Thieving scoundrels

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BY: Niall Frost

Published: 12th September, 2010

Unfortunately, at the hands of a thief in the night I have been robbed.  It's taken me a week or so to work out what this has meant for me and while bikes are ultimately replaceable, trust is not.  I nearly stopped a white van man for spending that bit too much time behind me yesterday, was he checking out my bike with a view to stealing it or waiting for traffic to ease?

On the evening on Thursday 2^nd September I visited my bikes in the garage to check my commuter over, fit lights and fettle.  I wasn't training as I'd done my first intervals after illness earlier in the week and was using riding to work as recovery.  I locked up as usual and went to bed for a strangely restless night.  Bright and early at 7am I was in the garage to the shock of the door swinging on it's hinges and all 4 of my bikes gone.  Taken were:

Gary Fisher Superfly 29er - 19" - Fox forks, sram xo and bontrager finishing kit (nooooooooooo, its gone :-(   )

Cove Hummer - 19" - RS pikes - shimano XT and thomson

Time VXS - 58cm - Dura ace, Mavic Kysriums

Kinesis Racelight T - 60cm - ultegra - hope hoops

To say my stomach dropped through the floor is an understatement.  I was on edge the whole day and hardly got any work done.  I don't want to go into too many details of how these were taken, but the police reckon this was a targeted attack as only the 4 bikes were stolen, and everything else in the garage was left.  Also, a number of neighbours reported garden gates left open, appearing as if someone had known what they were looking for, just not sure where to find it.  If anyone has any information I'd be eternally grateful if you could please contact North Yorkshire Police.

Trying to get back into any sort of routine has not been easy.  How do I train?  I haven't.  What do I do when I buy another bike?  Now this isn't any easy question as if I put them in the house, would I rather them stolen out of the garage or the house?  I get the feeling that if they want something, these people aren't going to be stopped easily and I don't like the feeling of anyone unauthorised entering the garage, let alone the house.

What I want to come out of this is for anyone reading to re-think their security situation and potentially stop this happening to anyone else.  Do you have any of the following?

1.        Security light

2.       Multiple lock garage door

3.       Ground anchors/chains, multiple locks

4.       Alarm

5.       All of your serial numbers written down

6.       Pictures of all of your bikes and receipts for major parts

7.       Up to date insurance

If I'm honest, I wish I could lengthen this list to include all the "Home Alone" features you might want; electrified door handle, swinging paint tins etc etc.  However there has to be a limit to what is practical but a few changes could help you dissuade any attempts to steal yours in the future.

Moving on

Sadly, I spread my bikes around the country.  Although 4 have been stolen I had two left; a rigid singlespeed mtb and a fixed wheel road bike.  The things some people will do to be niche!

To clear my head I thought it would be a good idea to enter the Nutcracker and have a wee thrash on the singlespeed (the off road one!) so a bit of gear fettling was in order.  A pan flat course called for a change from the de-riguer 32:16 down to my only other option, 32:15 and I hoped my legs/back/arms would cope.

A preride confirmed the worst, my little used bikes had horribly binding brakes and after a last minute fix to the front the only option to get the rear wheel to turn was drastic action.  I had a good start, and few moments in the corners but loved chucking the bike around to carry as much speed as possible and just sorting it out on the exit, usually pedalling all the time.  Good fun, if not the fastest way to get round a course.

My unorthodox approach netted 2^nd which was unexpected and shows I have some fitness left somewhere I just need to push on and get fitter for BMBS5, D2D and the Roc.  I can't wait!

Thanks to all my sponsors for my eventful season so far; Gary Fisher, Exposure Lights and Accelerade.

Niall Frost

XCracers.com/29ers

P.s. I accept sympathy in the form of cake, so if you like to donate please start a thread called, "I've seen frosty eat cake and enjoy it" and I'll see you all at Plymouth.