bike got swiped (I think)

[Geonz]

So I swung into my very own driveway and leaned the 7500FX against the rail... went in to pee and grab lunch... came out and it was gone. So if you're in my neighborhood and you see my well-worn bike... I've done the police report thing, and I oughter see if homeowner's will pay... and I'm grateful that it's not a life wrenching thing for me. (The day before, I got the news that Grover Everett that was on our Grand Illinois Trails and Parks ride every year I'd been there had gotten run over by a 22 year old Willem Cohen who "drifted onto the shoulder" -- can we say TEXTING???? -- and killed him... so the "looking for something that's just not there" when it's a bike pales in comparison ... of course he'll be charged with "improper use of lane" and that's all)
I'm thinking that unfortunately our campaigns against texting while driving have had one result: now people know better than to admit that's what they were doing. That's what my missing bike looks like, with a hole in the seat on the right side the size of a quarter...

[Catrin]

Sorry for the loss of your friend

Your house insurance should pay for the bike...what a sad moment that must have been when you walked outside.

[velo]

Horrible to hear about either incident. My condolences.

[Pax]

I'll keep my eyes open.

[Antaresia]

Oh, that is sad.

All I can do is send hopeful thoughts your way, hopefully your bike will be found.

[Aromig]

Sorry for the loss of your friend, and the loss of your bike.

My husband was texting the other day, and I couldn't believe it. Besides being a danger to everyone else, he had me and our two kids in the car. He doesn't believe he's distracted, but I watched him looking down while we were on the interstate. Since my nagging hasn't worked, he's getting a new phone with hands free capabilities for Christmas :-)

I hope your bike comes home soon.

[indysteel]

Sorry for the loss of your friend, and the loss of your bike.

My husband was texting the other day, and I couldn't believe it. Besides being a danger to everyone else, he had me and our two kids in the car. He doesn't believe he's distracted, but I watched him looking down while we were on the interstate. Since my nagging hasn't worked, he's getting a new phone with hands free capabilities for Christmas :-)

I hope your bike comes home soon.

Sue, I'm sorry about your friend and your bike. So sad....

@Aromig: Handsfree doesn't necessary lessen the distraction posed by cell phones. Short of an integrated system, it still often means that a driver's attention is diverted when he or she reaches for the phone, tries to dial a number or fumbles with a headset. This article from Consumer Reports articulates this point. Frankly, it makes me sad for you and your kids that your husband is refusing to recognize the risk--the known risk--that texting poses. It's hard for me to get my head around that.

[OakLeaf]

Aw, Sue, that just stinks. All of it.

Still - while I'm in no way implying that ANY phone use while driving isn't dangerous (including completely hands free with voice dialing - it's been demonstrated more than once that it's the conversation itself that's the greatest distraction and leads to tunnel vision) - still, I wouldn't be so quick to blame texting if you don't know that's what happened.

As I've said in many other threads, running facing traffic has been a real eye-opener. Almost none of the people who target fixate on me (close to 20% of drivers! to some extent, although it's only maybe once every couple of months that I have an encounter that makes me dive for the ditch) appear to be using phones in any way. Both hands on the wheel, mouths not moving. Just staring at me and automatically steering toward me.

Also, a good half of the times that I read about someone leaving the roadway to mow down someone on the shoulder or sidewalk, the driver is elderly, which my experience with that demographic is that it's frustratingly hard to even get them to turn their frickin' phones on, so I would tend to assume they're not using them while driving.

[IBrakeforPastry]

I'm sorry for both of your losses. My Trek FX was stolen out of my garage - while I was home. It was just a baby - I only had it for a month or so. I didn't bother with homeowner's insurance because I have a high deductible. Even now, 6 years later, I still find myself looking at almost every bike as I drive in my car, hoping to find mine.

[Eden]

@Aromig: Handsfree doesn't necessary lessen the distraction posed by cell phones. Short of an integrated system, it still often means that a driver's attention is diverted when he or she reaches for the phone, tries to dial a number or fumbles with a headset. This article from Consumer Reports articulates this point. Frankly, it makes me sad for you and your kids that your husband is refusing to recognize the risk--the known risk--that texting poses. It's hard for me to get my head around that.

In fact phoning period, hands free or not, has been proven to put your mind in a different place.... It's also about the capability of the human mind to truly multitask (which it can't really) and not just about where your eyes and hands are.... Using a hands free set is NO safer for phoning in a car and this has been proven with testing. Just turn the phone off in the car and concentrate on driving period. Texting while driving is in a whole other league of stupid.... (and I have no qualms about just saying this outright). It takes your attention, your eyeballs and your hands totally away from the task at hand, which is handling a 2,000+ lb deadly missile....

Aromig.. if your husband doesn't believe you, if you can get a hold of a head cam some day, have him wear it while he drives and texts (go someplace *safe* like a big empty parking lot....) It may help to open his eyes a bit about how much those eyes are not on the road if he's texting and driving...

[Melalvai]

I am trying to prepare myself for the future theft of my bike by a) having enough money in the bank to replace it should anything happen to it and b) imagine that scenario, the shock of it missing and the life going on afterwards. Plus the fun of buying a new bike.

I just read "The Antidote" which is about the power of negative thinking and it recommends we spend some time every day contemplating future loss. It sounds depressing but it helps us appreciate what we have now and it prepares us for the eventuality if we do lose it one day. The author was talking about death of loved ones, but I thought I'd start out small with something like loss of my bike!

I'm so silly--more than once I've biked down the street to the other building on our campus, then as I was coming back I automatically looked at the bike rack where my bike lives when I'm in the office, and for a moment I'm like "Where the heck is my bike?? Oh, I'm sitting on it." I do that with my phone too. I'm talking on it, and I reach in my pocket so I can look at it to see what time it is, and think I've lost my phone for a moment.

Then there have been moments when I thought I left my bike in one place, and it's not there, and either I left it in a different place or didn't realize it's behind something. Then I really do have a rush of adrenaline.

[Geonz]

The kiddo wasn't texting. Ed Barsotti talked to the officer and the kid offered his phone and calls happened afterward. He saw Grover... then decided the volume needed to be adjusted on the radio... and swerved.

So, yea, it's really not about the phone. It's about realizing that a car is a (potential) death machine, period. I hope those folks at Google figure out the whole self-driving thing in a hurry. In the meantime, I'll have tos et up my basement to design my car-killing rays...

And I'm in shopping mode -- the Bike In Question was just abotu worn out, with abotu 15,000 miles on that drive train... my body is 12 years older ... I've never liked the road bike posture (there are back muscles I don't have -- so I get **really** cranky when I feel out of balance trying to compensate, as I discovered with that Schwinn I tried and certain yoga sitting poses), but I like light and fast. I'm not sure I want to go for carbon, simply because ... it just costs too much for the generic sloshy abuse I tend to give any bicycle... (but there is my infamous song about 'em...)

I have, in the past, left my bike out overnight a time or two, and/or left the garage door open and I did rehearse the feeling of walking out and that wrenching "It's not here!!! I can't believe it's not here!!!" -- which didn't happen when the bike was actually gone... I think because it really didn't change my lifestyle. I had two fully working bikes ready to ride, one in teh shop getting huge, major work done, and another 4 adult and 12 kids' bikes in the garage... I'm in no danger of not being able to*get* where I need to go, and I guess I really have gotten to a "detachment from things" state. (Still, I think the odds of seeing it around are reasonably good -- but if you see my friend Nina riding a 7500FX that's hers )

And besides, this year was a totally off year for me... a slothful sabbatical as I spent more time behind a computer than on my bike. Could just be that a New Fast Bike would enable me to get out and start racking up miles... another 8,000 mile year or ... even 10K ???? Trying to psych myself up for the new year (I *do* get attached to numbers )

I am trying to prepare myself for the future theft of my bike by a) having enough money in the bank to replace it should anything happen to it and b) imagine that scenario, the shock of it missing and the life going on afterwards. Plus the fun of buying a new bike.

I just read "The Antidote" which is about the power of negative thinking and it recommends we spend some time every day contemplating future loss. It sounds depressing but it helps us appreciate what we have now and it prepares us for the eventuality if we do lose it one day. The author was talking about death of loved ones, but I thought I'd start out small with something like loss of my bike!

I'm so silly--more than once I've biked down the street to the other building on our campus, then as I was coming back I automatically looked at the bike rack where my bike lives when I'm in the office, and for a moment I'm like "Where the heck is my bike?? Oh, I'm sitting on it." I do that with my phone too. I'm talking on it, and I reach in my pocket so I can look at it to see what time it is, and think I've lost my phone for a moment.

Then there have been moments when I thought I left my bike in one place, and it's not there, and either I left it in a different place or didn't realize it's behind something. Then I really do have a rush of adrenaline.