Things I've been forced to part with
Today I discovered I'd been violated. Thieves cut the chain securing the gate where my bike had been stored for about a week and made off with her. Upon this discovery, I was immediately filled with rage, then sadness, and now reflection.
Rage: How can someone do such a thing, something so obviously wrong? When something is locked, it is done so for a reason, right? My bike isn't like those other abandoned bikes, she's well maintained, used frequently, a part of my life. I hope your action is met with equally unsettling and harsh reactions, that the wheels fall off at inopportune times and you are injured, you insensitive, unscrupulous f#@$(s)!
Sadness: A piece of me is now gone - my first real mountain bike with a (for me at the time) fancy shock. I bought for the bike for my birthday in 2000 ($400), at Ski Den Sports in Johnstown, PA. I remember my parents being bewildered that anyone would pay more than $100 for a bike - I've since invested more than $3500 in the two bikes I still own. I rode it a lot until I upgraded to a full-suspension bike in 2007. It came with us on our cross country trip in 2002, was the steed for innumerable rides with my brother across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I remember taking it to the Catskills for my (very) naive try at downhill and smelling those rim brakes melting - oh, that's right, you're not supposed to use your brakes when screaming down a mountain full bore. Silly me. I also remember how I would race that bike and beat people who powered lighter, more expensive ones - sometimes quite handedly. (Now the reverse is true, sad to say...) How I was riding that bike the summer I bet my brother, lost, and had to shave my legs. I hope that the new "owner" has an opportunity for equally fond memories, although it saddens me to think the reality is that they (a) pawned it for a fix or (b) sold it to a scrapper for a fix. It also saddens me to think that someone's life has reached a point where they need to resort to thievery for supporting their existence, in whatever form.
Reflection: My first lesson in how to protect yourself from theft, funny enough, came using a bike. When I was young, elementary/middle school, I remember wanting a really cool BMX bike. I saved my allowance for what seemed like an eternity and finally was able to buy a Stu Thompson Huffy BMX bike. It came with a plastic seat (why, I don't know, it hurt like hell but I thought I was cool) and I rode that thing like mad - and had the scrapes, cuts, bruises and scars to prove it. Well, on one camping trip, I rode the bike to the bathroom. I left it on its kickstand out side the door and when I came out, it was gone. I panicked - I still remember how my heart leapt and stomach dropped - and started to run back to the campsite. I got a few strides away and I heard my dad calling. I turned around and there he was, around the back of the bathroom, holding my bike. I ran over and he proceeded to give me a lecture about how easily and quickly stealing happens and that I should be more careful. It was a lesson I've taken to heart, and, despite a few instances over the years (when I was in college, someone stole the brakepads off my bike - you needed tools to do this!!!), has been pretty successful. I feel somewhat responsible for the theft today. I'd left the bike there for week, providing someone with ample opportunity to case the situation. I'd felt some reservation about the system for locking - it was a narrowish gauge chain easily chopped with the right tools. But this affords a new lesson, one I've already been starting to discover. Don't ride fancy bikes and secure them very well if you think it might be a while before you use it again.
I have two more bikes (how many does one really need?) and I will miss Trek Far. Since upgrading, I'd ridden you less but still enjoyed your quirks - I never could get the shifting to be just right. You'd been downcycled to an around the town commuter for the most part, although recently the taste of dirt was back under your (original) tires. Wherever you are, I hope you are well and if you do happen to make it back my way, I promise to be more diligent in your overnight accommodations.
