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When Gaelan Connell’s road bike was stolen, he was really upset. He felt as if he’d lost a piece of himself.

It was a bike he’d had for 10 years: a blue LeMond worth about $1,000.

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It was stolen in January from the combination laundry and bike room of his apartment building near Granville and Broadway.

“I thought I’d call (the Vancouver Police Department) and make a claim,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll find it.”

He had forgotten that he’d already registered the bike with Project 529, the VPD bike registration and recovery program. He’d taken advantage of one of their community events by the Burrard Bridge.

“A few days later, (the VPD) called me. They said: ‘We found your bike.’ I said ‘what’?”

Connell said police had seen and noted someone riding the bike in the Downtown Eastside. Police were able to track the bike to Coquitlam and then drop it off to the clinic where he works as a chiropractor in New Westminster.