If you are in a college town or near one, you may have noticed many cyclers round and about.

That goes for most urban areas, and especially in European towns. With more bikes there is naturally more theft.

Apparently it leads to more stupidity. Take this story of a guy who stole a bike and put it on Craig’s List. The original owner then stole the thing back after responding to the perp’s ad. They arranged the time and place for the sale.

When she arrived at the meeting, she wasn’t certain exactly what she would do. She asked if she could take the bike for a spin and the seller had just one request. “Don’t ride away,” he said.

Of course, she rode away with her bike. The seller got suspicious. Then he ran off!

Dumbass.

This happened to me about the same time last year. My bike was cheap, very heavy, and the exact opposite of what I feel comfortable riding. If it’s not a road bike, I like a hybrid with as thin of rims as I can get and a smaller gear cassette in the back – I like to go fast. This sucker was just a hog mountain bike kind of mutt that was a bear up climbs. So I did not ride it very much.

One day it was gone! Poof. My reaction was simple: “Well, I hope the kid gets more use out of it than me.”

One day the thing magically reappeared. Was I getting rewarded by Jesus because I prayed for it? No Mr. Dollar, I did was not. My bike had a little note on it. Unlike the woman in Vancouver who had to steal her bike back, my thief returned mine – with a little tune-up, even.

The moral: Don’t judge a thief by their theft. And buy a fucking bike lock!

H/T to Kristi Colleen for the link via Twitter