Just Like Riding a Bike - Part 1 of ??

I don’t know how to ride a bike.

Well, I suppose I know how to ride a bike, but I’ve never tried to put that knowledge to practical use.  I’ve never been particularly athletic, either in skill or interest.  I booted around the yard as a kid on my training wheels and various tricycles but when I got to the age where most kids would have decided to move on to a “real bike”, I just wasn’t interested.  So when Dillon, Cale, and I decided last week to each do something we’d never done before and in the ensuing discussion it was revealed that I’d never ridden a bike, it was a no-brainer.  I would learn to ride a bike.

I asked my friend Erin to be my coach in this endeavor.  She’s an aspiring elementary teacher and I knew she would be the perfect mix of patient, encouraging, and genuinely helpful in her instructions.

Erin told me that the two rules of riding a bike are:

1.       Fast is scary but if you slow down, you’ll start to tip.
2.       If you start to fall left, lean your body to the right.

Sounds easy enough.  As in, easier said than done.

Erin’s mom suggested I practice at first by walking with the bike between my legs to help me find my balance. 

After I (sort of) got used to this, it was time to start peddling.  Erin ran along side me while holding the bike to help me keep from toppling over.  I kept making her promise not to let go, “Please don’t let go.  Do not let go.  Do NOT let go!” 

She let go.

And this happened:

See, here’s the thing.  I have this weird tendency to lean to my right.  I’m pretty sure it’s something I unintentionally do in my everyday life as well, because I could.not.stop doing it.  And I pretty much never leaned to the left.  Like, ever.

By the end of our first lesson, I managed to ride approximately five feet on my own before losing balance.  It’s progress.  Erin says it usually takes kids most of a summer to master riding a bike though, so I’ve still got plenty of time.  And only one elderly lady incredulously asked in passing if I was really just learning to ride a bike.

Stay tuned for updates because by the end of the season, I WILL post a video of myself bicycling unassisted.

Jazmin