Shady character or cranky old man?

[Riley Casey]

Part of me is muttering that this is simply my old geezerness showing and part of me is all righteous indignation. 10 AM this morning, locking up at the Takoma Park Metro racks. A young guy with a remarkably large but seemingly empty back pack is boisterously talking on his phone and slowly walking along the line of locked bikes looking them over with what appears to be particular attention to the locking job. WTF?? Did I really just witness a brazen bike thief checking out the merchandise ? Or did I see someone who had recently lost a bike in the area hoping by chance that his had reappeared? Some other completely innocent scenario? He noticed a bus arriving and sprinted off toward it still talking on the phone as I was just about to take out my phone and snap a pic. Almost lost his pants in the process – a bit of comic relief. What to think?

Topic

[aflapr]

I’d trust your instincts – if he seemed to be paying particular attention to the locks, then it is likely he was “shopping.”

[CCrew]

@aflapr 17671 wrote:

I’d trust your instincts – if he seemed to be paying particular attention to the locks, then it is likely he was “shopping.”

+1. I’d say trust your instincts also.

[KS1G]

+2. I’d let the metro police know and give them as much info (location, time, description) as you can. (who knows, it might keep someone else’s bike a little safer this time)

[off2ride]

All thieves are the same. Based from what I’ve seen in the auto industry, thieves will go for the easiest item to steal. IF this individual had the intent to steal, then he was looking for a “bike victim”. If he thought his had recovered his stolen bike, then he should have called the the police to accompany him….if he was smart.

[baiskeli]

I’ve seen the exact same thing – a guy looking a little too much at all the bikes at a rack. I was locking up to take Metro.

When I got back, it looked like there was a front wheel without a bike and another bike without a wheel. I suspect he found a bike locked by the front wheel, and another with a front wheel not locked, and built his own little bike to get somewhere.

[JeffC]

What’s that expression about not trying to walk and chew gum at the same time? I see people do all sorts of absent minded behavior while talking on a cell phone. Think about how often you see regular people who are NOTtalking on cell phones/texting walk into a street or zig zag back and forth or walk into other people/objects? Not that often. Now how often do you see a person on a cell phone/texting do the same? A lot more. It’s why we had the April Fools trick about the app to alert car drives to those pesky peds and bikers.

I’m not saying the guy was innocent but I do observe people engaging in all sort of unusual, absent minded, almost drunk like behaviour while on a cell phone/texting and trying to walk. Maybe he was just absent mindedly staring at the ground while talking?

[Riley Casey]

Maybe, but he was walking backwards, in the grass as opposed to on the sidewalk and bending over to peer at the bikes. He was VERY obviously inspecting the bikes, I was just trying to imagine a plausible ‘honest’ reason for doing so as opposed to thinking the worst.

@JeffC 17701 wrote:

What’s that expression about not trying to walk and chew gum at the same time? I see people do all sorts of absent minded behavior while talking on a cell phone. Think about how often you see regular people who are NOTtalking on cell phones/texting walk into a street or zig zag back and forth or walk into other people/objects? Not that often. Now how often do you see a person on a cell phone/texting do the same? A lot more. It’s why we had the April Fools trick about the app to alert car drives to those pesky peds and bikers.

I’m not saying the guy was innocent but I do observe people engaging in all sort of unusual, absent minded, almost drunk like behaviour while on a cell phone/texting and trying to walk. Maybe he was just absent mindedly staring at the ground while talking?

[baiskeli]

@Riley Casey 17722 wrote:

Maybe, but he was walking backwards, in the grass as opposed to on the sidewalk and bending over to peer at the bikes. He was VERY obviously inspecting the bikes, I was just trying to imagine a plausible ‘honest’ reason for doing so as opposed to thinking the worst.

Well, now that you mention it, I’ve been known to look closely at locked bikes to admire them. Maybe he was just a bike freak like us.

[CCrew]

@baiskeli 17726 wrote:

I’ve been known to look closely at locked bikes to admire them. Maybe he was just a bike freak like us.

Something about this just reeks of TMI

[eminva]

I am loathe to admit it, but I immediately recognized the location of tomorrow’s Washington Post magazine “Second Glance” feature — the bike rack at Dunn Loring metro station. I used to catch the bus there in the evening when I didn’t ride my bike to work, and I would often stare at the bikes on the rack while waiting for the bus, if I had finished whatever reading material I had with me.

I swear I never stole any of them, though.

Liz

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