My Bike Was Stolen... and Then 24 Hours Later I Stole it Back

(August 2020)

Yesterday my 15lb carbon fiber race bike was stolen in broad daylight just a few feet from me... Exactly 24 hours later I stole it back...

Saturday afternoon I received the bike rack for the RV that I'd be using for our 6-month trip around the US. I brought out all 5 bikes that we would be taking on the trip, figured out the complicated origami how to mount them on the bike rack, then took them all off, and proceeded to return them, in pairs, to the lobby of my condo building 70 feet away. It was 4:20pm on a bright sunny day in Bartlett, IL - a sleepy remote suburb of Chicago. As I dropped the first two bikes into the lobby and walked back outside I saw a kid, maybe 17, riding my carbon fiber Trek road bike towards me. I actually waved thinking it was a joke or something but when he saw me he dug into the pedals and raced out of the parking lot.

I was maybe 50 feet away and once I realized he was stealing my $4000 bike I gave chase and came within 15 feet of him in my flip flops that were sloshing all over my feet. He then rounded the corner and hit the street and I lost ground. I chased for 2 more minutes before realizing I would not catch him while having my GF call the police. I saw him hop a fence and run across the railroad tracks before I turned around.

I was just about to jump on my other bike (which is what I should have done from the start!) when the police showed up - 60 seconds after the call (I live across the street from the police station). I wanted to just leave them and chase the kid but they insisted I follow the protocol of filing a report etc. By then the kid was long gone and the officer, polite as he was suggested - "we almost never find stolen bikes." 20 minutes later I was free to go search...

To be honest I was pretty devastated at this point. I made huge mistakes - why did I take in my lower-cost bikes inside first? Why did I not just jump in my car or on the other bike instead of running after him like an idiot? If I had even ditched the flip flops I would have caught him… I was in a huge funk blaming myself and recognizing that now I would not have a road bike for our huge RV adventure to start in 13 days.

I posted to the local Bartlett FB site and my landlord responded after seeing it, indicating that he knew of the kid and roughly where he lived in the "quads" just over the tracks - right where he crossed. So I jumped in the car and drove all around for a few hours... but nothing.

I went to bed knowing for sure I'd never see that bike again. But Jordan repeated my main refrain in life that I always say to her and Kat, "There is always a way, and it always works out."

The next morning Jordan texts me: "I think I found the bike on OfferUp!"

Sure enough, it is a similar-looking generic picture of a Trek race bike listed for $900 the night before 3 miles away in Elgin. I have her make contact: "Is it still available? Do you have some actual pictures? Will you accept $750?" At about 1:30 pm the "seller" posts ACTUAL pictures of MY bike and accepts the offer. So I race to the police department in Bartlett and meet with my officer. He's excited and plans the "sting" - to send a plains-clothes officer to pretend to buy the bike and then I can walk out and ID it and then the perp goes to jail.

During our conversation, Jordan gets a note with the address - in Elgin, not Bartlett. 30 mins of calls later my officer informs me - "you have to work with Elgin - if we attempt this outside our borders it will be a felony case and we'd have to file paperwork and get approvals and it would take a couple of weeks." I bolted to Elgin.

Elgin PD dispatch was aware of my pending arrival and super-efficient. Within 5 minutes they arranged for "stand-by service" where an officer would accompany me to meet the perp and then intercede as needed. I began to drive to the site. Suddenly my GF lets me know "he changed the address - now it is in the parking lot of El Paraiso" a few blocks away. Cagey... I called the officer and he said, "I just got off the phone with my supervisor. We don't do these kinds of stings anymore - too dangerous for the civilians - sorry but you are on your own."

At this point, I just decided to proceed. Jordan wanted to have a hat on and a weapon but I had neither available. I pulled into the lot. The officer was still there - he smiled and made a circling motion which I interpreted to mean that he'd be close by and then roared off. Probably for the best as I figured the kid is not going to bring out the bike if a cop is there. I wait.

5 minutes later and a kid rolls up walking the bike (different kid - maybe 17 as well). He is polite, asks me to put on my mask. I do. I pretend to inspect the bike. I suggest a test drive - he agrees. I zoom around the restaurant and call 911. 2 mins later 2 cops arrive. The cop I saw before gives a thumbs up, and then the second cop who is a prick says, "how do we know this is your bike?" I proceed to describe it in great detail without looking down including a purple stain (wine) on the bottle cage, and the 167.6mm cranks. "Fine, next you are going to take a photo of the serial number so that next time we don't have this problem." I flip the bike for the man in charge and take a pic. He then informs me, "this isn't the way we do things around here, you should have followed the process..." I had no idea what the process was but just shrugged.

We then went around the corner where I informed the kid that "this is my bike. It was stolen yesterday. I am taking it now and I am not paying you. If you have any issues, the police are just behind me." I then proceeded to take the wheels off the bike and put them in my car.

He was surprisingly not flummoxed and took a bite of the burrito he had bought during my test drive. The cops arrived and began questioning him. At some point, the cop waved me off and suggested I go home. The time? 4:20pm. EXACTLY 24 hours from the minute it was stolen. And now the bike is back hanging up on my ceiling ready for our trip. I won't lie - it was a pretty exciting day.