a midway bikelog

This past weekend started with a delightfully sleepy and lazy morning. I don’t often get to lounge in bed, and i took full advantage of the opportunity. Mid-morning, my brother visited to deliver a birthday present from my family: a dishwasher. I’ve never owned a dishwasher, nor lived in a house with once since leaving for college, so it’s quite a treat to have a machine to wash up for me.

That afternoon while at a friend’s birthday party, i was recounting a week of bad luck, starting with my broken laundry washing machine when another friend said, “i have one in the garage, do you want it?”. They had bought a higher-efficiency model a couple of months ago, and the older, working machine was still there, so of course i accepted it. We got that installed Sunday night, and it’s done 3 loads already.

Continuing with my bad luck story, the main one on my mind was my lost bike, but thus far there had been no solid leads, and i had resolved to just call the insurance company with the claim on Monday. After all, it was taken twice, they seemed to come back specifically for that bike this time, the only one taken. I made a list of the parts required to rebuild it, hoping to get it done in time for cyclocross season 5 weeks away and mentally letting the bike go. Little did i know at the time that two different people were praying (separately) for the bike’s return on my behalf.

Now I’m not the most religious person around, but it sure seems like something was nudging fate with the bike. The first time that bike was taken this spring, it was found by a neighbor of my friends down the block, Mike and Benita. This past weekend, late Sunday morning, i got a call from Mike saying that they had my bike again. This time it showed up next door to the shop space they just opened this year about 1.5 miles from where we live. The bike wasn’t meant for them though, someone had given it to one of the people at their neighboring store space in the same building. Mike had just seen it propped in the doorway and recognized it right away. Their story was that a friend had gotten it somehow over on Rice street, but that if it was stolen he didn’t want it anyway, so Mike put it in their shop and called me. Twice the bike found its way to two of the few people who know me, AND know the bike AND in situations where they could easily reclaim it.

The bike is fine, nothing broken. It’s missing the saddlebag and its contents, so i’ll be buying my 3rd u-lock of the year, but that stuff is relatively peanuts. I’m so happy to have it back. For the record, the bikes now live in the house, and there’s a new deadbolt on the garage service door.

So, many thanks to (brother) Mike for bringing the dishwasher (and the rest of the family for pitching in), to (good friend) Mike for keeping an old washing machine around and offering it the moment i mentioned the need, and to (neighbor and friend) Mike and (ditto) Benita for again returning a loved lost bike.