Christiana Sansculotte rides a bicycle during the Burning Man 2013 arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada September 1, 2013. The federal government issued a permit for 68,000 people from all over the world to gather at the sold out festival, which is celebrating its 27th year, to spend a week in the remote desert cut off from much of the outside world to experience art, music and the unique community that develops. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY) FOR USE WITH BURNING MAN RELATED REPORTING ONLY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS

Residents of Reno, Nev., are seeing a spike in stolen bikes, and police say Burning Man is to blame.

“It’s a timing thing,” Reno Police Sgt. Dan Thompson told the Reno Gazette Journal. “The only time we receive this volume each year is [the weeks] prior to the event."

The weeklong arts festival — which begins Aug. 25 — is held in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north of Reno, where bicycling is the main mode of transportation for the more than 50,000 participants.

Organizers of Burning Man acknowledge some crime occurs at the festival itself but are not ready to accept responsibility for Reno's bike theft.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham told the paper.

Graham and Kevin Campbell, a mechanic for the Reno Bike Project, say the city’s "emerging bike culture or favorable weather conditions" — not Burning Man — have led to the string of two-wheeled larceny.

Besides, Graham points out, Burning Man offers free bicycles to attendees through a community bike program designed to discourage theft.

"Through careful community planning we have created a city of thousands where serious crime is virtually unknown — certainly well below the rate in any comparable city," a note on Burning Man's website reads.

And despite its reputation for "radical self expression" and rampant drug use, Burning Man tallies relatively few arrests. According to Nevada's Bureau of Land Management, just six arrests were reported at Burning Man in 2013, down from 14 in 2012. However, the total number of citations last year jumped from 365 in 2012 to 433, including 309 for illegal drug use or possession.

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