Three editors, three years, three bikes stolen.

Look at it this way: the editors at the Optimist are cursed. Not only do we have to deal with all things news-related at ACU, but we have to live in constant threat of having our bikes stolen.

Maybe bike thieves are targeting us editors, but what if they are?

Victim 1: Josh Garcia.

Bike stolen during his employment as managing editor during his sophomore year at ACU.

Time has diluted the specific details, but associates recall his lock being cut.

Coincidentally, or not, the theft occurred after he wrote two stories on bike thefts.

Victim 2: Madeline Orr.

While she was not technically at the Optimist at the time, Orr had been managing editor the previous semester and continued writing for the paper while interning in Austin.

In another bolt-cut situation, Orr watched as history repeated itself.

Perhaps she condemned me to this fate by writing “The vicious cycle: A bike saga,” when only two incidents had occurred prior to the publication.

And, like any good saga, it just had to continue.

Victim 3: Myself, Brittany Jackson.

The author’s unlucky bike.

I was studying abroad in South America when, as the cycle would have it, my bike was stolen from my house.

The news came two days before my birthday, and I mourned the loss of the bike, which had been a gift from my dad to my mom shortly after she announced her pregnancy with my sister.

Unlike editors past, though, I was able to rewrite my destiny. Basically, I stole my bike back.

Scene: bike rack outside the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, Thursday, 1:10 p.m.

I was returning to my short course from lunch, when I glanced at the bike lock, dreaming of a time when I could lock my own bike up. A familiar-looking frame caught my eye, and upon further investigation I realized it was mine.

1:15 p.m.: The thief neglected to cut off the bike lock I left on, so I found the key in my purse, properly locked my bike on the rack and called ACUPD.

After officially filing my bike as stolen, confirming it was in fact mine and documenting the evidence, my bike was finally back in my possession.

Some sagas are meant to last, like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, but this is not one of them.