A couple of weeks ago, I had my bike stolen from its spot in front of my house. It devastated me, but I learned a lot trying to rectify this misdeed.
I live in a townhouse directly next to an open lot. The lot has a fence partially blocking it off, and I locked my bike to the inside of the fence every day. I was worried about it at first, but after a while, I never even gave it a second thought. I used to keep my bike inside, but it was a mountain bike with a base weight of 30 pounds, and I had recently broken my good lock and it was stuck around the stem of my bike. This added another few pounds. Because of this, I never actually took my bike inside the house because it was heavy and that would require lugging it up two flights of stairs.
This wasn’t an issue. Until it was. I skipped out of my house one day, eager to enjoy the first warm morning of spring on my ride to work. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I realized that the place where I so dutifully locked and unlocked my bike every day was empty! I honestly didn’t even have time to worry about it because without my bike, it would take me twice as long to get to work. I rushed to work and tried to push it out of my mind until my shift was over.
I filed a police report and was basically told there was nothing they could do. Even if they located the bike, it was unlikely it would find its way back to me because I didn’t know the serial number. I was angry and distraught, but these initial feelings turned into more of a general annoyance in the next few days.
I love biking. I’ve given presentations about it. It’s probably one of the first few things people who know me would use to describe me. I used to bike everywhere, and when suddenly I couldn’t, I just felt annoyed. Getting to class took twice as long. I had to wait for the subway to go into the city. Not only was I wasting time, but I was also wasting money.
“Enough,” I thought, “this ends now!”
I decided to take matters into my own hands. I perused Craigslist and ended up finding the PERFECT bike. It was a higher end hybrid bike with the right size frame and brand-new brakes. I texted the guy selling it and awaited his response for days. Unfortunately, he never got back to me. I was sad but knew I must forge on.
While lamenting my woes to one of my friends, she told me that she had a damaged bike just sitting around that I could have if I covered repair costs. I wasn’t sure at first, but I figured something was better than nothing. I agreed and ended up with a bike even more perfect than the one I found on Craigslist. It’s light, fast, and sleek. I’m back on wheels and I feel better than ever about it!
Throughout this whole ordeal, I learned a few lessons in responsibility and self-reliance. I felt pretty bitter towards other people when the theft occurred, so I was really unwilling to look to others for help in this situation. I depended on myself to figure out how to use other forms of transport, like buses and trams. I depended on myself to file a police report and make sure I could prove I reported the crime. I depended on myself to file a claim with the company who made the lock (although to no avail). I depended on myself to face a crisis head-on and solve it.
Now, I am depending on myself to use the things I’ve learned to keep this from happening again. I recorded the serial number and filed it with both campus police and my renter’s insurance company. I bought a hefty lock and registered that, too. I took pictures of my bike from all angles just to make sure I can perfectly describe it.
And most importantly, I keep it inside.