Teaching adults how to cycle: Cubbon Park session

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends !

Cubbon Park reporting !

Absolutely straight, book picture, classical start...met Go Green Prabhakar Rao on his way to the weekly Go Green meet. Amazing person...has been rock steady in his cause of having more people cycling under Go Green Initiative... 

Respects !🙇‍♂️

Marwadi gang, Prakash and Ashok leading, and newbie Shankar helped to get the cycles. The Grenpeace trainees were there too and we had the proceedings on ! 

Simi, with Jason in tow, listened to and soon Parag took over her teaching with Muralidharan and Gayatri as trainees.

Trainers : 6

Ali, Parag, Shamala, Anirudd, Vijay, Krishna.

Newbies : 7

Shankar, Simi, Ameena, Aman, Ashika, Sunita, Shini 

Seniors: 11

Analisa, Avanita, Ashwini, Dakshita, Harshita,  Heera, Preethika, Shaswat, shivali,  Nivetha, Siddu

Trainees: 8

Greenpeace : 6 (Yamuna) Shoba, Manjula, Aruna, Poonam, Renuka

PedalShaale: 2 Gayatri, Muralidharan 

Hellos :

Nidhi and Deep from CFAM Chandrashekarji, 

Girija and Basavaraj from Basaveshwarnagar

Rohini from Lavalle Road

Debarpita (alumni) and Kush

Shankar, the early birdie newbie, travelled from Whitefield, and has road fear but did scooting fairly comfortably in his first session.

Simi is also a good student and had a go at half pedalling too, apart from scooting. Interestingly, Poonam and Renuka both trainees with height disadvantage, did half pedalling in standing position fairly well and taught me a new way!

Dikshita was next and struggled bravely through  my insistance for her to learn resting position on technicaly correct saddle height.

Shaswat 

is refusing to get reined into a disciplined pattern and not too sure how to make him remember and follow the set rules !🥺🤔

Avanita 

too had forgotten simple "left leaning, left foot down, Right on the pedal when on the saddle " rule and was jumping off each time asked to stop.

Shamala's report:

"

Date: July 2nd, 2023

Analisa: 

She is good with pedalling and balance is fine too. She has a bit of trouble turning, it takes her a while to make up her mind to turn, so she ends up with a very broad u-turn sometimes leaving no space to actually turn back. Taught some easy techniques to turn and also showed her how to go about it. She manages sometimes but fails to turn sometimes too. Needs more practice turning.

Sunita: 

Her first time ever on a cycle. She came in a bit scared, the usual 'fear of falling'. She made some progress with scooting, she has a good stable posture, if she maintains that she should be able to easily transition into scooting with both her feet in the air and then to pedaling

Amina: 

Again her first time on a cycle. She got into a fairly decent start with scooting, with some confidence and practice she should be able to pick up scooting with ease in a couple of weeks.

Also trained the trainers from Greenpeace with Sunita as the student. They listened well and remained focussed. Put one of them through a brief test, she was ok but missed a few key points like getting the student comfortable with static balancing before scooting and also some safety instructions. But otherwise they are observant and are able to understand the challenges that the student might be facing.

"

Thanks Shamala 🙏💐

Parag's report:

"

Newbies

Aman- 

She had learnt as a child, but had stopped due to a fall. She was able to get static balancing quickly and then scooting in a few rounds, and then was pedaling fluently. She also did some turning and started on signaling which she will continue.

Simi- 

Having never ridden a 2 cycle or two wheeler, she took some time to master static balancing and then moved to scooting. She tends to lurch a bit which causes problem in riding, especially at slow speeds and while starting, with some practice next week she should be able to pedal properly. Two of the Peenya trainee intructors were trying to help her learn.

Ashika- 

Started with scooting, with her friend Ashwini who introduced her to BBS. They paired up on the small scooting bike to practice scooting.

Seniors

Avanee- 

She finally cracked balancing and was finally able to go down the slope almost fully scooting, and able to pedal uphill as well.

Srivalli- 

Corrected her alignment, and the lurch is almost fine. She was able to pedal straight up and down, and started with U turns and zig zags. She will try and learn circles and signaling the next weekend.She also helped twin with Avanee, with Avanee scooting/ pedaling downhill and Srivalli pedaling uphill on the foldie.

Ashwini- 

Made more progress on scooting today, she should be pedaling next weekend.

Alumni

Debarpita- Came riding all the way from HSR layout on her cycle with Hubby Kush. She rides regularly now in HSR, Koramangala etc. Practiced a bit of signaling today, she struggles with riding one handed which made it harder to signal comfortably.

"

Thanks Parag👍🙏💐

Vijay's report :

"

Shini

She had come with her parents and was first timer . It was a total surprise, at the first go itself she did scooting and while returning she also started pedling. Couple of rounds, she had full grip on the cycle and she was riding with confident. Enquired whether she had cycled earlier and the answer  was no.  One more session she will be perfect in her riding.

Analisa

 - she had her cycling when she was very small and had a fall and left cycling.

She had problem on uphill and turns.  By the end of the session she was able to pedal uphill and also turns.

"

Thanks Vijay 🙏💐

Krishna's report :

"

Krishna reports

What a relief for me to return to BBS today after a gap of nearly 5 weeks. I was away from town andy Sundays were incomplete.  I got to teach Ms Hira Hegde and  Ms Amina. Both were very pleasingly enthusiastic. 

Hira 

had attended our sadashiva nagar arena on two Saturdays. She was having difficulty in stopping right on to left side associated half peddle technique. With persistence and constant supervision by me, she was able do well rather very well by the end of the session. She still has the issue of holding right peddle at 1 or 3 position while stopping. She should be fine by next week. Adding to signalling. Turning is 40 percentage ok. 

 As for Amina, 

she did the scooting excercise with me and later shyamala took over for finer tuning. Very bright day wholesomely

"

Thanks Krishna 👍🙏💐

Anirudd's report:

"

Shankar:

We have a cheerful learner in our class today, it's his first session, and he is showing great progress. The only challenge he faced was the bicycle being too short for him, which made it difficult. However, he is a quick learner and easily grasps the fundamentals of cycling. It's worth noting that he tends to get overly excited and has some anxiety issues due to past experiences. With the right support and guidance, we believe he can overcome these challenges and continue to improve.

Ashika:

We have an enthusiastic and cheerful lady in our class who is determined to overcome her fear of cycling. Although it's her first session, she has a previous experience of cycling during her childhood and now wants to start cycling again after seeing others ride. She began by learning how to scoot and balance with both her legs in the air. Based on her progress, we anticipate that it will take approximately 2 or 3 more sessions for her to develop a good sense of balance, after which she will be ready to start pedaling. She has already grasped the basics of braking and how to start/stop with her left leg. Overall, she is learning quite well and showing great potential.

Ashwini:

We have a wonderful teacher in our class who is currently on her 4th session. She brings great energy and courage to the learning process, making it enjoyable to teach her. She has demonstrated a clear determination to learn, which adds to the fun of the teaching experience. She has already grasped the concept of scooting by keeping both her legs in the air, but it may take some time before she progresses to learning how to pedal. With her enthusiasm and commitment, we are confident that she will continue to make steady progress in her cycling journey.

Overall, these trainees possess the essential qualities needed to learn a new skill, including determination, confidence, courage, and a willingness to take a leap of faith. With a little bit of stricter supervision and guidance, they will undoubtedly persevere and excel in their learning journey. Their positive attitude and commitment to improvement will contribute to their continued progress and success.

"

Thanks Anirudd 🙏💐

So ended a satisfactory session at Cubbon...

Till next weekend..

Keep Pedalling !

Ali Poonawala 

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends !

Weather map showed monsoon in its full glory in the western ghats while it is blessing Namma Bengaluru with a bit of drizzle now and then.

You really have little choice but to love this place in this weather !

A new marwadi senior team resting near organic shop did not pick up the cue for help and I trudged to the bicycle place, toying with idea of ringing Naga. On second thought, decided against and used this as opportunity to polish my one hand bicycling while balancing the second one.  A friendly sparse crowd helped !

Trainers : 4

Ali, Vinod, Naga Prakash, Shankar

Newbies: 4

Naveen, Keerthi Sagar, yamuna, Bhagyamma

Seniors : 9

Avanita, Analisa, Aman, Ningappa, Piu, Preetika Shaswath, Shankar, Shilpee, 

Trainees : 10

Greenpeace : 6 Manjula, Aruna, Shoba, Poonam devi , Renu, Deepika

KBDA: 2 Muralidharan, Gayathri, 

MSI : 2 Imran, Zabirulla.

Hello :

GGI :Major Srinivas Gokulnath with Go Green  Prabhakar Rao and his team.

CFAM : Nidhi 

DULT : Firzana and Kavya

 Naveen

a smiling newbie, became the first student for greenpeace trainees to apply what they had grasped so far.. He is doing the scooting part with a great flair ! 😁.

Keerthi Sagar 

was the newbie and star of the day, from scooting, getting balance, half pedal and Pedalling uphill, he conquered all. Needless to say, needs more practice.

Yamuna 

A Munnadi spokewoman, she has been the coordinator for Greenpeace's bicycling initiative and it was so lovely to see her take the plunge to learn !

She scooted with Shobha watching her progress.

Shashwath

Less lurches and semblance of a bicycle rider rather than a chaotic random motion disaster.

Ningappa

Still lurching and scooting. He must start trusting his hands to do the balancing.

Piu :

Foldie suits her short stature and she is continuing to scoot with more ease. She should be able to move to pedalling stage soon.

Preetika:

Improving rapidly,  negotiating better, braking and stopping needs to be worked upon.

Shankar :

Scooting very well, ready for pedaling any time ! Actually, I asked him but in his words..  'slow and steady wins the race' !

Naga Prakash's report :

"

09Jul

*BBS Trainer:* Naga Prakash

*Pedal shale trainers:* deepika, shobha, poonam devi, Renuka

*Students:* Avneeta , Lingappa, Yamuna ganesh

*Avneeta:* Seems she forgot what she learnt. Struggled a bit to gain confidence on scooting. She was okay with scooting at the end. Keep practicing Avneeta.

*Lingappa:* Also trained by *Trainers Renuka & Poonnam Devi*: Lingappa had problem with balancing. Been lurching so much. After sometime he was able to get to balance for few seconds and scooted. Needs more practice Lingappa.

*Yamuna ganesh:* Also trained by *Trainers Deepika & Shobha*: Yamuna started first class with the pedal less bike to scoot. She could balance for few seconds downhill, but uphill struggled a lot. I am sure next session she should be able get scooting. 

*Trainer feedback*

*Renuka* was very good in explaining and correcting the mistakes by students. I really appreciate her for the skills.

*Poonam devi , Deepika, Shobha* were also good in explaining the fundamentals. All the 4 trainers very well managed today. Wishing them good luck in completing their training soon.

"

Thanks Naga 🙏💐

Vinod's report :

"

09 July 2023.

*BBS Trainer:* Vinod Venkatesh. 

*Student:* Keerthi Sagar.

*Keerthi Sagar* : His first day at the school, pretty quick a learner. With basics learnt he was able to scoot easily.! 

Progressively he was successful in pedalling without any support, his uphill pedalling improved on every repeat.! and was more confident while making turns.! At the end of the day he was happy with his progress.

Thank you 🙏🏻

"

Thanks Vinod,🙏💐

Major Srinivas Gokulnath was the inspiration of the day.. First Indian to do solo RAAM (Race Across AMerica 4800 + kilometres in 12 days or less) in 2017 and repeated the feat again this year ! 

More humbling was his story, while UN Peacekeeping in Sudan, about teaching 150 Sudanese ladies to cycle, by doing charity ride and  raise 2000 $ and buy cycles to teach !

His remark at the end, " Teaching cycling is like setting people free... and is uplifting not only for students, teachers but the society, our country  and the whole world ! ", bore hall mark of giant of a man ... Respects !

Till next weekend 

[Ali Poonawala]

Cubbon Park session 16 July 2023:

Hi friends...

Monsoon has kept all the running events under cover, leaving our teaching area free to us, runners and shuttle cock players.

a perfect teaching day unfolded.. cloudy but  no rain !

Greenpeace trainees were alrady there and Shobha and Manjula's sons, Charan and Sohan helped with getting the cycles.

Trainers : 4

Ali, Sadiq, Parag, Anirudd.

Newbies : 6+1

Bharath, Sharath, Prajwal, Manjushaa, Simran, Rohini, Neha(!)

Seniors : 13

Aman, Analisa, Archana (mom) and Roshni, Harshitha, Keerthi Kumar, Ningappa, Piu, Priyanka, Shaswath, Siddhu, Urmila, Vandana,

Trainees: 10

Greenpeace 6

Shobha, Manjula, Aruna, Deepika, Poonam and Renu

KBDA: 2 

Gayathri and Muralidharan

MSI: 2 

Imran and Aravind (Cycleworld)

Hello :

Silver talkies:  

Neha Kamalapur

 Greenpeace family children:

Bindhu, Sohan, Yashaswini, Swamy, Ganavi, Gowtami, Yukti, Charan, Abhay and Ankit

Chandrashekar-ji.

Neha was there, from SilverTalkies, the digital platform which caters to the golden years age group citizens issues, was there to get the first hand experience of what BBS is about.

I let Aruna and Poonam get the ball rolling with 10 year old Bharath as their student. Language was an issue. Best dealt with an interpreter, but sign language works too

Sharath started with my 'gyan' and once got into scooting, other trainees took over, soon he was Pedalling.. definitely 5 stars for the day !

Manjushaa was next and was alternated with Rohini, who at 72 wants to get back to what she left decades ago. Despite her knee, she maintained learning enthusiasm on par with the teenager ! Respects !! Both are in scooting phase.

Gayathri was teaching Piu who is yet to balance. Muralidharan helped Ningappa and Shaswath to break free and balance finally ! Not there quite yet but there is light at the end of the tunnel..

Aruna left early, had to go to work.

Harshitha is refusing to get out of 'right foot on the ground' habit, no matter what I say !

Parag's report:

"

Newbies

Prajwal - The 4th grader managed to learn static balancing quickly, and then did a few rounds of scooting. He is almost there, by next class he should be scooting fully.

Manjusha - The highschooler started a bit apprehensively, but managed to get to scooting quite fast on the smaller scooting bike. After an older learner requested for that bike, she gamely even did scooting on the larger bike which was a bit tall for her, but she managed quite well, and some help from Priyanka who works for Accenture (and tried to practice ridign one handed for signaling), and Journalism/ Psychology student Neha who had come to write an article about BBS for Silver Talkies.

Archana & Purnima - The Mom and Daughter duo know how to cycle, and came to get some riding tips to ride in traffic. Learnt stopping safely by leaning to the left, and started learning to signal while turning and watching for oncoming traffic etc.

Ongoing

Analisa - Did Zig zags, and started on circles today.

Aman - Managed to pedal comfortably, and started on zig zags and circles.

Harshitha - Started on zig-zags

Shashwat - Finally cracked pedaling uphill today. Still has a bit of a tendency to put his foot down while pedaling uphill, which he needs t correct by putting more force into pedaling uphill.

Urmila - A Professor from the Manipal Banking School, she had done basic pedaling at Begur, and moved to Cubbon to do turning, and was able to pick it up quite well today. She will do zig-zags next, and then circles.

"

Thanks Parag 😍💐

Anirudd's report:

"

Shashwath

He has shown significant progress, managing to perform half pedals and balancing more effectively. However, he still needs to practice consistently at home and work on managing his nervousness, fear, and excitement. By dedicating time to personal practice, he will be able to accelerate his learning process and become more confident in his cycling abilities. With continued effort and practice, he can overcome his challenges and become a proficient cyclist in no time.

Simran

It's great to see that she is making good progress in her cycling journey. It's essential to keep reminding her to look ahead and not focus too much on the handlebar. Balancing is a significant milestone, and it's fantastic that she has achieved it. Once she becomes more proficient in using the brakes, we can move on to the next step of learning how to ride in a zigzag pattern. With consistent practice and guidance, I am confident that she will continue to improve and become a skilled cyclist. Keep up the excellent work!

"

Thanks Anirudd!🙏👍

Greenpeace ladies with their children went off to enjoy the Cubbon Park 

As we were calling it a day, Shruti turned up with very playful Bailey the she dog. She promised to join soon.

Rohini connected me with her hubby Mr. Sheshadri, who was ace cyclist in his heydays, gave BBS his blessings. We met Chandrashekar ji there.He knew the couple well and after a light banter, we dispersed.

Till next weekend

Keep Pedalling!

Ali Poonawala