Yesterday was a pretty upsetting day, my road bike was stolen! I've had this bike for almost 3 years and I have used it about 3 times. It had less than 60 miles on it and this was just cruel and ironic.
I am freaked out by the bikers on the lake front as I am not very coordinated yet when on a road bike. The moment I hear "ON YOUR LEFT" my handles start shaking and I just feel I lose control over my bike. But since this week I decided to start training with Coach Jeff and in the training schedule he included a 1:15 hr ride I decided to go pick up my bike from my friend Shannon's where I had been keeping it for over a year now. After talking to her that morning, we agreed we would go on a ride last night so I could try my bike again after a long period of abandonment and get used to riding on the lakefront. I packed my gym bag with what I needed and planned on going to her place right after work.
Well, right around around mid-morning I got a call from Shannon, and it wasn't good news. Someone had stolen my bike from her building's bike room! Now let me bring to your attention that this is a full amenity high rise building in downtown with a doorman, pool, gym, etc. Someone "with access to the bike room" (which you need a FOB to enter) had cut the lock and taken my Specialized Allez Sport bike. To make matters worse, the building IS NOT RESPONSIBLE for property stolen from the bike room even though they do not allow you to keep bikes in your apartment.
To make this story even more interesting and this building more pathetic, when we asked to look at the security camera tape so we could find out when and at what time this had happened and and maybe see if it was someone they recognized, or someone who lived in the building... their answer? Oh, the security camera was not connected!
How can these property management companies get away with this non-sense. They can care less about the services they should be providing to their tenant's, let alone about being accountable for their actions and their consequences.
I wish there was something that could be done to AT LEAST hold the property management company and their incompetence responsible of what happened, but the reality is that the system is pretty screwed up and that in situations like this "the big guys" are the ones protected.
During this process I discovered a good resource that might be of help if this happens to you. The Chicago Stolen Bike Registry, if you click on the link you will be able to see my bike's pic with my contact info in case you see my bike out there. How does it work? You can file a theft report through their website and your bike's pic and info will be posted on their home page for the bike community to check, they also have a Twitter feed that has no tweets but who knows, maybe people will start using it.
Anyway, here is a picture of my bike, maybe I get lucky and someone will see it out there!
