A group of local LCIs (League Cycling Instructors) were invited to discuss and review the best practices for teaching Project Ride Smart in North Natomas or the bike education classes in San Juan Unified School District.L-R: Mellissa Meng/NNTMA, Dan Allison/San Juan USD, Elle Steele/San Juan USD & 50 Corridor.

This year, I worked with Mary and Eric from Bike Hikers to build a bike with the student receiving it, Miguel Lopez. In the blue t-shirt was Miguel’s father, an invaluable member of our team since Miguel was a non-verbal special education student.We were part of the morning group in the gym at Natomas Middle School where 25 students built bikes with their support teams.My favorite bike mechanic, Bike Mike (yellow t-shirt) was also there to make sure we built the bike correctly.Once built, Miguel was ready to move to the next room for phase 2: Snacks, a helmet specifically fitted for him, a photo op,a thank-you-card writing station, and a free U-lock and cable.What a great program for North Natomas sponsored by North Natomas Transportation Management Association – the same organization that promotes Project Ride Smart! Students receiving bikes were nominated by their teachers for the content of their character in keeping with Martin Luther King Jr Day.

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.

Blacktop drills this week. This is when we find out who does not really know how to ride a bike. Those students were invited to an after-school coaching session. Goals this week: ride straight, use both brakes to stop AT the limit line, always get into power pedal position. We are lucky to have a dedicated classroom where we can teach and store the bikes and equipment. Gina attempted to make the room darker for better viewing of the videos. Everyday, we wheel out 40 bikes and line them up by size. At the end of the day, we wheel them all back in again and lock them up.After-school coaching. Kyle, the boy at the right, learned to ride today! Both he and his father were so proud while I was exhausted after running up and down holding onto the back of the seat or keeping my hand on his back. After a while, Kyle told me he wanted to do it on his own (oh, thank you) and he continued to improve.Breanna, on the other hand, struggled. She had great balance, pushed off with a strong power pedal, turned the cranks once, and then put her feet on the ground. Nothing I said convinced her to keep pedaling. Sigh. We’ll try again at the next coaching session.

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?

Thursday and Friday at Heron School in North Natomas. The leaders are Elle

and Pollyanna.Today for blacktop drills, almost everyone was ready to practice scanning, looking back over your left shoulder and calling out how many arms were raised.Before leaving the right lane position, bicycle drivers must scan, signal, scan, and merge if there is no car coming. It’s hard at first to turn your head far enough to make that judgment call, so practice is important.Meanwhile, over to the side, I worked with the weakest riders. Oh Kenneth. Here is the condensed version of his indignant Thursday speech: “If there were only two forms of transportation in the world, walking and bicycling, I’d outlaw bicycling. This is just too hard.” On Friday: “Bicycling is fun!” This after actually riding 100 feet independently back and forth about 5 times before insisting on a break. In fact, he had great balance, he just needed to keep pedaling! I would call that a hard-won success story.The following must have been a fifth-grade poem-writing project, poems were on display in every classroom.