I don't know how to ride a bike page

[spakesneaker]

Yup, I'm 22 and don't know how to ride a bicycle. I never learned as a kid, and I've tried to learn since, but I always get freaked out by having to go fast in order to balance. My fear of falling/crashing/breaking a bone/getting hit by a car gets the best of me.

Is anyone else in the same boat?

This spring I will learn how to ride a bike... any advice people??

[Conner P.]

I learned how to ride an electric scooter before I learned how to ride a bike (around like age 13). It's all about foreward motion. Pretty much once you get moving, the rotational inertia of the tires keeps you up. As long as you keep pedaling at a decent pace, there isn't really that much effort that goes into balancing; it's mostly all in the initial push off.

[geostump]

I taught myself when I was 10 how to ride a bike. I had a 10 speed and just kept practicing everyday. If you want I could send my husband to teach you how to ride. He taught all our kids how to ride a bike in a day.

[Karma]

start on one too small for you so you can easily touch the ground with your feet. A BMX bike would work really well. Go with a single speed with a coaster brake like a cruiser to avoid complicating things with hand brakes and gears. You can get a good one on craigslist for about $50. Start on grass or astroturf, makes the fall less painful if it happens.

Have fun

[NeoPaleo]

I taught two different adults how to ride a bike using this method:
1. Remove pedals and lower seat so you can easily place both feet flat on the ground.
2. Find a smallish, shallow hill with no traffic (like in a quiet side street or a parking lot).
3. Ride down the hill with both feet skimming the ground, hands covering the breaks. You don't need a huge amount of speed to learn how to balance, but you can't "crawl" either.
4. Walk back up, do it again. At first, maybe you'll get 5 feet between having to touch your feet down. It'll be frustrating. Just keep at it.
5. Try to increase the time/distance that your feet don't have to touch the ground. Also try to increase your speed as you get use to the brakes. Don't be scared of the front brake - you WON'T flip over the handlebars at these speeds.
6. As finally start to figure out the balance thing, raise the seat a little bit to get used to not having the ground "right there".
7. When you can make it all the way down the hill, and maybe even a distance on the flat using up your momentum, put the pedals back on and try riding around on flat ground. (Find a low-to-middle gear and just leave it there. Worry about shifting after balancing is easy.)
8. As you get more comfortable with that, raise the seat up to "proper" height (you leg should be nearly (95%) straight when that side's pedal is at the bottom of the stroke).

[earthspirit]

get some training wheels xD
GL learning!