Cycling Observations

[MtnLioness]

Ok, This is for all those Cycling cachers.
The ones who prefer the Bike to the Car.....You know who you are!

I was riding around today, doing Maintenance on my own caches and as ever, saw quite a number of odd things on the road as I rode past.

I would like to know if it is just me who noticed these strange (and sometimes gross) things or do others notice them also?

My List for today alone, is as follows

Broken Padlock
7 Bolts - 2 of which I stopped to pick up
Some nails
Screws
Nuts - The metal variety
Assorted lengths of Wire
washers
a Half face mask, white glitter
Kids Flippers
A Dead Cat right next to a Tireless Bike wheel -
A Black pen - works fine, picked it up.

I often see Dead Cats and Birds
Regularly pass innumerable Nails/screws/bolts/nuts
I sometimes see (and pick up, much to my husbands annoyance) Piping/poles and tubes of various sizes

Please tell us what YOU have passed or even picked up!

[kennythe1st]

Perhaps you ride in the vicinity of your local rubbish dump?

On a 36km mainly forest mtb trip yesterday, I found more rubbish in our pre-start cache than I did on the trail. And some might say there was also more rubbish in the cache I placed en route.

So if you are road cycling, my observation would be that without having to confront the 'flotsam' ejected from cars (dead cat + tireless bike wheel excepted), we mtnbikers live a much cleaner life

btw I like the idea of a tireless bike wheel - if only one could harness its energy.

Kenny

[Postman Pat]

I have picked up radio antanaes for various frequencies 2 for 70cm one for 2 meters a couple sunglasses and ratchet straps or tie-downs and of course spanners and sockets but then a lot of my riding is along the New England Highway just out of Tamworth.

[MtnLioness]

Perhaps you ride in the vicinity of your local rubbish dump?

btw I like the idea of a tireless bike wheel - if only one could harness its energy.

Kenny

Nope, just around Adelaides Suburbs!!
Some are worse than others!
Somedays it is simply the Nuts/bolts/screws and such.
Rosewater/Pennington/Port Adelaide is where I was riding yesterday and seems to be one of the worst areas too!

Have no clue where the nearest Rubbish Dump is located but I don't think it's anywhere near me!

Contemplated stopping for the Tireless wheel but kept going as I have no idea what I'd do with it!
(and the fact that it was right next to a dead Cat turned me off it )

[Bronnie_1990]

I think i should ride more often...

All i've seen, is a set of clothes.
Hmm.

[mtbikeroz]

Have cycled in Adelaide (ALL over), Brisbane (South), Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Melbourne (Nthern), & of course Canberra (ALL over). (& Auckland etc)

I have seen just as much rubbish & stuff in Sth Brisbane (shocking) and quite a bit of Sydney and quite a bit of Adelaide - on the plains.
Newcastle, Wollongong generally not as bad, but both still have rubbish & stuff on the roadside where bikes ride. Canberra only generally in Fyshwick or Mitchell - the industrial areas. Melbourne pretty good.

When riding the road bike, this stuff is a real nuisance, when on the MTB, I just ride over it.

So yes, all sorts of stuff, yes, dead cats, dogs, many possoms, many foxes (in Canberra), twice as many smelly roos (in Canberra only), snakes (in Canberra again), many spanners & screwdrivers (which I collect), a Jaguar name badge, I see LOTS of 5c and 10c coins, countless stretchy tie down straps, which I collect as generally they are GOOD and undamaged!, and quite a few road bike tyres that owners have just left - obviousy after being damaged by this very rubbish.

When in the car - I see none of it.

And what do I see in the grassy verge when riding in the country - Lots of larger things, upside down cars, but the scariest was, when riding from Cooma to Canberra in the dark (after caching)(I was well lit up and had good lights, passed a police car in the dark too) during the ski season, june/july, I was on the edge of the shoulder, a good 2m from the cars, but right beside me in the knee-waist high grass, in the dark, I passed many many roos/wallabies grazing (ie bent down) in the grass. No wonder there were dead kangaroos every km along the Monaro Hwy. Little do you realise in the dark these roos/wallabies are grazing right on the road edge in the tall grass.

[Bronnie_1990]

hah, decided to go for a ride this afternoon, and found one tshirt, one work uniform, half a burntout car? and a LCD TV today, in a road leading to a carpark.

Seriously, what a waste of a tv...

[GammaPiSigma]

Please tell us what YOU have passed or even picked up!

I don't know where to start. You name it and I am sure I have seen it lying by the road. As a general rule I don't pick up anything, you never know where it has been.

I do remember one thing that really got me going. At the end of an uninhabited dead end road near my home some clown had done an oil change on their car and just let the oil run out of the car all over the road. They even left the old oil filter laying on the ground. That really got me angry.

[confusedcious]

I see all kinds of stuff out cycling too - though today's most unusual was a giant sheet of plastic hanging off a road sign and all the way across the bike lane... far from the strangest ever, but unusual anyhow.

[Gowza]

I was riding behind a guy on a roadbike yesterday wearing a backpack containing a very long fishing rod of all things!!! He was in full on lycra - hardly fishing attire! Watching him go under low signs and branches was a bit nerve wracking but I was half wondering whether or not he would fling into the air if he snagged a tree

[Bewilderbeest]

Yeah, I've seen all sorts of crap, including a PC, from which I pulled two HDDs for the magnets.

On a tangent, I used to bus to/from work regularly and would see all sorts of things in passing cars, including:
*Someone driving along holding a cup of coffee - in a regular cup, not a travel cup;
*Someone driving along, with a novel open in their lap and an open jar of pickled onions in the cup holder;
*A kid (in a booster seat) in the back of a car, playing with a cigarette lighter;
*A person who, as they pulled up at traffic lights alongside the bus, took their mobile phone away from their ear so that they could put their seat belt on;
*Someone driving along with their mobile phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other, leaving a thumb and two fingers holding the steering wheel; and
*A driver having a pull on a bong while waiting at the traffic lights.

I dont feel so bad about fiddling with the GPS while I drive now!

[Freddo]

The streets of Adelaide are covered in broken glass after xmas and NYE. Damn, another puncture and a slashed tyre.

I picked up a full CO2 cartridge yesterday. It will cost me $30 to get an adaptor so I can use it. Of course I could keep riding and find the adaptor on the road somewhere.

I swear when you ride in the TDU (160km and 8000 bikes) you could collect enough bike parts to build a new bike by the time you got to the end of the ride.

[Damo.]

I do remember one thing that really got me going. At the end of an uninhabited dead end road near my home some clown had done an oil change on their car and just let the oil run out of the car all over the road. They even left the old oil filter laying on the ground. That really got me angry.

Better than the smouldering remains of the car in a patch of melted bitumen. That's also something the kids out your way seem to enjoy doing.

[Freddo]

The slower pace of life on a cycle also lets you spot things like,

-Astro Hair

-The House of Zee

-Scyzygy

[Ciril]

She not only picks up RUBBISH on the bike, she makes me pull over in the car to retrieve it as well. I often refuse.