EUGENE, Ore. -- A Virginia man in a bike race across America is stuck in Eugene after someone stole his bike.

Ben Madden stopped at Safeway on Coburg Road for a donut Monday morning.

While he was inside, his unlocked bike with all of his gear, worth $10,000, was stolen.

He is about 250 miles into the 4,300-mile Trans Am Bike Race, which starts in Astoria, Oregon, and ends in Yorktown, Virginia.

Madden was able to track the bike with a GPS provided to racers to an address about half a mile from the store, but the bike was not found at that location.

He has been working closely with Eugene police throughout the day, but they do not have any suspects in the case.

They believe the thief ditched the GPS.

Madden says this race is known to be very difficult. He just didn’t think it would be this difficult this early on.

"It means everything and nothing. I mean, I've got 20,000 miles on that bike, it's a part of me. But I'm in a race, I'm getting back on a bike,” he says. “If I have to go buy a one speed, I'm getting back on a bike and I'm going to finish this 4,000 mile race. I'm just getting started.”

He is going to buy as much gear as he can at REI and hopes to be back on the road to continue the race by Tuesday afternoon.