We had two after-school coaching sessions and taught five students how to ride a bike. Others came just to hone their skills.

The popular Melon Drop demonstration of the importance of wearing a helmet.

Elle’s son Theo joined us one day.
Bikes were fit, students were divided into four groups. This is the red group getting ready to do their ABCQuick Check (Air/tires, Brakes, Chain/cassette/chain ring/cranks, Quick releases/seat height adjustment).
Collecting jerseys efficiently to be ready for the next class.

Elle Steele and I were asked by North Natomas Transportation Management Associatian to volunteer as LCIs to provide a new component to this year’s event: a skills course and fun bicycle activities for new bike owners. H Allen Hight School:

About 50 Bikes for 50 Kids: on Monday, January 19, 2015, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the National Day of Service, community volunteers joined forces in North Natomas to help 50 kids transform bike parts into 50 ready-to-ride bicycles. Students were nominated by teachers and other community members for the content of their character. The day was made possible by generous donations from businesses and organizations, as well as volunteers that give their time to mentor local youth.

At 10 am (and again at 1 pm), 25 students arrive, check in, and meet their team members who will help them build their own bike.

Mechanics in red t-shirts (like Bike Mike from Natomas Bike Shop) checked everyone’s bike before leaving the gym for the next a set of stations.

Each student was announced by the DJ and everyone stopped for a moment to clap as they entered the cafeteria.

There were many proud parents and happy students.

At the various stations, students received a new helmet and had it properly fit, received a U-and-cable bike lock and learned how to use it correctly, wrote a thank-you note to their sponsor, registered their bike with the police department, and had their official picture taken.

Finally, the new bicycles and riders came to our bicycle skills stations. Here Elle taught a student about the best position for a strong start. We call it power pedal.

We had a wealth of volunteers to help us and to make our hazards course more colorful.


We also had a Group Riding station and an activity called Calf Roping: throwing a hula hoop over a chair as you ride by.

What a privilege to be a part of this event. Abbey Harding (below in red shirt) of North Natomas Transportation Management Association did a great job of organizing this event.

For three weeks, I’ve been teaching bicycle skills to 5 graders at H Allen Hight School. My teaching partner was Doug (below in red shirt).

Rechalking lines AFTER a small rainstorm. Darnit: back-breaking work.

There are 45 bicycles in the fleet in four different sizes. Each day, we roll them all out.

At the end of the day, they had to be packed tightly into a small storage location – Doug was great at this.

Blacktop drills:

Mr West’s class. There were two after-school coaching sessions and about 10 kids either learned to ride a bike or relearned basic riding skills.

A letter from Udham:
Dear North Natomas TMA Staff, Thanks for teaching me how to ride a bike. Mr Meyers, you’re a very good teacher. I also want to thank Mr Doug. You motivated me to not give up. When I got hurt, I kept going thanks to you. Now I want to thank Ms Arlete for not giving up on me. I was one of the worst riders, now I’m one of the best in my group. You had confidence in me.

The third week, if students had good basic riding skills, we left campus for a ride in the community in groups of 8 students plus one LCI and one more person, usually a parent, teacher or community volunteer. L-R: Pollyanna, Doug, Brad, Mellissa.

Oh my goodness, it’s been HOT! Nevertheless, we persevere with our last day of street rides. Teaching at Regency Park has been so wonderful. The school climate, fifth grade teaching staff, working with Elle = “I love my job!”
And I got another surprise from a former student. Heather Long from Westside School, is now a parent at Regency Park. She married another former student Nathan Anderson.

If there’s a bicycle education program to emulate in the Sacramento region, it’s Project Ride Smart for 5th graders in the North Natomas Transportation Management District. For those of you familiar with Rio Linda, this area is just west of the E Levee Road, sort of the backyard of where I grew up on W 6th St, now it’s all subdivision housing, but they do have some very cool things happening. Regency Park School is part of NNTMA and the only school in Twin Rivers USD to benefit from this excellent program. It was developed and promoted by Mellissa Meng about 5 years ago. Here, she stepped in on Day 1 to introduce the course. Every 5th grader had the opportunity to participate. Bicycles were provided. There was about 3 hours of classroom instruction, 3 hours of blacktop drills, 3 hours of on-street riding, and 1-hour follow-up/debriefing. This is an intense course and one reason why blogging gaps happen to me. L-R: Matthew and Elle. Elle is my co-LCI lead teaching partner this time. This is her website http://www.tinyhelmetsbigbikes.com/ Matthew is working toward achieving his LCI status by practice teaching with us. Matthew’s story is incredible. He was struck from behind in 2011 while riding his bike on Elkhorn Blvd. He generously shares his story to encourage everyone to wear a helmet. His brain injury left him without emotions and without the sense of taste.