i'm gonna find my bike

I got my bike stolen outside of San Francisco. I'm gonna get it back.

[banshee33]

Day Two: Citizens United

Today I launched Operation Get Our Rides Back. I essentially e-mailed everyone who posted a "Stolen bike please help" ad on CL and offered to start a coalition of bike theft victims.  So far I've gained 5 angry cyclists -- no, vigilante heroes -- who have signed on to the team.

We started a Google Doc database of our bikes and what to look for, who to call, the whole 9.  We're gonna split up and check all the different flea markets, swap meets, and sketch bike shops we can in search of everyone's steeds.

I got 3 takers from a poster I setup at the train station yesterday.  It's got a picture of my bike and a reward figure on it.  Maybe I'll get a response from the bike jacker soon.

Tomorrow I'm setting out for Karim Cycle: a notorious Oakland bike hoarding operation infamous for mountains of stolen bikes and a short fussy old dude that pisses on elementary schools.

[banshee33]

Day One: Community

Turns out there's a lot of us in this lawless bike theft underworld. There are people like me: bikeless road warriors, wandering about in search of their missing half. And then there are the ring leaders, the pedalboys that slang the bikes in Mission, and the actual jackers. I targeted a pedalboy today.

I found a guy selling a bunch of used bikes on CL, obviously a stolen bike op. He left his number so I texted him with an offer: If he came across my Bianchi during the course of his business day, I would take it off him for full price, no tricks. I told him to tell his friends in Colma & Daly City the offer extended to them as well. He agreed.

Gonna print out some posters tomorrow and hang em up around Colma. The jobless ghosts drift along the bart station all day so maybe my reward poster will spark one of them to action.

[banshee33]

Day Zero

My name is Tyler. I am 20 years old. I've been on an adventure in a strange land called San Francisco for about a month now. Today, I got my bike stolen. I was at work and I foolishly left my steed on a public bike rack. I looked at the empty rack 9 hours later in disappointed amusement. This will not do.

I'm setting out to find my bike. I do not care if a crackhead is riding around Daly City in the night with it. I do not care if a bike thief king is transporting it to Portland. I do not care if the guy I bought it from stealthily reclaimed his lost love in broad daylight.

I have one month to find it. Today is day zero.