I'm helping out with an informal class put on by a local cycling advocacy group, aimed at encouraging more women to ride. Last Monday we met up at the house of the organizer and met the participants. So far there are as many mentors as participants, but there may be more coming next Monday, when we ride to an empty parking lot and work on some basic skills.
Many of the skills are things I've always taken for granted, like simply taking a hand of the bars to signal, or shoulder checking without wobbling, or even getting out of the saddle on a hill. Like most life-long cyclists, it's never even occurred to me that someone wouldn't ride because of feeling uncomfortable with those things.
We'll also be working on route planning, as it's often not clear (even to us "lifers") what the best route somewhere by bike is.
An interesting experience on the whole. One young woman has never learned to ride a bike, so a local fellow who rescues bikes has found her one to learn on.