Ever had a moment where you see something, know something is wrong but your mind doesn’t quite work it out for a few seconds. You just stand there thinking “What is wrong”. Well that happened this morning. Heidi and I were heading out to see her folks and put our bikes in storage for the winter. As we came downstairs into the garage of our apartment complex all was ok. We were out on time, we had coffee in hand, had both been to the gym and were nice and relaxed. As I walked over to the truck though, it took a second for me to realize something was wrong. Heidi didn’t even see it but I knew straight away something was up. That something took a second or two to really sink in, but my bike was missing.
Earlier in the year, during spring when we took our bikes out of storage they had a nice new home. Thule make a fantastic bike carrier for the back of a truck. It is a secure mount that has locks so that the bikes are held in and only the person with a key can remove it, or so I thought. They didn’t touch Heidi’s bike they just took mine and it was clear gone from the rack. They had removed the entire mount from the truck and taken it along with the bike. They then decided that they needed the front wheel (as removing the front wheel is required to use the mount). So with a bolt cutter they cut clean through the chain that was used to lock the wheels to the truck and just slid it off, again leaving Heidi’s front wheel behind.
So the secure garage we park the truck in, really isn’t secure. They didn’t touch the truck, or damage it in any way, all they did was take my bike. We called the police immediately and they sent someone over to take down a police report. So that was done. I also called our insurance company, not sure if it would matter but I did make a claim so that if something does happen, if it can be covered in any way, i might get help in replacing it. The cop took down the details, but i knew the reality, I probably wasn’t going to get anything back, ever.
After doing what we needed to do today, we finally got back to the apartment and I notified them of the theft as well. They didn’t really seem to care at all. I will be surprised if they do anything, or say anything. A lot of people I am sure will say they are sorry, that they understand it must hurt. To be honest, I don’t know what I feel. It was a bike, it wasn’t as if it was something irreplaceable. Don’t get me wrong, this bike has a lot of sentimental value. It was my first EVER bike. The bike I learned to ride, the bike that I did my first Triathlon on. A Bike that I had used to go on rides with Heidi, while we were still dating (we took it across I-90 a couple of times, took it on the “Trail of Death” as I call it in Federal Way). So this bike did have a lot of big meaning in my heart, but not something I will lose sleep over I guess.
So to the person who has my bike (who I doubt will see this) enjoy it. It gave me a lot of pleasure, here’s hoping that you get what you want from it. If anyone does happen to see a White Hardtail Mountain Bike around Renton with Avanti Aggressor on it (A brand that you can’t find here in the USA). Tell the cops, please.