Californian tourist relieved after Victoria police recover his stolen $11K bicycle
Bike stolen from locked rack on Cole Nagler's van on busy downtown street Wednesday evening
One tourist's gloomy perception of Victoria was improved after police recovered his $11,000 mountain bike the day after it was stolen from a busy downtown street.
Cole Nagler, a school teacher from California, is on a summer road trip with his wife. The couple travelled through Utah, Wyoming and Montana before they headed up through the Rockies, across B.C. and finally Vancouver Island.
They arrived in Victoria at 5:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday evening.
"We parked on Government Street [in downtown Victoria] thinking it was a real busy street where our van would be safe. We had four bikes on the back [rack] and our huge surfboards up there," he explained.
While the couple walked around and ate dinner, someone made off with one of the bikes on the rack — a Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt bike valued at $11,000.
I was thinking I'd never come back to Victoria- Tourist Cole Nagler
"The Kryptonite cable [a type of bike lock] that was holding all our bikes was cut and this one bike — probably the most valuable bike on the rack — was taken," Nagler said, describing the scene when he returned to the car.
Distraught, the couple phoned the police and spread the word on social media.
"I was pretty frustrated. When we were trying to fall asleep at night, I was thinking I'd never come back to Victoria," he said.
Even though the couple had initially planned to leave Victoria early the next morning to head back south, the Victoria Police Department told the couple to stay put.
At 10:45 a.m., police were able to recover the bike.
The police had executed a search warrant in a Victoria home where they were able to recover Nagler's bike — along with a number of other stolen bikes.
Nagler was immensely relieved.
"I have my baby back," he beamed.
As for whether he'll be returning to the Garden City any time soon, Nagler was gracious.
"Now that the bike has been recovered and it's back, I look forward to returning and riding around this town a lot more."
With files from Megan Thomas