Teaching an Adult to ride

Ed Kirstein said:

Any advice for me? I am going to try to teach my wife to ride. She never rode as a kid and is
somewhat afraid of the whole, "Balance Thing". But she's willing to try.

Use a bike frame that's small enough so that with the seat lowered she can put her feet down flat on
the ground while seated. Also have at least one handbrake on this bike (which doesn't have to be the
one she'll eventually be riding). Remove the pedals and lower the seat and have her ride it in the
old 'hobby horse' style - i.e. pushing off with her feet and just coasting a few feet at a time.
This is best done in an empty parking lot (business lot on weekends, church lot during the week,
etc.) where she has lots of room to practice coasting and gradually balancing for longer and longer
periods. If there's a very gentle slope she can use that to coast for a longer distance. Once she
can do extended coasting have her practice making a few turns. Only after she's really got the hang
of balancing and steering should you reinstall the pedals. After she's comfortable pedalling and
balancing you can gradually raise the seat to a more normal height. This method should have her
riding fairly quickly while minimizing the chances of a bad fall.

Thanks, Removing the pedals sounds like a great way to make room for her legs. I'll be giving
that a try. Ed

"Peter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:E1vab.384532$cF.116760@rwcrnsc53...

Quoted message said:

Ed Kirstein said:

Any advice for me? I am going to try to teach my wife to ride. She

never

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rode as a kid and is somewhat afraid of the whole, "Balance Thing". But she's willing to try.

Use a bike frame that's small enough so that with the seat lowered she can put her feet down flat
on the ground while seated. Also have at least one handbrake on this bike (which doesn't have to
be the one she'll eventually be riding). Remove the pedals and lower the seat and have her ride it
in the old 'hobby horse' style - i.e. pushing off with her feet and just coasting a few feet at a
time. This is best done in an empty parking lot (business lot on weekends, church lot during the
week, etc.) where she has lots of room to practice coasting and gradually balancing for longer and
longer periods. If there's a very gentle slope she can use that to coast for a longer distance.
Once she can do extended coasting have her

practice

Quoted message said:

making a few turns. Only after she's really got the hang of balancing and steering should you
reinstall the pedals. After she's comfortable pedalling and balancing you can gradually raise the
seat to a more normal height. This method should have her riding fairly quickly while

minimizing

Quoted message said:

the chances of a bad fall.

"Ed Kirstein" <ekirstein_atcatskill.net> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Thanks, Removing the pedals sounds like a great way to make room for her legs. I'll be giving that
a try. Ed

Our family taught my mom to ride a few years ago. I don't remember it as being an issue at the time,
but one thing that might be important in teaching an adult to ride is, well, their ego. Learning to
ride a bike is a 6 year old rite of passage, and i think you'll get more enthusiasm out of the
ol;der novice if you can protect them from looking incompetent in front of strangers.

just a thought, anthony

(mom is very glad she can ride a bike now 🙂

Same way you teach a kid to ride. Find a quiet park with a smooth grassy slope...

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

In article said:

Any advice for me? I am going to try to teach my wife to ride. She never rode as a kid and is
somewhat afraid of the whole, "Balance Thing". But she's willing to try. Has anyone been
through this?

I agree with the remove the pedals thing, but she probably needs some practice pedaling. Training
wheels would help but so would practice on a trainer or stationary bike. I tried to teach an adult
to ride once and one of her problems was that she would get going and then wind up back pedaling,
with a coaster brake . . . splat!

Tom Gibb <[email hidden]

Ed Kirstein' ekirstein_atcatskill.net said:

Any advice for me? I am going to try to teach my wife to ride. She never rode as a kid and is
somewhat afraid of the whole, "Balance Thing". But she's willing to try. Has anyone been
through this?

Ed

Personally, I'd do like I've done before with adults that can't ride. I take them to a nice soft
grassy place with a regular coaster bike, explain the basics of how to go about it, and run behind
them holding the seat up a few times. After that it is totally up to them to figure it out. If they
are freaked out about falling and hurting themselves tell them plainly to suck it up and just ride.
Pain can be a great teacher. Falling once or twice teaches them very quickly to not do that. If they
are the type that falls once and then quits then they are just quitters and I no longer deal with
them. It is up to the individual to make the decision to learn.

This method may sound harsh and I can see where some folks would think so, but I taught myself to
ride at age five on a neighbor's bike with no training wheels. I learned with no instruction or
guidance at all. In fact, I was totally alone when I did it. The big determining factor for me was
that I Wanted to learn. If the true inner desire to learn is not there, and the person being taught
has to be coddled into learning then they really don't need to be on the bike to begin with. You
must be willing to chance the fall, fight the pain if it happens, and get back on that horse that
threw you off without needing a cheerleader to talk you into it.

A willingness to learn is a good thing, but a true desire to learn is the determining factor.
Please do encourage folks to learn how to bike, but if they are unwilling to try and achieve the
goal on their own I don't see bothing with them.

Adults will accept this approach better than kids will, but I have learned that to an extent it
works with them as well. I've taught many adults and children to ride and it's always come down to
that inner drive that determines whether they accomplish it.

I'd like to end with the fact that I am not necasarily talking about Ed's original question but on a
generalization of the process of teaching biking. Too many times I've seen people get all freaked
out and worried over learning to ride a bike. Not only adults learning themselves, but the never
ending hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth parents go through when their children learn. All too
often they give up and let their inner fears rule them. That lesson they learn by giving up will
extent to the rest of their lives.

Tefl

An anonymous Heinlein fan said:

Personally, I'd do like I've done before with adults that can't ride. I take them to a nice soft
grassy place with a regular coaster bike,

I think a bike that has _only_ a coaster brake is a very poor choice for learning the rudiments of
balance. When a beginner, either child or adult, is first trying to learn to balance, there's a
natural tendency to put the feet on the ground when any difficulty presents itself.

If this happens on a bike with only a coaster brake, it means they can't stop once they've removed
their feet from the pedals.

I very strongly recommend that all bikes have at least one hand brake.

I've got an article on teaching basic balancing, though it's mainly directed to parents of
young children:

sheldonbrown.comteachride.htmlOpen ↗

Sheldon "Hates Coaster Brakes" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| It is amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. | --Robert A. Heinlein |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton,
Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 harriscyclery.comharriscyclery.comOpen ↗ Hard-to-find parts
shipped Worldwide captainbike.comcaptainbike.comOpen ↗ sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗

"Tefl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ed Kirstein' ekirstein_atcatskill.net said:

Any advice for me? I am going to try to teach my wife to ride. She

never

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rode as a kid and is somewhat afraid of the whole, "Balance Thing". But she's willing to try. Has
anyone been through this?

The place you teach is important - reduce the pressure from the surroundings and the expectations of
the teacher as to how fast things should happen.

So a grassed park with no traffic or significant obstacles to avoid is best - some gentle rises to
let the bike coast are useful.

Laugh together, watch for frustrations and take a break if its getting fraught.

One left field thought - try using an exercise or swiss ball to sit on at home in front of the
computer and try balancing with your hands and feet in the air. When that gets easy, try doing some
light weights on the ball, one or both feet off the ground.

Balance and its constant companion, core strength, are essentials for long term human well being -
cycling is just one of their applications.

Hope it goes well best, Andrew (remove the .x1 to reply)

"But riding is my special gift, my chiefest, sole delight; Just ask a wild duck can it swim, a
wildcat can it fight... I'll ride this here two-wheeled concern, right straight away, at sight." A B
'Banjo' Patterson - "Mulga Bill" 25 July 1896.

It's been a 3yo rite in this family. 🙂 Get one of those razor style scooters. Learn balance on
it, then move on to bike with NO training wheels. School playground or large flat lot is prefered
for learning.

Mark

ant said:

"Ed Kirstein" <ekirstein_atcatskill.net> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Thanks, Removing the pedals sounds like a great way to make room for her legs.

I'll

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

be giving that a try. Ed

Our family taught my mom to ride a few years ago. I don't remember it as being an issue at the
time, but one thing that might be important in teaching an adult to ride is, well, their ego.
Learning to ride a bike is a 6 year old rite of passage, and i think you'll get more enthusiasm
out of the ol;der novice if you can protect them from looking incompetent in front of strangers.

just a thought, anthony

(mom is very glad she can ride a bike now 🙂

--
Mark Wolfe wolfenet.orgwolfenet.orgOpen ↗ gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6
8C71 Sigh. I like to think it's just the Linux people who want to be on the "leading edge" so bad
they walk right off the precipice. (Craig E. Groeschel)

Thank you Sheldon, I've gotten a lot of useful education from your website. We're going to begin
today and see how it goes.

Ed

"Sheldon Brown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

An anonymous Heinlein fan said:

Personally, I'd do like I've done before with adults that can't ride. I take them to a nice soft
grassy place with a regular coaster bike,

I think a bike that has _only_ a coaster brake is a very poor choice for learning the rudiments of
balance. When a beginner, either child or adult, is first trying to learn to balance, there's a
natural tendency to put the feet on the ground when any difficulty presents itself.

If this happens on a bike with only a coaster brake, it means they can't stop once they've removed
their feet from the pedals.

I very strongly recommend that all bikes have at least one hand brake.

I've got an article on teaching basic balancing, though it's mainly directed to parents of young
children:

sheldonbrown.comteachride.htmlOpen ↗

Sheldon "Hates Coaster Brakes" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| It is amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. | --Robert A. Heinlein |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West
Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 harriscyclery.comharriscyclery.comOpen ↗ Hard-to-find
parts shipped Worldwide captainbike.comcaptainbike.comOpen ↗ sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗

Sheldon Brown said:

An anonymous Heinlein fan said:

Personally, I'd do like I've done before with adults that can't ride. I take them to a nice soft
grassy place with a regular coaster bike,

I think a bike that has _only_ a coaster brake is a very poor choice for learning the rudiments of
balance. When a beginner, either child or adult, is first trying to learn to balance, there's a
natural tendency to put the feet on the ground when any difficulty presents itself.

If this happens on a bike with only a coaster brake, it means they can't stop once they've removed
their feet from the pedals.

My reasoning behind using a coaster brake bike is that it reinforces the idea of balance and control
of the machine by Not being able to take your feet off the pedals until it has stopped. I've taught
alot of people that try to "hobby horse" a bike when they are learning. While this is good for them
to learn to trust their own balance at first, it can get to be a crutch as they proceed. Especially
if they are the timid type of folk.

Quoted message said:

I very strongly recommend that all bikes have at least one hand brake.

I do agree with this totally, but when someone is learning I think they should not depend solely on
a handbrake for the reason I stated above. As I've asked people I was teaching, "How can you ride
the bike when your feet are on the ground?"

Quoted message said:

Sheldon "Hates Coaster Brakes" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| It is amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. | --Robert A. Heinlein |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

Nice quote. I'll add that one to my collection.

Shannon "No Longer Anonymous" Reynolds (Tefl)