Simple, quick, delicious was this month’s theme as it turned out. We never plan anything. Loaded potato slices and sesame-coated cream cheese in a pool of soy sauce with crackers with a very good Justin wine.
Thursday @ Merrilyn’s
Author Archives: arletelouise
Kids Bike Party
A big Jibe event. Mellissa Meng, Executive Director at Jibe, and Missy Alfranji from City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan’s office:
From Mayor Steinberg’s office:
A blender bike being assembled:
My station with co-workers, Terri and Cathy, was Ready to Ride mostly for ages 2-7.
Strider bikes with no pedals or smaller bikes with pedals. We taught one girl how to ride for sure, another girl was 7/8 successful until the final spill with scraped hands. She worked for over an hour and definitely gets an A for perseverance.
Special thanks to Rachel, Lillie and Brenda who rode along on the 4-mile family ride. Coletha and Diana monitored an intersection.
Your bike rides this week
Actually for the past two weeks. Monday April 10. Maria and Tony:
Brenda and Rachel:
Tuesday April 11. Dani, Cheryl, Kathy:
Rachel, Brenda, Agueda:
Wednesday April 12. Brenda and Agueda:
Brenda and Rachel:
Friday April 14. Brenda and Rachel:
At Teal Bend Golf Course, Dani, Cheryl, Stacey and Jane:
Saturday April 15 – Bike Around the Buttes. Sixteen people from Arlete’s BIG participated! Riding the 43-mile route, Cheryl, Stacey, Kathy,
Riding the 21-mile route, Coletha, Rachel, Brenda, Terri, Agueda, Elaine, BarbaraL (picture by Minerva):
Becky:
Lori and Colleen:
A beautiful day for a bike ride:
Monday April 16. Lennore, Brenda, Lillie:
Diana and Coletha:
Monday April 17. Kathy, Barbara, Cheryl:
Brenda and Agueda:
Tuesday April 18. Maria and Tony:
Saturday April 22. Thank you, Tracy and Brenda for coming by to visit bicycle intake day #2 for Jibe’s Bike Swap.
Tony and Maria:
Tuesday April 25. I rode with Barbara, Brenda and Agueda in the late afternoon along the Garden Highway .. with the occasional small swarm of invisible bugs .. this one required an emergency stop to debug.
65 years of friendship
At Jim and Lucy’s on Monday evening, I asked Jim how long we’d known each other. Our fathers both had egg-producing chicken ranches. Jim’s dad’s ranch was just down the street from my Uncle Fred’s ranch. We went to different elementary schools until 8th grade. We decided it was probably around age 10 when we were both in Lucky Leaf 4-H Club. Jim has a vivid memory of my cousin Phyllis – who was maybe a junior or senior in high school at the time while Jim was maybe 12 years old – running a well-organized no-nonsense club meeting.
Project Ride Smart
at Regency Park Elementary. On Friday morning, I had so much fun riding with the first Red group. They improved so quickly, we were able to leave the park trail and practice signaling and right turns on the street.
On Monday morning, I got to ride with two Yellow groups. Great kids and it’s clear they learned a lot. Special thanks to the parent who rode sweep for us. She was so good, I soon had her monitoring an intersection while I coached from the opposite side of the intersection.
4-H Bike Project
I spent an hour and a half late Sunday afternoon with Country Centre 4-H Bike Project:
Bike Swap – day 3
Sunday morning – time to sell. The early crew arrived at 6:30 to begin defining the space. Then over 200 bikes were wheeled out from the ballroom and grouped according to type.
So many kids bikes, most in very good condition and priced from $20-$50.
Ms Steele, the Bike Tech teacher at Inderkum High School took a picture of her students who volunteered:
Jibe staff manned the cashier station:
Volunteers from Arlete’s BIG: Jim, Cheryl, me. Jim designed the flow of the event and sorted bikes into types. Cheryl, who rides more miles/month than anyone else, worked in the “bike pit” assisting buyers in choosing the right bike. I worked near the test ride area, making sure under-16s had a helmet fitted properly. I also taught one young girl how to ride, despite her doubtful parent.
Twenty minutes before opening, early shoppers arrived:
Kids bikes, a very popular section and most of them sold within two hours.
Bike Swap – days 1 & 2
Friday afternoon was the first opportunity to donate or consign a bike for sale. All Jibe staff work this event. Anya:
Bike Doc mechanics were available to repair bikes that were donated. In the background, students from the Bike Tech program at Inderkum HS cleaning bikes before repair.
Mike (right) is a knowledgeable bike price estimator and extremely helpful at an event like this to advise sellers on a reasonable asking price.
Bikes flooded in over a 3-hour period:
Saturday morning, more bikes in a slow steady stream from 9 to noon plus visits from Tracy and Brenda who were out for a ride.
By noon, there were over 200 bikes inside the ballroom at the Aquatic Center ready for tomorrow’s sale.
Lots of kids bikes, so many in great condition, and frequently priced at $20.
Food Truck Mania
Every 3rd Wednesday of the month at Westlake Park, a 3/4 mile bike ride from my house. CindyR and I rode over this evening.
We had to check out all the trucks – so many choices.
There were six trucks to choose from.
Tables were provided so families and friends could eat on site. At 6:00, a guitar-playing DJ provided entertainment.
NYC – day 4
Our goal was to walk High Line Park – highly recommended by several people. To get there, we decided to ride the subway. Easy to pay and get on, a bit confusing when we had to transfer to a different train halfway there, but down another level and we were set.
This area of the city is called Hudson Yards. When we exited by way of a couple of really long escalators going up, we were shocked to be greeted by strong cold wind. Walking High Line Park would not be pleasant in any way. We found a Starbucks, had breakfast, warmed up and came up with plan B. Great idea: a Starbucks bike:
Nearby, the Vessel, currently closed due to several suicides, a solution is still being explored.
We decided to walk back, technically a 42 minute walk but we managed to find a few distractions along the way. Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building:
The Garment District with soooo many fabric shops (Sacramento has just one).
Maria has an internal homing signal for Irish pubs.
A rooftop bar and restaurant, so nice and warm inside.
Continuing our trek back, we skipped Pig and Whistle but stopped next at Sean’s Irish Pub:
The spires of St Patrick’s meant we were close to our hotel. It was still quite cold, but the buildings blocked a lot of the wind.
On our way to “dinner,” a traffic jam even though a police officer was directing traffic. Half the vehicles in all directions were honking horns continuously.
Another NYC tradition, hot dog and a pretzel from a street vendor. Our “dinner:”
We were up early Wednesday morning to fly home arriving mid-afternoon.
arletelouise 