I love cycling. I cycle to work every day. It gives me time to think. I have so much more space than on the tube and I get some exercise in. All in all, lots of benefits and I save lots of money.
As any Londoner can surely vouch for, space in any sense is not a given. Lots of people share their living spaces. If you are lucky with friends or a loved one. And if you are even luckier you have space for your bike inside. Seems extreme to park your bicycle insight? That's what I first thought ...
I am hanging my bike on the wall now, but I had to learn this the hard way that keeping it inside is indeed the better option. Even if that means that I need to climb a ladder first, lift it up like deadlifting weights and put the peddles in the correct positions so it actually stays up.
My bike was always parked in front of the house where we have two spaces for bikes. That one night, my spot was taken. No worries, I thought and locked it against a lamppost just beside the house. I didn't have visibility of it anymore but as I had a proper D-lock, I wasn't worried. It was mid-summer and the temperatures even in London had reached a point where people left their windows open to sleep. It was a Wednesday night - Football World Cup time - and I woke up dreaming I am at the dentist. You know that horrible drilling sound? I was wondering what it was. Turned out that my D-lock was getting cut through electronically. I didn't go downstairs to check. Too late, too dark and just me. But the next morning my bike was gone. I was very sad. This was my first bike in London and I had worked hard to buy it.
So that morning I took the tube to work instead and it was not the best day at work. My colleagues were super kind and started a collection to support me getting a new bike. On top of that, I had the London Triathlon lined up and as this is my only big-size wheel bike. I had lost my Triathlon bike. From sadness, I turned angry. I found it very unfair that someone would just take what is not theirs, so I decided to check online. I found an amazing website called "Bikeshd" (http://www.bikeshd.co.uk/). I wonder if the people who made this site had their bike stolen in the past. It connects to the major sites where stolen bikes get advertised and you can search by brand. And I found it. One day later my bike was advertised. As I had lots of things customised on my bike, it was very obvious that it was mine. I went to the original site to contact the bike thieve. Maybe I wrote a too kind message, anyway I never heard back and the ad disappeared.
I was already in contact with the police and shared all the info I had about the ad on Gumtree (also a good place to check for your stolen bike). It seemed my cause was lost and finally it was Friday. I checked once more and there it was again but advertised by a different person showing a different background. Feeling that I could do this I signed up with a pseudonym, let's call it John Smith. It was indeed a male profile as I somehow felt I will have better chances that way. I was reminded of all sorts of crime series like NCIS that my housemate always makes me watch. Trying to sound like I don't care at all I started contacting the person with "Yo mate, bike still available?" And the amazing thing happened, the person responded...
After lots of back and forth, I got an appointment for Sunday morning. That appointment was made very spontaneously with only about 1.5 hours lead time to the actual appointment. Not enough time to alert the police as I didn't get through. So I called two cycling friends, both men. One very tall, the other one can make a very angry face if need be. I was afraid to go alone as I had played the whole thing up in my head and expected at least 20 people to show up for the sales. It didn't feel good to ask friends to support me in a situation like this but going alone would probably not have been a good option either. And why should I accept that my things just get taken from me?
We show up earlier and a few meters away from the actual meeting spot to observe the scene. As I wrote as John, one of my friends volunteered to do the actual talking. I had a backpack with useless items to offer as a deposit for trying it out. And it was time. My friend went to the actual place, the other guy and me standing by a bus stop two meters away to observe, trying to flag down a passing police car - but none did actually pass. A person walked to my friend, pushing along my bike. Another person on a bike approach and stopped and we got scared. My friend was in the minority, so we walked by to see what was going on. I had my phone by my ear in photo mode and snapped very clear pictures of the bike thieve. We stopped by a traffic light, turned and couldn't see anyone anymore.
Fast walking back, there was my friend with my bike and no one else. "What happened?" Turned out the guy on the bike was another friend of my friend and the remaining two of us didn't know that person. Being two against one, my friend said to the bike thieve: "This bike is stolen, mate!" "No, I got it from a friend to sell." "No, it is stolen and we are calling the police now to get this sorted." And the thieve just walked off.
I am very glad that the actual getting back-exercise was so uneventful and just talking, overall it was a very nerve-racking experience. It left me feeling vulnerable but also more determined to stand up for myself. Learnings? Lock your bike inside if you somehow can. And don't just give up if your bike actually gets stolen at some point.
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