A few weeks ago I biked downtown Boston to teach one of my indoor cycling classes. As I’m locking my bike to the rack in the parking garage under the health club, I take notice of this nice new red Trek mountain bike in the rack. I believe it was a Trek 4300 hardtail. It was secured with one of those self-coiling cable locks (or so I thought). The first think I noticed was that the wheels had quick release skewers and the owner didn’t lock both the front and back wheels. As I look further, I noticed that the cable lock was only securing the front wheel and simply wrapped around the handlebars. This just couldn’t be.
Make Sure No One is Looking…
I couln’t believe it. I simply stretched the cable lock and pulled it over the handle bars. I was then left with a dilemma. If I leave the bike and go teach my class, I will feel bad if I return and only see the front wheel remaining. If I take the bike, the owner might not appreciate my jesture. I decided on the later and left one of my business cards in the spokes of the front wheel. On the back of the card I wrote “your bike is upstairs at the health club”. I also left my cell phone number.
I then carried the bike into the club and tucked it in the staff room. I warned the people at the front desk that a panicked individual may appear asking for the bike. The front desk staff just starred at me (insert cricket background noise) so I had to explain what I did. They smiled (in a sinister fashion)and readied themselves for a possible confrontation.
As I’m teaching my indoor cycling class, one of the front desk people enters the cycling studio followed by this guy who looked lost and disoriented. The bike owner. He humbly thanked me for saving his new bike. I offered to give him a quick lesson on properly securing his bike to the rack if he gave me a call.
After class I returned to the bike rack and there way no sign of the Trek 4300 (not even the front wheel). I hopped on my bike and commended myself as I climbed the exit ramp out of the garage.
Who knew being a thief was this rewarding.
PS. If you return to find your bike missing one day, there is no guarantee I took it. Sorry.
