John Washburn's blog

Most of this month is aimed at continued indoor training and building strenght and endurance.
A break to the routine was taken one night when all went to the Brenton Skating Rink for a fun slippery night.
The month culminates with an evening of orientation and equipment fitting.
One hour is spent in class going over video training with regular material reviews to make sure the riders are paying attention. The topics covered include
Bike component identification
Proper bike fit
Proper helmet fit
Protective eyewear
Shifting and braking
Riding safety
Traffic considerations

In early February we meet with riders and parents/guardians to cover the program and lay out expectations. Documents are signed to establish understanding.

We fit the riders for bikes, helmets, and gloves.

We conducted indoor training sessions for two weeks in February.
We meet each Monday and Thursday at the downtown YMCA for ninety minutes.
The group of riders and mentors is broken into three sections which rotate through different workouts.

Planning for the next year starts in late fall with more focus in November and December.
We create plans based on expected number of mentors and money.
Each year starts with the hopes that donations will arrive to fund our needs as they arise.
We invite riders from the previous year to determine our base rider core. We then determine how may new riders we can recruit.
We work with the Des Moines School system to identify youth who could benefit from our program.
Organizational tasks are divided up among returning mentors to accomplish the goals.

Howdy

This log will contain occasional entries to keep you up to date with what is going on with the Dream Team in 2008.
February is indoor training
March is more indoor training
April starts the outdoor training and Mayor's Annual Ride for Trails
May brings warmer weather and a camping weekend at the YMCA Camp north of Boone.
June brings hot weather and two camping weekends.
July is the big month with RAGBRAI as the reward.
August brings the awards banquet.