An Ontario man who is cycling across Canada from coast to coast for a vacation had his bike stolen after arriving in Regina last week.
Forty-one-year-old Peter Ledingham started his journey in Vancouver at the end of May with a plan to see many different cities across the country.
“Maybe it’s more than a vacation,” Ledingham laughed.
“I did actually leave my job.”
The Sudbury native said he chose to travel by bicycle to make his trip more intimate. He was making his way east when he arrived in the Queen City on July 21, just in time to see the Saskatchewan Roughriders win.
“You know they’re closing down the stadium, they hadn’t won in a long time, their first victory, they played great and I got to see it all on my journey,” Ledingham recounted, saying that was also his first CFL game.
That night, Ledingham says he went back to his hostel in the city and locked up his bike. In the morning, it was nowhere to be seen.
“I came out the front door and it was gone,” he said.
Fred Vandelinden, owner of the Regina-based bike shop, Dutch Cycle, said this isn’t unusual.
“It’s very common,” Vandelinden said.
“It probably happens every day here, everyday.
As for Ledingham, he immediately filed a police report and also put an ad for the bike up on Kijiji, but still nothing has shown up. According to Ledingham, he’s owned the bike for more than two decades.
“My dad bought it for me as a teenager,” he said.
Ledingham said having his bike stolen won’t ruin his image of Regina, but he is hoping to have it returned so he can continue making memories.
“It sort of becomes more and more special with every kilometre you put on the thing, so it really is important to me.”