After tourist has bike stolen in Niagara Falls, new friends rally to get him back on his way

A British university student is getting back in the saddle after his cross-continent bike trip was interrupted by theft while he was camping in Niagara Falls.

Ben Watts, 24, began his trip in Boston in July and plans to reach Oregon by later this month or early next.

But for the past week-and-a-half, he's been receiving some overwhelming hospitality on the part of local families and bike shops – and he'll be able to resume his ride on Wednesday morning.

"There aren't words, really," he said Wednesday, shortly before picking up a new bike paid for by a crowdfunding campaign and the family he's been staying with.

"People have been amazing to me in Canada; I've had such a good time," he said.

Watts crossed the border into Niagara Falls on July 26 and stayed at a private campground. When he woke up, his bike was gone. He didn't know what to do, so he stayed there another night.

'I was pretty stranded'

But the next morning, when he went to shower around 5:30 a.m., thieves struck again.

"I came back and my (saddlebags) with my valuables in was gone," he said. "I was pretty stranded. I didn't have any clothes – no shoes or anything."

He'd taken his camera, computer and passport with him to the shower, but everything else was gone.

As the sun went down the next night, Niagara Falls police drove him around to try to help him find the bike, eventually dropping him off at a local youth hostel.

Word got to the Niagara This Week newspaper, which ran a photo and brief story of Watts' plight.

'Oh my God, this poor young man'

And then, the offers of help started to come.

"I was just absolutely blown away by the emails and the offers of help," he said.

First a couple named Jon Pappas and Kat Lewandowski came and picked him up and put him up in Beamsville for a couple of nights, took him grocery shopping and taking him to their local bike shop, which donated a cycling jersey.

And then, a couple of days later, Sue Gabrielli was sitting down to do a puzzle in the newspaper when she saw the photo.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, this poor young man,'" she said.

They came and picked him up last Thursday.

Watts said they're "basically family" now.

Gabrielli called her local bike shop, in St. Catharines, which had seen the picture of him in the local newspaper, and they put together a fundraising campaign to help Watts get a new bike to fit his 6-foot-4 frame.

"He's super-tall so he can't just get on any bike, especially to go a long distance," said Kyle Rempel, a manager at Liberty! Bicycles. The shop has been collecting money toward a $1,500 goal through its Facebook page.

"Being part of the cycling community I thought it'd be great to have our community help somebody out," Rempel said. "A pretty great outcome out of a really terrible, unreal circumstance."

The cycling shop had raised more than $500 as of Tuesday afternoon.

'We really just want to pay it forward'

But the Gabriellis, the family that Watts has been staying with, is kicking in the rest.

They explain: Friends and family of theirs recently raised funds to help Ron Gabrielli get some specialized medical treatment. They made friends there with five Brits and thought they should extend some help to Watts.

"We have some left over and we really just want to pay it forward," said Sue Gabrielli.

Gabrielli said they often open their home to young people who need a place to stay.

"We're just blessed that we crossed each other's paths," she said.

'I can't believe it'

And she said she couldn't help but think if her kids were stuck on another continent, someone would help them.

"That was it at first – I'm a mom, my God, I have a 30-year-old and a 27-year-old," she said. "If that was ever them, we'd hope someone would reach out and help them."

Watts said the support is overwhelming.

"I can't believe it," he said. "It's almost, not in a bad way, but it's almost embarrassing to have all this attention, you know?"

Watts said he tried to downplay how stressed he was when he talked with his mom a few days after the theft happened. He didn't have a way to access any help from back home, he said.

"There's really not much you can do," he said. "It was an independent effort; I don't know how you could help the situation."

Watts soon plans to head back into the States through Windsor, and then on toward Oregon. The undergraduate geology student plans to meet up with some people from the U.S. Geological Survey when he gets there, then fly home from L.A. in mid-September.

Gabrielli said she's excited to see Watts get a bike, but it's bittersweet.

"It's going to be sad to see him go," she said.