UArizona disabled athlete's handcycle bike stolen

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A University of Arizona handcycler was forced to go through his last competition without his hand cycling bike after it was stolen.

His custom bike was stolen just outside his apartment door early February near Grant and Park Avenue.

"It's gonna be a long process," Ricardo Rincon Gallardo said. "Like even if I get a new bike, to get it as you know, as comfortable as I had it."

Gallardo is a student athlete at the U of A who has been involved in adaptive sports since his motor cross accident back in 2012, where he broke his back.

Among those sports, hand cycling quickly became his favorite, even bringing him from Mexico City all the way to Tucson to participate in the sport.

A custom hand-cycling bike of course is no cheap instrument, while costing him thousands of dollars, he says to others the bike had very little value.

"I live in a tiny studio apartment so I didn't thought it was necessary to drag it in and drag it back out," Gallardo said. "If I was just gonna be quick and within 10-15 minutes. Then I come out the bike was stolen."

Even after filing a police report and reaching out to local bike and pawn shops, Gallardo has had no luck getting his prized possession back.

"I had a competition last weekend," Gallardo said. "I was able to go... but I borrowed a bike, but of course it wasn't the same you know, my training was impacted."

He hopes in sharing his story someone may see it and return it to him.

"Maybe he didn't know what he was stealing. I would just say like, man...just turn it in," Gallardo said. "You know like the fork in the frame. They're no good for you and you know, they mean the world for me."

The handcycle adaptive bike is a Carbonbike USA, Model RevoX and black with Carbon fiber. If you see it, contact police.

Ricardo Rincon Gallardo