 Hello my friends. I'm going to jump in here really quickly before we get to the good stuff. And you're going to want to watch this one. It's going to put a big smile on your faces. I guarantee it. So you know me. I believe that bicycles can be used to change the world in so many different ways. And what you're about to watch is a very unique and beautiful way that bicycles are being used for good. I hope you enjoy this. All right. Look at them go. I am convinced that we cannot do enough for our older adults. And this is an opportunity to make their life a little bit better, a little bit more fun. And when our mind and those of many others, it absolutely helps to improve mental health. So we are Miles of Smiles Colorado Inc. We provide rides to older adults, primarily living in congregated living facilities. The idea is we're not Uber lift. We're not cycle Uber. We're out here to have a good time with the residents. We are so committed to make sure that those that have moved into a facility into a whether it's independent living assisted living or nursing home or memory care all has an opportunity to be outside and feel wind in their hair. I'd like to introduce you to Heidi. Heidi has been, I think this is her third season. Third season. This is our third season riding with us. Heidi, how did you get involved with this? I have a friend who actually rides for the Littleton chapter and she planted the seed. And I also got involved because I had a mom who was a great outdoors person. She loved cycling in the city. She was an active cyclist and outdoors woman. And when she started to have some memory issues, it turned into dementia. And seeing her go from this very lively active person who loved being outdoors to having to live in a memory care unit was pretty hard to watch. And at the time this was in 2017, there were no options like this beautiful Miles of Smiles program. And so I remembered it when I had this conversation with my friend a couple years after my mom had passed. And she told me about Ed and I called Ed and that's how it all started. I think about all the wisdom of these elders that I get to have in my seat here. And their stories are amazing. Some of the trials into relations that they've had in their lives. Some of the joys. I remember some of the COVID stories of some of the folks that were residents that were sort of captive during that time. And I just think of their strength and perseverance and their life stories are amazing. This is designed specifically for mobility impaired passengers. So number of things are special. In a pedicab, the bicyclist would be way up front, which means he has almost no contact with his passengers. And so in our case, we have put the bike in back so that we're only about a foot foot and a half from our passengers. It's easy for us to talk and we can watch them. So we know that they're okay. Remember, we're out with folks who are seniors, right, who are older adults. It's specially designed for mobility impaired folk. For example, the center board comes up so that a passenger can simply step back, pop down, scoot, and we put the center board back and they're ready to ride. No steps. So that's the battery in there. Nice. Blankets if it's a little chilly. Yep. I love it. When I'm riding the tri-shaw, the rig weighs 130 pounds. Two passengers, let's say they just average 150 is another 300 pounds. So we're moving 450 pounds, right, plus my weight. Do I like the fact that we have e-support? I like it a lot. Oh, there you go. All right, David. And now David. Turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around. There we go. Perfect. You guys look great. What's your favorite part about doing this? Just going out to see everything, even though we, you know, are familiar with some things, but I like to see where we are and I like to have some of the buildings named, you know, I'd like to know. What about the wind in your hair, that feeling? I don't know. We don't do that. Never mind the wind. Never mind the wind. Right on. Last time we saw a huge snake. Oh, yeah? Yeah, it was across the pathway. It was big. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of the beauty of riding a bike is you see things that you normally wouldn't see in a car, right? Yeah. And then the year before that, we saw an elk. It's on elk. So you're the activities director here. Yes. Which you're in charge of keeping people active and doing fun things. This is one of the fun things. What is the reaction from the residents when they come back from one of these rides? Oh, people love it. They love getting outside for one thing and especially for the newer residents, it's really nice for them to be able to start to see, you know, different areas around Boulder and how beautiful the creek area is and that kind of thing. You got it. You got it. It's a tight squeeze, but you got it. You got it. All right. So there are three guiding principles that we bring to every ride. First one is generosity and kindness. I know that's two, but generosity and kindness. The fact that our cyclists are here, totally generous. The fact they're here, yes, to pedal, but they're here to make this the most fabulous hour of the week for our passengers is terribly, terribly tremendously kind. Second is slowness. We ride at six miles an hour plus or minus a mile. Why? Because at that speed we can look at red wing blackbirds. We can see a deer. We can stop and watch the squirrels. All the things that our older adults cannot do every day, but we have them out in nature. All right. And third is storytelling. We ask each of our cyclists to be prepared to talk about their journey and we help them with questions to ask to help learn about the journeys of our folks. We are a huge believer in the story not told is a story forgotten. We can share hundreds of stories that will not be forgotten because we've taken our folks out on our hourly rides. The result of applying those three principles should be to build relationships and make new friends. And that's absolutely what happens every time we take folks out. Have you seen any cool birds today? Not yet. Not yet? Any snakes? No, nothing. No, no mountain lions? Heidi, does it ever get tiring or is it no problem? We're going at a pretty even tempo. If it was all uphill, the entire way might be different, right? But it's a pretty easy pedal and it feels really good to get a little exercise and just to pop on a bike. Do you think we can make it? I think so. You made it. Yeah. How was it? Very good. Very nice. It wasn't long enough. We needed at least twice as much. Put another quarter in the machine. I don't know any change. So there is an organization out of Copenhagen, Denmark called Cycling Without Age. They pioneered the entire concept and there are about 2,200 chapters around the world. So one way to see if there's a chapter near you is to go on the cyclingwithoutage.com website. You can also come to milesofsmilescolorado.org where you will find links to Cycling Without Age as well as our own. Both cases, there are opportunities to sign up, create a chapter, reach out to the contacts and links that are on either of the websites in order to volunteer. It's a phenomenal way to spend a half day.