Shelley Olds, a professional Bay Area cyclist who was just days
away from competing in the U.S. track national championships, awoke
this morning to find her bike and equipment bag stolen from her car
parked in her parent’s driveway.
Shelley Olds, a professional Bay Area cyclist who was just days away from competing in the U.S. track national championships, awoke this morning to find her bike and equipment bag stolen from her car parked in her parent’s driveway.
Olds, who turned 28 today, was visiting her mother on Lodgepole Court in Gilroy. They celebrated her birthday with dinner Monday night, but when she went to her car this morning preparing for a training ride in San Jose, she noticed the specially-built, high-performance racing bicycle worth $3,000 was gone. But it’s the bag of gear she really hopes to find.
“Everything I need to race is in that bag,” Olds said of her clothes, glasses, helmet, shoes, iPod and inhaler. “That’s the stuff that’s going to be hard to replace.”
Olds, who played soccer at Roanoke College in Virginia and has raced competitively for three years with her team based out of Marin, is scheduled to race Thursday at a velodrome in Los Angeles and hopes to eventually compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
But instead of mentally and physically preparing today, she spent the morning canvassing homeless encampments, searching dumpster and talking to people about the theft. She is offering a reward.
Police did get fingerprints from the scene, she said.
She has a spare frame, but is scrambling to find replace parts. Her original bike was specially made to accommodate her small frame and was flown in from Switzerland.
Regardless, Olds said she plans to race Thursday.
“Absolutely,” she said. “It’s just a matter of overcoming this mentally and staying focused.”
Anyone with information may contact Shelley Olds at pr*******@***oo.com or (408) 340-8470.
