lost and found

as the weather has been trying to get warm over the past few weeks, chris and i decided to bring our mountain bikes out of storage from my grandparents house and chain them up outside our apartment. when we first moved in we were hesitant to leave our bikes outside because of our somewhat sketchy neighborhood surroundings. however, there's a bike that has been chained up outside since we moved in and no one has ever touched it, literally. so we chained our bikes up right alongside this lonely bike, where they would wait for us {and the weather of course}. every time i checked the mail i made sure the bikes were still safely in their place. tuesday when i got home from work i saw that chris' bike was missing. i thought that maybe he had taken it to school, so i didn't really think much more of it. later that evening i had picked chris up from school and when we got home, i asked him if he had taken his bike up to school because it was gone. occasionally we joke with each other about stuff being stolen {not a good idea}, so chris thought this was another feable attempt at playing a prank, since he had not taken his bike to school. after convincing him that i was serious {as a heart attack}, we walked over to where the bikes were chained up and sure enough chris's bike was gone and a cut lock hung loosely around the pipe it had been wrapped around. we both knew deep down that this would happen if we left our bikes outside, but were in some sort of denial. we brought my bike and the BBQ grill {which we had also conveniently locked up outside} into our small apartment... chris was fuming. i was bummed. visions of exploring the plethora of trails nearby vanished.

the following day chris enlisted my help to search through all our receipts {yes we keep ALL our receipts....OCD much?} to try and find the serial number from the stolen bike. he had discovered from a friend who had recently experienced bike theft that police use the serial number to track down missing bikes... who-da thunk? so, i half heartedly looked through our receipts knowing that the ones from 2007, which is when we bought the bikes, were up in storage, rotting or something. of course i didn't find said receipt and chris asked me to call the cycle shop where we purchased our bikes to see if there was any way of finding the serial number of the bike. as he's asking me to do this for him i am thinking in my head, "there's no way there gonna have something two years old on file" oh how wrong and naive am i. i call the bike shop and am almost shocked when, after hardly any effort at all the sales clerk rattles off the serial number of chris's bike. with the serial number, chris filled out a police report and kissed his bike goodbye for good.

then thursday night he gets a call from a police officer asking him when the last time he saw his bike was.... of course he couldn't give a definite answer but the officer coaxed him into saying sunday. chris was confused and then shocked when the officer said that the bike matching the serial number he had put in the report had been pawned at a local pawn shop monday. he even gave the name of the guy who pawned it and asked if chris knew him! stupid thief.

so now, in order to get the bike back we have to buy it from the pawn shop {$100} or wait until the case is closed which could be as long as a year. by paying the $100 we get the bike right back and then when chris has to go to court {i guess filing a report that something is stolen automatically means you press charges} he can file for restitution of the $100 which we may or may not be able to get back. but regardless, i have NEVER heard of a stolen bike being recovered EVER. what a lucky lucky day.