LITTLETON, Colo. — About $16,000 worth of bikes were taken from the Chatfield High School parking lot mid-day Monday.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said about $183,000 worth of bikes have been stolen this year alone in unincorporated Jefferson County. The sheriff's office said the most common way people steal bikes is through the garage, gaining access to the remote in a car. The sheriff’s office adds, there were 44 bike thefts reported in unincorporated Jefferson County from Jan. 1 to Aug. 14: 22 in the north, 19 in the south, and three in the mountains.
The bikes at Chatfield High School were stolen just a few days before kids arrived for their first day of school.
“This is a bittersweet moment for teachers across the world, I imagine,” Chatfield English teacher Brock Blume said.
Blume can normally see his mountain bike on his car from his desk, but that changed while he was out at lunch one day.
“People started texting and calling me, ‘someone's getting your bike, what? Is that your bike?’” Blume said.
Security footage caught what happened.
“While we were gone, in a matter of seconds, my really overpriced mountain bike disappeared off the top of my car,” Blume said.
The thieves got away with two teachers' bikes from the school parking lot Monday. Blume's is a 2021 raw carbon Yeti SB150 turquoise T2, build size large, with ERGO grips. The other was a neon yellow/green 2018 Devinci Django Carbon 29 GX Eagle belonging to Louis Goldin, a mountain biking coach at Chatfield High School.
“Normally our campus is well secured by a team of security guards, but without students here yet, they weren't really on that same kind of patrol schedule they would be normally,” Blume said.
It's a big blow financially.
“Nearly $10,000, and I think my coworker's bike was not that far away from that number either,” Blume said. “Yeah it hits a little harder at a time kind of when you're kind of extending yourself in ways that you weren't ready for to get ready. It changes the game a little bit. It definitely changes the feel.”
But with the first day of class Friday, there's still plenty for Brock to look forward to.
“We are excited for kids, but there is a lot of work to be done and it's stressful but it's also, at the end of the tunnel is meeting your students and starting your year,” Blume said. “Which is always a good time.”
