Commuting - What is the strangest thing you see on the road...

You know, I notice all the strange things along the roadway. I am wondering what is the strangest thing you have found.

C'mon {bbusername**, I know you have a story!

Yesterday I was riding to work and right in the middle of one of the lanes on the other side of the road was a double mattress.

I don't know what it was doing there but I think it'd be much too noisy to get much sleep. It'd be breezy too with all those cars rushing past.

On my way home I noticed that someone had hauled it into the bushes on the roadside.

one of the strangest things i continue to see on my commutes is otherwise friendly people who voluntarily sit in their autos in heavy traffic crawling at a snails pace, about to rip their hair out and generally stressing themselves out and become super-aggressive and neanderthal-like the longer they sit in traffic ...

as i cruise by on my bike...

i've seen all kinds of other strange things and when i remember one i will post a real answer to your question...

I came within inches of running over a possum one night. The freaky part was trying to figure out what I was about to hit in the dark. I thought it was a cat, but I ruled that out because they're not that stupid. I couldn't figure it out until it was going under me and I was holding both my legs in the air as high as I could to avoid the vicious bite of this unknown alien beast. I think we both felt rather stupid as he ran back to the sewer grate.

The police were looking for "pieces" of a dead body. I was only fortunate enough to see the legs.:(

The person got hit in the dark, and when the police finally arrived it had been run over many more times. And when i passed the next morning they were still looking under cars for a few pieces.

Urbanking, I am dumbfounded.

But I'm sure it happens more than we know.

"ever" i would have to think about, but this week's "strange thing" was a road I use every day blocked from wall to wall by 40 tonnes of earth.

Dumped there in the early hours of the morning by a building site operator who did not want to pay to dump it in the local tip.

Quitely dumping earth in a secluded corner is one thing, but blocking a road is another ! - Luckly the long way around is only a few hundered meters extra.

I wonder how many days it will be before the local council clear it up ?

Another one that occurs to me was whilst on tour in the South of France with 4 other lads last summer. Cycling along a road above a beach packed with naked women, we had 3 accidents in 5 miles of straight road which may just possibly been due to our total inability to keep our eyes on the road.

Many years ago on a tour in northern california not far from Mt. Shasta, I was just coming up over a hill and lo and behold in the road, maybe 1000 feet ahead...were...could it be? am I in the twilight zone.....three dead cows swollen to the size of a small dirigible. They must have fallen off a livestock truck many hours before, died instantly, and now the micro-organisms in their gut were having a field day churning out methane gas. Their bodies were actually hissing as I went by, and I was afraid they would explode and shower me with Cow guts! Never saw anything like it.....


roughstuff

roughstuff, thats nasty. I once came upon a dead bloated black bear when mtn biking, the smell was like nothing else on earth, I couldnt stand within 100 feet it.

On a lighter note, i love your website! Just finished reading about the bees, OUCH! I'm off to spend a few more hours there, keep up the good work.

Well Iowa
I guess I'll have to let you down, I haven't seen any strange things, just many, many things, but none that I consider strange. I enjoy watching people in cars, some are mad, some are glad, and I'm convinced that some can never be pleased, I pitty them, they haven't discovered the value of cycling and don't seem to have the patience required to happily coexist with the strangest animal of all, humans.

Originally posted by IowaParamedic
C'mon RegularGuy, I know you have a story!

Well, gee. I'm sorry to destroy your confidence in me, but I am at a loss. I have found some good tools lying in the middle of the road, most recently a Schraeder valve core driver.

Well...on a world tour of course ya get alot of stories. Here is another one from the Pasto-Popayan road in Colombia, which is notorious for its 'highway robberies.'

I always envisioned that if I was ever robbed on the road it would be exactly that...a highway robbery. A truck would pull up, two guys would get out and make clear they mean business. They would throw my bike in the back of the truck, and BOOM. Be gone....

Well. I was going down a small hill on a lonely stretch of the road, and sure enough a pickup truck goes by and pulls over about 1000 feet ahead. The two guys get out (I had eagle eyes by this time...i had a real strong sense something was up...) and damned, the guy on the drivers side has the BIGGEST pistol in his hand I have EVER SEEN!! Not only that, but up on the hillside above, in the scrubby brush, is a ANOTHER guy with a piece!

I figured the best thing to do is just keep slowly riding. To pull a Uturn would be useless. To stop would just postpone the inevitable. Better to ride on and be as cool as snoopy. In fact this was just the thing to do, because as it turned out, whatever their business, it had nothing to do with me. I just rode right by the guy with the massive pistol. (I did say Buenos Dias...i was gonna say 'nice pistol you have there!' but i don't know that much spanish).

roughstuff

Originally posted by IowaParamedic
You know, I notice all the strange things along the roadway. I am wondering what is the strangest thing you have found.

C'mon b_rider, I know you have a story!

Are you being sarcastic? Or are you refering to the fact that we both live in Iowa and there are some strange things along our rural road ways?

Which ever the case is here is the stangest thing I have ever seen. A couple of years ago during a club ride up Highway 12 a semi-truck passed us, that is not uncommon or strange. The truck was carrying dead livestock animals headed for a rendering plant, again that is not strange in any way. You see this all the time in this area. Heres the stange not to mention really gross part. The truck had to swerve to miss hitting something, I forget what it was and at the same time it rolled over a pretty rough patch of pavement. This caused the truck to jump and bounce more then it should have, the driver should have been going slower. Also the semi-trailer was a open top trailer. As a result of all of this one of the dead animals, a big one, bounced out of the truck. Upon impact with the pavement, it exploded. Oh yeah did I mention this was during the hottest month of the year for Iowa, August. This happened about 100 feet in front of us as we were riding. The smell was so horrendous, you can not imagine. We could not ride around and away from it fast enough. The driver did stop to see what he could do about cleaning up the mess.

Other then that theres really nothing out of the ordinary that I've seen along the roads during a ride.

Originally posted by IowaParamedic
C'mon Inkwolf, I know you have a story!

Aha, another of those clever threads that show the name of the reader in it. :p I wondered, because I don't have any good biking stories...yet.

Some interesting things while driving, though--one dark night I saw a car coming from the opposite way, stop in the road. I noticed the headlights looked funny, like something skinny was moving in front of them, so I slowed down. Turned out there were two LARGE calves running loose on the highway. If I hadn't noticed the other driver, I would have smacked into them at 55mph! :eek:

Another time, I saw a pure white horse running at me, full tilt. It veered off the road as it came up to my car. Never saw the horse before or since, no idea where it came from--looked like something out of a fantasy movie.

But probably my most memorable moment was one deer season when a huge, ten-point buck leaped up and ran right alongside the car for a long way. The most memorable bit was the deer hunter on his opposite side who was pointing a rifle straight at us! Glad to say he didn't fire, and the deer eventually sneaked off to the woods for a good laugh at both of us.

Since I'm bikeboy , I better respond.
(-:

Strange things. Plenty over the years.

I was once riding through a city park on a bike path. Two squirrels were chasing and fighting in a tree, directly above the path and ahead of me. One fell out... landed on the path, stunned. I had to brake to avoid running over the li'l critter. After 10 seconds or so, he came to his senses, and was back in the game.

I ride past a couple golf courses. My youngest daughter is sick of me bringing golf balls home to her. (Sometimes I'll find 2 or 3 in one pass!) I bet I've collected 100 golf balls while riding.

Tools. I've collected a half-dozen or so nice tools along the roadway. By far the most significant - a 12-foot extension ladder. Yep - just lying there beside the road. I assume it probably came off a service truck or something. When it was still there, 2 days later, I drove out and retrieved it with my wife's minivan. Comes in handy around the place.

Underwear. Who cares, if it's just a pair of men's briefs? But if it's women's dainties... I always assume there must be an interesting story behind that bra or panties, left along the side of a public road. Hmmm....

IowaParamedic, I once found a set of golf clubs, and another time, a VCR,

I found a grocery bag with carrots and personal lubricant inside.

Sorry IowaParamedic, no strange things here in Sweden ;) not when riding. Once from a bus I saw a naked man outside a gasoline station, was he drunk or mentally ill, or maby both. Nothing odd or strange when riding, nothing that I can recall right now.

Anders K

A Concrete Horse Head.

On a gate post where it belongs it's okay, but when your cycling along and you see it out of the corner of your eye, it makes you stop pretty quickly.

Right you are iowa paramedic,wise you are in the ways of the force. On my way to work I cross a major highway using an overpass. As I approached the top of the hill one day I spied a lump on the sidewalk. Not thinking much about it I proceeded to pedal past it. However as I did it stretched out its neck and toppled off the curb.It turned out to be a generous sized snapping turtle.

Your right, i as well as you have some interesting stories this pertains to work more than cycling but here it goes

While watching a action packed episode of baywatch (for Pam and fyi we got some of the worst calls during that show) we recieved a call for an accident. upon our arrival i being the medic found a single vech. accident. it seems that a 18 y/o male fresh out of boot camp decided to test his iroc camaro and did a dukes of hazard into a worm farm. i found a open scull fracture and large open chest injury I.E. the entire left side of his chest (visible lung and bradycardic heart. the inj being to lg to use an occlusive dressing was trauma packed he was intubated and cpr began anyway the wierd stuff was that after the call a mixture of grey matter and worm was found in my shirt pocket and my boots were filled with with blood and body fluid.

for all those who are not in the medical field sorry if it was to grafic


Rob

here is another

an elderly me was on a vacation away from his wife yet he brought the family dog. well he proceded to roll he truck and travel trailer mult. times after we arrived he let the dog out of what was left of the trailer and the dog proceded into I-95 traffic and got bludgeoned (sorry for spelling) by oncoming traffic his comment was something like this "gosh he made it through the accident only to die anyway"


Rob

Hi Solomedic (you're not a twin, are you?<g>)

I had to think a bit, but the oddest thing that I've had to pass on my commute was my neighboor (sic) who was sitting next to his Porsche bleeding from a head wound. It should be perhaps mentioned that the conditions were:

- pouring rain (rain reigned)
- inverted Porsche

I was rather glad to note that people where there so I could continue, and only afterwards did I realize that it was my next-door neighbor.

I have to admit that at the time (see the sic above) we weren't really on speaking terms, so a certain amount of "Schadenfreude" took place on my part...sad, but true. He turned out to be OK though (both medically and metaphorically) which is a GOOD THING.

I'm sure glad that I could pass HIM, and he not me!

ride safely!
tt

One thing I came to think about was back in early eighties when we set of on bikes with school on a "sport day". One of the guys I was riding with collided with a little bird. He, so to say, front collided with a bird and got the poor birds bill in his forehead. This resulting in a bleeding wound and a dead bird with broken neck. Pretty odd?
Anders K
Sweden

Originally posted by Anders K
He, so to say, front collided with a bird and got the poor birds bill in his forehead.
That's not funny!

:lol:

Originally posted by Anders K
He, so to say, front collided with a bird and got the poor birds bill in his forehead.
Bird Brain?

From my bike, I have seen;

A snake run over that spewed a huge number of unborn baby snakes out over the road. I couldn't understand this until I learned that snakes give live birth, not eggs.

A Barbie and a Ken doll, crunched and in pieces by the road. Ken was beyond hope, but Barbie went back together and was named "Roadkill Barbie" by my grandsons.

Mail. In the country, some people steal mail from rural boxes, rummage it for cash and checks, and dump it out the window. Have turned in plenty to the P.O. and they have caught a few people from prints.

Porno mags. Don't ask why. I don't know.

Still waiting to find the fat wallet that was left on the roof, trunk or hood, that fetches a nice reward.

Originally posted by Anders K
One of the guys I was riding with collided with a little bird. He, so to say, front collided with a bird and got the poor birds bill in his forehead.
No-one likes to receive a bill.

So, was his nickname 'Peckerhead' after that?

Originally posted by Goatbiker
Porno mags. Don't ask why. I don't know.
I've seen quite a few in the gutters (very appropriate) on country roads.

I do wonder if guys buy them and toss them out the window before heading home to their wives. Might be a bit hard to explain if they left them in the vehicle.

Originally posted by IowaParamedic
You know, I notice all the strange things along the roadway. I am wondering what is the strangest thing you have found.

C'mon RoadKill, I know you have a story!

Ah crap, I don't have any stories. Probably the strangest thing I found was a dead mountain lion when I lived in Utah, pretty decayed. That was up the canyon on a single track, not the road.

I mooed at a cow while passing ... she looked at me, mooed back at me and then BUCKED, turned and galloped away!

I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the bike! She must have thought I was some kind of funky looking cow!:p

Alright.....well the other day I happened to witness a head on crash between to road bikers - it was ugly. It did wake me up - didnt need any coffee when I hit the office! Heck, both bikers were fine as well.:beer:

The strangest thing??

My reflection in a car window or store window. Pretty scary and awful!!

Just the other day I was riding the centennial trail through Spokane and I came across the perfect outline of where a small car burned to the ground. I thought it was odd as I was on a "pedestrian" trail.:confused: While riding through Portland I saw a Racoon that was dead on the road. He was snarling and you could see that he had long and very sharp teeth. I think he may have attacked the car! :D - Ride On- Yvonne

Originally posted by IowaParamedic
You know, I notice all the strange things along the roadway. I am wondering what is the strangest thing you have found.

C'mon Cadd, I know you have a story!

Well, I haven't seen anything strange yet. BTW, Nice little name trick! Mind sharing it?

The answer is out there. Use the force!

As Yoda would say "Yes. Good padawan I must be. For the answer I must search."

Well, don't have much to report. Saturday, wife and I were riding the railtrail in Ohiopyle, Pa and saw a some animal climbing a tree. It looked like an extremely fat squirl, with a short tail. It wasn't a squirl, or possom, or racoon, but it was way up the tree. Anyone have any suggestions?

On my commute to work along the river trail, some teritorial Canada geese keeps trying to peck me. I'm tempted to run one down, (if I thought I could do it without going down myself)

I know I've seen some other strange stuff, but danged if I can remember now...

Hmmm, do you think it could possibly have been a baby porcupine? Only other suggestion I could offer would be one of the tree-climbing weasel thingies, like a marten or fisher....

The strangest thing I've seen was on a bike trail, go over to the Wackyness post in Road Cycling to read that one. On the road I'd have to say the drunk I pulled over on a residential street. I was riding along when I saw head lights behind me and I started hearing this weird noise. I finally figured out it was the sound of two flat tires. As the guy passed me he never even saw me. He couldn't get much speed with the two flats so I rode up next to his window and started tapping on it with my flashlight as we're cruising along at about 10 mph. The real fun thing was the look of confusion on his face when as he tired to figure out why there was a cop coasting along outside his window. The only bad part was this was the same time I saw the old tried and true bloodshot, glassy drunk eyes and started worrying that he'd pull over on top of me luckly he didn't. If I can think of anymore I'll post them.

Mine was actually published in Bicycling Magazine.
I quote:

“A fresh raccoon with his face about six inches from an open issue of Hustler. Damn cars, ruined the magazine too.“

A true story. Since then, my riding buddy and I always comment on the morals of the dead raccoons we see on the road.

Good thread !

Hey Roughstuff, iffn they were that far along they fell off a rendering truck or sombody dumped them already dead. As a hog man I see dead pigs often, unless its real hot the first 12 hours they don't get that big, after 48 tho most people would launch their lunch.
Oddist was on Ragbrai seeing guys from a pace line crawling outa a ditch after they crashed, seeing a guy honking up a hill and t-bone a gal walking her bike accross the road while not looking and a guy go off into a ditch on a road bike nd do a 360 without pretzeling the wheels.
kev:D :p :D

me ?? ... if you mean me I'm sorry but I got no interesting stories to tell.

No wait .... I can say that living in Norway means riding takes me through some absolutely GORGEOUS !!! nature, which is interesting if you're into photography like me. :)

Most interesting thing I have seen so far was on my 90km bike race, and that would have to be the 70 year old man on a bike as old as he was passing me on a big hill, now I got respect for that.

Colin

At first i was tricked by the username in the quote trick but then i got it. I no longer feel special but that's okay!
I've witnessed a few car crashes (I especially liked one where someone drove into the side of a city bus. How can you not see a city bus? They're like whales!!) Two weeks ago I rode past a man hunched over in a busstop, his face covered in blood. I wish I had stopped to check on him but I was thinking like that at the time. I watched the news for a story about a murder or something that could have been related but heard nothing. Maybe he just got beat up real bad for his wallet....
Everytime I ride to my girlfriend's house I pass a giant old abandoned navy hospital that is really cool.
Someone earlier mentioned a mattress..... again in my girlfriend's neighborhood I saw a heart shaped mattress. .....lovely.
and of course I see lots of people sitting in cars in rush hour as I ride between lanes. I recently read that in a big city, a car's average speed is around 10mph. I can easily do better than that!
biking and loving it,
brent

PS I can't remember whether i mentioned it on here or not, but my singlespeed bike that I built had a mechanical failure while my girlfriend was borrowing it for her courrier job and made her 'endo' over the handlebars. some mechanic I am :( The bike survived pretty well and so did she (although you can feel the imprint of the drop bar in her thigh)

Not sure if it was strange. I consider myself lucky. Commuting on route through Temecula, on my way to work- two days ago; met up with a cyclist hauling 1,000 pounds. Believe he was mentioned in Bicycling. He is David Michale Anthony. Traveled across the United States carrying a trailer, weighing 1,000 pounds. Did not talk to him long, because he was changing out bikes. He was preoccupied. His trailer had two other bikes in ' tow ' Said the bike he had been using, suddenly developed a cracked frame. He seemed preoccupied. Noticed a sign on back indicating he was raising funds for homeless in route. In yesterdays' paper saw an article about him, while riding through Temecula..He started in Key West, Fla to San Diego and on way north to home in the Los Angeles area.
Newspaper article said he is training for U.S. olympic spot as a cyclist and years ago recovered from a fractured lumbar vertebrae. He was parked in a gas station parking area, changing out bikes. The trailer caught my eye, and had to ride over, even though I was hurridedly on my way to work.. He has a web site "davidmichaelanthony.com"

Today, I had my strangest encounter.

The Drum Corps for the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band. Practicing away in the heat, and standing right next to my trail.

That does something for your cadence.

Well, not ON the road but flying through the air.

Someone throw a half eaten piece of fried chicken at me...bounced off my helmet.

I had feared such actions were American habits towards cyclists.. Mine was a coke can. Hit my leg.. Another time, at a red light some kids- high school spit at me.. Are these kinds of events usually caused by kids?

Oh yeah mostly kids. Another kid in the passenger seat (13 years old) with his (discovered later) 17 year old brother driving pulled just behind me at a stop light and screamed "we're gonna kill you bicycle man, we're gonna kill you!" Him, his brother and a friend of his in the back seat where laughing it up.

I knew they meant no harm and he was just showing off. But I got off the bike step up on the sidewalk and when the light turned green and they drove by I got the license plate. Called the police, police dropped by my house, took a statement and the next day his mommy calls. She assures me that it WILL NOT happen again and that her son is truly sorry and will be punished.

I tought of it after - why didn't the little brat get on the phone. But all well....

Another brat nailed me with a tennis ball.

Another brat, who pulled up beside me in a fully loaded Ford Explorer. Said to me, "get a car ******! What? Can't afford one?" Little did he know my wifes salary and mine combined is over $100k). His, I assume, girlfriend was in the seat next to him, so he was showing off also. I turned to him and said "nice truck, too bad it's daddies" Well, BOY did he ever turn red. :)

Digger. More often than not kids' pranks are just that. It is the adult pranks that are more threatening. They can get serious from what I have seen..
Yesterday, a local electric utility had no respect for cyclists near Mt. Palomar, even though he had plenty of room.. At a restaurant other cyclists present were complaing about this same utility truck... But I have seen or heard of other adult pranks that need police attention... Glad you did what you did in regards to the police. Maybe they learned something..