Stacy Springer at the pre-ride safety meeting:
L-R: me, Barbara, Mike, Paula, Sue, Cal, Marsha, Mike, Elaine.
The first rest stop was 16 miles into the ride at Hanna Winery.
L-R: Barbara, Paula, me, Juneko, Marsha, Sue, Mike, Elaine.
Franz Valley School Road – oh my! – I rode farther up the hill than I did last year, but when the grade increased to about 12%, I had to walk. So did a lot of other riders, including these two Bodacious Biking Babes from El Dorado Hills.
Miles = 36
Breathe Bike Trek – Friday
7 am, breakfast eaten, final preparations for today’s ride. It was COLD last night! We had to be on the road by 8 am. 
Castello di Amorosa:
The first rest stop was 10 miles into the ride:
Lake Hennessy:
The second rest stop was at the boat ramp:
There was a cow grazing just beyond the grape vines:
Upon closer inspection:
At the safety meeting every rider attended before leaving for the day, we were told to watch out for trucks hauling “chardonnays”. Falling clusters of grapes were a danger to cyclists. 
Dutch Henry Winery.
Olive oil tasting:
This is the big hall where we ate all our meals. The food was delicious and plentiful!
Team Captain Sue Schooley with Bob (age 88, this year he became the biggest fundraiser in the history of the trek with over $10,000; he’s been trekking with Breathe CA for more than 40 years and remembers 100-mile backpacking trips in the Sierras. “That was a lot of fun!” he said.) and a Breathe CA staff member. 
Miles = 34
Breathe Bike Trek – Thursday
This year’s event was held in Calistoga. You may remember a year ago, I did this ride (it was called Emigrant Trails Bike Trek then), the Valley Fire broke out, the Napa County Fairgrounds was needed as an evacuation center, and we were all asked to leave Saturday night. I rode with Roseville Transit this year. Some of us arrived on Thursday afternoon. My little abode for the next 3 nights:
There were 15 people in our group.
As it got dark, we walked into town for dinner:
From the left, Becky, Joy, Team Captain Sue Schooley, Brian, Cal, and Elaine.
Happy Birthday Dave
We had a wonderful long weekend. Sunday was Dave’s birthday. On the drive around the lake:
Although you can’t see it in this picture, Mount Lassen is in the distance.
I wish I’d taken more pictures, but I got a cold and by Sunday, felt awful.
Bizz Johnson Trail
I talked Dave into riding the Bizz Johnson Trail with me by saying it was ALL downhill. One of the trail descriptions did say that as long as you started near Westwood and rode to Susanville.
Phyl drove us to the trailhead and met us a few hours later in Susanville.
Sorry, Dave. The first 6 miles were uphill, a gentle 2-3% grade, but uphill nevertheless. It was also quite rocky, bumpy, and dusty – definitely a mountain bike trail. 
The Susan River:
A big pile of lava surrounded by forest:
Three deer jumped out in front of us, ran halfway up the mountainside, and turned to watch us. 
The Diamond Range in the distance, the informal boundary between the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevadas:
We stood on the new trestle at Devil’s Corral and looked down at the old crumbling highway,
the river farther down,
and a squirrel neatly perched about 60 feet from the ground working intently on a pine cone.
The new trestle:
There were some gates along the trail. Thankfully, there was only one like this:
There were two tunnels.
It was amazingly cold inside the tunnels.
The Susan River near Hobo Camp:
We made it! Thank you Dave for going on this adventure with me. At 25 miles, this was Dave’s longest ride!
Lake Almanor weekend
Dave, Phyl and I went to Lake Almanor for our traditional long birthday weekend. A totally gorgeous setting. Views from our deck:
The deck with the kitchen window to the right. Two bedrooms and all the amenities.
Soccer practice
I also helped out this week getting Sophia home from soccer practice.
And kept an eye on Avery while he looked at Pokemon Go cards with friend.
Project Ride Smart
This week was three days of riding in the community on pre-planned routes with good teaching opportunities. There were 4 LCIs and each group had one parent volunteer to ride sweep. 
I got to work with the Blue groups – those with higher skill levels from the blacktop drills. They were eager to go. They ran to their bikes and quickly formed the wheel-in position and began the ABCQuick Check.
The young man at the front was the best organizer of his peers ever. He had them lined up at the gate and ready to ride more quickly than I ever could.
This is near the end of the planned route and I had to pull over to ask the group a question based on the chattering of one boy in particular for the past 1/4 mile. “Hey you guys! This is where I got my first primate! … Right here! This is the spot!” I was baffled. One girl asked, “What’s a primate?” Once that was answered, I learned that there’s a primate-looking character you can collect (or fight?) on Pokemon Go. Aha! 
I worked with four different classes through the day. We found a good water stop about halfway into the ride.
I worked with the girl in the red jersey last week as she was almost becoming an independent rider. By this week, she had achieved success! Everyone was so proud of her!
Oh Kenneth! Everyday he came to visit during his lunch recess. Visit? It was more like a monologue. He was quite happy that he got to ride with Pollyanna and the red group and go off campus. I asked him who taught him to ride. His answer, “Oh, I pretty much taught myself.” Really? 
Bike Hikers monthly meeting
Bike Hikers is a great local bicycle club with a reputation for being fun, social, and welcoming. Through Phyllis and her long-time friend Kathy – a former Bike Hiker club president – I met Becky who asked me to speak to their club about traffic safety from the point of view of an LCI. 
I also talked a lot about Project Ride Smart and invited anyone interested to volunteer to ride in the next session I’m teaching.
Fun evening! And I ran into Clara McCoy, a friend from my teaching days – that was plenty of incentive to join Bike Hikers myself.
Happy Birthday Justin!
But we didn’t get to have any kind of a get-together. Justin went to the races in Chico with a friend and I had something scheduled. The best card came from Thais and family:
So true!
arletelouise 