Fwd: My (lost and found ) KTM530[bike] the saga..

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Qataris are really nice people.. ahaha..

 

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Floden, Mark Date: Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 8:59 AM

I promised Gaby I would post something about the episode of my lost 2010 KTM530EXC.

 

For those who are interested here is the story.

 

On Jan 14th I went for my usual early morning ride from Sealine, thru Al Udaid, down to the bottom of the inland sea on my 530. Beautiful ride, great dunes, nice fresh weather etc it was the makings of a perfect morning and the perfect way to start a weekend.  My son had a baseball game at 9:30 am and I needed to be back for that so I was on a strict timeline to get in the 80-90km round trip. I was pretty much on schedule and almost ¾ of the way through the ride and on the home stretch when I heard a clunk that made me feel kind of sick. When I finished swearing and the bike came to a halt I could see what happened.

 

The sprocket bolts had come off the hub, well four of them had, two stayed on and ripped out holes out of the hub. I had tools with me and a spare set of sprocket bolts but since the hub was damaged I thought, “forget it” I’ll fix it at home. So I left my helmet and Googles on the bike and headed toward the main track that runs down from Sealine to the inland sea. I hid my riding protective gear by a clump of camel grass on the way.

 

As I got near to the main track I heard some bikes and sure enough, there was Mick and Garret and Rico coming the other way I told them what happened and they agreed to swing by me on their way back in case I couldn’t get a ride.  I finally got a ride back to Sealine with some nice Iranian chaps and picked up my SUV and trailer and headed back to where I left the bike, using GPS to navigate.  First I picked up my gear which was stashed in a separate location, then I went to the coordinates where I left the bike. 

 

When I got to the place I couldn’t see the bike, so I thought, maybe my gps has a bug or something. I called Rico and Garret and they told me they had seen my bike and I must be lost, they would come down and show me where it was. So I drove car and trailer to the top of the dune so I could see better. I found my bike track coming down the dune and followed it down to where it stopped. Sure enough there it was, I knew it was my track because of my unique from tire pattern. I could see the bike tracks but also some big sand tire (SUV or pickup) that had reversed to where my bike tracks ended . There were also footprints in the sand indicating two people had grappled with the bike. It was a pickup for sure as there were no tread marks for a trailer.

 

At this point I was devastated, I called Rico and told him and he and Garrett went along to the police post at the entrance to the inland sea. We talked to them but not much we could do. I went back to Sealine and Garrett called the police. Finally I went to Mesaid and made a complete police report.

 

The next day I made a flyer offering a reward and including lots of pictures of the bike and went down to Sealine and passed this to people down there. I did the same thing the following week.

 

So after a few weeks I was starting to give up on the bike, I spent one weekend in Dubai and another doing baseball and kid stuff and was not in the desert for a while. I was going to get another bike and just try to absorb the hit the best way I could.

 

I had delivered the flyers that I had made to all the bike shops that I knew of including Future bike , Extreme bike, Dream bike, Honda, Suzuki, KTM etc. I knew this was working because my neighbor saw on of the flyers at Future bike. I had also gone down to the Environment Protection Agency at the very bottom of the Inland sea where I discussed with the officers there over a very nice lunch of Makbous. Very hospitable as we know. I even stumbled into one the Sheikhs, campsite (I thought it was a government setup because of the big logo). He was also very hospitable.

 

So I thought the bike was gone. Then on Feb 9, I got a call from Saleem at KTM service.” I think I know where your bike is” he says. I had given them a flyer and told them to look out for someone looking for a new hub for a KTM530. Sure enough, he had a customer who wanted to repair a 530.  He told Saleem that he had found the bike discarded in the desert and wanted to fix it, and if he could find the right owner then he would return it.  Said customer was not very schooled in KTM models. When Saleem asked him which model of KTM it was the guy said, the one with the big white tank.. lol

 

A few days later the bike was in the shop at KTM (AlFardan service).  Saleem calls me up and asks me to bring some positive identification of the bike. I bring the Istimara as the bike is registered and sure enough after cross referencing chassis number they declare the bike to be mine. A few days later the finder comes in we have a nice chat and he brings my helmet and goggles in to the shop.

 

The bike is now at my home awaiting a new wheel.  All thanks to Saleem and at Al Fardan.. J. Thanks also to Rico and Garret for helping me on the fateful day.

 

So morals of the story:

 

·         Don’t be an idiot who rides in the desert alone.

·         If your bike breaks in the desert don’t leave it unless you absolutely have to, try to repair it there or at least make it less obvious (camouflage or something). The police told me that down at Al Udaid all kinds of stuff can go missing, even cars.

·         If you find a bike and want to return it to its owner the service shops can help with that.

·         Be thankful you live in Qatar, in a lot of places the bike never would have come back..

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark FlodenChemistry Instructor

College of the North Atlantic – QatarBuilding 7, Room 210 BP.O. Box 24449

Doha, Qatardesk +974 495 2272

fax +974 495 2925

mobile +974 605 6632mark.floden@...

 

 

 

 

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Warm blessings & peace,

 

Champs Ulysses Cabinatan | yulezest143@...| Kingdom of $plendor and Abundance

A $mile increases endorphins in the brain and helps heal anything. | Love loves to thank love. | Do you believe in life after birth? | If you'll look for gold, you'll find gold. If you'll look for love, you'll find love. |  Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't.

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Warm blessings & peace,

 

Champs Ulysses Cabinatan | yulezest143@...| Kingdom of $plendor and Abundance

A $mile increases endorphins in the brain and helps heal anything. | Love loves to thank love. | Do you believe in life after birth? | If you'll look for gold, you'll find gold. If you'll look for love, you'll find love. |  Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't.

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my 530.docx