Dunedin's world track champion called the Otago Daily Times last night with the good news about her wheels.
The custom-made $15,000 race bike, which had been stolen from a recreational expo in Christchurch on Friday, was found - untouched and in its box - outside a Christchurch cycle shop yesterday.
"I'm relieved and very excited," Shanks said.
"Obviously someone has listened to their guilty conscience and seen the media coverage about the bike and has done the right thing."
Now, with the stress of worrying about her bike easing, Shanks has to consider the prospect of her specialist event being axed from the London Olympics.
Newspaper reports in England suggest the track cycling programme at the 2012 Games in London will be overhauled to ensure both men's and women's cycling have five events.
That could result in the removal of Shanks's event, the individual pursuit, as well as fellow Dunedin cyclist Greg Henderson's points race and the madison.
Shanks is reluctant to get too concerned until world governing body UCI confirms the changes, but acknowledges her career could be facing a dramatic shift.
"It all came as a bit of a shock when we read what was going on," Shanks said.
"I think a lot of it is sort of speculation at this stage. No big decisions have been made yet.
"Even at the road world championships last week, where they have a lot of big meetings about cycling, there was no mention of any changes coming up.
"I'd like to think, as an athlete who would be affected quite dramatically, I'd get a chance to have some input into any decision."
Shanks, who won her world title in Poland in March, could not understand why the individual pursuit would be targeted for the axe.
"The Olympics are about finding the fastest, strongest athletes. I think pursuit is the epitome of that.
"It would be such a shame to lose it."
Shanks said it was too earlyto consider what other events she could pursue if the pur-suit was removed from the Olympics.
"Once you're at the elite level, you have to specialise to be able to succeed. You pick one event and go for it, so it's very difficult to think about switching to something else.
"If that decision has to be made, then it has to be made. But at the moment all my focus is on pursuit."
Shanks defends her world title in Denmark in March, followed by the Commonwealth Games in India in October.
