How to reduce bicycle thefts? More cowboys

Hollywood cowboy legends Tom Mix and Gene Autry came to the aid of many damsels in distress, but those days are over, right?

Not so fast pardner.

Captured thief can’t escape with rope around his legs

On Friday, a cowboy shopping at a Wal-Mart in Eagle Point, Oregon, aided a woman whose bicycle had just been stolen.

Hearing her screams, Robert Borda pulled his horse “Long John” out of the trailer and took off after the thief.

“I seen this guy getting up to speed on a bicycle. I wasn’t going to catch him on foot. I don’t run that fast,” Borda told the Medford Mail Tribune.

By now, the thief was running after he had jammed the bike chain. The cowboy let fly with the rope and lassoed the man, bringing him down.

Police were called about the stolen bike and arrived about 15 minutes later. Police identified the suspect as a transient from the Seattle area.

Borda, a rancher and ranch hand living in southern Oregon, was on his way to brand cattle in Northern California. He said that he had grown up competing in rodeos.