Velo Lancers

Barbara has taken on a big project (imho) for the American River Bike Patrol Velo Lancer program. I want to be available to help as often as possible on their Saturday morning meetups. For the next 10 weeks, these Cordova High School students will gain bike riding skills and endurance. In the end, they will earn a brand new Trek bike.

5th grade

I like it when school starts. This year, Avery/9th and Sophia/12th are at Christian Brothers. Carson is in 5th at St Ignatius. Once a week, I get to pick Carson up. This week, we played a new game for us. I can be competitive with this game. If it’s a memory game, he slaughters me.

Hey Paula

This is Laurie.

Paula is a faithful blog follower and life-long friend who lives 3000 miles away. She knows all my friends by sight and name although she’s never met them. Laurie and I met for lunch today and made plans for a last-minute bike riding adventure. Later in the afternoon, all reservations were made. Fun ahead.

Therapy

A friend purchased a jacket made from an old quilt and asked me to “shzuzh” it up (not sure how to spell that sound). She gave me no direction, anything I wanted to do. Make it better, whatever I wanted. A challenge.

After I got back from Ireland, I started researching ribbon and design possibilities. I made a decision and ordered 4 different organic cotton ribbons the same week that I had an appointment with a dermatologist to look at and biopsy a spot on my scalp. The ribbon arrived the same day the results came in – basal cell carcinoma.

Two days later, I was back in the dermatologist’s office for a more extensive procedure. I came home with instructions for wound care plus 2 weeks of downtime. After a few days of staying home and doing absolutely nothing, I got started on the jacket: hand stitching, tunneling between the layers, 3/8 inch at a time.

Blanket stitch around the patch.

Today I met Deb, hoping she would like the design I came up with. She liked it!

This was a good project for the first days of recovery. Soon the stitches will be removed and the next phase of adjustment will begin. And I’ll be able to ride a bike again.

Carson and Avery

Carson wanted to play a few games before we went to lunch at Zócalo. I held my own with Spot It – each person flips over a card, the first person to name the same item on both cards wins both cards – Carson won but only by a few. He tried to find the Frozen memory game but couldn’t find it – thank you to whoever passed that game on to its next owners!

After lunch, the dentist.

Specialized HQ

Deb invited me to the Outride Expo in Morgan Hill at the headquarters for Specialized bicycles. An all-day event plus a 2.5-hour drive each way. Thanks Deb for driving. We talked all the way – both directions!

We had an information table in the auditorium.

Also part of the day: meeting some of the middle school PE teachers who are the latest recipients to receive a grant for Ride 4 Focus – a turnkey middle school cycling program active in over 400 sites across the US and Canada. Schools receive a fleet of bikes, helmets, curriculum and teacher training to integrate cycling into the middle school.

Learn 2 Ride

Our monthly class was Saturday from 9-11 at Miller Park. Kathy and Barbara prepping the rental bikes.

A very successful class.

Kathy giving some individualized information on fixing a flat tire.