KALW: social media helps find stolen bikes

in all the excitement of losing (via theft) and finding joanie, i thought this would be appropriate to share.

KALW is one local SF public radio station. yes, we have more than one. they recently did a story on how social media can help find stolen bikes. listen to the epic (in the true sense of the word, not the recently overused version of the word) story of how one man found his stolen bike SIX YEARS LATER.

take a listen.

finding joanie

well, was pretty devastated to be leaving for work on thursday morning to find my bike wasn't in the apartment entryway as it has been on and off for years. my roommate said he noticed the door was propped open, but no one moving anything in or out. that must have been when it happened.


i wrote this and posted it everywhere i could think of on social media. facebook, twitter, google +, flickr, pinterest, stolen bike registry, craigslist, filed a police report. set up an IFTTT.com account and had 5 recipes "spamming" my inbox and texts. i also went old school and took a picture of her to local bike shops. went to flea markets in sf, friends went to east bay flea markets. i looked around homeless encampments for chop shops and random bikes. and then i got numb and started to plan a life without joanie.

and of course i tagged Jenny Oh, that amazing reuniter of stolen bikes. she's basically the 6 degrees of kevin bacon for bike thievery. we had a few false starts out there, but it was awesome to know that eyes are out there and we're keeping a lookout for bikes to return to their rightful owners.

sure enough...someone saw her post on fb and this is what happened:

Well, basically, I woke up in the morning last Thursday and found a red bike in my front yard with the seat post sawed off and immediately said, "FUCK! Some random bike in my front yard, where the hell is mine?!" And mine was gone. Whoever stole hers, traded it out for mine. I think someone definitely scoped me out and knew that I had a bike. My friend Kelsey Simmen reached out to Jenny Oh to post about my bike and on Jenny's page, I saw a picture of Melyssa's bike and said, holy shit! I have that bike! I hope Karma pays me back.

so in order to pass that karma on forward, i'm posting a pic of Meryl's bike. you can contact us here, leave a comment, and i'll get in touch with her.



joanie did not escape unharmed, but she's back. and i can't believe it. power of social media and taking matters into our own hands is incredible!



it does not fix the inherent real issue of inadequate bike parking in apartment buildings, nor does it solve the issue of bike thieving jackholes, but it's something. it's community. and i'll take it.

thank you so much to everyone who retweeted, reposted, commented or just even thought, "wtf, someone stole joanie?!" a special shout out to those who went flea market and division street hunting with me. also to those two that bought me chocolate, it was much appreciated. as last week in america proved there are bad people in this world doing unheard of things (or just being a bike thief), but there are far more good people to counteract those actions.



also, 1/2 of her namesake is joan jett. don't mess with joanie.

STOLEN BIKE ALERT: Calitexican's red Raleigh mixte

Posting for Calitexican while she files police report.
JOANIE BABY: raleigh mixte stolen from the Lower Haight last night.
Red Raleigh small frame (approx. a 49-51) with basket +Brooks saddle.
Spread the word, keep eyes peeled!

Um, I think someone stole joanie. I want to throw up. Sometime after 10:30 pm last night from my apartment entryway in lower haight.updated: also my bern helmet with reflective and sfbp sticker on back and two ulocks...

Arthursday: Our thoughts+love out to those affected this week

Our thoughts and love are with Boston, MA & West, TX +anyone affected by it.

Last night I couldn't sleep.
Decided to do a quick little graphic.

  HEAL SOON ♥ by meligrosa

You can download for free any version, fits in a letter size sheet.
Post/print it however/wherever you want, PDF is spokecard-ready. It is yours to share.

Life is so fragile.
xxom

east bay bike ride

you guys. i LOVE the sequoia. LOVELOVELOVE. i'm so glad we found each other.

we took a ride to the east bay...



i don't know the east bay super well, but i know we met up in oakland, rode through berkeley's campus, and started CLIMBING out of campus until we found the nice grade on grizzly peak blvd that took us up.

this ride was virtually the opposite of the cinderella classic. that was relatively flat and long. this ride was about 25 miles with about 1600+ climbing (got two different numbers from two different methods of recording...which one to trust?).



good news is, looks like this bike and i are ready for marin rides. can't wait to see how she performs out there!

friday fun times: sassy pants

so after the cinderella classic, there was OMGSHOPPING! and beer. we celebrated being done with an $8 fat tire and walked around a bit. cause, in case you haven't heard, women like to buy things. all these women like bikes. you make the connection.



these shorts were part of the fun stuff that i saw. designed by knights of mo' bay, who appears to be local. i particularly appreciated he was designing stuff for the female cyclist of color.

i decided to forgo the shorts, but walked away with a hat, a snap button jersey and shoe covers.

this weekend holds family time and marin century training ride in oakland. time to take the sequoia up some hills!

where are you going this weekend?

Arthursday: Oana Befort

/All images by Oana

How adorable are these prints?
Oana Befort is an artist based in Romania.
Her illustrations and watercolors are so charming.

Upon coming across her work, I became an instant fan.
The very quiet magic details is what gets me, look at the necklance, that dress seam-dotted line and her left hand ring – not to mention the ankle booties.
Melt.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did :)

L I N K S
website: oanabefort.com
Oana's etsy store (super cute prints alert)  

/All images posted with permission of the artist – thanks!