If you have cycle balance, you can learn to ride a bike in just 15 minutes or a half hour. If you don’t, it will take a bit more time but not more than three hours. But to become a really good biker, it is going to take some time. If you keep with it, it’s going to be an awesome recreational and transportation activity that will make you happier, fit, and open another window of wonder to your world. The following 6 tips can be a great help for you to ride a bike.
1. Get a good bike first.
Your first bike needn’t to be the most expensive as long as you are comfortable on it. For adult beginners, it’s suggested to buy a second-hand bike for practicing. If you're in a crowded country with no regard for traffic laws like India, look at something smaller. A pulsar 200AS would be good.
cycling, bicycle, adult-learners
2. Extra protective gear.
Get all the gear like armored jackets, gloves and a good helmet. It'll give you a lot of confidence while learning. Long sleeves, pads, and helmet can reduce the pain when you fall, but it’s not completely necessary for you can use your feet to sustain the body. Practice on firm flat grass fields until you feel more confident with mounting and dismounting or gaining speed and braking.
3. Find a safe place for practicing.
Make sure you’re in a safe place to learn, free of car and heavy pedestrian traffic, like a park, possibly a sidewalk, a closed business or school, a grassy area with low enough grass that it doesn’t make it hard to start or ride, etc. A safe and quite place may ensure your safety and emancipate you from traffic distractions.
4. Keep calm and relaxed.
When we get fearful we tend to tighten up which makes us less stable (we are always unstable in balance because our center of mass is always above the pivot point(s) when riding). So keep all but your posture sustaining and power applying muscles relaxed also; this allows you to naturally absorb deflective forces and correct balance with less jerky or too violent corrections.
Just try not to be nervous in the initial stages. Falling off your bike at times is inevitable, and part of the learning process, along with surprises in the road, or an insect flies into your eye or something. Don’t let these times discourage you. Falling is part of the game, and the more time you put into riding, the less it will happen. Sometime soon, riding will become your second nature like walking. It’ll just be another part of you in the same way that you learned how to walk and run as a baby.
5. Start riding the bike either by standing on one side or by straddling the bike.
A. Stand on one side of the bike.
Put one foot on the pedal. If you're on the left side of the bike then put your left foot on the pedal (the pedal should be down). Then push off with the right foot like a scooter. This will give you enough momentum to balance the bike.
When you're comfortable with pushing off for momentum, and then throw your right foot over the seat and place on the other pedal. Then start pedaling!cycling, bicycle, adult-learners
B. Straddle the bike.
Point the bike down slope and then lift one foot off the ground and onto the pedal so that the bike starts to roll slowly down slope.
Use the other foot to maintain your balance and ensure the bike stays upright. When the bike stops rolling on its own, push the bike back up slope and repeat the process, reversing which foot stays down and which foot is lifted onto the pedal.
Repeat this process a few times until you feel confident. Then try lifting both feet onto the pedals. Repeat until you feel confident. If you fall, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going unless you injure yourself. If you ever injure yourself or your bike, stop. You can always continue again when you feel like you and the bike are ready. When you feel that you have mastered the basic balancing act, start to pedal the bike down slope. One pedal stroke at a time. Once the first trip down, then try two.
When you feel that you can pedal down slope comfortable with multiple pedal strokes, it's time to move on to a paved surface and repeat all the steps you just took on an unpaved surface.
6. Brake slowly.
Decrease your speed before braking and slowly apply the brakes. Remember not to apply the brakes suddenly but do it slowly and before braking reduce the speed. Once the vehicle is about to fully stop gentle take out your left leg to balance the vehicle.
7. Practice left turns.
The forces against the gyroscopic effect are probably more apparent when turning right. So it's suggested that you practice left turn first. Remember to slow down before reaching the turn, but fast enough to make your turn smooth rather than a stiff turn, with the help of inertance.
8. Practice, practice, and practice.
Keep doing what you’re doing. “Practice makes perfect.” After riding 5 km, you will be able to shift gears smoothly and apply brakes effectively. After riding 10 km, you start gear-shifting subconsciously and you will start detecting obstacles on the road faster. After riding a 100 km, you become a seasoned rider who is aware of what’s happening 100 m in front of you and behind you at any given time.
Fundamentally, we all get better at what cycling, bicycle, adult-learnerswe do. The more we do it, the better we get. The same is true of cycling: riding a two-wheeled vehicle. So you need to commit to spending time getting practice on two wheels. Moreover, do not have the expectation that you can flip a switch or press a button and instantly gain mastery of cycling. Instead, you have to be prepared to fall, which is how you learn.
It’s never too late to learn to ride a bike. Just follow the 8 steps above and enjoy the entertainment it brings. You will spend the first week having to consciously think how to ride correctly. After that? Well, it is riding like the wind. Have a blast!
8 Steps for Adult-learners to Ride a Bike
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