MY SON GETS his driver’s license soon and I’m worried. It’s not that I don’t trust him — he’s played enough video games to have the hand-eye coordination of a karate grandmaster. It’s not even the other drivers on the road who scare me. It’s the bikers.

The other day, a bicyclist was speeding along a fog-drenched section of Grizzly Peak Road when he lost control on a curve. My husband and daughter were coming along at that moment as he slid into their lane and bounced off the back bumper of their truck. Luckily, the rider only had road rash — but what if he had been seriously injured or killed? Blame aside, it would have been traumatic for both families.

We live in a beautiful place where bikes are as numerous as cars on some scenic byways. All it takes is one miscalculation to cause an accident. An accident that will forever change the lives of both parties involved.

PROUD MOMENT: Congratulations to two local ladies for earning the highest honor in Girl Scouting. Sophia Moradian and Lauren Harano, both 18, have accomplished something that only one-tenth of 1 percent of girls who start out as Brownies ever achieve — the Gold Award. It didn’t come easy. The girls put 60 hours each into their community service project, sprucing up a Peter Pan pre-school in Oakland .

WILD RIDE: Most people celebrate their birthday with a cake — and maybe a party. But local senior Bob Frick is marking 71 years on the planet with a bike ride across America. He leaves Aug. 7 on a two-month trek from San Diego to St. Augustine, riding up to 60 miles a day.

My wife will be driving behind with supplies in the Prius,” he says, adding they’ve done several long distance bike rides and hikes together. But this trek isn’t just for fun. Frick hopes to raise $71,000 for East Bay Habitat for Humanity and is taking donations on his Web site at http://www.fricks.firstgiving.com/cycleofhope.

E-MAIL BAG: An anonymous reader is fed up with the city’s lack of response in cutting back brush on its own property at Skyline and Kimberlin Heights.

“The weeds are damaging the streets,” he writes. “Plus, you have rebar coming out of the ground at the bus stop. Somebody is going to get impaled.” The reader says repeated calls to the Fire Abatement District have yet to get the job done.

MORE MAIL: The bad smell I mentioned a few weeks ago at Moraga and Medau has reader Bonnie Candell wondering if it’s coming from the nearby storm drain.

“I’ve spoken to some bus drivers about it who agree it’s awful,” she writes, but says she’s gotten no response to her e-mail to Public Works regarding the matter. Where is it coming from? Not even her nose knows.

FREEBIE ALERT: Some people pay hundreds of dollars to belong to a health club. Reader Marcia Sugrow works out for free at the Montclair Recreation Center. She says you can too, if you’re 50 or older. Instructor Ellen Green teaches a free aerobics class at 8 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Reaching the half-century mark has its rewards!