A week before Christmas of 2010. GF and I come home from a night out of shopping and dinner. Cat is running around our feet wanting dinner. We both forget to lock the door. Someone comes through the 'hood trying doors around 11:15 pm while we are in bed watching the local news. We heard the door slam shut. I jumped out of bed and told the GF to dial 9-1 and wait a second. Looked down the stairs and realized my Surly LHT, which was oriented to roll right out the door, was gone. He also got my flip phone. The two custom IFs were still hanging on the wall. Had I not been in only my undies I might have gone out into the cold to try to track the guy down.

What really sucked was that the Surly was flitted with my customer Robert Beckman Designs racks. Not only were they awesome, but they also had a lot of sentimental value, and the companion panniers only work with his racks which were irreplaceable. Maybe this winter will be the winter I finally get off my butt and explore whether the bags and my current Nitto racks can be modified to work with each other. I am fortunate to live in a city with at least 3 bike builders, including Bilenky.