Bike Stolen....Cadillac Returned!
The Bad News
So, ..... it's just after Christmas, and I'm tooling down Sunrise Boulevard on my new (thrift store) bike, looking forward to my first ride on these fine wheels along our fabulous beach front when
BAM...CRASH....SMOKE...
...... two cars violently collide just a few feet from me and the bike. I'm shook, but jam on the brakes and hop off.
not actual crash!
The rear car was filling with smoke, the woman looked dazed and the kid in the front car (driving Daddy's Lexus) was shrieking!
I open the woman's car door and ask if she can move. She shakes her head yes and I help her out. The kid bolts out of Daddy's Lexus screamin "Oh My God,Oh My God" . It takes a minute, but I get him to chill.
not actual screaming kid
I call 911 .
I feel good about my good deed, tell both drivers that the Cops are on the way, and turn back towards the sidewalk and
POOF ..
...... my new (thrift store) bike was gone ....amazing ..... just like that ....... damn thieves !!!
..........................................................................
The Good News
The next day the story shows up in the Local section of the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in a piece entitled "His Good Deed Comes at a Price". They give me credit for my actions, but then rib me because I had yet to register the bike (even though I was the Commissioner who got the bike registration law passed).
I take it all in stride. The next morning I read my e-mails and there's an e-mail from TREK BIKES ( the bike that Lance Armstrong rides)!
They say they read the story in the paper, felt awful, and were going to replace my bike (free of charge)!
"Wow", some company, I thought. I e-mailed back, and tried to talk them into adding another bike for a needy kid that got theirs stolen too ! (Pushy, I know!) But, to my amazement,they say OK, but we will have to settle for bikes with a maximum price of $600 each! OMG! ...This tale was working out alright.
So, today we got our new bikes.
actual bikes ( or should I say actual cadillacs!)
....... oh, and we got them registered right there at the bike shop!
Proof of Registration!
.. .......... maybe there's hope for mankind after all!
So, ..... it's just after Christmas, and I'm tooling down Sunrise Boulevard on my new (thrift store) bike, looking forward to my first ride on these fine wheels along our fabulous beach front when
BAM...CRASH....SMOKE...
...... two cars violently collide just a few feet from me and the bike. I'm shook, but jam on the brakes and hop off.
not actual crash!
The rear car was filling with smoke, the woman looked dazed and the kid in the front car (driving Daddy's Lexus) was shrieking!
I open the woman's car door and ask if she can move. She shakes her head yes and I help her out. The kid bolts out of Daddy's Lexus screamin "Oh My God,Oh My God" . It takes a minute, but I get him to chill.
not actual screaming kid
I call 911 .
I feel good about my good deed, tell both drivers that the Cops are on the way, and turn back towards the sidewalk and
POOF ..
...... my new (thrift store) bike was gone ....amazing ..... just like that ....... damn thieves !!!
..........................................................................
The Good News
The next day the story shows up in the Local section of the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in a piece entitled "His Good Deed Comes at a Price". They give me credit for my actions, but then rib me because I had yet to register the bike (even though I was the Commissioner who got the bike registration law passed).
I take it all in stride. The next morning I read my e-mails and there's an e-mail from TREK BIKES ( the bike that Lance Armstrong rides)!
They say they read the story in the paper, felt awful, and were going to replace my bike (free of charge)!
"Wow", some company, I thought. I e-mailed back, and tried to talk them into adding another bike for a needy kid that got theirs stolen too ! (Pushy, I know!) But, to my amazement,they say OK, but we will have to settle for bikes with a maximum price of $600 each! OMG! ...This tale was working out alright.
So, today we got our new bikes.
actual bikes ( or should I say actual cadillacs!)
....... oh, and we got them registered right there at the bike shop!
Proof of Registration!
.. .......... maybe there's hope for mankind after all!
Don't you just love stories with happy endings?
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Tim - I have to say, I'm usually one of the most sarcastic, mocking and scoffing blog posters out there. And I love the fact that we have so many good blogs in Broward for me to make snarky comments on.
But I have nothing obnoxious, sarcastic, snarky, or otherwise to say about this thread and the one you put up about Chief Adderly patrolling and checking out his rank and file officers.
You going back to Trek to get them to give a bike to a needy kid actually got me a bit choked up. And the pics of the kid with the new bike really did it for me.
So Bravo to you Tim Smith -- nice to see something genuinely positive and sugary-sweet on a blog for a change.
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What a refreshing ending to a hard luck story Tim... Kudos to Trek bike company, Lauderdale Cyclery for assembling the bikes,and to you for thinking of the donation for a disadvantaged youth!
One can only hope this story will provoke random acts of kindness in others.......
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