Something must be sinking in

In article <[email hidden]>,

Luigi de Guzman said:

One more kid learns how to ride safely, and from another kid. Who'd
have thunk it?

Yup, that's how I remember it, back in the kid days.
We'd learn the basics (and finer points) from our
older, more experienced & skilled family members,
and then discuss/disseminate the info and 'compare notes'
in the neighbourhood-kid social-circles. In my case, I
had two older cycling brothers with whom to refer.
Cycling older brothers are worth their weight in gold.
You're doing a Good Work.

Anyhow, it's a good system. But it so greatly depends
on a high degree of popularity of cycling among the kids.
Apart from a few BMX shredders 'n grinders, I don't see
that same popularity of cycling in today's youth, as I
experienced in the late 50's and early 60's. We also all
had those lumpy, steel-wheeled, key-on roller skates,
homemade stilts, and we built "coasters" (unofficial soapbox
racers with piece-of-rope steering, and dubiously-connected
wheels). Stuff that would make today's hand-wringing, "Think
of the children!" helmeteers' skin crawl.

It was a lot more fun (and possibly more educational) than
pushing mouse buttons and blasting pixels. We mostly survived.
Most of my peers who didn't survive, were obliterated in later
life by motor vehicles, or blood vessels or organs that blew up.
There was one polio kid I chummed around with, who could run
faster on crutches than anyone else could without. Dunno what
happened to him.

But, yeah. It's really not all that surprising that kids
naturally impart stuff about cycling to other kids. I think
that's part of how it's supposed to work. Good on ya for
setting it back in motion.

cheers,
Tom

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Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Tom Keats)

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Yup, that's how I remember it, back in the kid days.
We'd learn the basics (and finer points) from our
older, more experienced & skilled family members,
and then discuss/disseminate the info and 'compare notes'
in the neighbourhood-kid social-circles. In my case, I
had two older cycling brothers with whom to refer.
Cycling older brothers are worth their weight in gold.
You're doing a Good Work.

One of the rides I remember most fondly was a few years ago when my then 15 yr
old nephew needed to complete a 50 mile ride to qualify for a Scouting merit
badge. To prevent any "fudging" of the mileage, the rules said he had to be
accompanied by a responsible adult. Since no responsible adult was available,
he asked me. We both had fun, he learned a few things about riding on the road,
and I actually got to know him a little bit better. Kudoes to Luigi and I'd
only add that sometimes a Good Work is its own reward.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Luigi de Guzman said:

One more kid learns how to ride safely, and from another kid. Who'd
have thunk it?

A few minutes ago, saw a young mom jogging with her two sons
bicycling behind. She signalled a turn. Never seen a jogger do that!
Maybe her kids will learn to signal.
--
Rick Onanian

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Luigi de Guzman said:

One more kid learns how to ride safely, and from another kid. Who'd
have thunk it?

Yup, that's how I remember it, back in the kid days.
We'd learn the basics (and finer points) from our
older, more experienced & skilled family members,
and then discuss/disseminate the info and 'compare notes'
in the neighbourhood-kid social-circles. In my case, I
had two older cycling brothers with whom to refer.
Cycling older brothers are worth their weight in gold.
You're doing a Good Work.

Anyhow, it's a good system...

Well, it's a good system if you're lucky enough to have a good big
brother!

In my case, I _was_ the big brother, and there was nobody to learn from.
I still remember the day three buddies and I were riding around the
neighborhood, two rode on the left, two on the right, arguing about
which side of the road we were supposed to ride on.

I'm pleased to say I was on the right (and in the right). But I'm
dismayed to realize that none of us thought to actually look up the answer!

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