This is a story of love, loss and restoration.
This is a story about a man and his bicycle.
Tracy Bowman, 42, had ridden bicycles since he was a child. He would drag home bikes other people put out with trash.
A dozen years ago, Bowman walked into a bike shop in Red Lion and saw a shiny new Schwinn. It was love at first sight.
The $1,000 price tag was steep for Bowman, a restaurant cook, but it was on sale and he had to have it.
He rode the bike, a Schwinn S-20 full-suspension mountain bike, the 30-miles from Red Lion, in York County, to his job at Willow Valley daily.
After moving to a Lancaster apartment, he kept the bike locked on a second-story balcony. Very early one morning, he came out and the bike was gone.
He couldn’t bring himself to get another one. Another bike just wouldn’t have been the same, he said.
“I’ve been offered bikes and turned them down,” Bowman said. “Nothing is like the bike you had.”
For 10 years, Bowman walked to work. Now the breakfast cook at the Perkins restaurant on Lincoln Highway East, he would usually leave home at 4 a.m. to be at work by 5:30 a.m. Occasionally, he would take the bus. For a period, he owned a car. But mostly, he walked.
He was walking down West King Street Monday, near Manor Street, when his eye caught something familiar. It was his bike, out in front of a house, along the sidewalk.
“It was like somebody just took it out of the yard and put it there,” he said.
It was changed. There were cobwebs. The orange metallic paint was more dull. The rear tire was flat. The seat had been changed and the accessories had been removed. But Bowman knew it was his bike.
The wheels, he said, were unmistakable.
“There aren’t another pair like them.”
The Spin titanium three-spoke rims were an upgrade he had made to the bike. The rims alone were probably worth $500, he said.
Bowman didn’t want to be accused of stealing the bike, so he restrained himself and didn’t touch it. He quickly walked to his home, near North Plum Street, and dug out his old paperwork.
With his receipt and serial number, he went back prepared to confront anyone who would question him.
“There wasn’t anyone there to confront, so I just took it,” Bowman said.
He didn’t call the police, he said. He tried that two years before.
The only time he had spotted the bike, he was in Farnum Park along South Water Street when someone rode past on it. He immediately called the police, but the officers wouldn’t stop the rider or hold the bike because they had no record of it having been stolen.
Bowman said he filed a theft report but the record had been lost.
On Tuesday, he had it at Tom Podlesny’s Cycle Circle bike shop on North Plum Street. Bowman had scrounged a pair of water bottle cages, pedals and an old saddle, but the bike needed work. Bowman guessed he would be spending $100 or more to get it road-worthy.
Before it was stolen, Bowman said he would take long rides out in the countryside. He’s looking forward to doing that again.
“After Tom’s done with it, I’ll be back to the 30, 40, 50-miles of riding,” he said.
He’s delighted to have it back. “I feel like a little kid with a new bike,” he said. “I feel like I’m in another world.”
Turning to Podlesny, Bowman said: “I’m going to get going. I’m going to go ride my bike.”
