Learning How to Ride a Bicycle… As an Adult (Part II)
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June 3, 2008
The Next Step: A Class
Continued from previous where I talked about my first steps strides on a bike. Realizing that I was going to hit a wall teaching myself with tips from one generous friend. I sought out a class.
A Learn to Bike Class for Adults
Now, San Francisco has this anti-bicycle injunction meaning no money can be spent on physical bicycle facilities — lanes, sharrows, bike parking, etc — until an environmental review are completed. Luckily for me — and other people like me who want to learn how to ride a bike or like the future me that want to learn street bicycling skills — that applies only to physical facilities which leaves The City and SFBC free to host bicyclist education. And lucky for me, the SFBC was hosting a class that following Sunday so of course I signed up.
Turns out, I had good instincts. The first thing they did with students’ bikes was lower the saddles. They also removed the pedals so that students wouldn’t trip over them. I should have thought of that but oh well. With the saddles lowered and pedals off, students would learn balance and braking. Then steering. Later in the day, the pedals then would be put back on and they’d be taught how to mount and dismount.
That learning how to mount/dismount was where I and another student were at so we got put on a fast track straight to that. No more keeping the seat down, I was told to raise mine otherwise, the unergonimicness of it was going to slowly kill my leg joints.
Stop. Start. Lather, Rinse, Repeat
As for learning how to mount/dismount, these skills are hard! For mounting, you’re most stable when you’re out of the seat — your knees are flexible and you can use them to make little adjustments to your balance. However, the seat feels like a comfort. All newbies wants to plop down in the saddle as soon as possible. If anyone has been on a water bed or shaky bridge, you then know it is much more comfortable to sit on one than to walk on one.
Anyways, the instructor had us coasting out of the saddle to get the feel for balancing on the pedals. Eventually the goal was to be able to mount the pedals and wait a moment before sitting on the saddle. Eventually, we could mount the bike properly: One foot on the ground and one on a pedal, push off with the ground foot while putting weight on the pedal foot so you get forward propulson from two places. Get that ground foot onto a pedal, find that balance, and tada!
As for dismounting, with the saddle raised, no more using the feet to balance, we actually had to learn to pop out of the saddle to be able to put one foot on the ground, while keeping the other on a pedal to be ready in place for mounting again. However, popping out of the saddle is something that many many newbies resist. So the instructor spent a few hours on these skills. So we took it slowly at first, starting out at low speeds and coming to a complete stop, and then getting out of the saddle. Gradually more speed was worked in and timing became quicker and eventually we found that moment to pop out of the saddle.
Next up, learning how to shift gears. One cannot stay in first gear forever. And more practice on hand signals which eventually included hand signals while looking backwards to look for upcoming traffic. All those figure skating lessons I had with my coach yelling at me to steer with my hips so that I can turn my head to look for other skaters… Darn, I should have paid more attention to that.
After the Basics, What Next
I think that to get really comfortable on a bike, there should be practice everyday. Your mileage may vary but for me, it took the next few weeks. As for practice, these are the skills you’ll need to get to par immediately: Keeping a line, looking behind while keeping a line, making hand signals and keeping a line. And the next skills to learn after that are the rock dodge, quick turn, and quick stop.
But more important than that, to get from Point A to Point B, one needs to know how to navigate the streets. Bicycling Street Smarts is a nifty little booklet on dealing with traffic. If one can’t attend classes such as SFBC’s Street Skills and On the Road, the booklet is a great place to start. Navigating the streets of San Francisco isn’t too scary but, it does involve clearing a few mental hurdles and learning laws and tactics — topics which I want this blog to cover more of in the future.
I think that, if riding a bicycle were as simple as finding balance, everyone would do it. But people don’t because they’re scared because they don’t know what bicyclists’ rights are, or how to negotiate with traffic. Everyone wants safety but that covers a wide range of topics from technique to equipment to laws.
I am lucky that the SFBC’s classes were accessible to me however, I was lucky. After not finding anything in my county, on a whim, I wondered if I’d have better luck in San Francisco. And I’m guessing, that there are many people who are having much less luck that I have had. So, there are a few posts I have planned for the next few days however, if there are any burning questions, leave me a comment.
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2 Responses to “Learning How to Ride a Bicycle… As an Adult (Part II)”
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thePig says:
Congrats on starting your cycling adventure. A friend on mine recently started cycling as an adult, after never riding as a child. It took him a couple of weeks but he is now a regular bicycle commuter and absolutely loves it.
Also, thanks for the link to CyclePig.
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June 5th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Ooh thanks for the congrats. And congrats to your friend as well. May I ask what motivated him to finally start?
As for my adventure, yes, it is an adventure. The hills are a killjoy but hopefully a temporary killjoy. But that is another post, and another link to you. :-)