alternative hippopotamus

Yesterday my bike was stolen, virtually under my nose, while I got a quick bite to eat in Georgetown.

I wanted to pass on some info that may help the next cyclist. But first, I want to share a surprising observation. Well, it surprises me, anyway.

The observation is that I really didn’t like the bike that was stolen. The bike in question, a Gary Fisher hybrid, was one I bought a year ago in reaction to riding my Jamis Aurora touring bike through Rock Creek and downtown DC.

I’ve always liked the metaphor of the streets being paved with gold. There’s something electric about riding through the business districts of urban areas. You become part of the circulation of energy throughout the city. The streets are the conductors of the life blood of urban life. They are gold indeed. There’s a moment of awe that you can only experience going downhill on 14th street, racing and bobbing with the Metrobuses, the heart of the District in view just above your handlebars.

Still, while the streets may be golden, it’s of the lumpier variety in our fair city. The potholes and wide gaps in the pavement are surely part of the ride, but the bruises on my Jamis Aurora testify to its extremes. I recall mornings where I had been so jostled by the ride that my hands would shake in a manner reminiscent of the “drinking problem” scene in the movie Airplane.

So, I over-reacted. I got a so-called “hybrid,” with heavy front fork suspension. While I could comfortably ride down a flight of stairs or an escalator, in practice I rarely include stairwells as part of my commute. And, if you’re ever tempted to bike down a Metro escalator I can testify that you don’t want to go there. And, it was noticeably heavier than my touring bike. Predictably, as part of city riding, you’ll get yourself into a fix where you have to carry your bike up stairs, or up those same escalators that you dare not ride down. I know I’m getting old, but Holy Mojitos Batman, my wrist snapped from wresting that hybrid from the jaws of the escalator hand rest.

I’ll confess that there was a less technical reason why I didn’t fall in love with the bike that was just stolen. I was never really comfortable with the glossy black paint job. Aesthetics are part of the experience, and the paint job said to me: “I ride this bike on the weekends, but mostly I cruise around in my Porsche 911 and waste as much gas as possible.” It was one of the few bikes that make an anti-environmental statement by appearance alone.

And worse, it made the kind of visual statement that made the bicycle thieves want to steal it. Which they did.

There’s a good article on Slate about protecting your bike from theft. I would highly recommend it. The one point that needs re-emphasizing: if you’re a veteran touring biker, you probably have a cable type lock. While this makes sense if you’re biking through the country side, the urban environment is a different matter. As the Slate article illustrates, a cable lock is useless next to bolt cutters. Be kind to the thieves. Make it hard to for them to sin. Go shock and awe as far as protecting your bicycle.

By coincidence, the bicycle shop mentioned in the article, City Bikes, is where I bought my Jamis Aurora, as well as my new Jamis Coda. I bought the Gary Fisher hybrid at Capitol Hill Bikes. These are both first-rate shops and I’ll note that when I was at City Bikes, the salesman directed another customer to Capitol Hill Bikes. Still, I want to pass on this caveat. I had a bike mechanic look at the Gary Fisher. His first comment: “I like this bike.” Second comment was that the brakes were not set up correctly. Way off. These brakes were set up so badly, that he was personally insulted.

I mention this, because even the best shops get busy on the weekends, and make mistakes. That means that your bike may not be at 100 percent when it leaves the shop.

So, I hope this is helpful to my fellow cyclists. Let the good times roll.