I Got My Stolen Bike Back In The Most Unbelievable Way!

It is time, my friends, for the long-awaited update about my stolen bikes, and boy, do I have a good story for you. ♪♪ I will quickly catch you up if you haven't been part of all the action. I made two other videos explaining what's going on. I'll link them in the description below. But essentially, on Christmas Day 2017, I came home after an amazing day with my family, celebrating lots of love and smiles and, you know, way too much food. I get home, my lock is cut, my two bikes are gone. Ehhhh! Oh, I'm so bummed out, I'm so pissed. It kind of ruins my day. And I don't think I'm ever gonna see these bikes again because I've had many bikes stolen and usually you never see them again. But a week later, New Year's Day, I got a tip from some of my Facebook friends that says, hey, this guy has your bikes and he's selling them on a site called OfferUp. I look on the site, boom, of course, those are my bikes. I'm like, oh yeah, we've got them now. So then I call the police. I'm like, hey, here he is, go get him. And they're like, well, you know, since it's not a life-threatening situation, it's not priority. And I'm like, but he's right there, go get him. And then I think, well, maybe I should set up a sting myself and just go steal it back. Ahhhh! And they say, no, we will take care of it. That could be dangerous. And I was like, okay. And it's just killing me. It's killing me because I can see my bikes online. This guy is selling them. But about a few days after I call the cops, so this is about 10 days after the incident, I get an email from somebody who I don't even know, who I've not met in real life. We had communicated through social media a little bit, but this woman sends me an email and says, brother, I got your bike back. And I was like, what? What do you mean you got my bike back? And I'm just gonna let her tell the story. But essentially this woman, who I don't even know really, went and stole my bike back. When he was selling them in my area, I was like, this is stupid. I'm just gonna give this a week and see what happens. And then if nothing happens over the week with whatever else needs to happen with the authorities and stuff, then I'm just going for it. And he's gonna get his bike back. So you just took justice into your own hands. You said, screw it. I'm gonna go get Ryan's bike back. Tell me how the encounter went. I contacted him online, and I had asked to meet at a local park across from the police station, primarily because I knew I'd be safe, right? Yeah. You're pretty stupid if you're gonna pull something crazy in front of a police station. So I was cool with that meeting location, and that was something that made me comfortable in having the meeting. Yeah. So I was in the park waiting for him, and he rode up and parked his car, and I watched him pull the bike off his back rack and back. And he rode the bike over to me, first of all. What a punk ass. So arrogant, right? So as you're riding the bike over, I'm kind of doing a full assessment of the bike. Like, okay, what's on it? What am I looking for that I know was Ryan's? And it was hard to see at the angle that he was riding over to me, but once he got over to me and got off the bike, I took a really good look at it, kind of turned it around, and messed around with it for a little bit. So you played along as if you were gonna buy this bike. That's what he thought, right? 100%, yes. Then he says to me, and this is where I almost lost my mind, it just made me crazy angry at this point, but he says to me, he had never seen gears on a bike like this before, because you know how the- It was a special new Vinci gear hub, yeah. Exactly. And I'm like, are you serious? Like, a bike you own, you don't know how it works. Yeah. Because it's not your bike. Exactly, punk. So I somehow managed to keep my cool, because normally I would just be like, what the hell? Did you ever at any point want to punch him in the face or kick him in the balls? Because that's what I would have wanted you to do. As soon as he was on the bike, riding it over to me, I'm like, dude, this guy deserves everything that's coming to him. But so in the midst of trying to find my words and not come off as an insane, crazy person, he asked me, do you want to take the bike for a spin and see if you like it? I'm like, okay, perfect opportunity. Like, thank you for just bailing me out of my anger. And so I hop on the bike and I took a small loop around the park. And at that point in time, that's when I really got a chance to kind of take a look at everything that was on the bike. The bell that you had on the left-hand handlebar, that you had put on the bike in a YouTube video. Oh yeah. The bell was still there. He's such a dumbass. The bell was still there. Of all of the modifications that you make to the bike, like the bell is still on it. And I like rang it for myself just to know like, yep, that's the one. That's the one. This is the sound of freedom. Nothing is more satisfying than being like, all right, this is my buddy's bike. I know it's my buddy's bike and I'm taking it back. And you just looked him in the face and said that? Yep. You will soon find out. You're a hero. You are a wonder woman. I couldn't be happier that it worked out. And that for me too, I was able to identify like, this is definitely his bike. It's not some other bike by coincidence. There aren't many of these bikes in Colorado. Right. And like having that in the back of my mind in the first place, it was super helpful. Same with like the Trek 1120. It's a super rare bike, right? So you just looked him in the face, told him this is my buddy's bike and I'm taking it and you just rode away from him. Yep. And he didn't do anything to just look dumbfounded or what? Away and keep a balance on it. Honestly, if it had been my bike personally, I would have chased down anybody that's trying to take something from me and just like tackle them, right? So. So he knew he was busted and he just kind of like, all right. He probably was. His car popped away. Wow. Damn, that is a crazy story. And you know, the best part about all this is we had never met in real life. We had chatted a little bit through social media and because of all this, I got to take you out for a burrito. Yeah, which was epic. That was so awesome. And I owe you a lot more than that one burrito. No, it's totally been awesome to really kind of circle back on, I'm just good people finding their way to each other. Yeah. More or less, right? Totally. And supporting each other. So I think that's a really cool thing for me and that's why I do what I do. And that wasn't a driving force in getting your bike back. It was really just like, I really like Ryan and I want him to have his equipment back. Like, this is your lifestyle. This is what you do. It's important to me for you to continue to do what you do and share your energy and inspiration with everyone else. Well, I really appreciate it. I can't thank you enough. This story will be one of my top 10 stories where I share around campfires for the rest of my life. And then this woman went and stole my bike back. Is that not the coolest story in the world? It just puts a huge smile on my face and I never thought in a million years that I would get one of these bikes back, especially not like that. And it just goes to show the power of social media. When I posted about my stolen bikes on Christmas day, people got fired up. All my Facebook friends and YouTubers and Instagrammers and they started scouring the internet, searching sites like Craigslist, looking for my bikes. And the original tip I got from another anonymous person that I didn't even know. They weren't one of my friends. And it was really heartwarming to see the support I had from people around me. And we got one of the bikes back, not both of them back, but one. He had already sold the other bike. Now the question is, you know, are the cops still going to investigate this? And they say they are. I would love for this guy to get in trouble. He obviously is a serial thief. And that's kind of where it is right now. One bike back and the thief is still out there. But they say, the police say that they're on it. And I hope that he gets in trouble. And if he doesn't, man, you know, karma's going to bite his ass. So what are some takeaways about this? What can I do better? Well, I need to lock my bikes better. I need to have better locks. There's also some sites online called bikeindex.com, I think, where you can register your bike. And it's a nationwide network of people that have registered their bikes. And so if they do get stolen, they can quickly find them. In the same situation like me, if somebody sells a stolen bike, they can look up the serial number, boom, nope, stolen bike, give it back to the original owner. And it was just, it was crazy circumstances because those bikes usually aren't outside. They're usually inside. But on a Christmas day, I had a big party. I wanted to make room in my house for the party. So I brought the bikes out. And when you're caught off guard like that, when you get a little too comfortable, that's when stuff happens. And I didn't think in a million years somebody would actually steal from me on Christmas day, but it happened. And it can happen to you. So be really careful with the stuff that you love, not just bikes. If you really, truly worked your ass off or something and spent your hard-earned money on it, you might have to just sleep with it in your bed every night to make sure that it's safe because getting something stolen is really, it sucks, it's horrible. It's a total invasion of privacy and it just makes you feel icky and gross and all those other things. So thank you all for following this entire saga. I'm happy with what has happened. I'm happy with the one bike coming back. I'm happy with this woman going and just showing this guys who's boss. I'll continue riding my bike because that's who I am. I don't have a car, so I need to keep riding my bike. So thank you all. Like and subscribe and stay tuned for more adventure videos. Usually I'm not sitting here making videos. That's kind of boring. I'm usually out and exploring this beautiful planet. So go team, go team Doozer. ♪♪♪