Thursday, February 07, 2008
The bicycle thief
The last time I put in some face time with my bike (whenever we last had unseasonably warm weather; maybe about a month ago?), I kind of expected it was going to get stolen. In fact, I was a little surprised that it hadn't already been stolen, as the lock was missing, and isn't the whole point of stealing a bike lock to steal the bike? Anyway, I rode it to Whole Foods, where I had no choice but to leave it unlocked on the bike rack, hoping that the fact that the bike rack is tucked away in a corner of the parking lot and that I instructed a chocolate lab who was also tied to the bike rack to guard it would keep it from getting stolen. Which it did, although I don't know whether to thank the location or the dog for that. However, I have to admit that my desire for the bike not to get stolen had to do a lot more with not wanting to walk all the way home from Whole Foods than it did a desire to actually keep my bike. I realized some time ago that if I was going to use my bike for exercise, the whole thing would be a whole lot more tolerable if I had a bike that I actually liked riding--you know, one that didn't have crappy brakes, sticking gears and rusty components that made adjusting the seat impossible. So I was already planning to buy myself a shiny new bike this spring.
And yet none of this really tempered my outrage yesterday evening when I went down to the laundry room and discovered that my bike had been stolen! Although again, this had nothing to do with actual love for the bike, but rather a) frustration with myself for not removing the nice components of the bike (cushy gel seat, almost brand-new bell) when I knew it was likely to get stolen, b) a derailment of the evening bike ride I was looking forward to, and c) the realization that I will now have to come up with a new storage solution for the new bike, since clearly the laundry room is not a secure location. Stupid bicycle thieves.
The last time I put in some face time with my bike (whenever we last had unseasonably warm weather; maybe about a month ago?), I kind of expected it was going to get stolen. In fact, I was a little surprised that it hadn't already been stolen, as the lock was missing, and isn't the whole point of stealing a bike lock to steal the bike? Anyway, I rode it to Whole Foods, where I had no choice but to leave it unlocked on the bike rack, hoping that the fact that the bike rack is tucked away in a corner of the parking lot and that I instructed a chocolate lab who was also tied to the bike rack to guard it would keep it from getting stolen. Which it did, although I don't know whether to thank the location or the dog for that. However, I have to admit that my desire for the bike not to get stolen had to do a lot more with not wanting to walk all the way home from Whole Foods than it did a desire to actually keep my bike. I realized some time ago that if I was going to use my bike for exercise, the whole thing would be a whole lot more tolerable if I had a bike that I actually liked riding--you know, one that didn't have crappy brakes, sticking gears and rusty components that made adjusting the seat impossible. So I was already planning to buy myself a shiny new bike this spring.
And yet none of this really tempered my outrage yesterday evening when I went down to the laundry room and discovered that my bike had been stolen! Although again, this had nothing to do with actual love for the bike, but rather a) frustration with myself for not removing the nice components of the bike (cushy gel seat, almost brand-new bell) when I knew it was likely to get stolen, b) a derailment of the evening bike ride I was looking forward to, and c) the realization that I will now have to come up with a new storage solution for the new bike, since clearly the laundry room is not a secure location. Stupid bicycle thieves.
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