ride the rods

present singular third person rides the rods · participle present riding the rods · past rode the rods · participle past ridden the rods

1. USslangTo travel illicitly by clinging to the supporting rods under a freight train.

   I nearly ran right into one jabbing his shotgun underneath the car, checking to see if somebody was under there riding the rods.

   2007, Rilla Askew, Harpsong

   1 more example

   And a dangerous extracurricular activity had helped turn his muscles to iron: he “rode the rods” with other boys, clinging to the underframework of Union Pacific freight cars rumbling through Abilene.

   1970, Colonel Red Reeder, Dinosaurs A to Z, published 2008