I met Florence Schneider in a public speaking class at Los Angeles Valley College. I was getting my feet wet, dabbling in classes before I took the plunge to get my California teaching credential. Florence and I became good friends. Florence and her husband Herb were champion bike riders. They got us going by lending us bikes and nudging us along. On our first ride with them, I was on one of Herb’s old bikes, a one speed clunker. We biked to Griffith Park. I barely made it. We might have stopped at Travel Town. After that, we were motivated to buy our own spiffier bikes. Florence and Herb were gracious enough to go slowly while we built up our endurance.
Another bicyclist entered out lives, Benita Chaum. I met her at the Co-op Nursery School at the Studio City Park, where Mike and Benita’s son David were enrolled. Benita and her husband Jerry, and Joe and I became lifelong friends. Through Benita, we met three other couples: the Davis’s, Ewing’s and Toby and Sid Singer. We would join up on a weekend day and hike, bike and dine around the area. The unofficial name of the group became the Riding, Wining, Hiking, Dining group. Everybody was thoroughly happy, but tired at the end of the day.