They stole their bikes???

[Possegal]

bike found! The Amgen site with the tour streaming on it, has a blurb that Sacramento police found Lance's bike. On ebay perhaps?

[Running Mommy]

can't wait to hear the back story on this one....

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2009/02/lan...ike-found.html

[ny biker]

Velonews.com is reporting that one of the other bikes was returned to the hotel where it was stolen:

A missing Astana bike reappears
As reported Monday, four bikes were stolen from the Astana team truck parked outside a downtown Sacramento Marriott hotel. Among them were three team road bikes and the custom Trek Livestrong 1274 time trial bike of Lance Armstrong.

In an odd turn of events, Janez Brajkovic’s road bike has reappeared at the hotel. Police phoned the team this morning to alert them to the discovery.

Representatives of the team are not certain if the bike was taken in the same Sunday night incident, or in a separate theft, but hypothesized that media attention might have frightened perpetrators into returning the bike. “It’s one less bike we’re having to build tonight,” said team liason Ben Coates.

[Triskeliongirl]

I also just read on the velonews TOC live feed that they have now recovered Lance's bike too. Seems like the Sacramento police are on top of this!

#
02:16 PM: Armstrong's TT bike recovered
VeloNews' online editor at large has confirmed with the Sacramento police that Lance Armstrong's stolen TT bike has been recovered. More soon.

[MartianDestiny]

What I meant was, they didn't know before they opened the van that Astana's bikes were inside. Once the doors were open, they would of course have seen all the logos.

Gotcha!

With reports of the hotel telling the team additional security would not be necessary I have to wonder though.

[MartianDestiny]

can't wait to hear the back story on this one....

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2009/02/lan...ike-found.html

From the looks of the picture it's only missing a couple thousand dollars worth of wheels...

[Zen]

From the looks of the picture it's only missing a couple thousand dollars worth of wheels...

Look for one on the rear of a fixie near you!

[emily_in_nc]

I'd love to know how it was actually recovered. Glad it's back, and hopefully with no damage and no components removed!

[NoNo]

This was the story on CNN today: Bike recovered

I just wonder. When I travel with my bike, I don't dare leave it in my car, and it isn't worth nearly as much as that bike. I take it up to the room with me. Why wouldn't they do the same?

[Tuckervill]

Because there are 25 of them in the truck?

Karen

[Zen]

When I travel with my bike, I don't dare leave it in my car, and it isn't worth nearly as much as that bike. I take it up to the room with me. Why wouldn't they do the same?

they're not attached to their bikes like we are. They didn't scrimp and save to buy them. There was someone in the Tour last year who had some sort of mechanical issues and he just chucked his bike as hard as he could into the bushes. That really chapped my rear.

[ny biker]

They each have multiple bikes. They would need a separate room in the hotel to store them all, plus the manpower required to move them in and out of the hotel. So I can see why they leave them in a van. And apparently they usually do take precautions (backing the van up to the wall to make it difficult to open the doors and remove anything).

[limewave]

We leave our bikes in the car. However, we keep them upright in the bed of the truck which has a locking cover. I'd much rather keep them in there then in my hotel room. I just feel like that's the safest thing to do. Hotel rooms are kind-of transient. Staff have keys to the room, cleaning staff come and go, etc. But we are the only ones with keys to the truck.

[NoNo]

But if it disappears from the room, you have an easier road to tracking down the person that took it. In a car, anyone can see it. True, that many bikes would take up a lot of space, but come on, these teams can cover the bill for an extra room. I don't know, that's just the way I feel. Now, what happens to all the junk they throw on the road as they're riding? Is there a clean up crew to pick up all those bottles and wrappers?

[Eden]

Now, what happens to all the junk they throw on the road as they're riding? Is there a clean up crew to pick up all those bottles and wrappers?

Yes indeedy... if the organizer doesn't provide the picking up himself then he'd will likely have to pay the state/city/county (who ever is responsible for the roads) to do it. Our amateur races are pretty sensitive about trash - we'd lose our venues if we were known to leave a lot of junk and the small promoters certainly can't afford a clean up crew, so *NO* throwing of wrappers, bottles can only be discarded if your race has a feed zone and only in the feed zone - where there are people to collect them. If an official sees you intentionally litter you will probably get relegated. Of course the pro races often have the advantage of 1,000's of fans who'd probably scoop up and frame a bar wrapper if they found it.... fist fights have probably broken out over bottles...