Last year my bike was stripped for the third time in C-Ville. Petty theft is rampant in this village. Either three or four years ago the city set up a “ride a yellow bike” program, where there would be 53 yellow bikes located at one of several places (downtown mall, UVA, and a few place in between). This would make it very easy to get around for local shopping trips. The bikes were all gone within one week. Poof. 53 bikes vanished. The city then dropped the program, and a month ago they even removed the bike rack where the yellow bikes would be parked on the downtown mall.

I got a really cheap seat post, and a cheap seat. For the past year I’ve done nothing but walk. Now I’m ready to do some biking. I wonder how long it will be before my bike is stripped once again. I’m buying a really big lock and chain this time. The lock/chain costs more than my bike seat. The next time someone decides to steal part of my bike, they should just steal the chain.