mike

All stolen bike stories should end this way. This one is a reward for bicycle commuting:

I was riding home from work last week and happened to take a narrow alley that runs between a high school and the football field. The alley is an access road for deliveries and fire trucks. It is usually gated, but bicycles and pedestrians pass through so it is part of my commute route.

Low and behold, there was my son's bicycle piled up with a bunch of other bikes that obviously belonged to the kids practicing high school football.

Well, my son does not go to that school and he does not play football so I wondered what the heck was going on. I stopped, looked for my son, looked for at least one of his friends, but NOoooobody was there that I recognized.

I decided to wait - right by the bike. After practice, finally some kids were milling around the bikes looking anxious. Eventually, all of the bikes were gone except my son's bike. "This is too strange" I thought and walked my son's bike and mine back home.

As I was walking, a gang of kids with the high-school jerseys rode past me on bikes. One of the kids was getting a ride from another kid and said "Hey that's my bike! Nyaa ha ha ha!"

Sure enough, when I got home, I discover that the bike had been stolen, but luckily, I found it within hours of it being stolen!

The bike was a 70's vintage Le Tour; perhaps not a bike with huge monetary value, but we rebuilt it bolt by bolt and repainted it together. It would have been a huge loss emotionaly if I hadn't found it.

I did call the police and tell them what happened. They thought it was interesting, but weren't interested in pursueing.