A round-the-world cyclist from Scotland has had his bike stolen before even crossing the English Channel, with the crime taking place between Sunday night and Monday morning in Southwark, London.
Josh Quigley – who, you may remember, was fined £75 by in February for riding his bike in Bedford town centre – abandoned a previous attempt to ride around the world in 2016, having completed 10,000 miles.
> Round-the-world cyclist fined for riding his bike through Bedford town centre
The 24-year-old, a suicide survivor who now campaigns on mental health issues and hopes to inspire others through his travels, set off last week from Edinburgh on his sixth attempt to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle.
But yesterday morning he discovered that his bike had been stolen from outside St Christopher’s Inn, the hostel on London’s Borough High Street where he had spent the night.
In a video posted to Twitter, he explained that normally he would take his bike inside with him on overnight stops, but staff at the hostel told him he had to leave it outside.
MY BIKE HAS BEEN STOLEN
It was chained with a padlock outside Costa Coffee on Borough High Street in London.
I remain hopeful, but low chance of getting it back.
My focus now is on trying to get another bike and continue this challenge.
This won’t stop me! pic.twitter.com/B14VlbvN9N
— Josh Quigley (@JoshQuigley92) April 22, 2019
He also tweeted about the theft to the London-based Twitter account @stolenride, which tries to reunite owners with their bikes.
I’m currently attempting a round the world cycle and my bike was stolen in London.
It was chained outside Costa Coffee / Sainsbury’s on Borough High Street.
I’ve cycled over 15,000 miles through 16 countries on it.
Any help getting it back is appreciated pic.twitter.com/abM6W93bw5
— Josh Quigley (@JoshQuigley92) April 21, 2019
In a separate post, Quigley, who aims to visit 60 countries and ride 50,000 miles over the next five years, wrote: “Goodbye my friend.
“When I first met you I wasn’t doing too good.
“We went on a journey.
“You saved my life and helped me believe in myself I won’t get to finish with you, but I will finish.
“To whoever has you now, I hope you give to them what you gave to me.
“Life.”
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.