Broctoon

…that I witnessed and didn’t stop.

Today after finishing a good workout on my bike, I pulled into a convenience store (in my car) for some Gatorade. A couple guys in the parking lot looked pretty suspicious. There were two men with three bikes between them. Each was riding a cheap old mountain bike, and one was pushing a somewhat nicer road bike. They were moving away from the building and about to leave the parking lot as I parked.

I thought, “That doesn’t look right. X number of guys, with bikes <= X seems okay. When bikes are > X, something's fishy.” I considered approaching them but did not. I reasoned that they may have a completely legitimate purpose for traveling the way they did, even though my spider senses said otherwise.

I went in and bought my drink. When I came out two or three minutes later, a guy was in the parking lot asking if anyone had seen somebody take a bike. I said yes and told him what I saw. He said that was his bike and the guys stole it. (Apparently it was parked next to the building and not locked, and he stepped away briefly.)

I could have acted on my hunch and approached the thieves, and I bet they’d have dropped the bike and fled. I could have at least taken a picture of them with my phone.

Now committed to being more watchful and more inclined to intervene when something doesn’t look right, dang it.

big john

I've tried to be a good Samaritan in the past but it can be risky. You never know if the person is armed.

Broctoon

Yeah, I'm always conscious of that possibility. Crazy thing with this incident is that it happened on a busy corner in broad daylight. These guys were pretty brazen.

jon c. 

Not long ago someone broke into a couple of cars and tried to get into mine on a Saturday morning in a busy golf course parking lot. It's in an upscale housing development and this corner has a steady stream of joggers, dog walkers, stroller pushers, etc. It's the last place I ever would have expected something like that.

big john

Seems to be more common these days.

Chuck M 

While I understand you feeling some regret, as they say, hindsight is 20/20 but foresight is a *****. The bicycle owner bears more responsibility than you to protect the bike. Confronting these guys could have resulted in you being harmed as I would think two guys brazen enough to do this in broad daylight may not have gave any more thought to assaulting you.

Koyote

A couple months ago, driving home at night through our small city, I saw a man physically assaulting a woman on a dark sidewalk. I told my wife to stop the car and call 911, and then got out and yelled "Get your ----ing hands off her!" Guy started coming toward me, but backed off when he saw my wife on her phone.

I'd do that again in a heartbeat. Not sure if I'd risk it over a replaceable inanimate object.

indyfabz

The large supermarket in Brattleboro, VT, has a security guard that patrols the parking lot during broad daylight. My guess is petty crime resulting from drug addiction. In Butte, MT, I saw flyers posted around warning people not to leave their car doors unlocked or valuables in sight due to drug-motivated crime. There’s a good amount of that in places you wouldn’t think there would be.

spelger

...gotten shot being a good citizen. you did nothing wrong but maybe could have noted the vehicle plate and description.

Broctoon

It's my belief that in high crime areas, your best bet (if it's practical) is to take EVERYTHING inside with you and leave the car doors unlocked. Then the thieves won't break your window to get in. They can open a door, browse through the console and glove box, and go away empty handed. Oh wait, your stereo might get pinched. Or the whole car. Never mind.

Guy on the radio the other day gave an interesting but useless bit of trivia: there is a town in northern Canada or Alaska, don't remember exactly, where it's illegal to lock the doors of your parked car. The reason: someone might need to hop inside at any time to escape a bear attack.

Rolla

I understand your remorse, but as I get older (and older), I'm increasingly less inclined to step into situations that I might have when I was younger. Call it cowardice or call it experience, but being on the six o'clock news isn't something I'm willing to do over a bicycle, especially someone else's. I'm also less and less inclined to call the cops on people these days -- I would if someone was being assaulted or something -- but I don't want to be responsible for bringing the police into a scene whose backstory I'm not privy to.

It sucks that someone is out a bike, but at least no one got hurt.

zandoval 

Rats!!!

sean.hwy

Unless you are superman/spiderman not a lot you could have really done. I bet if you would have called the police they would not have shown up for another 30+ minutes to several hours later. Just to give you report so you can file with your insurance company. At least that's the kind of police response we are getting here NorCal.

jadmt

Butte, MT has a huge drug problem. Some would say you have to be on drugs to live there.

VegasJen

Man, that sucks. I get how you feel bad, but it's really more a reflection on society today. People think they can just get away with things because, well, they can. If, by chance, the police ever did apprehend them, I'd wager good money they wouldn't even spend a night in jail.

indyfabz

I’ve stayed there three times during tours, but always in a motel. One time a woman asked me where I was headed the next day. I answered Butte. She said “Oh. The armpit of Montana.” But I know where to get a really good steak there.

bikehoco

Instead of confronting them and risking personal harm, just take a picture of the thieves and the bikes.

Troul 

I wouldn't feel bad. There was nothing you could realistically do to prevent it while guaranteeing you'd be safe.

Anytime I've tried to bring my bicycle in a store, I was asked to leave it outside. I wasn't going into a supermarket, just a convenience store or gas station usually.
Now, I just assume it's unwelcome anywhere & don't stop off anywhere. Sucks, but it is what it is.

jadmt

Lydias steak house in Butte is pretty amazing or at least it used to be.

indyfabz

I always stayed at the motor lodge portion of the Hotel Finlen in Uptown. Casagranda's is within walking distance. 18 0z. ribeye FTW! Nice treat after riding over Pipestone Pass from either Twin Bridges or L&C Caverns State Park.

pdlamb

Simple and easy. But let your fingers do the walking -- stay back and zoom in with the phone camera.

CAT7RDR

40+ years ago a HS football teammate of mine observed a man walk into his neighbor's garage and steal (ride off) with his neighbor's bike.
My friend sprinted after him and tackled the thief onto the pavement and landed on him breaking the thief's femur.

Sometimes Good Samaritans do not get harmed in these instances.

SurferRosa

Maybe it's the way you or your bike look.

bargo68 

I wouldn't beat yourself up. Unless you're a cop. Here in California catalytic converter thefts are skyrocketing and many of the thieves are packing. There have been several stories just in August of people being shot while confronting a robbery in progress.
You never know what kind of scumbag you're engaging with when you're trying to be Batman, so be careful out there!

Iride01 

You don't have anything to feel guilty about.

Certainly the convenience store should have some camera footage that can be reviewed if the owner of the bike wished to pursue anything with law enforcement. Though some stores have pretty poor video coverage which is really surprising in this day and time both for the low cost of the technology and the increasing crime these stores are subject to.