I am an avid bicyclist. I ride for pleasure, I ride for transportation, I ride for recreation. In the town where I live and ride, bicycle theft is a serious problem. In 2009, I had purchased a beautiful, new, chrome Gary Fisher cross bike as my daily ride to and from class at the local state college. That bike was so well suited to my body and riding style, and I loved it dearly.

I still remember the day I came out of class to the bike rack and couldn’t find my ride. In rapid order I went through the clichéd ordered list of emotions of grief and loss. That was a very hard and trying week for me.

It wasn’t my fault that my bike was stolen; the responsibility for that laid entirely in the lap of the asshat who cut the cable lock and rode away with my bike. At the same time, I came to learn my actions had made the malfeasance significantly easier. I had exercised some lousy judgement; I had used a cable lock to “secure” something valuable to me, and some cretin acted fast to take advantage of my ignorance and naiveté. I firmly resolved that my next bike would be protected by a sturdy U-lock. I knew that was no guarantee against a repeat theft, but I knew it would greatly reduce the odds of it happening again. I wasn’t to blame, but I could help lower the chance of a repeat occurrence.

This is everything I have to say about the topic of victim blaming.