There's been a spate of bicycle thefts in Valle Gran Rey in recent times. Last weekend the robbers were at it again. The above picture shows what was left of our bicycle on Saturday morning. Both wheels were gone as were the handlebars with all brake and gear levers. The frame remained locked to a lamp post in an area which is normally considered safe. To add insult to injury, the bike had been serviced by a local bike store with new tyre fitted just a few days before. When reporting the crime to the Spanish police (Guardia Civil in La Playa) we met a cycling enthusiast who had brought his own bike on the plane with him for his holidays in La Gomera, only to have it brazenly stolen from outside a bar in La Playa where he had spent only a short time inside on Friday night. The complete bike was taken while there were lots of people in the busy lane where it happened and the bike was locked securely, or so he thought. There have been several more reports of bicycles either completely vanishing or of valuable parts being stolen from them in recent times.
While La Gomera is still relatively free of crime and nearly all its inhabitants are very honest and trustworthy, the above incidents are a worrying trend. However, La Gomera is a relatively small island and sooner or later the perpetrators will be caught and brought to justice. The times of only a few years ago when hardly anybody bothered to lock their bicycles and when a bike disappeared it had just been 'borrowed' by someone a bit too lazy to walk from pub A to pub B where it was found intact the following morning, seem to be gone though.
