I’d expect a handful of smart alec kids would just drop a bike and run when challenged but there you go: a real warning.

As a Paramedic, Paul probably has a more realistic view on this than I, but I’d have thought that the police would take an assault causing actual bodily harm somewhat more seriously than a mere theft of property. Those nasty little shits sound like a right charming bunch of thugs—beating the shit out of someone over a bloody bike! That borders on the dangerously psychotic if you ask me. Hopefully, against all probability, the little bastards will get what they deserve.

This occurred in Golden Grove (Northeastern Adelaide) I’m (Mostly) OK now, and will return to work tomorrow after a month off. This will be on modified duties because until the spine is finished healing I can’t lift or adopt unusual physical positions. I’m a Paramedic, so those are important. Instead I’m going to be employed in a training role for a while. Just lucky I have an understanding employer.

I agree about the clear escape route and being outnumbered bit. I guess I was a bit naive to think that because of the public location and general appearance of the thieves, the threat of physical harm was minimal. I figured, quite wrongly, they would most likely drop the bike and run.

There is a little more to the story too. The bike was taken from directly outside the open front door of my house, moments before I was going to ride it. I stumbled across the thieves en-route to the Police station to report the theft (they hadn’t gone far). There was nothing aggressive in my approach, so I guess there was some degree of caution about me. I did get the bike back – someone else (in fact my own wife) spotted and chased by car one of the individuals riding it only a minute later, and he left the bike and escaped on foot. The timer on my bike computer showed they travelled 1.1km, and had the bike in motion for 10.5 minutes. It was only 8 weeks old and as new – they damaged the saddle, completely ruined the carbon fibre seat post by only partly loosening it and lowering it all the way, ripped the handlebar ribbon, and put large lateral wobbles in both rims. And discarded my seat pack with a multitude of tools/ tube etc. So add $350 to the physical injuries.

Best news though: After replacing/ repairing the damage I started some short, gentle riding again this week, and this has been psychologically uplifting. A regular cyclist who can’t ride is like a grizzly bear with a headache! Can’t believe how much my body hurt after only 20km though.

BTW – With the current state of our legal sysyem I don’t expect the police to find, or the courts to convict anyone, but at least they’ve taken it seriously enough to televise what they know on Crimestoppers, along with a very clear video of ‘persons of interest’ who were seen leaving the scene. Makes me feel a bit better :-)

Thanks treadly, love the blog.

That is a seriously nasty incident and it sounds like pure chance that we didn’t hear about a bashing murder in the streets…