We have been meeting this week with the Autism Society of Colorado as well as the Mile High Down Syndrome Association to discuss family programming for next summer.  We are hoping to put a one or two day trip together with a family clinic to enable people who may be apprehensive to participate in our rides.

We need disabled riders to participate in several upcoming events. If you have any disability, Parkinson’s Disease, Autism, MS, Blindness, or any other disability, please check out our event page for more information and to join us on 1 or more of 4 major Colorado cycling events this June.

We’re headed up to Boulder to set up a booth at the Boulder Cycling Club’s Annual Party. Should be a fun evening with an opportunity to talk with ride organizers as well as find some volunteers to join us on our rides as team members.

We will be at the Boulder Cycling Club’s Annual Pre-Season Party on 2/18 from 6 pm to 9 pm. Check out the club’s website at http://www.bouldercyclingclub.com

On 2/21, we will be in Colorado Springs at the 1st Annual Peak Region Cyclist Bike Show. The show will be from 10 am to 3 pm.

Last night, we set up a booth at the Mile High Down Syndrome Association’s Recreation Fair in Lakewood. We had quite a few visitors to our booth and most seemed anxious to hear about our organization and getting their kids on some bikes. For more information on the Mile High Down Syndrome organization, go to their website at http://www.mhdsa.org.

We will be riding in this year’s MS150 and having riders with MS join us on this ride. The event takes place over 2 days and starts in Westminster, CO, goes to Fort Collins and then returns back the next day. If you want to join us and either ride with someone on a tandem or ride alone, join our team “ACT for MS”.

The Fort Collins clinic today went very well.  We had 6 riders and the weather was gorgeous.  We rode around Fossil Creek Park on the south end of Fort Collins.  ACT partnered with the ARO office of Fort Collins (thanks Renee) to provide a great experience for kids who had never been on bikes before.  To see pictures of our event, check out our website and go under the tab “past events”.

We’ve started working on the 1st annual Fall Bike Festival which takes place on October 18th.  Our goal is not only bring the opportunity to try tandems to those with disabilities, but to share a variety of resources for families as well.  As a father of a special needs adult, I always wanted to find resources out there for my child.  So, rather than turn away from that, we are trying to bring in other non-profits and for-profits as well who share products and missions to help those with disabilities.  This will be the first of what will become an annual event.

We currently have about 4 other non-profits confirmed along with several still making a decision.  We also have a few for profit companies as well.

I would like to say a special thank you to those who are donating their time and energies (and professions) to help this be successful.  Thank you to Jeff Donovan at DJ On Demand who will be providing the music as well as to Colorado Youth Circus who will be providing our entertainment including clowns, face painting and balloons.

Check out these links from MSNBC.com.  They talk about some studies which have shown symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s Disease are eased by riding a tandem bicycle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#26512703

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#26508307

Fascinating and exciting information for those with Parkinson’s!

Yesterday, we took a group of 6 kids from The Joshua School on a 14 mile bike ride.  Metro State volunteers along with the staff of ACT and the Joshua School had a great time as we rode through the Highline Canal trail.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and outside of a couple of flat tires, we had a perfect day for riding and an exciting experience for all.  Be sure to check out our website under “past events” for pictures and video from the past two days or check out our youtube.com page at http://www.youtube.com/user/assistedcycling.

Our group ride