ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A custom-made mountain bike belonging to a double-amputee war veteran has been recovered after being reported stolen in Anchorage, but four other bikes remained missing, police said Wednesday.
The bike belonging to Army Staff Sgt. Matt DeWitt was one of five bikes — together valued in the tens of thousands of dollars — reported stolen Tuesday by the nonprofit Ride 2 Recovery, the Anchorage Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/138Wj03 ). The group had organized the trip to Alaska for wounded war veterans training for a race.
The 26-person group arrived Sunday and Monday to begin the trip, sponsored by the Tatitlek Corp.
DeWitt said the group spent Monday riding trails at Kincaid Park. That night, the bikes were locked in a U-Haul trailer in a downtown hotel parking lot, said Tiffini Skuce of Ride 2 Recovery. The bikes were last seen around midnight, and when riders began unloading the bikes the next morning, they noticed the lock and some of the bikes gone.
"It's heartbreaking because it's injured veterans who are trying to carry on and better themselves and then their bikes are gone," she said.
Participants in the program are mostly veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with some suffering from traumatic physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries, she said.
Skuce said the group filed a police report. Rentals temporarily replaced other bikes so riders could still train, but they're not as nice as the ultra-light, high-end bikes belonging to the riders, she said.
DeWitt, who is training for a long-distance, high-altitude race in Colorado, isn't able to ride a rental.
