker.

My "fungicyclist" Merino wool jersey is out for mending, as the moths had at it, or I'd photograph it. Damn moths. A fellow mycologist had it made and gifted it to me, for inspiring her to mycocycle, as I started doing almost thirty years ago. Could not cover enough ground on foot to make me happy. I have mesh sacks for panniers.

Good on you for foraging!

tyrion

I've carried a hang glider. Actually half a hang glider - my buddy carried the other half on a bike. An 18 foot long bundle carried by 2 cyclists. Quite an ordeal.

Reynolds 

Mycocycle... now that's a new (and good) one!

obrentharris 

Thanks!

I assure you they were not in the least bitter. I will grant that they were a little old and the creamy pores had turned more brownish. I think the pink tinge is reflected light from the red bag.

Yes, the bicycle is a fine foraging tool, also great for getting me to those choice fishing spots. Your jersey reminds me of an acquaintance whose personalized license plate is "BOLETUS".
Brent

Brent

madpogue 

Were you playing it along the way?
(The piano, that is....)

machinist42

Spongy.

You lucked out. Some Tylopilus are not so bitter as one would notice.

Boletus edulis has yellow pores.

nlerner

Oh, that's really lightweight.

Swampthing 

I took these guys out for an exercise flight.

Swampthing 

And they beat me back to the pool

jethin

The TailGater. You bring the beer.