A favorite activity for many adolescents in Spirit Lake is taking their motorbikes out on the side roads, trails and state lands in the surrounding area. This was taken away from 12-year-old Lucas Glidden when his bike was stolen two weeks ago. Glidden put his helmet on that Sunday to go ride, only to find his 140cc Kawasaki motorcycle nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s my bike?” Lucas wondered.

The Gliddens had spent time fishing and at the North Idaho State Fair in the days leading up to discovering the bike’s disappearance. The theft was caught on a Ring camera, but so little of the bike was visible that it was hard to tell who did it or where it went. They felt violated and shocked that this had happened.

“I don't even think initially he was even mad; I think he was just confused,” Lucas’s mother, Beth, said. “And then it wasn't ‘til the next day that he broke down and fully realized that it was gone. I sat there and rubbed his back because there was nothing I could say to him.”

Outside of riding his motorbike, Lucas enjoys going fishing and playing first base for his Little League team. But nothing could replace the experience of being on two wheels.

Lucas’s friends, Owen, Hunter and Camden, found the bike after searching for it almost every day. The police were called, a suspect was arrested for grand theft on Sept. 2, and the bike was returned. The thief stripped the motorbike of most of its external parts and plastics, and switched out the handlebars for different ones. The only way Lucas and the Gliddens could confirm the bike was his was the green shocks and plugs.

As word spread about the incident, a GoFundMe page was started to raise funds to repair the bike, with a goal of $500. Six hundred forty dollars has been raised so far.

“I was pretty happy,” Lucas said about finding out people were donating money to help him.

The support the family has received has been overwhelming at times.

“Throughout this whole process, I've had messages people have sent me like, ‘We love your son and we're so sorry that this happened to him,’” Beth said. “I'm like, ‘I don't even know these people!’ How does he know so many people? That's what surprised me the most. Not knowing that that many people knew him, and just how much they cared.”

When asked if he had anything to say to the person who stole his bike, Lucas said it was mostly “words I can’t say.” His mom shared a similar sentiment.

Lucas has had mixed feelings about the motorbike since it was returned, saying it doesn’t feel like his bike anymore with how much has been stripped off it. He’s oscillated between using the money for new parts or buying a used one. Whatever Lucas’s decision ends up being, the donations are helping him return to normalcy.

“I really do want to thank (the Spirit Lake Police Department) for doing that work and making sure that guy did get arrested, and the people that have donated,” Beth said.

    Lucas Glidden on his motorbike before it was stolen.
  

    Lucas Glidden is unsure whether he'll use the GoFundMe money to repair this motorbike or buy a used one.