Thanks to everyone, really. But here's the situation:
First, it sounds like some folks are insinuating that I took my expensive bike for a joy ride, stopped at Georgetown Law, laid it on the ground, went inside for a few hours and laid around in the whirlpool, then rolled out and was surprised it was gone. That's not what happened. I'll emphasize before-
my mistake was that I had 1 lock on me that day and not two. This is to do with my new job being out in Suitland. The commute in from Alexandria to Suitland every day (most days, I have to start out at 3:40am to get there by 5:00am) is a killer for me. I just didn't have the conditioning (still don't) to carry 12.5 pounds of locks, plus books, changes of clothes, cd's for classes, etc. So I split my locks up, leaving the kryptonite chain with the multi-lock at the Census Bureau, and the OnGuard Ulock at Georgetown. I parked my bike directly into campus, directly in front of the security desk where two security guards were working. I definitely made a mistake not buying another lock and securing the bike as I always do. It's unfortunate that the security guards can't do what they're supposed to do- secure the area! And it's unfortunate that I trusted that the guards would do their job. It's equally unfortunate that I just didn't bring the lock, but I've been parking in that same exact spot for nearly a year now without incident. Then again, I always double locked my bike!
As someone else said- bikes are meant to be ridden. The amount of money I paid to have this bike made, the trip to Italy to get measured and purchase the bike, and the amount of money I've paid since for maintenance makes it absurd that I would not ride that bike often. It's a well ridden, well loved bike, and if I want to stick a rear rack on a $10,000 bike to the grocery store, that shouldn't make a bit of difference to one person here. The problem is not whether or not I should ride a bling bike to my job. The problem is that I did not secure my back wheel and trusted campus police to do their jobs, and as a result, my bike wheel was stolen. That sucks.
Some folks who owned a DeRosa were debating about whether they should ride their good bikes in bad weather. I had to laugh. I wrote the DeRosas and told them how wonderfully their bikes rode, and how because their bikes are so well constructed, I had faith that their bikes would hold up in any type of weather. Ergo, I ride in all weathers with my bike. I don't have a problem with riding my bike in the rain, snow, sleet, mud, sand, etc. I don't have a problem with riding my bike to the store, the gym, work, my photography club meetings, etc. It's a well built bike with great wheels (or rather, a great wheel, since the other one got stolen by some dumb****er), and such a bike is a great bike for me to ride to work. It's lightweight and helps me to get up and down these big hills out here when I'm schlepping all my crap from Virginia, through DC, and into Maryland. I would not attempt that ride on my beater. I did my commute on my beater ONCE- and it took me an hour and forty minutes. On my good bike, I was getting it down to an hour (should have been an hour that day, since the day before, I'd gotten it down to an hour and 2 minutes!!!
). I was really looking forward to the ride- I could almost feel my fingers itching with anticipation as I burst out of the building and hurried toward my bike. But then the joy of the anticipated ride quickly turned to horror and shock as I realized exactly what happened to my bike. That was just terrible for me. Just terrible.
I digress. I have my folder, and it's an equally expensive bike- double locked, but will be triple locked as of tomorrow. The students felt terrible about my bike- they all had kind words for me today. Not one person in the building argued with me as I rolled my bike through the door and got on the elevator with it. Another staff person had a room for me to stick my bike in, and she sat next to the door until it was time for me to head out. Everyone feels bad, and that does help. Another woman is good friends with other security guards, so she proclaimed that she's going to track down the tape and see if one of them can get me a copy or a still shot. Plus, she's friends with some of the messenger community, so she's putting out some phone calls. All that made me feel a lot better about my wheel. I spoke with the DeRosas today. They're also being very sympathetic and helping me with the gear ratios and stuff so I can get a new wheel. I just have to call them tomorrow morning and get their thougths, then I'll be set.
I still want my wheel back! Another guy at Georgetown gave me the names of all the pawn shops and bike shops where my wheel might turn up. So I'm going to head out and check out these places and see if my wheel might be showing up there. I'm not holding my breath, but I still will hold out some hope.
*sigh* I really just want to make it to Friday night so I can crawl under my covers and pretend like this week never happened.
Thanks to everyone for their comments. Point taken for those who say I should have packed two locks. I know! I know!
Koffee