People often wonder how I stay so cool when I leave my bicycle unattended when I go shopping or inside a restaurant for lunch. Most men and women think about theft of my bike or some luggage I’m carrying. I have a few reasons why I choose not to worry and I d’like to tell you about it.

Utter confusion

First of all, it’s not a normal bike. The machine has caused some jaw dropping you only know from cartoons. There are often people stopping at the bicycle. And when it comes to choosing your booty, the bags on the bike and more bags on the trailer work like the stripes of Zebra’s. Once you have a lot of zebras, it is hard to distinguish one from the other. So I count a little bit on the fact that it is totally unclear what bag to choose.

All connected

Of course one of the key elements is not creating the occasion. I always close all bags, mainly for the rain, but secondly to hide everything. And apart from that, all bags are interconnected. So you can’t take just one bags, because you’ll find it pending on another with a small, strong rope. You have to take a knife or undo the knots. Which take time and time is mostly not the ally of the thief.

The health issue

There is always a small risk of something bad happening, but if you worry each time you leave your bike, you’ll do a lot of worrying. And worrying takes on your mood and your health. So I decided only to worry once a theft happens. That’s a lot less worrying and thus a lot healthier.

Stealing a jumbo jet

If someone wants to steal the whole bike, he will firstly have trouble to start the motor unless he knows this specific system. Secondly it’s not as light as Philippe Gilbert’s uphill sprinting device, so a quick gettaway is out of the question. Ok, it’s not like stealing a Jumbo-jet, it obviously has no wings.

Run very very very fast

In the not impossible case that a thief starts running with something of mine, then he’d better be very very fast. I have always been a fast sprinter, and in my rugby club I was thought to tackle in hot pursuit. Your nose probably wouldn’t like the kiss of asphalt. And as I cycle an average of 90km per day, my legs are as ready to race as those F1-tyres under their electric blanket.

Worry less, enjoy more!

Obviously at night I search for other solutions, or I sleep next to my bike, or the bike goes somewhere out of sight.