Lost Bike Returned to Owner, 42 Years Later

How sweet is this? Deirdre Oringer has reunited her wife, Lisa Brown, with an old friend: the banana seat bicycle Brown lost in a river four decades ago.

The then 11-year-old Brown was cycling across a bridge in Massachusetts when she fell into the river below. Unable to retrieve her bike from the river sludge, she abandoned it. Now, over 40 years later, Oringer has found the rusty but still recognizable lost bike in the woods a short distance away. The tip-off? The blue vinyl banana seat, which has stood the test of time and survived virtually unscathed. The couple is debating turning it into a piece of art for their home.

It's a heartwarming, ain't-life-funny kind of tale. The lost-bike-now-found story is gaining further traction across the web now thanks to Britain's The Daily Mail, whose editors chose to publish it with a bizarre headline identifying Brown first and foremost as a lesbian. Somehow, titles like "Heterosexual Robs Bank" don't get the same play. Eye-rolling.