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Old 11-12-08 | 10:40 AM
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Silly question

Backgound: You're on mile 10 of a 15 mile commute. You're clipless/cleated to the bike. You're wearing gloves (that will be important to the question). You just passed through an intersection on a highway, but have plenty of shoulder with no real concerns about traffic. You're coming up on that same dime you've seen on the ground for about a week before... you know it's going to be there. Do you stop to pick it up?

I've been stimied by this dime now for a week and the pedestrian in me is saying "pick it up fool!" and the cyclist in me is saying "don't listen to that stupid pedestrian side of you... wait for a quarter." I don't even think I would stop for a quarter. How about everyone else...

Oh... and for people who ask about what we think about on our commutes... this is pretty standard for me.
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:42 AM
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I stop to collect things that I find on the ground, you could pick up the dime I guess maybe if you do more change will replace it. I find toys and tools mostly not much money though.
 
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:43 AM
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ha!

Originally Posted by JMRobertson
Backgound: You're on mile 10 of a 15 mile commute. You're clipless/cleated to the bike. You're wearing gloves (that will be important to the question). You just passed through an intersection on a highway, but have plenty of shoulder with no real concerns about traffic. You're coming up on that same dime you've seen on the ground for about a week before... you know it's going to be there. Do you stop to pick it up?

I've been stimied by this dime now for a week and the pedestrian in me is saying "pick it up fool!" and the cyclist in me is saying "don't listen to that stupid pedestrian side of you... wait for a quarter." I don't even think I would stop for a quarter. How about everyone else...

Oh... and for people who ask about what we think about on our commutes... this is pretty standard for me.
You can usually tell the age of someone by what coin they will leave on the ground. As for me, I would stop to pick up a penny.
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:44 AM
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If you do stop, you will have a new answer for this thread.
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:46 AM
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Is it costing you anything to stop and pic it up? If so, compare the costs. Go with which is more beneficial.
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:46 AM
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Always, always, always stop to pick up change.

Just this morning I collected almost a dollar in pennies, nickels, dimes and a quarter.
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Old 11-12-08 | 10:47 AM
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I do the same kind of meditating but almost never act on it, unless it's some kind of obstacle that I want to throw farther away from the road.
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:00 AM
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I stop for anything shiny if it might be useful. Including deposit cans and bottles. I am not in a race when I commute, and I never pass up free money or trinkets. It is another benefit, among many, of bicycle commuting.
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:15 AM
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I never stop for anything. I figure if it's not mine then I do not want it.

I will stop for cyclists that need help, and or any person needing help in an emergency.
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:27 AM
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:40 AM
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I brake for the view
 
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:48 AM
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If i'm already stopped, (stop sign, traffic light, taking a break) I might pick it up, but I don't think i'd break my stride for a dime... now if it was a quarter... besides, it's kinda cool, in a weird sorta way, to see the same stuff on the sides of the road every day. There are a couple big bolts I always see in the mornings around the same area. I always wonder if the car these bolts fell off of eventually broke down since that big bolt must have served some kind of purpose... hmm..

Last edited by bhop; 11-12-08 at 11:56 AM.
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:51 AM
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If you are actually able to think ahead and remember to slow down for the dime, go for it. But if you just see it and think "there's that dime again!" and you'd have to go back for it, it's too late. Try again tomorrow.

My guess: now that you've taken the time to post about it, it will be sufficiently etched in your mind that you'll pick it up next time.
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Old 11-12-08 | 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by bhop
If i'm already stopped, (stop sign, traffic light, break) I might pick it up, but I don't think i'd break my stride for a dime... now if it was a quarter... besides, it's kinda cool, in a weird sorta way, to see the same stuff on the sides of the road every day. There are a couple big bolts I always see in the mornings around the same area. I always wonder if the car these bolts fell off of eventually broke down since that big bolt must have served some kind of purpose... hmm..
The car with missing bolts is coming up behind you.(missing brake bolts) Hope Not.
Pick up the coins and read what is on them. "In God We Trust"
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Old 11-12-08 | 12:45 PM
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i was at the gym last night. threw my bag on the ground, bent over to get water out of my bag. about two inches from my bag was a penny. i left it there. if it was a quarter maybe, if it was paper money defenity, but a penny? i always use my debit card to pay for stuff, i hate carrying around change.
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Old 11-12-08 | 01:22 PM
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I rode by a golf ball on a bridge that was there for a couple of months. Nike model, but I couldn't tell if it was a Nike One or not. Didn't bother stopping as I don't want to distract the cagers. I would have bent over for if it was at an intersection.
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Old 11-12-08 | 01:29 PM
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I'm the guy in hi-viz yellow routinely stopping to dodge highway traffic to rescue tortoises.
A dime! I stop, pick it up, travel in time to 1952, make a phone call, return to present.




Dr. Joe
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Old 11-12-08 | 02:00 PM
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A dime? No way. I'd only stop for paper bills.
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Old 11-12-08 | 02:13 PM
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I've found that coins that you keep seeing on the street that never move are often embedded into the pavement itself. That makes them impossible to pick up without digging into the asphalt a little bit. I say pass, even on a quarter. If I were walking, I'd try it, but on a bike it's not worth slowing down for, especially since you might not get that dime/quarter out of the street anyway.
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Old 11-12-08 | 03:45 PM
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I always pick up pennies because I figure no one else will and it will just stay there forever.

I don't stop if there is traffic and the maneuver would be a sudden and unpredictable thing. I don't want to die for a penny.
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Old 11-12-08 | 03:46 PM
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Get some duct tape and a stick, as you ride by stab the dime and keep going. Drop the dime off a little further ahead and practice this the next day. Eventually become extremely adept at this and amaze/scare people as you whip out a stick for change you see.
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Old 11-12-08 | 03:50 PM
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I picked up a penny this morning while at a stop sign. Where does all of this change on the road come from anyway?

The last lawn mowing of the season I found $5 in my front yard. That was pretty nifty.
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Old 11-12-08 | 04:09 PM
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Originally Posted by VolGirl
Where does all of this change on the road come from anyway?
My theory is someone got out of their car at that point and the change fell out of their pocket as they exited/entered the car. I see change all the time on the residential streets I ride along, especially in the door zone...
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Old 11-12-08 | 04:13 PM
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I would pick it up.
I have a jar that I put all of the coins that I find in. Last year that jar paid out $27 Not a lot of cash but it was enough to buy some new gloves and a couple of tubes with.
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Old 11-12-08 | 04:17 PM
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Work on your cycling skills and see if you can pick it up without stopping.
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