a crappy end to an otherwise great week...

The 1st annual Greater Vancouver Bike to Work Week has come to a close and by all accounts it seems to have been a success. 587 teams and 3494 participants is impressive for a first effort and should make the organizers proud of all the work that they have done. Never mind the fantastic weather that we were blessed with all week. At Grouse Mountain we managed to enlist 13 staff to participate which is great considering the seemingly insurmountable hill(s) that must be tackled on the way to work. Over the week (and including the weeks leading up to the event) our staff managed to clock just over 600 km's, burning 17,295 calories and preventing 143 kg's of green house gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.

So why the less than enthusiastic start to this post?

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time all week and am proud to have been involved with such a worthwhile activity. Unfortunately, for me Bike to Work Week came to an abrupt end last Wednesday. Somewhere out there is a bike with my name on it... literally. More likely, somewhere out there are a bunch of parts floating around from the bike that was once mine!

Last Wednesday I got up nice and early and rode to the commuter station located in West Vancouver at the Lions Gate Bridge, where I had agreed to volunteer. Admittedly, I didn't really want to ride that day as I was pretty sore from the previous two days of riding and I thought one day off might be a good idea. However, being that I was actually participating in a BTWW activity and that I am on the Board for the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition I thought I had better ride. Once finished at the commuter station I proceeded to the North Vancouver RCMP detachment where I had a meeting at the Emergency Management Office.

Imagine my surprise a little more than an hour later when I entered the courtyard in front of the detachment only to find the empty space where my bike had once been locked! Amazing that it would happen in front of the police station and ironic that it would happen given what I had done in the interest of cycling up to that point. Also interesting (to me at least) is the fact that this post comes one year after my very first which talked about the theft of my wife's pansies from the front deck of our house.

The pictures I've attached don't really give the bike justice but they are all I have. I also don't hold out much hope that the bike is still in one piece, it may not even be anywhere near the area. The bike is a Santa Cruz Chameleon, the frame is gray and it has red Kooka cranks and headset. Rhino lite rims with slick tires and Hayes hydraulic disc brakes.

It also has my name on it, in red. The same color as my anger over the fact that it no longer has my butt on it.