The Bike

Since I have known him, Andrew has always been wheelin' and dealin'.  When we were very first married it was guns.  He would frequent the pawn shops to look at the guns. One time we met some guy from KSL in a McDonald's parking lot and they swapped guns. (legal??) Then he moved onto cameras.  He would find a great deal, enjoy his camera, then move on, to something bigger and better. From cameras, we have arrived at bikes.

The K2

                    The Mountain Bike

Andrew has been into road biking for a while now, and it actually pretty dang good at it. He bought his first bike, a K2, off KSL. Last summer during one of his many KSL searchings, he came across a mountain bike. He bought it and enjoyed it for the summer, however, since moving to the Central Valley of California, the mountain bike has just been taking up space.

Thus begins the ultimate bike trading/selling/buying experience.

Andrew posted his mountain bike on craigslist.  He had a lot of people show interest. Somehow or another, he was about to trade his bike for a new camera with a man in Sacramento. (so random?) While chatting with another interested buyer it came out that the man had a Pinarello Road Bike, that he would trade for the mountain bike. This caught Andrew's attention. Although he already has a road bike, a Pinarello would be a substantial upgrade. The deal was made in an Office Max parking lot. Andrew came home happy. 

The Pinarello

Now Andrew now had two road bikes. His original, K2 and the new snazzy Pinarello. Saturday morning he went on a ride with a friend, who borrowed the K2.  He liked it, and would be interested in buying it. The wheelin' and dealin' wheels starting turning.  How much could he make off the Pinarello? He posted it on Craigslist and was bombarded with buyers.  Back into the car, to make a short road trip to Elk Grove, to meet in another parking lot to sell the Pinarello. (very short lived love) Success. Now with the money from both bikes he could buy his dream bike, THE Trek Madone, plus have a a little extra cash. Super Success.

Back into the car to drive to Hayward (tour de California) to meet in a Food Maxx parking lot, and make the final exchange. The Madone is all his. He has been in love with this bike, since he starting riding, and knew someday, somehow, one would be his. ;) He even made me sit down and watch this video of Lance Armstrong explaining where the name of the bike comes from. :)The Trek

Andrew could not contain his smile as we all sat down on the couch and he inspected every little inch of that new bike. Monday morning he was up at 5:00 am to take it for it's first, of many rides.  As stressed and busy as this boy is, I am happy that he has this outlet, and now he can do it in style on his all carbon fiber Trek Madone.