Max's Miscellaneous Musings

It's been a while since I've written a Max's Guide To Cycling For N00bs, so here it is.. part 6.  This MGTCFN deals with actually cycling!!!!

Most of the long-time readers of MGTCFN are either people who've just taken up cycling, or people who are thinking about it.  I'd hazard a guess that some have never ridden a bike before, or haven't ridden one in 20+ years.  With that in mind, I thought I'd find some resources on teaching adults how to ride bicycles.

My guess is you're probably anxious about riding.  Chances are, your balance isn't what it used to be, and your body's not have as bendy as it used to be.  You're worried about falling off, breaking bones, scraping skin and otherwise not having fun.  The good news is that with a bit of preparation, none of those things needs to happen.  First, some comedy, courtesy of our friends at YouTube:

After years of cycling experience, I can say with some confidence that you are unlikely to spontaneously combust whilst riding your bicycle.  If you are at all concerned about this, by all means have your SO, children or local fire brigade standing by when you go for your first ride.  I recommend a large water-filled fire extinguisher (those CO2 ones are soooo asphyxia-inducing).

Ok, I'm being serious now.  Learning to ride a bike as an adult is, in my opinion, not that different from learning to ride as a child.  The big difference is that the adult is probably more frightened of falling off.  Whenever I'm anxious that something bad might happen, my strategy is to try to predict what could possibly go wrong, and the likelihood of that happening.  And then, I choose to accept that it might, and just get on with it.  Your coping strategies might be different, but whatever they might be, I think that the pleasures of cycling outweigh the fears associated with learning how to ride.  But hey, that's just me.

I found an awful lot of stupid YouTubes telling people how to ride, but most of them were just useless or patronising or both.  I eventually came across this gem from the New York City Parks Department:

The gist of the video is this:  riding a bike is all about balance.  Once you've figured that part out, the rest is actually pretty straight-forward.

I also found this on the Bicycles Network Australia forums:

I have a 50 year old female neighbour who hadn't ridden for 20 years, She had a back injury. She had a morbid fear of falling off the bike. She really wanted to ride. I lowered the seat so that she could put her feet flat on the road. I got her to push herself with her feet and coast and brake at her own leisure. This was first done on a flat road. Once she got her confidence, she did the same on a slight incline, so that she could lift her feet and coast for longer distances. Once she got the hang of coasting, I got her to put her push herself off, then put her feet on the pedals (without pedalling) while she coasted. Then I got her to put one foot on a raised pedal, push it down, and coast. After several goes at this it was a matter of time before she was able to try a couple of revolutions with confidence. Within a week she was riding around the block. With a big smile on her face. Steering seemed to take care of itself.   This particular strategy may not work for everyone, but my idea was to allow her to go at their own pace.

And this one:

Another tip that we found useful (for the kids) was to tell them to look at a distance rather than at your feet/hands.   This gives your eyes a real chance to contribute to balance.   Also try to find an open area where she can see a long distance away - same reason.

A lot of people don't realise that the eyes are a big part of balance too - try standing on one leg eyes open looking at the horizon - fairly stable.
Try it looking at your feet - less stable.
Try it eyes closed - all over the place like on a boat in rough sea!

So here are my recommendations for learning how to ride a bike:

1.  Put the seat down as far as is comfortable, so that you are able to sit on the bike with both feet flat on the ground.

2.  If you are able to (and know how to do so), remove the pedals from the bicycle.  That way the pedals won't get in your way while you're figuring out how to coast on your bike.  If you don't know how to remove your pedals (one of the pedals will be threaded backwards), ask your local bike shop to help you.  You really don't want to mess this part up.  The LBS should be able to sell you a pedal wrench so that you can reattach the pedals yourself at a later date.  Ask them to show you how to reattach the pedals.

3.  First, put your helmet on.  Find a nice, flat, quiet, suburban road, or an empty carpark.  Somewhere where you can focus on learning, not on avoiding hazards or other bikes/cars/people.  For this reason, I don't recommend bike paths as a learning environment.

4.  Get on the bike and push yourself along with your feet.  Once you're comfortable with that, lift your feet off the ground and just let yourself coast along.

5.  Familiarise yourself with the operation of the brakes.  The key here is to apply the brakes gently and gradually, so you do not come to a sudden stop.  Most Australian bikes have the front brake on the right hand side (ie the right hand lever), and the back brake on the left hand side.  If your bike was purchased overseas, it's likely to be the reverse.  The front brakes generally have better stopping power than the back brakes.  Sudden application of the front brakes can result in you being thrown over the handlebars.  Sudden application of the back brake can cause the wheel to lock up, causing the bike to fishtail.  Again, apply the brakes gently and gradually.  Over time, you'll learn what your brakes' limitations are (and yours too!).

6.  Don't concern yourself with gears at this point.  Your focus right now is on pushing yourself along and coasting.

7.  Once you're comfortable with coasting in a straight line, try steering.  The handlebars do play a part, but they're not the only part of the process.  Steering a bike is as much about weight distribution as it is about turning the handlebars.  A slight lean to the left will turn you left.  Vice versa, a slight lean to the right will turn you right.  The more you lean, the more you turn.  You'll notice that the handlebars turn naturally.  Sharp turns will require you to use the handlebars as well as lean.  Over time, you'll see that the faster you're going, the more you need to lean.  Leaning too much will cause your centre of gravity to go past the point of no return.  Ie you'll fall off!  As with braking, turning should be done gradually.  Again, over time you will learn your limits (and the bike's too).

8.  Ok - so now you're comfortable with coasting, you've figured out how to use the brakes, and you know how to steer.  It's time to put the pedals back on.  One of the pedals is threaded backwards, so if you're not comfortable with doing this yourself, get the local bike shop to help you out.

9.  Make sure your bike is in an easy gear.  If your bike has three chainrings on the front, put it on the middle chainring.  If it has two chainrings, use the smaller one.  I recommend using the fourth- or fifth-largest cog at the back.

10.  Start with your feet on the ground, and push yourself off into a coast.  Bring your feet up onto the pedals and start pedalling.  Keep your movements fluid.  You want to feel a little resistance on the pedals.  Too little, and your feet will just whizz round and round.  Too much, and they'll be tough to push and you'll lose momentum (and with it, balance).  Get comfortable with pedalling in a single gear.  Stop pedalling and feel yourself slow down.  Resume pedalling and feel yourself accelerate.  Get yourself comfortable with using the brakes at higher speeds.

11.  Once you're happy with pushing yourself to a coast, it's time to learn how to start pedalling from a dead stop.  The late Sheldon Brown has an excellent tutorial on this.  Remember that in your case, your seat is still quite low (so his comments about seat height don't apply just yet).  I use this technique every time I accelerate from a dead stop.  Do it a few times and it becomes second nature.

And that, folks, is it!  Once you've mastered starting from a dead stop, pedalling in a single gear, steering and braking, you are ready to get your bike onto a bike path or quiet road to learn how to use your gears.  And that is definitely a tutorial for next time