When Derrek and I first came to Miami to live and teach on charters I had to 'give up' my bike riding pastime as I didn't want any of my 'nice' bicycles to sit in the salt air / rain or get stolen.

During our first season here we ended up finding a tandem bicycle for $50.00 on Craigslist and somehow got it to fit into my old Mazda Miata and drove it from Hollywood, Fl to Miami, Fl. The bike needed some work (a lot) and we thought we were up to the task.... after about a year of working on it, buying parts, and having the front wheel fall off multiple times as we tried to make newer parts work for a bike that no longer had parts available we ended up dropping it off at a scrap metal yard for them to dispose of it...

Tandem Bicycle after its new paint and accessories.

Over the weekend, Derrek flew home last min to attend a cabin party with some of his college friends and to celebrate his sister's birthday.... While he was away I started researching on Cragislist and Freecycle for a beach cruiser bike (for me) that I could get Cooper onto a bike again before he forgot how to ride with me.

Cooper bike riding with me.

I ended up finding a bike (2 hours away) on free-cycle (it was FREE!!) and decided to drive the distance to see if it would work. Once there, they ended up having a second bicycle in the back and soon I was trying to fit both bikes into my car's backseat to bring them back to Miami for us to ride. Since it was only a week or so from Valentine's Day, I thought it would be the perfect gift to give to Derrek.

During my research process I kept falling for the "red" bikes (I think red is my true favorite color even though when asked I will probably say green or blue ....first my car had to be red, then the boat....now the bike....hmmmm)  To solve this dilemma, I went to Home Depot and found $2.00 sample paints in bright red and a cool blue for Derrek. I ended up brushing on the paint (so I didn't want to have to deal with the over spray while I painted them in the parking lot) and gave them a clear coat in a shiny gloss...... here are the results....

My bike "before"

Derrek's bike "before"

Our bikes after I painted them...