How to teach an adult how to cycle (and where)?? Help!!

[Ram]

Hello fellow members,

My spouse has had the misfortune of not learning how to cycle as a
kid. However, she is very keen on picking up the skill. I'm facing
quite a few problems on this front and need your inputs/suggestions.
I've picked up the right sized bike for her, so all is covered on that
front.

1. Where to teach?
An adult is quite self conscious, especially a woman. Where to teach?
I live in Whitefield Bangalore. Can someone suggest a nice secluded
road/ground in the vicinity where I can go about teaching her without
facing hagglers?

2. How to teach?
I've read somewhere that first the adult should learn how to coast
down a gentle incline and then later start the pedaling. Do any of you
have suggestions on this front?

3. I know I'm shooting in the dark, but are there any professional
places in Bangalore that offer such a course?

[Sudhir P]

2. How to teach?
I've read somewhere that first the adult should learn how to coast
down a gentle incline and then later start the pedaling. Do any of you
have suggestions on this front?

- Keep the saddle height low, such that she can comfortably keep both feet on the ground, so that she can reflexively anchor when she feels unsafe 

- If she already knows how to ride a two-wheeler, u can skip the going down the incline bit.... The braking bit after coasting down an incline might be tricky to handle early on.... Feathering brakes is something that people dont get easily on first run

- It'll help if you can run at the pace she cycles, to give that confidence

-sud

p.s: I've taught 4 adults to cycle, all of whom learnt it without a crash :) and within a span of 3-4 days

 

================================
Sudhir.P
Cycling team: http://www.facebook.com/cleatedwarriors
Blog : http://roastedneutrons.blogspot.com
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I do not suffer from insanity......
I enjoy it!
================================

[Satheesh]

My child learned in 5 minutes and also taught other children in apartment in less time.

0. Teach them some theory before going for practicals ... how to ride a cycle with both legs! ;-) It looks silly but its important to know for a new bee how to pedal.
1. Make them comfortable in handling or balancing cycle. Ask them to push cycle for few minutes.
2. Make them sit on cycle and gently push also hold for balancing.
3. Leave your hand now and then for them to balance and ride themselves.

I bet they can learn in less than 15 minutes.

regards
Satheesh

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[Deepa Mohan]

I taught myself to cycle at 28....I'd hired an adult-sized cycle, and had a couple of falls. The street urchins were laughing. So I just went and got a child's size cycle. The street urchins were still laughing, but I wasn't getting hurt!

Actually, level ground was better for me. I didn't get the feeling of the cycle "running away" :)

Tell your wife...let her NOT be self-conscious. So what if there is some good-natured laughter! She's learning a new skill and that's something great. (I also learnt to swim a few years ago, with the building kids also laughing!) The feeling of accomplishment when she finally goes off in a (reasonably) straight line is just indescribable.

Let us know how it went!  Tell her that there are plenty of people like me, who ride Ladybirds with baskets and don't do 900 kms  rides!

Cheers, Deepa.

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Sudhir P <sudhirp...@gmail.com> wrote:

2. How to teach?
I've read somewhere that first the adult should learn how to coast
down a gentle incline and then later start the pedaling. Do any of you
have suggestions on this front?

WebRep

Overall rating

 

[Vinay]

ITI colony in K R Pura has lots of flat empty roads with no traffic or people.
I learnt to ride there..

Just sat on the bicycle and started pedaling.
I did not know how to get off the bicycle though.. Had a couple of falls while trying to get off the bicycle..
-Vinay

--

[SP]

There is a nice how-to here:
http://www.ibike.org/education/teaching-kids.htm

The site outlines a technique that teaches balancing, pedaling,
braking, and turning separately in that sequence. It is for kids, but
I have seen similar instructions for adults.

Snippet from the site: The initial experience for the student is far
less overwhelming because they aren't trying to master everything
(balance, pedaling, steering, etc.) at once. In fact, isolated, the
individual skills need for bicycling are in fact pretty quick and easy
for most people to learn.

-Surya

On Apr 21, 11:11 am, Vinay <svin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ITI colony in K R Pura has lots of flat empty roads with no traffic or
> people.
> I learnt to ride there..
>
> Just sat on the bicycle and started pedaling.
> I did not know how to get off the bicycle though.. Had a couple of falls
> while trying to get off the bicycle..
> -Vinay
>

> On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Deepa Mohan <mohande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I taught myself to cycle at 28....I'd hired an adult-sized cycle, and had a
> > couple of falls. The street urchins were laughing. So I just went and got a
> > child's size cycle. The street urchins were still laughing, but I wasn't
> > getting hurt!
>
> > Actually, level ground was better for me. I didn't get the feeling of the
> > cycle "running away" :)
>
> > Tell your wife...let her NOT be self-conscious. So what if there is some
> > good-natured laughter! She's learning a new skill and that's something
> > great. (I also learnt to swim a few years ago, with the building kids also
> > laughing!) The feeling of accomplishment when she finally goes off in a
> > (reasonably) straight line is just indescribable.
>
> > Let us know how it went!  Tell her that there are plenty of people like me,
> > who ride Ladybirds with baskets and don't do 900 kms  rides!
>
> > Cheers, Deepa.
>

> > On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Sudhir P <sudhirpalli...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>> 2. How to teach?
> >>> I've read somewhere that first the adult should learn how to coast
> >>> down a gentle incline and then later start the pedaling. Do any of you
> >>> have suggestions on this front?
>
> >> WebRep

> > Overall rating

[darpan naik]

Hi all,

I am desperately wanted to learn cycle. Please can anybody help me or teach me to learn cycling? I will give you fees.

With regards

Darpan  

[Opendro]

A lot of good tips here. I taught my daughter (4 years 1 month old) in a single days practice (must be at least 2 hours - complete newbie). I also taught another kid of my friend (4 years 6 months old) in about 20 mins. He didn't learn fully, but I was able to leave hand for 5 meters now and then.

Here is the theory bit that I can add to what Satheesh had described:

"Turn left if bike tends to fall left. Turn right if the bike tends to fall right". This has been the best theory I could teach anyone to balance on two wheeler. Initially, they overdo the turn and waver and it does not take much time to find the right amount of turn. When I started unicycle, this was again the most challenging part - turn left if falling left and unicycle does not have handle bar LOL So, I was tending to put weight on right foot to keep the wheel upright, but the whole body balance on the left and making worse.

Turning is the most important aspect of balancing.

Slope is good, but it should be very subtle, just the kind that will not need to apply brake when stopping.

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

Where do you stay? 

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[Ali Poonawala]

Dear Darpan

There is an existing thread on this topic in this group, since 2011

Go into chrinological view and you can read the recent mails.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/bangalore-bikers/Teaching$20adults$20how$20to$20cycle%7Csort:relevance/bangalore-bikers/FdIO50vXc-c/Tt8kz_OlDJwJ

Warm regards 

Ali Poonawala

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