Bikes gone, moving on.
It is hard to describe to a non-biking friend, relative, or complete stranger what it feels like to have your bike stolen. So imagine our hardship when trying to explain how we felt when all five of our bikes (and a few other near, dear and expensive parts) were stolen. I hope none of you ever experience this difficult situation.
A month ago we discovered that someone had gained access to our garage and lifted our two DH bikes, two XC bikes and Stephanie's 4x bike. Besides the obvious financial loss and feeling of violation one always gets when an item is taken from an area considered 'safe', we also lost a part of ourselves. Our bikes represented many years of racing, making friends, and traveling to far-flung places to ride. Our bikes represented our spirit of adventure as well as great stories hinted at by numerous small dents. In the long, arduous process of retrieving some insurance payback, it has become painfully obvious how many dollars and how much time we invested in every single part of our two wheeled mascots.
My Mongoose ECD represented a new view of DH racing as more than just a place to go to test myself. It was part of the glue that held me to an idea that racing is not just for winning races but also for the social togetherness with friends. My Specialized Epic was a bike I pored over in an effort to re-define the Super-D bike. Whoever ends up riding them will likely never know the beauty of mud spinning off the tires on a morning single-track ride. They will not understand what the few carefully chosen stickers represent on the tubes, nor the special color of the rims. I know they will enjoy the ride because I put more than just my time and money into my bikes. I put my trust in them as vehicles of my lifestyle.
We have each other to sympathize with and distract our minds from cycling while we wait to purchase new bikes down the road. In the meantime we have both been staying healthy, exercising, and getting back into the hills in other ways. We sponge boarded in PB and are hoping the water warms up soon. We hiked the San Gorgonio Wilderness and waved to our friends Nancy and Roger over riding at Big Bear. We boated over to camp and hike at Santa Catalina where we saw wildlife despite the recent fire. And we are both running more now in preparation for America’s Finest City ½ Marathon in August. I will be hiking Mount Rainier the third week of July with my brother Bill and friends and then running my first marathon this fall.
Throughout the past five or six weeks it has been extremely reassuring to find out that cycling is still a close community of friendly and compassionate individuals. We received an outpouring of sympathy texts, emails and calls. We had people threaten to find those #$^%&’rs (please, no bloodletting...just call 911 on them). Friends offered the use of bicycles. Friends and strangers forwarded our "Stolen Bikes" blogs and posts on to many sites around the country. And all the local bike stores not only allowed us to put posters in their shops but also offered to give us great deals if we needed that. My sponsors have been very good to me and I am very interested in keeping up a great relationship with all of them. Jason at Utopia optics will still be protecting my eyes and head from the sun on and off the trail. Jackie is my number one source of skin care (that’s right, even guys can have better skin!) and sun-block products. Kerry, and the crew at BeyondBikes.com will definitely remain my ‘home’ shop as I put together a new bike. I will still be riding in Azonic protective gear and styling after hours in their apparel. Exploration will never stop with Manny at NOFRIENDS (check out www.FFAT.biz) And I hope to continue to contribute to the goals of the Mongoose Tribe as we race, ride, surf, and barbeque our message of biking society across the globe. Thanks again for all the help. See you on the trail soon.