Hurray! Classroom instruction and blacktop drills have been completed. Students were divided into skill groups. I worked with those students who needed more practice riding on the bike trail with minimal on-street instruction. In this group, the three students to the right LEARNED how to ride a bike for the first time after coming to both after-school coaching sessions. The young man at the left made an excellent “sweep” rider and assistant coach.
Most bicycle crashes are the result of driver error … Tristan didn’t quite make the turn and landed on the rocks. His classmates quickly went to help him – it was great to see how encouraging they were.
Gina and I combined our yellow and red groups when we were short on volunteers to ride with us.
You can never tell what children will think the highlight of the day was. After this class, several happily proclaimed they drank “doggy water”. The fountains for humans provided not a drop, but the doggy faucet worked great. Some kids were surprised they could cup their hands and get a pretty good drink.
A big thank-you to Bike Hikers Becky, Joyce, and Kathy who came out on Thursday to ride with us! 
A special thank-you to Kathy for being so gracious to observant ten-year-olds whose mouths dropped open when she rolled through the first stop sign. She apologized to each of them. 
Another successful Project Ride Smart. 
Monthly Archives: October 2016
Sophia’s soccer practice
Meanwhile, Avery and a few friends played a version of tag. The “it” person stays on the ground and throws a ball at others who can go anywhere on the play structure.
Deciding who would be “it” first took quite a while. Eeeny meeny miney moe with feet – the longest version of the poem I’ve ever heard … and only one start-over to get the desired result.
Halloween costume #1
Delivered! Avery wanted to be a specific dinosaur – a carnotaurus.
But a blue one. He picked out the fabric himself, making sure it was the right shade of blue. Growling fiercely:
Chasing his tail:
Dino down. A word about all those spikes: they are about 3 inches long, stuffed with fiberfill, and hand-sown on.
Sunday Social
Because of rain, we moved inside the Dry Creek Ranch House for the meeting. A tad crowded but it all worked out.
The guest speaker was Maceo Hart-Kapic. When RLEHS first met him two years ago, he was a junior in high school and managing a farm of about 2 acres at Gibson Ranch as a high school project. Currently Maceo is a freshman at UCBerkeley, living in the dorms, and coming home a couple of weekends every month to keep an eye on his 23-acre farm. His mother, interns and volunteers work the rest of the time to keep things going. 
Maceo estimates he’s met about 150 people at school so far – just 2 have ever been on a farm. “They just don’t get it,” he said. The Throwdown key ingredient was pumpkin. I won with Pumpkin Pie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Avery’s 5th birthday party
Cousin Lauren took Carson down the slide.
Walnut gathering with friends
Adrienne and Linda came out to Justin’s this morning and we gathered walnuts and had breakfast. 
Everyone had a chance to use the Weasel Nut Gatherer and there were still lots of walnuts on the tree ready for picking.
We finished about half the trees. I went out later in the day to get them all up from the ground – another rainstorm is coming.
Today’s haul = 70 lbs. The total is now at 264 lbs. I think this is going to be an annual event! 
Project Ride Smart
Another five days of Project Ride Smart at Natomas Park Elementary … with a rainy day Friday! A few video lessons:
ABCQuick Check is a standard practice before any use of the bikes.
Everyone is lined up to watch me demonstrate a proper left hand turn – the most challenging bicycle-driving maneuver we teach – while Gina described what was happening 
For the blacktop drill and evaluation, Gina worked with the red and yellow groups. I worked with the blue and green.
No blacktop drills on Friday! Time to get creative.
Three colors of masking tape and we had a 4-way intersection. 
After work on Thursday, Gina and I rode each of the three routes for next week’s street rides. There were lots of Halloween decorations to appreciate but this was our favorite. 
Sophia at soccer practice
Sometimes, it’s a race between Avery and Sophia to see who can FIRST ask “Grandma, can I have your gray iPad?” The other person is given the red iPad, which apparently ranks in second position for desirability. On a 30-minute ride home, the iPads must be exchanged after 15 minutes; they both can tell time quite well and periodically keep me informed about how many minutes are left. Another caveat from Sophia: since Avery gets to use the gray iPad for an entire hour while she’s at practice, she should get the first 15 minutes in the car … which is what happened today.
Upside-down praying Sophia:
Harvest Festival
at Calvary Lutheran Church. For the past couple of weeks, in between everything else, I’ve been preparing a few outdoor activities for the Harvest Festival. Nine numbered butternut squash that did not like to stand upright and bowling pumpkins with handles instead of finger holes.
6 rolls of toilet paper encased in clear plastic bags.
Meanwhile, inside the Social Hall,
lots of good food,
guessing how many root beer barrels were in the container,
checking out the prizes for the bingo game,
and lots of raffle prizes. 
Velo Ball
Almost like going to the high school prom, I had to stop at Thais’ to have my picture taken. Those orange palazzo pants (from the Sewing Cave) were so comfortable.
The Velo Ball was at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.
Jim Brown, Executive Director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA):
Waving is Board Member Sue Teranishi:
L-R: LCI Dan Allison, LCI Doug Williams and wife Ann, Matt and Abbey Stumpf – Abbey is Communications and Program Coordinator for North Natomas Transportation Management Association (NNTMA). NNTMA funds Project Ride Smart.
The next picture didn’t turn out well, but I have to include it. This is the lady to bid on and won one of the three t-shirts I donated for the silent auction. I hope she enjoys wearing it!
arletelouise 