About 4 years ago Gary gave me his old BMX.  It's a roughly 20 year old Royce Union, like this...



Anyway, I've been cruising it around the city for a couple years.  This past wednesday I met my friend Paul and locked the bike up in front of his apartment on East 19th before walking to a few bars.  At the end of the night we ended up totally far from there, so I figured I'd take a cab home and just pick up my bike in the morning.

A few days go by and I have no chance to go retrieve my bike.  Finally on saturday I call Paul to ask if he's noticed if it was still there in front of his apt - he says he hadn't been outside yet and would call me later to let me know.  I had a bad feeling I'd left it there for too long and it would be gone.  Unfortunately I was indisposed and couldn't think or do much about it.

At this point (later saturday) my girlfriend and I have been in the studio all day, until around 5pm we step out to get something to eat.  We're waiting for friends in front of the studio (on West 23rd) and a chrome BMX catches my eye.  I say "that's a lot like my bike" and walk closer out of curiosity.  Then I start yelling "THIS IS MY FUCKING BIKE" over and over while everyone stares in confusion.

Seriously, it was my fucking bike.  This is totally ridiculous seeing that I still hadn't even heard back from Paul about whether or not it was locked up in front of his place.  Somehow my freshly stolen bike just happens to be locked in front of the studio we're using that day.  I call Paul back to say "don't bother checking, it's been stolen".

Whoever took it had tried unsuccessfully to remove some of its identifying characteristics - ripped off the handlegrips, removed pads, of course a new lock - that sort of thing.  Still though, it had my spraypainted tires and countless other familiar marks and parts.  It's made out of like 4 different bikes, so to me it's immediately recognizable.



Another friend ran to grab some wire cutters while I waited inconspicuously near the scene.  Nobody showed up and we were able to cut the lock and unsteal it without a problem.

Karma is rad