Do you remember learning how to ride a bicycle without training wheels? I kinda do. I have a fuzzy memory of being over at my cousins' house and borrowing a neighborhood kid's bike and pedaling across the "lawn".
My aunt and uncle weren't too stressed about the "lawn" getting chewed up since it mostly consisted of ragged clumps of weeds interspersed with bare patches of dirt. Can't grow much grass under a canopy of scrub pines and maples and it had the bonus of teaching us how to maneuver around obstacles on the course.
Not too long after this, I got my own first-ever bicycle - a rusty garage sale special that my parents spray painted in a really gross mint green.
What can I say? It was the 1970s and we were pretty poor. The green was probably on sale.
Because no one else wanted it.
Fast forward to 2008...
We bought Neatnik a 14" bicycle with training wheels for Christmas. Remember the Christmas eve/morning scene in Yours, Mine and Ours
Enough said.
Over the next couple of years, we tried to teach Neatnik how to ride her bike. We went with the time-honored tradition of raising the wheels incrementally and then taking them off.
Once the wheels came off, the chiropractor's bill increased but, hey, the kid was learning how to ride a bike with one of us running alongside, shouting encouragement, and holding onto her neck/shoulder to keep her vertical.
Fast-forward to yesterday...
Yesterday, Number Guy had an all-day bagpipe competition but Neatnik had a fishing derby so I was the designated adult for that fiasco event. Nothing is an unmitigated disaster, I guess, since Neatnik won a door prize.
In the afternoon, we decided to work on the bike riding skills - first time of the season. On went the helmet
Neatnik, it appears, is afraid of falling off her bicycle. If the bike tips, she doesn't correct her balance: she jumps off. Jumping off, of course, involves getting her feet tangled in the frame and a worse tumble than if she actually crashed.
We worked and worked and at one point, she was riding without me holding onto her. I shouted, "You're doing it! You're riding a bike!"
Then she entirely lost control of the bike, took her feet off the pedals, and crashed into me.
*** insert eye roll here ***
The remainder of the "lesson" was punctuated by shouts, tears, and "I can'ts".
Neatnik has grown quite a bit since we bought the bike so, in a flash of sudden inspiration, I thought that maybe the reason why she is having such trouble may be related to not fitting the bike anymore. We visited a few shops and sat on four dozen several
At the third shop, we struck pay dirt - not in bicycle acquisition but in teaching technique. He said that we should not buy new training wheels,
Yep, you read that right: take the pedals off.
Here's the thing. When a person is trying to learn to ride a bike, they are trying to learn how to do a whole lot of things simultaneously - balancing, pedaling, turning, braking. He said that if we take off the pedals and have her "scoot" the bike, just like a ride-on toy,
Why didn't we think of this?
Probably because taking the pedals off the bike can be a royal pain in the arse, that's why.
We had never heard of this technique but when I got home this evening I Googled around a bit and found a nice write up about it on a UK web site and another one at the International Bike Fund site.
Number Guy and I dragged out the wrenches and I remembered why assembling this beast bike was so stressful: no two nuts require the same size wrench and the pedals needed a metric wrench we do not own. TazzDad, however, owns every tool known to mechanic kind so we were covered - and TazzMom said that she heard this very technique touted on the radio just last week.
This just has got to work: the pedals are off the bike; the seat is adjusted so that Neatnik's feet reach the ground flat-footed when she sits; and summer vacation is just around the corner.
Updates to follow.
PS - You can also buy glider bicycles
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9 yarns:
Tell Neatnik I am cheering her on from California. I struggled to learn to ride, too and think the pedals off is a great idea.
I think Techboy and Neatnik are kinfolk. He went through the same thing and finally mastered it.
She will be fine. I promise.
Your Neatnik and my Miss M are cut from the same cloth. Adding to the stress at our house is that the younger brother is about to master the bike riding skill. I will be hitting up neighbor man to remove the pedals this evening. Thank you for the tip!
You're welcome, Linda!
Good luck, Neatnik!
I remember outgrowing my bike with the training wheels and getting a huge single-speed monster with the deadly pedal backwards to apply the brakes (and completely stop the wheels, great plan, that). I was learning on gravel. I learned fast, in part because if I wanted to visit any of my friends in our area (farm country), I had to bike there.
I think you're on the right track. I remember learning to ride by coasting down hills. Once I had the balance thing down, pedaling was easy.
I know she can do it!
I think you're on the right track. I remember learning to ride by coasting down hills. Once I had the balance thing down, pedaling was easy.
I know she can do it!
I feel like she is relving my past. I didn't learn to actually ride a bike until I was past 10, in Florida (no hills). I lived in Davis, CA for a while and bike riding was necessary, but I gave it up once I moved within walking distance to the university.
To forestall that, my 2(now 3)-yo received a "balance" bike (same idea as the glider bike or the scooter bike) and he is zooming away. So proud that he has already mastered skills that took me into my tweens to get (biking and swimming).
Best of luck to Neatnik (my personal technique was to drag my feet on the ground, which also causes crashes). It's probably not too late for her, although I'm pretty sure it's too late for me to learn to feel truly comfortable on a bike.
Hope she does it! Riding a bike is great!!!
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