July 10, 2019 (Ottawa, Ontario) – We had our house broken into last night. My husband Grahame and I have been competitive cyclists in road, CX, TT, and XC MTB since we were teenagers. We now have young children who teeter around on Norco kick bikes. These thieves managed to go to great lengths and take not one, not 2, but 3 of our competition bicycles in the night after invading our home through our back door. They have left behind an unlocked beach cruiser on the back lawn and an old Specialized CX Ui2 that my husband still loves. It appears they were very specifically looking for the 3 bikes we travel with and load and unload on the weekends when we go to races.

We are always cautious of Strava locating so that we cannot be attached to a single destination and take great care to protect our bikes with heavy duty locks, placing them inside of vehicles, and bringing them inside. To say we feel absolutely defeated is an understatement.

Grahame rides every day and races all over Ontario, Canada, and the US even winning the occasional title or race. To lose all 3 of his racing bikes not only kills his season but is breaking our hearts and finances.

Special notes on insurance policies put a maximum on what can be claimed in these cases and while more than $20,000 was stolen from our home not including damages, we are only offered $1,000 towards each piece. We urge everyone with these prized possessions to check their insurance policies and to insure them separately if needed.

As the rise in bike theft continues, ensuring cyclists are making note of their serial numbers is becoming key. Something we knew but never thought we’d have to use. Now we sit in utter disbelief as our world is turned upside down; contemplating pre-registered races and lodging arrangements for the rest of the year, local memberships, and holidays we were looking forward to.

We continue to watch every online forum for sightings and listings of these pieces (one of which was a Garneau Dream Factory paint job and hard to miss), contacting our local shops and our cycling community just wishing we had better prepared for this and that we could have maybe prevented it.

Here is Grahame’s statement on it all:

I feel silly writing this. The fact is, that we were simply the victims of property theft. They’re just pieces of plastic on wheels but it feels like more than bikes were stolen.

Cycling plays a big role in our family, it’s how my wife and I met, bikes were a theme at our wedding, and our son now lives to ride his little strider bike.

Three bikes were taken from us. My road bike, mountain bike, and time trial bike. A couple years ago my wife and I got matching Garneau road bikes. Mine custom painted bright green and hers bright pink.

We have a two-year-old son, and another baby on the way, my wife bought me the Rocky Mountain MTB so that as our children stated to ride, we could all enjoy riding as a family.

On the Cervelo time trial bike I had won two Master A Time Trial Championships.

The loss of these bikes represents a loss of money. But more valuable is the joy that these bikes brought to our family. It makes me sad to know that they are gone.

Pls contact Barbara.Anne.Hope@gmail.com / (905) 251-4540 with any information on these stolen bikes.