VOA 《Let's hop on our bikes: US kids get active during times of covid》

Bike sales in the US have shot up over 75 percent from this time last year according to retail research.

Even fixing an old set of wheels as hard as most bike shops are overwhelmed and out of inventory.

没看懂第二句话，尤其是...as hard as...这个比较句型？麻烦老师具体分析一下。

另外，Even fixing an old...中的Even应该是“即使”的意思，even if/though也有“即使”意思，他们都是一个意思，这里可互换吗？