Snowman219

Stopped at the store to warm up for about 15 mins and some crackhead (not kidding, cops found a pipe on him) and his friend walked off with my bike and trailer planning on selling it to their friend. Called the cops, I knew I had a decent chance of getting it back since the store has cameras and I have the ID #s of my bike. Was a little embarrassed about not locking my bike because I know deep down I'm a lazy POS. Funny enough, I was sitting on a bench inside the store eating and actually said hi to the 2 guys before I noticed the theft. The cop was awesome and offered to give me a ride home. Ended up cruising around looking for the bike and spotted foot prints and single track bike prints in the snow leading into some trees. The cop gets out and draws his gun...I'm thinking, "****'s about to get real..." and sure enough it was hiding behind there with tracks leading back to the store. They had bikes themselves and parked them on the rack where mine was. Those bikes were not there when I came in and it's 4am. I noticed this but figured they just ditched their crappy bikes and took mine. But no they were inside the store waiting for me and the cops to leave. The cashier came out and let the cops know that they were hanging out inside not wanting to leave.

Rule #1: Lock ur bike or some crackhead will steal it.
Rule #2: Don't steal a bike when it's snowing.
Rule #3: Don't go back into the store for cheetos, especially after stealing a bike in the snow.

I'm a lucky bastard!

nelson249

Glad to hear you got your machine back and it was taken seriously by the police.

Ridefreemc

Thankfully (in this case for you) many criminals are not the brightest bulbs in the box.

jrickards

Thanks, I'll try to remember these next time.

DocsDad

Wow, what a morning. Glad you got the bike back and also glad they caught the guys. Kudos to the police.

JoeyBike

Welcome to the Church of LockItUp! I even lock my bikes inside my house to an old wrought-iron door in my office with Abus and Kryptonite locks. My house has an alarm and I live in a decent neighborhood. Call it paranoid, but I have never lost a bike to theft in 50 years.

Glad you got a second chance. Cheers!

locolobo13 

Glad it worked out for you.

Kudos to the officer. Yrs ago someone stole my Dad's and his neighbors big rolling toolbox out of their carports. It had been raining the night before and you could follow the tracks in the mud across the alley and down a house. The cops told them that there wasn't enough evidence to even go talk to the persons living in the house where the tracks disappeared. End of case. At least your officer was willing to look.

a1penguin

Ooooh. I hate learning lessons the hard way. Laziness doesn't pay! Congrats on getting your bike back. Given the state of the economy, many police departments have cut back on people and wouldn't be so helpful. You are indeed fortunate.

acidfast7

scroca

Glad this worked out well for you.

Eons ago some punk took my bicycle out of our garage. My mom and a neighbor cop cruised around the schools and sure enough found it parked in the rack at the Jr High I went to. So they waited and confronted the kid when school got out. He of course said he got it off some guy he didn't know. But I got my bike back. Hooray for moms and cops who care.

Wil Davis

Congratulations! …someone up there is looking out for you! …nice ending!

krobinson103

Good wake up call though. I'll sometimes park my expensive bike for a few minutes to go into a store. I have to remind myself to at least cable lock it to something. That way its safe for 5 seconds or so.

pmseattle

My daily commute takes me on the E3 bikeway in Seattle which goes through a gritty industrial area and right past a major methadone clinic, which also provides counseling for other types of drug users. I frequently see scruffy crackheads and meth freaks riding immaculate ksyrium equipped carbon fiber wonder bikes along the E3, wobbling along to the clinic to get their daily "dose". Something tells me these guys don't buy the fancy rides at the local bike shop.

noglider 

What do you mean almost? It WAS stolen. And you got it back. Bravo.

shepherdsflock

I remember when I was about 14 years old (17 years ago) a friend of mine showed up at my house on a brand new Specialized Rockhopper. A pretty sweet ride for a teenager. He let me ride it around the street out in front my house and I was envious. I didn't see him for a few days, but the next time I saw him he was riding his old Huffy mountain bike. He wouldn't tell me what happened to the Rockhopper, just said he couldn't ride it that day. I rode to his house the next day and asked his mom where his new bike was. She informed me that he had stolen the bike and it was back in it's proper home. Made me feel weird knowing that I had jumped on a stolen bike and rode it around on my street.

SPECELIZEDRIDER

You can never be too careful.

Snowman219

Yep, I'm locking it every time now .

Snowman219

Naw, almost. If I had some type of beeper on it and activated it I could have easily found it.

Stix Zadinia

WHAT ARE YOU DOING eating cheetos?




Kidding glad you got your bike back!
I lock my bike even when there's not really a spot to do so and it's kind of embarrassing.. even then, every-time.

Snowman219

Oh, no. I wasn't eating them. The thieves were after they smoked their devil candy. I was eating, well funnily enough, they have no microwave so I could only eat a chicken salad : (. MMMMM.

Dilberto

Thirty seconds of inconvenience is never worth a lifetime of regret....LOCK IT UP!!!

vol

Good for you! You also seem to have got nice cops, taking you for a free ride tracking the thieves .

Btw, how does one call cops in case of theft or bike accident? Do you call 911, or what (if no cops in sight)? I always thought 911 should be reserved for serious crimes. Can't picture myself dialing 911 for loss of my bike or a road aggression.

SouthFLpix

To me, the more remarkable part of the story is that a cop actually took a bike theft seriously. I suspect that he must have been a cyclist himself or was new and still idealistic, as I have never heard of a single account of a person going to the police about a bike theft and finding anyone that actually gave a damn.

Astrozombie

^ My guess is small town hospitality

At least a cheap cable lock, that's what i do when i'm only running in for a few seconds somewhere

Stix Zadinia

Indeed. If you rely on the good nature of EVERY person who might come around you, you're doing it wrong.




Plus, locks are cheap! I think in a VERY subconscious level, almost every cyclist who leaves their bike unattended is in some way wanting to 'test the odds'.