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This article was published 22/7/2012 (2990 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SUPPLIED PHOTO ‘I was on such a high... it was like getting kicked in the stomach’ Linda Markham, seen above with her son, Josh, during cycling trip across Europe

If you're heading to St. Boniface Hospital to celebrate the arrival of a baby in the family, perhaps it's best to go by motorized methods rather than pedal power.

Bikes, it seems, go missing there, during even the most joyous of events.

On Thursday at around 8 a.m., Linda Markham locked up her mountain bike in the racks in front of the glass-enclosed atrium near the hospital's front entrance and went inside to be with her pregnant daughter.

During a quick check at 11:30 a.m., the bike was still there.

At 1 p.m., baby Colin -- Markham's fourth grandchild -- was born.

By 3 p.m., her Schwinn bike with expensive components, valued at about $1,000, was gone.

"I was on such a high. Then I went out and my bike's been stolen," said Markham. "It was like getting kicked in the stomach.

"I haven't even told anyone because I didn't want to cast a shadow over the event. It's disappointing."

And rather familiar, too.

Markham said she remembered a story in the Free Press back in the spring about a man whose bicycle was swiped from the same racks while he was visiting his newborn daughter.

Jacques Marcoux's 2001 Devinci Podium, purchased for $1,600, was stolen in March when someone used an electric grinder to bust the U-Lock securing his bike.

On Thursday, Markham used a cable lock she wound around the front wheel, the bike frame and the rack. When she went out to check on her bike in the afternoon, even the lock was gone.

"I really felt uneasy about leaving it there, but I'm a commuter," she said. "I was concerned about my daughter and I wanted to be there."

Markham can't figure out how thieves pull off these heists in such a highly visible, high-traffic area.

And she isn't too impressed with hospital security, either.

"I went to talk to them and they said it's an ongoing problem, but they didn't seem all that concerned," said Markham.

"My daughter had such a great experience with staff at the hospital, so I don't want to be too critical. But it's disappointing. There should be signs up, warning people that thefts happen all the time."

A spokeswoman with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority acknowledged an interview request from the Free Press on Sunday afternoon, but a response wasn't likely to come before press time, she said.

While the loss of the bike is covered under her home insurance policy, Markham isn't filing a claim because she'd have to pay the $500 deductible and then forego a $135 credit for the next three straight years.

But the bike means a lot more to her than just its monetary value, anyway -- a lot of memories were created aboard those two wheels.

Last September, Markham cycled across Europe -- from Amsterdam to Istanbul -- with her son, Josh, who spent "many hours rebuilding the bike to make it tour worthy.

"I put on more than 3,800 kilometres that trip," she said.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca