Allegheny Jet

My schmutz factor went full circle today! Before leaving for work this AM I loaded my track bike in the car for a trip to the velodrome after work. I had to use a box wrench that I keep in the back of the 4Runner to take the front wheel off. When I got to the track I had to get a wrench from my track bag to put the front wheel back on. I assumed that I left the original wrench in my garage. When I got back home this evening I saw my wrench on the hutch by the kitchen table. I picked up the wrench and put it back in the car assuming I left it inside when I got my coffee for the drive to work. Later while my wife and I were eating dinner, she excitedly told me that I am not the only one who finds tools. She walks laps everyday on our 1/2 mile long cul-de-sac and at the entrance she found a nice shiny wrench. She then said "I put it on the hutch".. I guess I left the wrench on the bumper then drove off to work.

RollinGeezer

I got pulled over by a goat once. A good ear scratch and he let me go on my way. Found a few various bike parts. No money yet tho.

Bikey Mikey

Now that is full circle. It was boomerang schmutz.

digibud

found a sweet iTouch. Advertised, called Apple, got no responses other than one lady who tried to scam me...so now I have a badly cracked but totally functional iTouch.

rydabent

Last year I found a backpack with a $1000 computer in it. The guy said he was going to send a reward, but he never did.

Cougrrcj

On my commute to work I really couldn't stop and pick up every coin I'd see alongside the road - but I'd keep a running total of how much it was. One day when I had the time, and since I knew where just about every coin was after a few weeks, I picked up over $5.35 in just my 22-mile round trip.

Probably a half-dozen cellphones, pagers,..

Then there's the clothing... Lots of ball caps (OK, I can see it blowing off your head), but what's up with shoes? How in the world do you lose a shoe and not know it??? Lots of sunglasses, too. Probably off motorcycle riders.

Tools? I picked up a complete 1/4" drive socket set, lots of screwdrivers, several pairs of pliers, a few hammers, lots of rubber bungee s-hooks...

Lots of roadkill, too. Skunks, opossums, raccoons,... all the way up to deer. Those I leave, but I can't stand to see someones pet squished to oblivion. If it is 'fresh' and not too mangled, I drag it to the side of the road. Someone might be looking for it!

Then there's the gross stuff that I don't touch - used diapers, condoms, ...

David Bierbaum

The most common items of apparel I see along the road are little kid's shoes. (single, never a pair.) Work gloves are a far distant second. I imagine precocious little brats throwing their shoes out the car window for fun, and the hapless parents wondering where precious' right shoe went at the end of the trip.

Bikey Mikey

It's the underwear on the roadside I don't fathom.

hobkirk

Ain't this the truth!

Blues Frog

Picked up a dime a few days ago. But I haven't seen as much moolah lately as usual. I need to get on the major highways a bit more for some tool replacements.

Planemaker

Found my first Road Schmutz today.

I cross a bridge over a river with a very narrow bike path on the way back I decided to walk the bike over the bridge. Just as I am starting to go over the bridge I look down and amongst the rocks and weeds is a bike. I had to look and make sure that wasn't a body nearby, there wasn't, and from the looks of things the bike had been there for a long time. I am guessing that it was probably stolen and ditched there. I have not decided if am going to go back and get it.

bikepro

First time I find anything of any value and it's nothing I can use. While riding across a bridge over a lake close to Allen (actually its a water reservoir, but we pretend its a lake). There on the shoulder I find two matching fishing rods and reels. I stopped and pondered what to do -- they were too nice to just leave there. So I picked both up and took them to a nearby filling station/restaurant and gave them to the owner. I hope he puts up a sign by the register. As it turns out, riding with two fishing poles is easier than I thought. Although, I wouldn't want to ride too far with them.

Cougrrcj

Heck, back when I was a teenager, my buddies and I would ride five miles with our golf clubs/bag 'quiver style' across our backs.

TromboneAl

Found this the other day:



Luckily it was open, so I could figure out the combination, then set it to a four-digit number I can remember. It's not a secure lock, but will be fine for locking my bike when I go in to get coffee. I'll now have six locations with locks cached so I can lock my bike without carrying a lock.

rumrunn6

once found a cell phone, called the last number dialed, turned out to be the girlfriend of the owner, met her for coffee the next day

ModeratedUser150120149

Delicately, I hope, exploring cultural differences around the country, why stash it behind a tree? Here, we'd be more likely to put it on a close by post, or brace it to be more easily seen, or some such so when the person who lost it came looking it would be more easily found. Or, had it been there for quite awhile?

cccorlew

I found an iPhone. I tried to start it to call the owner, but it booted as if it were a new phone, so that was impossible.
I sold it to a local phone shop.
That's the second phone I've found, though the first was pretty cracked.

I also found this weird thing, which I posted in another thread
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post15824604
Don't miss it.

TromboneAl

I figured that if I put it in a visible location, it would soon be taken by someone other than the person who lost it.

So I made a posting in Craigslist:
I let that run for a while, and got no responses.

BTW, I recently gave it away on the free section of Craigslist. Remember that this is a big anchor. When the guy came to pick it up, I asked "So, how big is your boat?" His reply, "Well, actually it's a canoe."

ModeratedUser150120149

And so it was.

Definitely a cultural difference.

ZippyThePinhead

For some phones you need an app.

TromboneAl

Today I found this (in a case):

DanWho

I found a cigarette case, when I opened it to throw the pack away, inside I found $26 in ones and fives. I've found the usual tools and loose change.

cccorlew

Posted in photo of the day, but worth a repost here....


Getting a head in cycling by ccorlew, on Flickr

2 wheeler

Since I moved to the "middle of nowhere", I haven't found much. Recently I found a very nice, new life jacket. Also found an adapter for trailer light hookups (flat to round). As for road kill, I've seen most of the usual ones, but on my regular route there is currently a dead porcupine. He's a really big one and the highway dept. hasn't been motivated to retrieve him, either.

I saw a live mink last week; he was a cute little guy, but I've been told that they are ferocious.

Back in the Houston area, I found tons of stuff. Wrenches, a real Crescent wrench, screw drivers, a nylon kite and a 10 lb. block of lead.

The best find was three unopened fifths of whiskey. IIRC, there was one each rum, vodka and bourbon. There were also some unopened beers. I stuffed all of it in my jersey pockets, it was a monumental find!

MickeyMaguire

I helped a turtle cross the road a couple of rides back. My wife got the biggest kick out of it.