![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_8654.jpg\")
<\/a>Thankfully the bike was RideWrapped. R.I.P. Jason Bayens photo.\nThe midnight wave<\/p>\n
They stopped for fuel in Collingwood. He checked the rack. Everything looked fine. Back on the road. The sky was black. The highway was busy. Cruise contraol was set.<\/p>\n
Then a van eased up beside them, hazards on, people waving hard to the shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately I assumed either we were getting robbed or something was actually wrong,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He stepped out, glanced back and felt his stomach drop. The rack was there. Heather\u2019s bike was there. The Troy was gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart sunk,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The people from the van filled in the rest: the bike had come off, hit the pavement and a transport truck had run it over almost instantly.<\/p>\n
They drove to the next exit, looped back, scanned both sides of the highway in the dark. Nothing. The ditch was steep and deep. Stopping on foot on the 401 was out of the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about looping back one more time and didn\u2019t figure it was worth it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The cab went quiet. Hours of silence to Montreal. One brand-new bike gone somewhere in the dark.<\/p>\n
The expensive lesson<\/p>\n
Back home, Jason pulled the old rack apart and re-created the setup. It all made sense. The clamp and top tube angle let the Troy sneak out instead of locking harder. Compressing the frame to \u201cbe safe\u201d may have turned it into a spring. The microfiber made it slick. No backup strap. No safety line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s essentially my fault,\u201d he says. No excuses. No blaming ghosts or mystery thieves at the On Route.<\/p>\n
Devinci, to their credit, stepped up with their customer assistance program<\/a> even though they didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n His local shop Total Sports in Midland had a new Troy in for him within days. It still hurt, but less than starting from scratch.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty stand up,\u201d he says. \u201cConsidering I had no proof and it was my mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n How a meticulous guy loses a bike at 110<\/p>\n Here is the part that should make every rider pay attention. Jason is not clueless. He\u2019s a firefighter. He teaches rope rescue. He welds, fixes, fabricates. If you need a canoe patched, aluminum welded or a commercial gym built<\/a>, Bayens is your guy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pretty meticulous about that type of stuff,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n That is exactly why this story matters. This was not a loose bungee on a clapped-out hardtail. It was a smart rider stacking small decisions that all leaned the same way until the system failed. Old rack. New school frame shape. Cosmetic protection. No redundancy. Night highway.<\/p>\n It is a reminder that, \u201cit\u2019s always been fine\u201d is not the same as, \u201cit is actually safe.\u201d<\/p>\n