I was up at 5am. It’s a little later than I usually wake up, but I wasn’t worried about being late. I would just cut my Internet reading a bit and I would get to work just fine. At about 5:30 am, Sid went nuts barking at the door. I looked out and I immediately noticed that Mike’s bike was gone. I didn’t see anyone on the porch or along the road, but it was really dark out there and I hadn’t turned off the light inside to help look out there. I woke up Mike, hoping that maybe he had moved his bike into the backyard and I didn’t notice. He hadn’t.

The thief didn’t cut off the lock. The lock was nowhere to be seen, so he must have cracked the combination. I used to be a master at cracking combination locks, but this one seemed secure to me when I bought it in the store. It was a combination I could remember and it was compact. I thought it was the perfect lock. I guess the thief thought it was the perfect lock for him, too.

While we checked the street, Mike noticed a bike left on our lawn. For a moment, I was excited, thinking that Sid had scared away the thief and he had left Mike’s bike on the lawn. Unfortunately, it was a different bike. Instead of Mike’s immaculate Gary Fisher, a beat up Giant Boulder SE with shocks was lying on our grass. It was scratched and the name Bor Yueh was engraved on the rack on the back.

I felt sorry for Bor Yueh. His bike was stolen long ago and now it had been discarded in our front yard in exchange for our bike. I looked the name up in the phone book. There was no one in Salt Lake City with the last name Yueh. Then I Googled the name. Apparently Bor Yueh is not the victim of a crime. It’s a huge company that makes racks for mountain bikes. I felt foolish for not recognizing the name.

So, we have a bike in our possession that is not ours. Not only was our bike stolen, we no longer feel safe in our home. The kind of desperate person who would crack a lock and steal something was on our porch last night. Sid would have eaten the guy alive if I had let him out, but that doesn’t really make me feel safer. It just makes me worry about Sid eating people alive.

Ironically, the bike that the thief left was a little better overall compared to the one that was stolen. It looks like it’s beat to hell, but it has shocks. The chain is dirty, but the crank shaft is in good repair. The bike is even a better fit for Mike’s height. It was worth about the same as the Gary Fisher when it was new. Mike doesn’t want to keep it, though. I suspect that every time he looks at it, it will remind him of the peace of mind that we lost yesterday morning.