How I stole my bike back

Sometimes I think we take for granted how wonderful our town really is. At over 50,000 people, Coeur d’Alene still feels small and connected. It’s easy to miss this in our day-to-day, but it’s nearly impossible to miss in times of need, whether it be large or small.

You see, on Friday, March 30 while visiting with friends at Slate Creek Brewing Co., my bike was stolen.

It was not locked up, but Slate was known for being a safe place, a place where cyclists of all kinds park their bikes in the back with no worry. However, on this night, that culture of trust was broken and I found myself at the mercy of a thief who deemed my bike worthy of being the first to be taken from this locale.

After discovering the theft, my husband and I did three things. Notify the business owner, post a photo and description to Facebook, and then file a police report.

To be honest, my expectations were low. I figured the Coeur d’Alene police department had more important work to do other than tracking down a cruiser bike stolen at a brewery.

However, on Monday morning I received a call from Officer Gabriel Hutchison who had been assigned to my case. He nicely asked about the event, for a more in-depth description of my bike, and promised to do what he could to get it back. We both agreed to troll the internet sales sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace to see if it popped up, and he volunteered to check in with local pawn shops.

Suddenly I felt like we were making progress, and maybe, just maybe, we could track down my cruiser.

In the meantime, the social media posts shared by myself, my husband, Slate Creek, and Coeur d’Alene Bike Co., were gaining traction. With a combined 95 shares across our pages, I estimated a potential of 13,200 users may have seen my bike online (based on 3,050 views from the 22 shares of my original post on Facebook). Granted, in reality it would be about 25 percent of that total actually seeing it, roughly 3,300 people; but still, that was a surprising amount of support from many people I didn’t even know.

Several times, I was stopped while walking my dog by people asking if the bike had been found. A couple people I knew, but most I didn’t.

After several days of checking in with Officer Hutchison and hunting for my own bike online, I had all but moved on.

But then, on the Thursday following the incident, a co-worker spotted my bike at our work. By the time I saw her email, the bike was gone.

The following morning, another friend spotted my bike and sent a text message to my husband. For this piece of the hunt, the stars must have aligned, as I just happened to be dropping him off at work that day. Jumping back in the car, he directed me to the location where my bike was last seen, and sure enough, it was still there - unlocked. Before I could ask whether we should call the police my husband had the bike in his arms and was telling me to open the back hatch of our Subaru. We stole my bike back.

Following the retrieval, I called Officer Hutchison to let him know we found my bike and the circumstances surrounding its repossession. He was supportive and thrilled to hear of our happy ending. Later that week, thanks to some video footage and photos from each spotting, the thief was identified. As far as I was concerned, case closed.

Following all this I spoke with Officer Hutchison to see just how rare this may be, and what I did right that may help others.

In 2017, he said, there were 52 bicycle thefts reported in Coeur d’Alene, only nine of those were reported as found.

“In general, taking a photograph of your bicycle and recording the serial number will greatly improve your odds of recovering the bicycle if it is stolen,” he said. “The serial number is typically stamped into the frame itself, usually below the bottom bracket which is on the underside. It also helps to have a solid network of friends like you clearly do!”

Now that all is said and done, I’m more aware than ever how fortunate I am to live in a community where we look out for each other. Between my two bike spotters, Officer Hutchison, Slate Creek Brewing Co., and the Coeur d’Alene Bike Co., and of course, my husband, we were able to find a small cruiser bike in a city of over 50,000 people within a week.

For that, I am not only grateful, but hopeful for anyone else that finds themselves in a similar situation.

Thank you, all.