Funniest thing you've seen when commuting?
 

Well, I have only been back to commuting for a few weeks, but I must say that it's been an eye-opening experience. No, not because I'm surprised by how much I enjoy it, how easy it is, or anything like that. I'm talking about the strange or funny things you've seen from your bike on your way to work. Here's my list so far:

1. A guy in a dress on his bike. He rides the same route regularly, and it took me a couple of sightings to be pretty sure of what I was seeing. My office mate and husband have seen him, too, and concur that it's not just a larger-than-average woman.

2. A slightly more laid-back commuter riding in the opposite direction of me, pulling on his cigarette as he rode.

3. And just today, an example of how high-vis clothing is not always the best way to catch a driver's attention. I was actually driving when I saw this. A guy riding a black vintage American Flyer dressed in worn Levis, cowboy boots, Carhart jacket, white cowboy hat, wire rim glasses, and toting a courier bag. Cowboy on a vintage bike. I don't think I've ever seen that one before.

So what are some other funny or strange things you've seen while riding?

well my commute takes me through a Senior citizen city (Sun City)and i was on my way to work, it was about 5am and i see this elderly man walkin across the road didnt look either direction and when i road by i realized his eyes were closed and he was sleep walking. i was wondering before i saw his face why he was dressed the way he was. hopefully he didnt get hit or what not, i would have woke him up but i figured hed think i was tryin to rob him.

Just yesterday I was passed by a truck pulling a smoker full of ribs. I assume it was full of ribs because it was a) actually smoking, b) smelled like pork, and c) had a big sign on it that said "Leon's Ribs."

One day last week I stopped at a light by a White Castle. As I pulled up I saw two homeless guys appearently argueing over who got the spot by the interstate. By the time the light changed they had shook hands and were headed into White Castle, probably for a cup of coffee.

That laid back commuter commutes here in Indy too. see him all the time, only here he smokes and goes against traffic.

I dont think i ahve ever seen a Man dressed like a Woman on a bicycle my commute though.

Funniest thing wasn't the "sleeping" raccoon I saw on Bluff Road the other day.
I'll probably spot the laid back commuter one of these days on South Meridian Street smoking and going right down the center turn lane.

I still have not worked up the nerve to do Bluff during big rush hours, I have ridden it on Saturday. Seems to me like there are lots of coons around here. Maybe just becasue i am leaving eairler. There really is a smoking backwards commuter on shelby all the time.

My laid-back commuter was riding against traffic, too. My husband says that it's OK if the smoker rides against traffic, but not OK for the guy in the dress :eek:

There was a guy using a unicycle on the MUP the other day. Slower than walking!

#2 Is not funny, counterproductive maybe..... :innocent:
/me lights up his newport... :innocent:

watching a huge hawk chase a squirrel, which ran up the base of a tree and did a back flip onto the back of the hawk- so amazing and unexpected it made me laugh for days if I thought about it.

Welcome to the world of bicycle commuting from a year round bike commuter of 25 years.

This is maybe not funny, but strange and memorable. One morning while riding through a Boston suburb about 6:00 AM, I came apon a skunk with its head stuck in a Yoplait yogurt container, which is somewhat conical (the frustum, the basal part of a solid cone or pyramid formed by cutting off the top by a plane parallel to the base), with the opening at the narrower end. It was meandering sightless near the street and likely would have wandered into the path of a car and was a really pitiable sight. Thinking of a local cynical (and anti-bicyclist) radio talk show host, who comments, "No good deed goes unpunished," I got off the bike, removed the container and quicky jumped back. Fortunately I didn't get sprayed.

I found out about four years later that an employee where I work witnessed this event. He is a parking lot attendant, and on a rare occasion when I needed to drive from work, he reminded me of that event and waved me through for free. So take heart, Good Samaritans; we pass this way only once.

I was riding in rush hour traffic in Sports Arena Blvd in San Diego, which is one of those congestion clogged, rude driver areas that a lot of beginner cyclists find a little intimidating (no bike lanes, confusing intersections, etc.). As I was going through an intersection, I looked over at the opposite direction, which had two or three lanes, and two turn lanes. I see an older lady on a mobility scooter preparing to make a left turn - VEHICULARLY FROM ONE OF THE TURNING LANES!!!!

On the W&OD trail in VA. Overweight guy with extremely hairy chest and no shirt on with a heart rate monitor. I almost vomited on my bike.

That's a great story and you definitely did a good thing, but I'm wondering how you were able to pull the yogurt container off in the first place. Sneaking up on a wild animal doesn't seem very easy.

Ha, that's awesome.

Well I admit I'd never seen that, but I did have his happen to me.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...856&highlight=



:D

Funniest thing I ever saw while commuting: riding along in a bike lane (Harvard Avenue in Brookline, for anyone familiar with the Boston area), came to an intersection (Beacon Street, if anyone cares). Dude wearing business attire minus jacket and riding a motorcycle passes me in the intersection, then swerves into the bike lane and proceeds to filter in between a line of stopped cars and a cab stand (in front of the Booksmith, if anyone cares). Trundling along behind him, and with a very good idea of the most likely reason why the cars were stopped, I had a ringside seat when he filtered himself right into the crosswalk at the head of the line of stopped cars and nearly took out a pedestrian, who dodged enough to avert a crash but fell as a result. Numbnuts dropped the bike, which lay on its side in the bike lane going hah-hah-hah-hah and leaking gas all over the street as the pedestrian picked himself and his possessions up, pointed to the line of stopped cars and the crosswalk, and asked Numbnuts wtf he thought he was doing. Pedestrian went on his way and Numbnuts looked at me as if I had the answer to some question that was eluding him (27th digit of pi? Location of the Holy Grail? Meaning of life?), and I said, in an annoyingly Miss-Connie-from-Romper-Room tone of voice, "Pick up your bike...and go on your way."

And he did. Still in the bike lane.

for the last 6 weeks or so i have cut thru a constuction area where they are extending univerisity pkwy to meet market. this saves me about 6 blocks as opposed to going around. they have finished the rough road cut and while it is dirt hey i ride a bike who cares right. well thursday i came thru as usual and found a couple well....coupling behind one of the machines:roflmao2: people look pretty funny trying to scramble to cover themselves in that situation.:D

Best line today!

Last fall I was commuting to work and saw a bike coming from the other direction. As I got closer to it I realized the bike wasn't moving.

As I passed by, I saw the rider was standing up, straddling the top tube . He was dressed in jacket, tights, helmet, gloves and his bike had lights and an orange flag. He looked lost. Or dazed.

I stopped and went back and asked him if he was OK and responded he was fine. I asked if he was lost and he said no. I gave his bike a quick once over and it seemed fine, too.

I did him a good ride and headed off to work. Never saw him again.

Lots of "sleeping" raccoons and 'possums and squirrels to be seen resting on the pavement on Bluff.
It's like a country highway on weekends and very early mornings. Not really so bad when backed up with commuting cars - they're few trucks and the traffic isn't really fast. Not so much fun but better than Meridian Street.

Not the funniest thing I've seen, but maybe the funnest.

It was late summer, 2006 and I was on the White Rock Creek MUP, here in Dallas. As I came around a bend, I saw a bunch of young ladies running in the grass, along side the path. I got closer and saw that several of them had "SMU" across the back of their shorts.
Since safety is, of course, my primary concern, I slowed waaayyy down as I went past them... Once I got by and around the next curve, wouldn't you know it? I had to stop and check my rear tire ;). I stayed focused on my bike so I didn't look like some perve, stalking them, (even though, I guess that's what I was doing:D).
After they came by, I had to pass them again. I smiled the rest of the way to work.

At work, I did a quick google and found out this was the SMU Women's Cross Country Team.
Probably one of my best commutes, ever. :thumb:

Not seen, but happened to me...

1) A few years ago I discovered a private road that goes through a golf course that I can take to cut down on the car traffic for a while and avoid an uphill left turn in the morning. They have a gate in the middle to prevent through car traffic, but a golf cart path next to the gate that I can hop on. So I was on this road one night in December soon after I discovered it, and it was dark. I did have a light, but being a private road, there were no streetlights so I could barely see anything outside my light. Suddenly I saw this big tan mass coming up and just had time to think "What's that? I should probably try to avoid it..." when I ran up one side of this big (like 8' high) pile of sand they had left in the middle of the road (for replenishing the sand traps, I'm sure) and landed softly on the other side. Not hurt at all, and it was kind of fun...

2) Two summers ago, I was just starting to use an open-topped grocery pannier for carrying things, and I was carrying my lunch and change of socks and underwear. (Keeping outer office clothes at work at the time.) I was speeding down a hill to make a green light and hit a little bump just before the intersection, spilling everything in my pannier out onto the street, around the area of the crosswalk. After going through the intersection I did a U-turn to go back and get my stuff, which fortunately hadn't been run over yet, and as I approach I see this very pretty young woman crossing the street towards my stuff. As I picked up my lunch, I saw her pick up my socks, and sure enough, my spare briefs, and handed them to me with a smile. I probably said something brilliant like "thanks", but enjoyed thinking about telling my wife that a pretty 20-something female had handed me my underwear that morning! :love:

3) One morning after a snowstorm I strayed too far into the untreated shoulder after an intersection and proceeded to ride right into a snowbank, eliciting laughter from the motorist passing me at the time, and it was so fun I just had to laugh with him! :lol:

Come to think of it, I have seen someone playing the bagpipes on two separate occasions this summer, although once was at a tournament at the aforementioned golf course, so that kind of makes sense, golf being Scottish and all. The second time was someone practicing in a parking lot behind some oil terminals near a train yard. (Probably banished there by his family!) Bagpipes are always kind of humorous instruments anyway. :p

I see a young lady cycling ahead of me, going in my direction. I catch up to her at the next light, and come to a stop behind her. She has a back pack on. Something just isn't right, but I can't figure it out. Before the light turns, I realize what it is. The back pack is staring at me. Zipped inside the back pack is the girls puppy, out for a spin with her. Just sitting there staring at me. Once it realizes that I see it, it begins to squirm, wanting some attention. It gets two paws out, and I have to move up to stuff the little pup back in. The light changes, we start moving again, and the pup settles down to enjoy the ride, still staring at me. It was so cute, I had to pass so that I could concentrate on riding.

Animal run-ins: Speeding deer, a large herd of wild turkeys (who all decided to fly in place in the middle of the road about chest-high, miscellaneous dogs, snake.

Going over a bridge, I turned just in time to see four teen-aged skinny dippers (two boys, two girls) getting out of the river about 40 feet away.

Observed multiple sexual encounters in parked vehicles and park benches.

And, didn't see, but experienced: Rode my usual Saturday workday commute. Started passing an unusually large number of cyclists. Everyone going the same direction. Over time, noticed that people were standing on the sidewalks and sides of the road for no apparent reason. Strange. The numbers increased over the miles. Very strange. Then, I rounded a high-speed curve and looked up just in time to see a banner hung over the road. Three people stood out in the road and multiple people stood on the side and took photos of me as I passed a guy just before the banner. Just about then -- too late -- it finally dawned on me that I had crashed the bicycle leg of a tag-team triathlon. Some of the news photographers thought I had won. At the very least, I seriously messed up the winner's finishing photo.