How much $$ do you need to see in the road before you stop?

[smead]

Years ago I stopped for some change and netted maybe $4 and felt pretty good about it, but usually when I see a coin or two I just roll on by.

On today's foothill ride, I'm mashing up a roller, head pointing straight down as usual, and behold some coinage! I roll another 50 yds before deciding to go back. Am feeling stupid as I'm just in to a hard 75 mi training ride - what am I doing for a few cents!?

I quickly realize this is a bigger haul - quarters galore! I start snatching them up filling my jersey pockets, before I know it, one pocket is sagging waaay down. I fill the other side sticking with quarters and dimes and ignoring the nickels. The added few lbs of ballast only helped the training ride, and when I got home, was shocked at the tally - $19.80! Enough for lunch at my wife's favorite Mexican joint. Good stuff.

[echelon_john]

If it ain't paper, I ain't a scraper.

But if it's a bill, I will...

:banana:

[tsarpepe]

I guess in order to have a rule or principle about something like this, it would have to happen with some regularity. I might have seen a penny or a dime once on a ride, but that's about it. Not enough for me to form a personal philosophy about it...

[pbarry]

This time of year, I stop for wild asparagus, usually growing along fence or ditch lines. 2-3 spears will cause me to brake hard and forage.

[joosttx]

I once found a diamond earring that was about a karat in size. I stopped, picked it up, and was about to post something on NextDoor when I saw a post from a person who lost theirs while hiking where I was riding. I was happy to return it to her. I got a $50 coffee gift card for my efforts.

[Seramount]

in a half-century of riding, have found money exactly twice.

$26...a twenty, five, and a one all folded up in the parking lot of a small neighborhood groc store. the other time was a $1 bill that just blew in front of me.

not exactly a retirement plan...

[Seramount]

on a sorta related note...

belong to a dive team that is mapping an underwater cave in the local area that many visitors make-a-wish and throw coins in.

in 200+ dives I've retrieved about $25 in change (mostly pennies).

kinda humorous as the breathing gas costs for a single dive can run $100.

but, when you have an hour to kill on your final deco stop, there's nothing else to do but sift thru the silt and see what's there...

[AngryScientist]

I have an absolutely absurd superstition- I can not pass a penny heads up without pocketing it.

[smead]

If it ain't paper, I ain't a scraper.

But if it's a bill, I will...

:banana:

So I start thinking later on in my ride that paper could have very well been part of the lot, and would have quickly blown off to the side of the road down the hill ... Tomorrow I think I'll head back to see if there's a bill and yes, I will.

Would just like to know the story behind how this got there. Also, this is a popular cycling road and by the condition of the quarters, the loot had been in the road for some time. Looks like your take on coins is shared by most ..

[Drmojo]

Because I might fall over
slOjO

[charliedid]

I tend to leave it for someone else to find.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Not sure I’ve ever seen money on the road. Saw a dead body once. I didn’t pick it up.

[pdmtong]

Once I was about 50 yards behind a guy and something flies out of his jersey pocket. we are going 18 or so. its coming right at me and it lands near my crank and gets caught in my chainring.

espresso on me at the coffee stop.

I kid you not.

[cnighbor1]

Has an architect I did a loot of drafting
One item used a lot were templates to trace around to obtain desired shape on paper
One highly used item is circle templates
I had one for small to medium size circles but never the large one about $12
I always borrowed someone else's has seldom needed
On a ride on a bust highway just below Eugene OR on a good shoulder I looked done and there was that very template
I said to myself no way can it worth much has many cars and trucks must have run over it
but I turned back and picked it up and it was in excellent shape
Still have it and it right front of me now
I do stop for tools
Found a lot of those
Hubcaps worth a bit never found a decent one
but be careful stopping and turning around

[steelbikerider]

I found a $20 roll of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins a few years ago in the neighborhood. They used to be perfect for the toll roads. Never seen bills but I pick up any coins when stopped at an intersection if I won't interfere with traffic

[Tickdoc]

This time of year, I stop for wild asparagus, usually growing along fence or ditch lines. 2-3 spears will cause me to brake hard and forage.

I do the same for soy beans when they’re ripe...and apples,( but that as in Maine)

[bicimechanic]

A few years back I was on a ride near the ocean. I stopped and kicked off the shoes and waded into the surf a bit. Lo and behold a $20 washed up in front of me. A minute later two more washed up. Then I stuck around waiting for the whole bale that fell out of a low flying plane but it never happened. Not a bad haul but the only time I’ve found money on a ride...

[vincenz]

Not sure I’ve ever seen money on the road. Saw a dead body once. I didn’t pick it up.



I’m curious...

[bcroslin]

I found a Samsung smartphone in the road last Thursday during the end of the training ride. Turned around and grabbed it and within 30 sec’s it started ringing. I was able to reunite it with it’s owner 20 mins later. I’ll take the karma points wherever I can find them.

[Spaghetti Legs]

I’m curious...

Well, it was in Memphis. You kind of expect that kind of stuff there.

[johnniecakes]

I got 3 golf balls on my ride yesterday, but since I don't golf, I gave them to the Pastor this morning.

[Timdog]

It was 15-20 years ago. I was doing one of 3 night loops in the Mid West Double Century in Ohio. I was riding down the road and spotted a money clip with a wad of cash in it. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was over $300. No ID, just the cash. I had intended to keep it considering there was no way of getting it back to the owner, but didn't. I stopped at the check-in table and asked if anyone had mentioned loosing any money. The lady at the table said someone lost a money clip. ( I did not mention the money clip) I asked if she would recognize the person again and she said they were checking in regularly. I tossed the clip and money on the table and said I found it and left. I found out the next year that they did get it back and how honest bicycle riders were. I was pretty proud of myself!

[oliver1850]

I once found a diamond earring that was about a karat in size. I stopped, picked it up, and was about to post something on NextDoor when I saw a post from a person who lost theirs while hiking where I was riding. I was happy to return it to her. I got a $50 coffee gift card for my efforts.

1) Can't imagine being alert enough to spot it

2) Great that you found the owner and were able to return it

3) What kind of person goes running with a pair of 1K earrings?

[oliver1850]

I got 3 golf balls on my to y ride yesterday, but since I don't golf, I gave them to the Pastor this morning.

I haven't played golf much since high school. One road that I ride regularly parallels a hole on the local course. I always at least slow down to look for balls, sometimes get off the bike and kick grass around. I always find a few when I stop.

[pbarry]

1) Can't imagine being alert enough to spot it

2) Great that you found the owner and were able to return it

3) What kind of person goes running with a pair of 1K earrings?

You're kidding, right? ;)

[jp!]

I used to pick up bottles and can on country roads to take back for the deposit. My best week was $10 :beer:

[zmalwo]

Apparently Jeff Bezos and Bill gates lose money if they stop and pick up a $100 bill. I want to be that rich!

[jtakeda]

I find $5-10 at least 2-3 times a year. Ill stop for any bill.

Ive found peoples entire wallets twice in the last year and returned them. Got a saigon sandwich and $20 from one gracious wallet owner.

[pdmtong]

lezyne pump

niterider 750

crank bros multi tool

$20 bill

that is all I got...

[OtayBW]

My ex-gf would cross the street to pick up a penny...every time...:eek:

[soulspinner]

Not sure I’ve ever seen money on the road. Saw a dead body once. I didn’t pick it up.

:p

[d_douglas]

My kids and I were out for a walk two years ago. They were begging me to stop for a coffee (and a donut for themselves) and I was giving them a lesson in restraint by telling them that we needed to conserve money.

Less than a minute later, we see a crisp $10 laying on a lawn and no one around to ask. They picked it up and we all went for donuts - principles be damned ;)

It was an amazing coincidence!

[unterhausen]

I found a wallet on a ride this winter. I didn't search through it because it was wet. It didn't seem to have any id, just about 15 cards. I put it in a post office mailbox. It was a rural post office, I hope they got bored enough to do something with it. It had so many cards in it, I wondered if it was fully legit.

Generally, I don't look too hard at the ground because there are a lot of disgusting dead animals. I just happened to nearly run over the wallet. One of the people that was on that ride ahead of me said he saw the wallet and decided not to stop. And then he said I should have tracked down the owner myself, which seemed like a contradiction.

I traveled to a 200k brevet one Saturday, but I had to work late on Friday. So I didn't get much sleep. The ride went fine, but when I started to travel back I was so sleepy I barely made it to the first rest stop. I immediately fell asleep in my car. When I woke up, I went to the restroom, and on the way back there was a man that was smacking his money clip on his thigh. One particularly energetic slap, and the money clip went flying. He somehow didn't notice, so I told him he dropped it. Later on, his wife came over to my car and tried to give me money, but I didn't take it. I definitely looked homeless at that point. Probably would have been more gracious if I had accepted, or told her to give it to the wait staff at the next restaurant they ate at.

[oldpotatoe]

I found $1000 in $20s in an envelope. I did the ‘found something at such and such place’, ‘ID and claim’...gig, no response after 30 days...huzzah. :eek:

[TiminVA]

Found a $20 a few weeks ago in my neighborhood. It was right next to the mailbox in front of an older couple's house. I made the assumption that they accidentally dropped it so I picked it up and left it in their mailbox.

[Dino Suegiù]

Apparently Jeff Bezos and Bill gates lose money if they stop and pick up a $100 bill. I want to be that rich!

Well, free money is free, but their time is worth much more than $100 in that case, sadly for us poor mortals.

How long does it take to pick up a bill or a coin?
One second? Three seconds? Five seconds?

Bezos makes ~ US$2,500 per second. :eek:

So, he probably isn't stopping for anything smaller than a Salmon Chase.

[Dino Suegiù]

A few years back I was on a ride near the ocean. I stopped and kicked off the shoes and waded into the surf a bit. Lo and behold a $20 washed up in front of me. A minute later two more washed up. Then I stuck around waiting for the whole bale that fell out of a low flying plane but it never happened. Not a bad haul but the only time I’ve found money on a ride...
Not sure I’ve ever seen money on the road. Saw a dead body once. I didn’t pick it up.
I’m curious...

The body was probably one of the guys in the coke deal gone bad from which bicimechanic found all those $20s in the surf.
Nicholas Cage will make a movie.

[unterhausen]

How long does it take to pick up a bill or a coin?
One second? Three seconds? Five seconds?

Bezos makes ~ US$2,500 per second. :eek:
I always thought that CEOs of publicly traded companies make so much that a bathroom break costs a small fortune. They should have to wear diapers

[tsarpepe]

I find $5-10 at least 2-3 times a year. Ill stop for any bill.

Ive found peoples entire wallets twice in the last year and returned them. Got a saigon sandwich and $20 from one gracious wallet owner.

5-10 bucks several times a year?!!! Where do you guys ride? :eek::eek::eek:

[donevwil]

On yesterday's ride I stopped at the top of a hill to wait for my wife, looked down and saw a nickel. Debated picking it up for a few minutes, finally did. When I got home took off my jersey on our back deck, nickel fell out and right through a gap in the decking.

Then began the debate whether or not to crawl under the deck. No!

[tv_vt]

I found a Samsung smartphone in the road last Thursday during the end of the training ride. Turned around and grabbed it and within 30 sec’s it started ringing. I was able to reunite it with it’s owner 20 mins later. I’ll take the karma points wherever I can find them.

I found a smartphone a few years ago. Fortunately it wasn't locked. Didn't know what to do, then thought of re-dialing the last number called. Turns out it was the owner's boyfriend, and the owner was standing right next to him. Ten minutes later, she drove down the road and met me. Fell out of her pocket on a run.

Found a rangefinder once. Didn't know what it was, googled it, and discovered it was worth $400. Nobody locally sold that brand. I've ended up using it at work.

Money? Depends on how fast I'm going and if I'm with someone else. If I'm alone, slogging up a climb, I'll stop for anything > a penny most of the time.

[Tickdoc]

Found a bible on a ride a while back. It was a sunday, so I hung it on the next stop sign. It was gone the next time I rode that route. Luke 15:9-10

[Jmj2323]

Five bucks probably. I found a $50 once- that will never happen where I ride now.

[rzthomas]

I've found some stuff:

Two really nice Vice Grips while laboring up a hill in Reno, NV ––*must have fallen off a work truck. I use them all the time.

A wallet for a Northwestern student on the Chicago lake front path, missing credit cards and cash. Mailed it back to her.

A series 1 AppleWatch around the corner of my house in Tuscaloosa ––*I need to get it on a charger to see if I can get it back to its rightful owner.

A stack of unredeemed Chik Fil-A gift cards and an otherwise empty wallet. I need to use these at some point. Tried to get them to the PO, but no bites on my CL listing.

[oldpotatoe]

Found a bible on a ride a while back. It was a sunday, so I hung it on the next stop sign. It was gone the next time I rode that route. Luke 15:9-10

Pretty impressed that you know that..:eek:

[tlittlefield]

Found an active Bank of America debit card on a ride last year. Turned it in the the local BOA and the customer service rep seemed kinda surprised that I brought it in personally.

[jet sanchez]

I'd stop for a loonie, no problem.

[redir]

This time of year, I stop for wild asparagus, usually growing along fence or ditch lines. 2-3 spears will cause me to brake hard and forage.

I actually made a map of where it all is in my area. Such a spring time treat!

As for money... I used to be crazy about coin collecting when I was a kid so I'll pick up anything just to look at it's date and markings to see what it is. If I'm cycling with friends though it might take a bit more.

[tuscanyswe]

Considering i have worked on city streets for almost 2 decades soon and yet have never come across a bill laying in the street. Maybe im forgetting that i found one once or twice but i dont think i did. Hmm bit strange.

[fmradio516]

I usually never find anything but a year or so ago, I was on my normal route to work (about 5.5 miles). Found a $1 bill at an intersection about a mile from my house. Then about a mile from work, found a $2 bill going across an intersection, then ANOTHER $2 bill a few feet from that one. There was a 3rd $2 bill nearby that I saw someone else pick up. That was a good one...

[chrismoustache]

I've found multiple flat-brimmed ball caps, really fresh ones.

The only one I held onto was a black and blue Pirates hat, but I've found a Mariners hat, an LA hat, Marlins, and a few others.

I always assume bros with they flat brims lean out of car windows and the wind takes their hats right off their heads.

[Black Dog]

I'd stop for a loonie, no problem.

Yup even more so for toonie.

[verticaldoug]

I always thought that CEOs of publicly traded companies make so much that a bathroom break costs a small fortune. They should have to wear diapers

In many cases, taking a dump may be the most value accretive thing a CEO does.

at least for Kraft Heinz and GE recently

[steveoz]

Was riding along and caught a glimpse of what looked like a perfectly folded 20$ bill, kept going cause it looked "too perfect" like one of those business cards or prank folded cards with the money image printed on it. Well it stuck on my mind for about a hundred yards or so and I decided turn turn back for the heck of it, and it wasn't a perfectly folded 20$ bill....it was two!:banana::banana:

[BubbleWrap]

I was on my first solo century a few weeks ago on the GFNY course. I was too excited at the summit of Bear Mountain to stop and get water. I was out by the time I finished my descent. I mistakingly thought I’d come across a convenience store quickly. I was wrong. I was in trouble. I was cramping on every climb that came after. I checked my phone and the nearest (5 miles out of the way) store I found on google ended up being closed. I had to stop at the summit of a climb and noticed something lying on the side of the road. It was a lightsaber. Not one of the cheap ones, this was metal with a polycarbonate shaft. I still had ~35 miles to go, so I decided to leave it stuck in the ground like the sword in the stone. Around the next bend, karma smiled upon me, I found an unopened bottle of water. Which I promptly chugged without shame. The lightsaber was gone when I repeated the course three days later.

[bward1028]

for some reason, living in SF, i find money all the time. Usually just a penny or two, but sometimes bills too. My hypothesis was that I find on average one cent per day, and i've been keeping track this year.

To date, i've found exactly $17.50, although to be fair, the bulk of that was one $14 pick up.

I'm already averaging $00.027/day, not even including the big find.

[tctyres]

I don't think I've ever found money, but I have found regular pliers, needle nosed pliers, channel locks, screwdrivers, and stuff like that. I just put them in my jersey pocket or bag. The channel locks were a big set that must have fallen off a construction truck. They were a little rusty, but I cleaned them off and put handlebar tape on the grips. I use them regularly.

[kramnnim]

I was on my first solo century a few weeks ago on the GFNY course. I was too excited at the summit of Bear Mountain to stop and get water. I was out by the time I finished my descent. I mistakingly thought I’d come across a convenience store quickly. I was wrong. I was in trouble. I was cramping on every climb that came after. I checked my phone and the nearest (5 miles out of the way) store I found on google ended up being closed. I had to stop at the summit of a climb and noticed something lying on the side of the road. It was a lightsaber. Not one of the cheap ones, this was metal with a polycarbonate shaft. I still had ~35 miles to go, so I decided to leave it stuck in the ground like the sword in the stone. Around the next bend, karma smiled upon me, I found an unopened bottle of water. Which I promptly chugged without shame. The lightsaber was gone when I repeated the course three days later.

I love this

[Idris Icabod]

Not found when riding but when I was a kid (maybe 9 or 10) I went with my Dad to the local horse racing track in the UK as his company had a contract to fix any plumbing issues on race day. We were watching the horses parade before a race and there was a balled up bunch of notes on the ground, turned out it was about 80 UK pounds. I asked the people around me if it was theirs but no one claimed it. A guy told me to go place it on number 13 which was a 33-1 outsider. My Dad told me to keep the money but just to put 1 pound on the horse. The thing won. I had 113 (80+33) quid in my pocket which could have been 2,640 if I'd gambled it all! Horse was called Hinari Disc Deck, I remember this 35 years later!

[beeatnik]

The added few lbs of ballast only helped the training ride, and when I got home, was shocked at the tally - $19.80! Enough for lunch at my wife's favorite Mexican joint. Good stuff.

That haul will get you one taco here:

http://www.eatmasmasa.com/menus/

Heirloom corn!