Commuting - What Unusual Loads Have You Found On The Street and Carried In Your Pocket Back Home?

2 days ago while riding, I almost ran over a BIG object in the road. I stopped, turned around and picked it up - it was a brand new Craftsman 15" adjustable wrench. I was still 20 miles from home, but I put it in my jersey back pocket anyway. At 3 pounds, it got real HEAVY. I finally got home, looked it over and everything seems to work on it perfectly, it's now in my toolbox. Looked it up on craftsman.com and they run $37.00 ! Didn't rip or tear the jersey pocket - those Nalini jerseys are real high quality :) Anyway, this got me to thinking, what have others found on the road, picked up and took home? Here's a pic of the wrench.....

Nice find, Knifun! :)

Last week I took a little ride out of the Wisconsin Biking Guide, in the Point Beach State Forest area. As I was entering Two Rivers, going around what seemed a slightly dangerous blind curve on a bridge, I saw a Rapala fishing knife and sheath lying on the shoulder. With visions of some other cyclist (or motorist) getting that knife blade in the tire, I parked the bike and walked back to pick it up. So now I have a rather nice used fishing knife and leather sheath. I don't think they cost more than 10 or 15 dollars new, though.

(By the way, there was a sign saying 'No Fishing From Bridge!' right where I found the knife! :p)

In the last year or so I have found and carried home

1 pair of large bent-nose needle nose pliers which have turned out to be perfect for holding derailleur cables taut while tightening the retainer screw.

1 apparently new Craftsman 3/16" flat blade screwdriver, marked only by a few scratches where it apparently hit the screet. Also in my bicycle tool box.

1 functional Colibri Quantum cigarette lighter. A decent backup for lighting those nasty, smelly but oh-so-wonderful hand-rolled cigars I have a weakness for on occasion.

But the piece d'resistance of my scavenging career (drum roll, please) - On my ride to work about 4 months ago I found a perfectly good 70s-80s vintage Trek 10-speed on someone's trash pile just a couple of blocks from my house. I had to tow it home because it wouldn't fit in my pocket. Does that still count? Because it has horizontal dropouts, it will be a my new fixed gear ride just as soon as I can convince Rainbabe that "It is NOT clutter. EVERYONE needs FOUR bikes." :D She is a very smart lady but occasionally seems to have trouble grasping concepts that are so obvious to many of us.

Da Rainman

RainmanP - COOL - yes that counts, even though you couldn't get it into your pocket! PS - I carried this wrench for a few blocks in my hand - supported on the brake hoods. You should have seen the looks I got ;) - needless to say, no one cut me off while I had that in my hand - wonder if that means anything? :D

I once found a 26'' wheel without a tire or tube (otherwise fine) and carried that home. But the biggest most awkward thing I found on the ride home was a giant 4 channel audio mixer from the 70s or early 80s. It was huge and probably weighed 30 pounds. I put it in my messenger bag and rode (luckily i had that bag with me or there would have been no way for me to get it home and luckily I was only about a mile from my destination).
i'm going to gut it and turn it into experimental noise music making machine (i'm into weird music....)
My least favorite thing to ride with is pizza!
-brent

I found a frozen Saw-whet owl alongside the road, put it in my rack pack and dropped it off at the Audubon Sanctuary for their collection.

Originally posted by knifun
2 days ago while riding, I almost ran over a BIG object in the road. I stopped, turned around and picked it up - it was a brand new Craftsman 15" adjustable wrench.
I found a 15" adjustable once. Thankfully it was on a supported tour so I only had ride with it back to the support vehicle.

coupla months ago I spotted a $20 bill on the sidewalk. my first thought was obvious (cool! I like $20 bills), then the second was "I bet someone's watching." of course, I didn't really think anyone was pulling a Candid Camera type trick, but it was too late, I'd become self-conscious, and I ended up tossing the bill onto the front stoop of the house in front of which I'd found it.

I chose to think that it belonged to someone who lived there, as I could easily have seen it having fallen out of someone's pocket as s/he was fishing for keys. at any rate, hopefully, it'll end up being good karma that'll come back to me.

but the next time it happens, no more Mr. Nice Guy, it's mine. yep.

-alex.

Originally posted by goodcatjack
coupla months ago I spotted a $20 bill on the sidewalk.
A few weeks back I stopped at a set of lights outside a train station and noticed a fiver on the footpath right next to the road.

No way of even guessing who it used to belonged to so I picked it up - waited for the green - and headed off again.

Wasn't riding, but back in the early 80's I came across a 24 - 30" chain / loadbinder while hitchhiking. So here I am standing on the side of the road with my thumb out on one hand and a big long mean looking metal contraption with 2 hooks and some bits of chain hanging off it in the other hand - and noone was stopping to give me a ride, go figure...

While biking through the everglades, I noticed a ditched schwinn on the side of the road. It looked good enough that one would question why someone left it there, but old enough to see it was abandoned for good. I took off the water bottle holder for my brother, and Carl, who was riding with us took the saddle.

A few days ago, I was riding along a busy Miami road on a path and one of the tires I was taking back to the bike shop for a return popped out of my panniers. I only realized this when I got to the bike shop and was cursing myself at the fact someone had probably found and picked up a brand new 30 dollar kevlar tire. At the LBS I didn't know how far back it was, so I just did my business there and on my way back home, way far back on the path, guess what I see laying down on the side of the path? Amazingly, nobody touched the tire! I was elated. Picked it up and took it back home with thoughts that people in the city really aren't so bad.

I haven't found anything else worth picking up to speak of. I'm sure I'll find plenty soon though.


Dave

My own bike jersey, it fell off the rear rack and I felt luck to only travel 2 extra miles to get it back, it was bright red but too warm.
kev:crash:

Some months back I saw something on the side of the road while
out riding.

I picked it up and found that it was an audiocassette tape.

I shook the dirt out of it and cleaned it off and put it in my pack
and took it home.

The initial idea was to play it at the end of the season. But
eventually my curiosity got to me.

I had to know what was on that tape.

I put it off for a bit.

Finally I played it.

WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

It appeared to be an audio transcript of a promise keepers
meeting.

Highly disturbing.

"It appeared to be an audio transcript of a promise keepers
meeting. "

What is a promise keepers meeting? and why is it disturbing?

Digger

I found a 2 cell Mag Lite along side a fire road once. I've had it for 5 years, and it's in the storage in my truck.

:)

A swiss army knife (major find!)
An off-brand small set of vise-grips
A small C-clamp
A ratcheting, 15mm box-end wrench
Countless black rubber tie-downs with one hook missing
Assorted CDs and tapes (actually, they weren't worth picking up)
And, a few weeks ago on a ride with my wife, she found a $1.00 bill

I found a whole bunch of coins on the side of the road one day - I couldn't figure out how they got there, but I was now the new owner!

I also pick up any garbage that I find in our local park that I ride thru - some of it is worth 5 cents at the recycling depot!

Does anyone else pick up garbage?

Cheers
Ben
:beer:

One very memorable Item, a Honda Harmony 5.5HP lawn mower w/Hydrostatic drive! I had just finished a long ride and was cooling down on a dead end road by my home. I normally never go down this road but for what ever reason this day I did. At the very end a home owner had piled up a bunch of stuff to be hauled away w/the trash. There in the back sat this mower! (Found out the guy had closed on his home, loaded everything up he wanted and was on his way back to California where he was moving into a condo.) You can imagine the strange looks I got trying to ride and push this mower over to my house! I took the serial # to a local Honda dealer and he said the mower was built in 1999. The first time I used it (Started on the first pull!) I noticed that in heavy grass the blade would stop turning. It turns out the blade/brake clutch was out of adj. After tighting it up the mower works great! (By the way, the local Honda dealer sells them new for about $700.00). :D

Here's a pic of the wrench.....


Hey thats my wrench ...... I lost it 2 days ago:D
It fell off the back of my bike. Did you find the tool box that went with it?/...

$10 and several $1 bills on different ocasions.

I've found a Craftsman Phillips small screwdriver just moments after realizing that I needed a screwdriver to tighten my SpeedPlay cleats on a long ride. What a lucky coincidence! Found a nice adjustable pair of pliers, a walking cane (saw the elderly owner and chased her through traffic to give it back to her). Decided not to stick it in my jersey pocket;)

So far, my collection of treasures includes a fishing knife, a carpenter's level, a pair of Uvex sunglasses, and a small Tigger....

Nothing too weird, but I have collected enough tools to almost fill a tool box. I imagine these are falling of work trucks and such. I also come across a fair bit of clothing, but dare not pick it up.