Can you offer any advice, on what you think might help me progess/tips?
Many thanks,Can you offer any advice on a Adult learning to ride a bicycle?
There is adult cycle training around! My friend just had lessons, she's in london but I'm sure there are people in other places too. The site I found below looks really good.
Otherwise try your local council, they may be able to give you contact details for who provides adult cycle training. Or your local cycle shops could give you a contact name.
It's never too late, just because you didn't get chance when you were a kid doesn't mean you can't do it! Get yourself a helmet, perhaps elbow and knee pads and start off on grass - maybe early morning when it's quiet and you'll have the place to yourself and don't be scared of falling off, have patience :-)
Can you offer any advice on a Adult learning to ride a bicycle?
If you can't find an adult class in your area you can probably learn by yourself.
It helps if you know how to use the brakes, and keep the seat a bit low so you can put your feet down at will. Make sure you have wide, platform pedals and wear smooth, rubber soled shoes.
The critical skill is for your body to learn to balance on the bike and the easiest way is to start at the top of a (gentle-moderate) grassy hill and simply push off (for the first few runs don't pedal). If you are not going too fast you should be able to brake and simply stick a leg down when you slow down at the bottom of the hill. Assume you will crash -- so wear a helmet and a padded jacket. Try not to tense up while moving --- that increases the risk of crashing. Relax your body if you do crash ... it hurts less.
After several trips you should be getting the hang of staying upright, so then progress to peddling on the flats (again keeping the seat low enough to allow you to easily put your feet down). Stay on grass. Stick to straight lines at first, then progress to gentle turns. Once you can peddle and feel somewhat more comfortable doing so, move to a flat paved surface (e.g. a quiet parking lot) and just ride.
Practice starting, stopping and turns. Finally raise the seat so your leg is almost straight (140 degrees at the knee) when the pedal is all the way down.
Congratulations you can ride. At this point you should be able to get a friend to help you, so plan to ride with someone on quiet streets or bike paths for a while and LISTEN to what they tell you.
... now you have to worry about bike fit, positioning and handling traffic ... but that's another level.
!. Lower the seat so you can touch the ground with both feet.
2. Push yourself along and keep your feet down.
3. Start coasting down a slight incline.
4. Practice making turns
5. Once you can balance try using the pedals.
6. Once you get the hang of it move the back up to where your leg has a slight bend at the knee at the bottom.
I don't think all can be imparted in a short or long post, so I'm afraid I can only give you links. But here goes.
First, find or borrow a well-used, but decent bike in good working order that roughly fits you. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if you can sit on the seat with one foot on the ground and the other on its pedal, with the pedal down towards the ground, with your knee slightly bent and reach the handlebars without straining your back, then this is a good enough fit, for now.
The ease at which you can learn may be dependent on whether or not you can get training wheels - yes, you can find them for adults. If you're not handy at mechanical things, or just cannot find them, do just the following video link. Otherwise, you can use the training wheels with whichever video or similar that you find, and feel more secure. If you need more info on training wheels, also try these links:
http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/adulttrainingw_sydk.htm
www.fatwheels.com
There are many others, just Google them.
One video link I quickly found via Google is here:
http://www.pedalmagic.com/Feedbk2.htm#RelatedInfo
I do not have first-hand knowlege of whether this video works or not, but there is help out there. I think that a video can give you more info than a long-winded description. Don't give up, and I hope you succeed!
K
make sure the bike you have is the correct size and works well, find a empty car park cos they are normally flat or a park grass helps if you fall off i learnt on car park and it was hard when i fell so i tyred not to fall as little as possible dont worry about gears and brakes because to start with you wont go very fast to need them so get on both feet must be floor with bike Straight up, sit down on the seat with one foot still on the ground one on a pedal just push off and let it roll keep on doing it until you feel you can put both feet on the pedals you dint have to pedal yet then let it slow down and return both feet to the ground do it again and when you feel that you can have both feet up and pedal forwards and just go for it don't worry if you fall we all had to learn at some point and then bike home and post on yahoo answers how to go fast and do wheelies and such stunts good luck as well
You're never too old. Buy a bike,and a helmet. Go to a park or where-ever there's a grassy area.Just push yourself around to get used to being on the bike.When you feel more comfortable try to pedal and see how it goes.
Once you get good, you can find some new friends.
remove the pedals, learn to balance the bike while pushing/scooting yourself around on it. once youve got a sense of balance its time to put those pedals back on. pedaling should help you with your balance after that.
Just practice practice practice... Eventually you will get the hang of it. No one was able to ride the bike from the first time.
Go to the top of a hill and point down. learn REALLLLY quick.
Don't your obviously too old.
Maybe you should have learned 30 years ago like the rest of us.
But start off on a kiddies try cycle then go for it
No comments:
Post a Comment