Cool stuff you found while riding...
 

I imagine this has been covered before, so I'll change the title to,"Cool stuff I'VE found while riding!" :).
This is actually kinda the short list, as there are more items that i couldnt find, or had forgotten about, or had since given away. Most of this was found over the last 3 years,or so.
Anyway, the first pic is tools, and related items. ( 2 packs of nylon zip ties, painting and duct tape, various wrenches and screw drivers, sockets, Milwaukee hook blade knife, mini-saw, caution flags, carpenters level, etc.etc.)
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5c9bf4b3ab.jpg
The next pic is of hats, like an official NFL Eagles cap, Yamaha, Patagonia, Columbia/ PFG, and a nice all-synthetic cap from Under Armour, (that's been my favorite sunmer walking hat for years now), and several nice winter beanie hats. I actually found a nice Magellan boonie hat today, but sadly, it had a nasty cut from a mower, so I had to pass.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c2d77b2dc1.jpg
The nex pic is a pair of authentic Ray-ban Wayfarers, a CREE LED light that's become a favorite around the house, and a Blackhawk pistol holster (among the more unusual finds, but I'll take it!)
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ebaa25478.jpg
This last one is of work gloves. I've only found one complete, matching set, but fortunately, they're the nicest of them all. I did find a near perfect match to one glove......the following year ! The rest are mismatched, but still work fine !
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d143f860f5.jpg

That is all !
edit: there was also a small Columbia rain shield/windbreaker several years ago, that I gave to my niece, and earlier this year, a very nice, medium OD green Under Armour hoodie sweatshirt i gave to my sister, and a green FroggToggs rain jacket that I've kept in the car for the last few years.

I seem to a wallet every couple of years. Return them to their owners, of course. The best find to date has been 100 Yuan bill just floating in the breeze. Found it in the state of Michigan.
Usually I don't keep the stuff I pick up outside of a useful tool that is not a duplicate, but the 100 Yuan is still in my possession as it reminds me of the time I spent in Hong Kong.

That reminds me of another one ! I spotted a smartphone on the edge of the grass, out here in the (relative) boonies. I turned around and grabbed it, and it seemed functional. At my next water stop I started fiddling with it ( this was before I owned,or ever used a smart phone). The battery was almost dead, but I somehow had access and found someone on it that was a regular contact of the owner. I called him up, told him I was a cyclist, miles from home, but just found this phone, and was trying to return it. I gave him my cell (flip) phone number in case the battery died. Long story, short, an expensive I-phone, that was lost on the side of a secluded country road, got returned to the owner, that same day !

$100 bill and misc small hand tools, bungee cords and glass shards. No mufflers.

I seem to find an unsettling number of small stuffed animals. Looks like little ****ers in back seat fling them out the windows.

Mike

I don’t know why the stars were inserted in my post. I did NOT use a bad word but an affectionate one. Here it is separated by numerals to see if that works.

g 1 o 1 o 1 b 1 e 1 r 1 s

Found on Road
 

I find several bungee cords each year. The best
tool I found was a 1” Craftsman combo wrench
in great condition. I still have it.

I found an iPad once, badly damaged. I brought it home and before I could turn it in the cops were at my door wondering if I stole it. Someone had
stole it miles away and ditched it on the side
of the road. Bill

I was not biking, but running a 5k race and everyone thought I was going to fall at one point and did not. Later, I told everyone I found a $20 bill on the ground and grabbed it while running. I also notice that shaved off 5 seconds of my race time lol.

I found a lightweight hoodie on the road while touring in MT back in 2016. I still take it on tours.

I still value the Playboy magazine I found when I was a teenager above anything else I've found. And I'm so full of bourbon and craft beer at the moment I don't know if that is because that is the best thing I've found, or it it is just the timing of when I found it.

Just took a bong rip using a brand new Bic I found in the road.

$30 in $5s and $1s and another time 2 gold chains.

I found self respect in retrospect. Maybe not that spectacular. Oh and did find several pairs of colored spectacles.

No way i could wear a hat or gloves that were laying along the road. My prior profession would not allow it…

My big find was a backpack that contained a $1000 laptop computer and books. I barely got a thank you from a college professor.

I find a fair number of tools. All my Snap-On tools (ok, not that many) are road finds: including sockets, Allen wrenches, needle-nose pliers, combo wrenches. My Snap-On 7mm Allen was a road find; works on Campagnolo crank self-extractors, old Italian quill stems, etc.

Yeah, I completely forgot about all the bungie cords, I've found several (and only keep the nicer ones). Also, a couple small Allen wrenches, which i assume were lost by cyclists, because they're both the size that fit most of the bolts on a bike.
I also recently found a near-new tarp, and thanks to the bungie cord I've learned to keep in my frame bag (LOL!) I lashed it to my handlebar and hauled it the last couple miles home !
Above posts also reminded me that I once found a large and clearly important set of keys. I brought them home and posted lost-and-found ads on 2 local websites, but no joy. I also once found a nice leather baseball glove, with the kid's name on it, which I also posted on Craigslist lost-and-found, but nothing there, either.

I found the cover for a porn tape entitled Fat Alberta. I stuck it on my friend’s windshield.

I once found a nice big (14" long) crescent wrench at the start of a long interval ride. I thought long and hard about carrying that for 43 miles, but did stick it in my jersey pocket. It's a nice wrench -- forged steel, very high quality.

Found a nice Columbia parka. I'm very careful about clothing because who knows why they were discarded? Found a $2500 gas detector that fell off a fire truck. No thank you for returning it. Framing hammer, Vice Grip pliers, screwdrivers, pocket change. I see gloves but usually singles. Trucker caps I don't bother with.

I have always been thanked by the folks I return stuff to. An older couple I returned a wallet to took all the money out and gave it to me. At first I refused it saying I was simply doing what was right, but the old lady looked at me as if she were about to cry, so I gave in and accepted it. It was only 25 bucks, but must have been a lot to them I'm sure. I gave it to my favorite charity.
Picked up a phone in the middle of the road, then a wallet a few feet further down the road and then a few business cards. The owners house was just a couple hundred feet down the road according to the drivers license. I put it on the step by the door and just as I was leaving the owner pulled in his driveway. He was a parole officer and had left the phone and wallet on the top of his car. Very appreciative he was that I rescued his phone from potential disaster. Offered me twenty bucks, I declined. Then it was a case of beer, declined that, too. I am sure he had a good day going forward.

I found a bike in a ditch back in June. It must have been from a rental fleet because it had a number marked on it (No. 22?). I didn't want to leave it there, so I came back in my truck, and hauled to the metal recycling center. (It was made out of tin, or some other metal.)

Once I saw a fellow cyclist drop his keys at an intersection, I was working my shift delivering sandwiches for Jimmy Johns and took a little detour to chase him down. Fun little mini game

In a similar vein I once left my 5mm Allen on my trunk lid and drove off. At the first roundabout I heard the faintest clink and took me a minute to even remember leaving it there but lo and behold I managed to find it in the road on my way back. Was from like an $80 set I would have been pretty annoyed to lose that one.

Pretty much anything you can find in the road. Tools, money, clothing, hardware, wheel covers. Haven't bought a bungee in years, even found a package of a dozen brand new ones. Top scores have been a 1/2 Milwaukee corded drill and not 1, but 2 Chevy classic 70's muscle car top hat rally wheel centers I sold for $50 ea, as well as a late 30's Packard hubcap that sold for $100, complete set of Craftsman ratcheting combo wrenches. Enough sockets and screwdrivers that I leave the Chicom ones lay. Best place for good tools is within a couple blocks of a repair shop. Dropped in engine bay and can't find, a block or two and it finds it's way out.