An Ontario man is getting his bike back more than a decade after it was stolen in Vancouver.
Back in 2009, Kenneth Feeney was in town working in construction ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
During his time in Vancouver, he spent a couple of days in hospital. When he was released, he found that his bike, which was his sole means of transportation, was gone.
“I was having a rough time with my health and when it rains, it pours, and now I got my bike stolen,” he recalled.
He summed up his reaction at the time as, “This sucks. I hate this city.”
Feeney went back to Ontario and assumed the bike was gone for good, likely chopped up for parts.
Const. Kevin Regie, who is part of a neighbourhood response team patrolling Granville Street, found the bike in someone’s cart.
“It was the first time in my career that I’ve ever found a bike that’s been gone for so long,” he said.
“It actually took a little bit of work from my team and myself to go back into our old files and to find the stolen report.”
Once the owner was tracked down, officers decided to cover repair costs, which Vancouver’s Reckless Bikes offered at a discount, through their community fund.
“I think what was most important was the story behind this,” Regie said. “It was someone who had obviously gone through a lot and who had suffered a lot of physical and emotional pain.”
The bike is set to be boxed up and shipped out this week.
Feeney is grateful that he’s getting it back, and he thinks it will be quite the conversation piece.
“It is cool for a story,” he said. “I want to have the bike back just so I can tell everyone.”