It’s not in the same league as a family member having health issues. It’s not the same as losing a significant other. No one has cancer, has lost a job or is foreclosing on a home.
The frame was purchased due to a contract provision at work. In exchange for taking a couple years' pay freeze, we all received a sick day’s worth of pay to purchase fitness equipment. I built up the Trucker using parts from boxes and from an old cracked frame. I didn’t have much out-of-pocket money into it.
And, can I be honest about my attachment to it?
I'm not sure I liked the ride.
Can I say that without the converted taking it as heresy?
A girlfriend asked me about the ride last summer. She said she’d commuted on one for a bit; insisted upon getting the bike even though her husband thought she’d be better off on something less hefty. She’s a wee thing and it turned-out pushing a heavy bicycle made commuting to work feel like work. So she sold it. I was wrestling with the same dilemma.
It doesn’t have the get-up-and-go that I like, I told her, but I guess that’s not what I’m looking for in a commuter. I’m tired of carrying my stuff on my back. After loading down a ‘cross bike, the LHT can handle groceries and it’s stable. I’d had fun building-up the bike, and it was a pretty thing, but I didn’t love it. I wasn’t sure Wheel and I would ever go touring even though the idea appealed.
The frame was likely to go up for sale sometime this summer. The bits would have gone back into the garage drawers where they’d have mingled with the rest of the quilt pieces until the next build. I’d have moved on to another commuter.
So yes, I’m out some bucks and some bits.
Bummer? Sure.
Devastating? No.
-The it's just stuff Bag
9 comments:
You have a wonderful attitude.
It is just stuff and unimportant in the long range of things...but ...Theft is slavery. It's taking a small portion of your life and owning it whether you like it or not. I don't care how small a portion it is I always feel defiled and dirtied.
I am unforgiving.
I am trying to be more enlightened about this but I am having a hard time at it.
All of those things you said are true, but that still doesn't give the thief any points for stealing it. He (she?) didn't really care how you felt about the bike one way or another. They simply stole it for reasons of their own, and in my mind, there are very few reasons that I can think of that would justify bike theft. Just sayin'...
I just refuse to let it own me. The thief is still a douchebag trying to compensate for an inferior unit...or, as my friend Tim in Anchorage said, I do hope the LHT valiantly sacrifices itself to carry the thief in front of a train. Hell, Karma's a bitch.
There isn't anything that justifies any of it. But, there are worse tragedies.
I ride my best bike every day. I go an extra 30 kms because it is such a pleasure. When I arrive breathless at work it is with excitement, not effort. Utility is good (I have that bike too) but you deserve the sports car. zoom zoom!
You got a good blog out of it!
@Dee, I agree, but for a loooong time I didn't have a road bicycle with brazons. I do now -- tossed on a rack Monday and enjoyed every bit of the 24 mile round trip. I can't say I've felt that way in a long time! I'm a roadie at heart, but was going for utility. Because of it, I wasn't commuting as often as I would have liked. If I were facing 3-5 miles it would have been great!
@HWB--always looking at the bright side, aren't you?
That HWB, he's quite the pollyanna, and I'm stalking him around the internet.
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