I have a bittersweet story for you all.  Yesterday I was working on my neighbors bicycles in my garage with the garage partly open(4 bikes in total in plain sight in my garage.  At sunset(still light for 30 more minutes) I walked my neighbors two bikes over to their house which is the other part of the duplex I live in( less than 50 feet away from my garage).  I was away from my garage for less than 1 minute.  And, when I got back my two bicycles were gone and I heard one of them going down the road.  I could hear it because it has a belt that drives a motor attached to the back of it.  It was not turned on, but squeaks loudly.  In a panic I grab my phone keys and jump in my car to try to chase them down.  

At the stop light, I turned right, and apparently they turned left through the building parking lot before the light.  I pulled a loop and ask a bystander if he saw them and he directed me behind the building next door, by that time I was already on the phone with 911 and police were on the way to that building.  While I was waiting I asked another bystander and he said he saw the bikes going elsewhere.  The bicyclist and people behind the building were not the right people, so the police followed me home to write up a police report.  An hour later(830 9pm) I eat some food because I missed dinner because of all of this.  I then get in my car at 9pm to drive around and see if I get lucky.  Within 5 minutes i saw 2 bicycle reflectors speeding up a road lit up by my headlights.  It was my two bicycles.  These two bicycles total about $1500.  So, I keep distance and follow them back to where they live a couple miles away.  I follow them into an alley of some ghetto apartments.  The police show up in a few minutes and we are searching the complexes for my bikes.  The police found one in the bushes, and on the other side of the building I find the other across the alley from a hispanic gangster party.  The alley was very active with shady hispanic men.  I walked up the alley with a female police officer following me in her car with lights on.  I peek in and around all throughout these people and spot my bike hiding in between the buildings.  Can you say bittersweet victory?  The police officers told me this location is under narcotics surveillance and it is a place where human trafficking occurs. 

This was on saturday night, my bikes stolen from right under my nose.  I saw them riding off and escape into the sunset.  An hour later, I am tailing them as they break traffic laws flying down the streets.  And, I got them!  I got both my bicycles back.  One was an expensive mountain bike with slick tires on it for street riding.  The other is an expensive mountain bike wit slicks and a 4 stroke belt driven motor.  Both of which are useful and important to me.

That night, I saw a car two houses up that I suspected was waiting for me to disappear for a moment so they could walk up and steal them.  One officer(who happened to be mocking me all night long despite my victory, as if I have no right to dial 911 in such a situation) told me that the car has nothing to do with it and this was a random opportunity theft.  Well, I went to the apartments today where the bicycles were retrieved the night before, and lo and behold, that car outside my house was parked outside of this apartment.  I got photos and licence plate.  And, I am now in the process of getting surveillance video from the nearby businesses where I first spotted these bicycles riding.  I think they hid in the bushes/lot with all these dumpsters for an hour or so until it got dark and late.  And, I caught them just in time.  

The moral of the story is lock you bicycles to their rims even when in the garage.  Install all of the traffic law reflectors for night riding(it made it so easy to spot/follow them.  I could see them from 200 yards away with ease.  Don't rely(entirely) on the police to retrieve you stolen goods.  I had to convince them to follow me down the alley, because they were not going to even though I insisted that my bike was in that alley.  Two of the officers where quite helpful, and helped me get the job done.  I now want to get images of these guys and get them arrested.  One of my neighbors says that the owner of the car hangs out at a house a few houses up from me.  So, I have a lot of ways to get them if I get some photos.  Me identifying the car may be enough.  And, the police officers car was facing the car, so they may have it on video.    

The police told me about the drug and human trafficking bit after all was said and done.  They told me this after I had retrieved my bicycle.  The moral of the story is accurate, because the police may or may not go and search for your stolen goods out of some misplaced protocols which I experienced from them on multiple occasions(which I wont mention here).  I would not have walked down the alley without the police officer(s).  

And, drugs and trafficking is occurring in cities all over country/world, even in pleasant small cities similar to mine.  I ride my bicycle by these apartments all the time and I would never have suspected it.  They hide these places well.  It is across the street from the elementary school I attended.  But, when it is past curfew on a Saturday night, it becomes a little different.  

If you want to be a coward and let illegals walk all over you, that's your decision, which I will have nothing to do with.  But, I like it when justice is served.  And, in this case it was.  And, the people were not blocking the alley, they were off to the side of the alley in the car lots. 

Thanks for sharing, PG, and great you got your bikes back! Not a pleasant experience, but not with its own satisfaction. Stay safe now...