Bikes to Ride & Bikes to Sell

Biking the W&OD Trail
Anna at long last was the recipients of a new bike!  After years of purchasing used bikes (in anticipation of her growing out of them quickly), her parents decided to let her pick out a new bike for her 13th birthday.  After extensive research by Dad and a trip to the local bike store  where Dad interrogated the twenty-something sales clerk on bike reviews - Anna found a new bike.  She is really appreciating the upgrade - particularly when shifting gears.

Theresa was very excited about the new bike, hoping that at long last Anna would be so inspired by her new wheels that she would be begging to go on bike rides with her mother.  That has not happened.  Today was a picture perfect day in Northern Virginia, and Theresa had a vision of the family happily traversing one of the scenic bike trails with the wind at their back.  The rest of the family did not share this vision.  Joe was surprised to find both Anna and Theresa home today (they reminded him Columbus Day as a holiday), which put a wrench in his morning routine.  Anna aspired to do something with her friends and was less than thrilled with this idea.  Theresa managed to drag the bike rack out of the shed (it was full of acorns from the squirrels, which just goes to show how much it has been used) and Joe loaded the bikes.  The family made it out the door (forgetting the bike helmets) and drove 40 minutes to a bike trail.  After a variety of stops, it was a lovely ride through the rolling Virginia countryside......and a nice day out.

In addition to riding bikes, Anna is learning how to repair them - with some help from Joe and YouTube.  After finding a bike in the neighbor's trash, Anna decided to make some repairs and sell it.  Joe helped her figure out what she needed and how to repair it.  Anna's version of the story is that she was quite capable of repairing the bike, but Dad kept "taking over."  Theresa watched the whole things with amusement as two very similar personalities tried to tackle the job.  In the end, Anna mostly repaired the bike (with assistance from Joe) and Joe sold the bike on Craig's list.   Anna made some money and got to use a bunch of her Dad's tools.  Maybe this will be a new side business for both of them.

Bike

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