Thursday 20 November 2014

Stolen Bike Mother Gets it Back

If there is one thing I hate is someone stealing Bikes..  I know there are a lot of really heinous crimes out there but stealing someones mode of transport especially a young kids bike has to be one of the lowest things you can do.

I drove into my local petrol station today and watched as woman came out and started tearing into two lads who were twice her size, the lads looked a little frightened and I wound my window down, I had seen them from when they pulled up and they hadn't moved so I was confused at what they could possibly have done to deserve the kind of anger this woman was pouring out.  I thought she may hit one of them and half their size or not it's not good to see an adult behaving like that.

It soon became clear what was happening, they were both on bikes and the woman was with her young son also very small but staying inside the shop.  He had recently had his new bike stolen and one of the lads was sat on top, he didn't even bother denying that it was her sons bike but made no move to get off.

The woman then changed tactics and phoned the police, at this point the lad tried to cycle away she stopped that and he got off and simply started to walk off, she got the bike back to her son and then began to follow them.  I collected my passenger quickly drove round and offered to take her and follow them.

She thanked me but said that it was pointless as the police simply wouldn't do anything about it even if they caught them, she was just so glad to have the bike back.  She explained her son had stopped outside the local asda store only to find his bike gone when he came back (no lock) I was only in for a minute. 

I told her I am a keen cyclist and hear these stories all of the time, I told her to get him a D Lock and that kids like that simply go to the nearest large store area and wait for someone to pop in for "a few seconds" whilst they pick up their free bike.  This was one lucky lad and hopefully he will learn his lesson.

I don't totally agree with the police not doing anything however my experience has been that they can't really do much, it's not seen as serious, often underage thieves and mostly a non violent crime.  The thing that really worries me is the criminals know this and thats why taking bikes is so popular.  I am not advocating the wild west "hanging horse thieves" but they had the right idea in taking it very seriously, taking a bike at a minimum = stealing a car. 


Tuesday 18 November 2014

Brad's 2013 tour

I came across this guys video of touring in america, what I was amazed at was how similar our bike setups were, especially the rackpack on the back of the bike.  I was worried mine was too big and long - check his out about 9 min 34 in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOnT0APHABc

He seems like he had great fun almost spiritual,


That picture really expresses the freedom of cycling, if you watch the video you can see the bike is a basic Raleigh no fancy groupset etc.. The important ingredient is your spirit of adventure and determination.