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What have you found on the ground while riding?

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What have you found on the ground while riding?

Old 05-30-16, 07:17 PM
  #301  
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About two weeks ago on my commute home, I saw several severely dented canned goods along roadside and in the driving lane. I supposed that someone may have driven from the market or Super Walmart approx 2 miles up the road with their groceries on the roof of their car?! Not sure how cans of veggies scatter about the roadway. I had a Holiday today and arrived home from a ride from the hardware store and found a large section of the crosswalk stripe stuck to my front fender. It conformed to the shape of the fender and mudguard and didn't rub on my tire! Looked like a dirty grayish extension of my mudguard.
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Old 05-31-16, 08:24 PM
  #302  
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Got a hoodie a few days ago, it's got a small rip in the back but it'll be fine for spring/fall yard work and the like. On Thursday on the way to work I picked up another dead inner tube littered on the side of the road by a roadie. Often I find a CO2 cartridge thrown out alongside it by one of these morons too. I pick them up, take them home and throw them away properly.
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Old 05-31-16, 08:48 PM
  #303  
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I found a dead male jogger off the side of the road down an embankment some years ago. I went down the embankment after hollered for him and got no response, so I went down carefully as to disturb as little as possible, he had no pulse. Later I found out he was jogger from the area and he had a heart attack, probably either sat down on the guardrail when he knew something was wrong then died and fell over backwards down the embankment, or possibly collapsed while running and stumbled over the guardrail and down.
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Old 06-01-16, 11:04 AM
  #304  
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Somebody else came across a body floating in a river a while back, and the recovery was underway at the time. I came across a guy face down in the dirt years ago, but it turned out he was passed out after overindulging again and one of the cops that showed up had seen him like that enough times to have memorized his drivers license number.
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Old 06-04-16, 01:36 AM
  #305  
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This is the weirdest thing I've found since my last post to this thread in October. Found it under a bridge where I'd stopped to photograph some graffiti.

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Old 06-04-16, 06:40 AM
  #306  
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Originally Posted by canklecat
This is the weirdest thing I've found since my last post to this thread in October. Found it under a bridge where I'd stopped to photograph some graffiti.

DING DING DING DING...WE HAVE A WEINER, err I mean a winner!

I hope you didn't take it home...
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Old 06-04-16, 10:18 AM
  #307  
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Originally Posted by canklecat
This is the weirdest thing I've found since my last post to this thread in October. Found it under a bridge where I'd stopped to photograph some graffiti.

What about that folding knife, did you put that on the ground for scale, or was that a road find as well?
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Old 06-04-16, 04:21 PM
  #308  
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A 1-ft/sq orange microfiber facecloth, a similarly-sized green microfiber facecloth, a red "cowboy" bandana, a brand-new heavy-duty bungee cord, a used (but serviceable) medium-sized bungee cord, a slide-on eyeglass strap, and too-numerous-to-list screwdrivers and box/open-end wrenches. I washed the facecloths and bandana, and use all found items. I'm still waiting for the "big scores".
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Old 06-04-16, 04:32 PM
  #309  
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I found a large box of all kinds of different spices last week. I didn't pick them up and they were gone this morning so someone got a nice freebie.
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Old 06-04-16, 10:26 PM
  #310  
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Originally Posted by rekmeyata
DING DING DING DING...WE HAVE A WEINER, err I mean a winner!

I hope you didn't take it home...
Heck, no. I didn't touch anything. When I saw those two objects together I started looking around for blood or evidence of a crime, thinking I might report it to the police. But it appeared to be a prank or someone's idea of a primitive cave art installation.

Some graffitists consider themselves artists and philosophers, so I'm not surprised by anything I find while looking for new graffiti or street art.

A few years ago I met an artist from the midwest whose pet project includes assembling seemingly random small objects into small impromptu sculptures and installations. He arranges them in semi-public spaces, just leaving them for passersby to discover and choose their own interpretations for what it means. He let me photograph him in action, assembling an impromptu installation with objects that seemed to suggest concepts of fate, luck, fortune or misfortune. These were left outside a local symphony concert auditorium. I wondered whether anyone else saw it, or whether it was simply discarded by the maintenance crew the next morning. But the artist himself wasn't concerned. The clean-up guy himself is just as valid a potential audience as a formally dressed couple leaving the concert.

Originally Posted by RubeRad
What about that folding knife, did you put that on the ground for scale, or was that a road find as well?
The sex toy and knife were exactly as I found them. I try not to touch or move anything when I photograph found objects, although occasionally I've moved discarded notes and photographs to photograph more or less in the same place I found them.

I didn't open or even touch the knife, but looking at it from all sides, it appeared to be a very cheap box cutter type replaceable blade fitted into a folding knife design rather than the usual push/pull design. Probably something available at any dollar store for a buck or two.
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Old 06-05-16, 08:27 AM
  #311  
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Knowing where the public trash cans are, I sometimes Pick up things slobs are too lazy or self-centered to dispose of properly , themselves.
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Old 06-05-16, 10:18 AM
  #312  
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Yesterday I rode 102 miles. I saw 26+ bungie cords, a 10" crescent wrench scratched up, 8 Hell's Angels getting tailed by 8 LEOs and a Wake Board that looked fine. I was too tired, sunburnt and cramping to bother picking it up. I already have 2 good crescents I picked up besides a bunch of other tool bits I gladly use.

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Old 06-05-16, 10:41 AM
  #313  
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I biked with the kids to a public beach at a lake last summer. Someone had strewn the beach with 5 or 6 diapers. We could avoid them easily, but they were a horrible eye-sore. I grabbed a 5-foot branch and used it to move them all to the trash can.
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Old 06-05-16, 10:48 AM
  #314  
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Originally Posted by andyprough
I biked with the kids to a public beach at a lake last summer. Someone had strewn the beach with 5 or 6 diapers. We could avoid them easily, but they were a horrible eye-sore. I grabbed a 5-foot branch and used it to move them all to the trash can.
Horrific. Good for you.
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Old 06-06-16, 07:01 AM
  #315  
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I rode passed six or seven perfectly intact slices of white bread lying in the street this morning.
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Old 06-06-16, 08:49 AM
  #316  
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What's the best thing you've seen since then?

Yesterday evening driving to church, we spotted a baseball cap in the road, it had settled between lanes on the paint. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for it this morning. Sure enough, it was still there, in probably exactly the same spot. Really nice hat, fitted New Era padres cap, in my size! I'm not a baseball fan, but it's a simple black with white "SD" so no big deal.
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Old 06-06-16, 09:43 AM
  #317  
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Originally Posted by andyprough
I biked with the kids to a public beach at a lake last summer. Someone had strewn the beach with 5 or 6 diapers. We could avoid them easily, but they were a horrible eye-sore. I grabbed a 5-foot branch and used it to move them all to the trash can.
You probably just threw away everyone's hidden keys
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Old 06-06-16, 10:07 AM
  #318  
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Originally Posted by College3.0
I rode passed six or seven perfectly intact slices of white bread lying in the street this morning.
Elwood Blues would have a feast.
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Old 06-06-16, 10:09 AM
  #319  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
You probably just threw away everyone's hidden keys
I was digging through them with my tree branch for Rolex watches and engagement rings. No such luck.
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Old 06-06-16, 10:33 AM
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I saw two pairs of pants appearing to be in good condition. I didn't pick them up.
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Old 06-06-16, 01:18 PM
  #321  
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Found a "May is Bike Month" water bottle on the 15th tee at Ancil Hoffman GC. It will join me on rides in the future.
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Old 06-06-16, 02:49 PM
  #322  
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Originally Posted by andyprough
Elwood Blues would have a feast.
"Are you the police?"
"No ma'am. We're musicians."
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Old 06-06-16, 05:08 PM
  #323  
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Yesterday I discovered a couple rolls of paper towels; sadly they'd unrolled all along the side of the road. One had printed bicycles.

Also, 5 or 6 dead dragonflies and a yellow-and-black swallowtail butterfly. Must be summer.
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Old 06-06-16, 09:28 PM
  #324  
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Saw a perfectly good tennis ball on the ride home this morning.. if it's there tomorrow morning i'm snagging it for our new puppy..he loves them.
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Old 06-10-16, 12:25 AM
  #325  
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Wallets! That's what I see the most on the side of the road. I've seen three in the past month.

One was just laying there and the other two had the contents spread all over the road; most likely stolen and thrown out.
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