Best trash find while riding

[jabberwocky]

I found a nice (though beat up) Estwing hammer in the middle of the road a while back. Probably fell off a work truck. A few other (very beat up, rusty) tools over the years. Screwdrivers and crescent wrenches and such. I only kept the hammer, because you can always find a use for a hammer.

[huskerdont]

@jabberwocky 132712 wrote:

I found a nice (though beat up) I only kept the hammer, because you can always find a use for a hammer.

Everything begins to look like a nail, I hear.

I needed a box or bunch of wood for another coldframe for the garden. Found this old food box from some grocery chain in Florida with a 70s date stamped on it. It was really tough riding home with that pig.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Spotted a short leather riding crop in the middle of Eads & 18th the morning after Valentines day last year. Didn’t pick it up.

[cvcalhoun]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 132718 wrote:

Spotted a short leather riding crop in the middle of Eads & 18th the morning after Valentines day last year. Didn’t pick it up.

You have your way of celebrating Valentines Day, and they have theirs. LOL

[Drewdane]

A Park fold-up hex wrench set in the middle of the street downtown. Someone must have left their seatpost bag hanging open.

[dkel]

Big purple dildo in McLean. Maybe that’s my worst find, actually. I did not pick it up, in case you’re wondering (and I know you’re wondering, you sicko!).

[jabberwocky]

@Drewdane 132724 wrote:

A Park fold-up hex wrench set in the middle of the street downtown. Someone must have left their seatpost bag hanging open.

I actually left my seat bag open once riding to work and my topeak multitool fell out before I noticed. I found it on the way home, on the shoulder of fairfax county parkway near my house. It was right on the white line that separates the lane from the shoulder. I’m amazed no car hit it during the 10+ hours it sat there.

[Rootchopper]

Good: My work id fell out of my bag. Found it the next morning on the street a block from my office.

Better: My work iPhone fell out of my handlebar bag while riding to Whites Ferry. Doubled back and, after ten miles of riding, found it in the grass in the middle of the towpath.

Best: I found $140 (2 $20 bills and a Benjamin) in the street in front of my house.

[Tim Kelley]

I’ve returned two cell phones, two wallets, and a random credit card to their owners!

[PotomacCyclist]

So you’re saying there are benefits to cycling?

Can’t say that I’ve found any $1,500 items? I’ve seen old bike tires and I think I saw an entire bike stashed in the woods out in Maryland, although I didn’t ride closer to verify whether the bike was abandoned. Maybe someone was having a picnic in the middle of the woods. Or doing something else. I didn’t bother to check.

[Henry]

My Top 3:

1) Like-new set of waterproof gloves. Posted to L&F page but no bites. Too small for me, but my wife enjoys them. value ~$50.
2) My own blinky light which had fallen off about 4 hours earlier. Found on return trip from meeting, still blinking in the gutter.
3) $20. + numerous other bills from $1 to $10. Cash is always good.

[eminva]

Gosh, I think I’ve only found small amounts of money here and there. Maybe I’m not looking too closely.

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me that when I was a kid, my mother often went running in a University of Michigan sweatshirt. I spent a large part of my childhood under the impression my mother was a Michigan alum. Much later she corrected my impression and admitted she found the sweatshirt while out running in the woods.

Liz

[sjclaeys]

I’m always seeing on the street and trail those one-use floss things with a handle.

[Raymo853]

I forgot another good one. A perfectly fine M971 XTR rear derailleur. I found it during the first year of the MoCo Epic. I posted everywhere, had the organizer include it in the follow up email, and talked about it a lot on group rides. No one ever said it was theirs. It was attached to a replaceable dropout that had broken off. I wondered how did it escape the chain. Assume somebody had a big drive train debacle that both snapped the hanger and broke the chain and sent it flying off into the underbrush.

I just installed it on my touring bike, so if it is yours, too late.

[elbows]

I have found and returned 2 wallets. One I found the person on linkedin and she sneakily gave me a reward which I would have rebuffed but was outwitted (not hard to do). She had had it stolen from her purse hanging on her chair at a DC steakhouse and the thief tossed it a mile away

Not long after that, I found a wallet at the same location (near the 14th st bridge). It had fallen off a cyclist and I had to chase him to return it. Let’s just say we were riding for different purposes and I was not the one in bibs.

Totally agree about the random tooth flossers everywhere. So gross.

[Author]

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