stealing back your bike

What would you do?  

Before I bought my road bike I emailed a few people who had their bikes stolen out of curiosity. I was trying to decide if I should spend $300 or $1300 on a road bike and was curious how well they locked it up when it was stolen. Well today one guy decided to give me an update…

You wrote to me in a time of dispair as I had my bike stolen and I thank you for that.  Just thought I would let you in on the most recent developments.

I was working for a client the first week of December and was walk past the bike rack at Union Station and thought wow there are a lot of bikes here and wouldn't be funny if my bike were here and sure enough it was.  The bike still had the chrome front forks, the armadillo tires, the bell, the drop neck handlebars, and the glue from the scrapped off registration sticker which was located on the tube below the seatpost.   

I called the cops and they arrived and basically told me that I had no paper proof that this was my bike and that if I could produce that they would secure the bike and the matter could be worked out if someone attempted to claim the property as their own.  He left and I made a decison that has become an interesting conversation to a few of my friends:  I went to a rental store and got some bolt cutters and returned and reclaimed my bike.  Afraid, uncertain, and running on adrenaline I road off and feel the better for it.

So, I guess the moral of this story is never give up on something lost or stolen and act according to your gut when obstacles are put in your way.

Peace and Blessings in '09

Winslow

Good advice.