Teaching adults to ride.

Dominic Sansom <[email hidden]> wrote
in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Does any one have any advice about teaching a 30+ year old to ride. I
have a friend that has never even sat on a bike but REALLY wants to
learn to cycle. There are no classes or training classes anywhere where
I am.

I have a good (spare) bike and some training wheels (for an adult size
bike).

Any help grately appreciated.

Don't use the training wheels! Use the same method that a lot of people use
for teaching kids, i.e. take off the pedals and lower the saddle so the
rider can reach the ground with both feet. That way they can "run" around
on the bike and get used to balancing and steering the bike. If they get
the bike moving at a reasonable rate then they should eventually be able to
take both feet off the ground and coast for a while. Once they can do this
put the pedals back on.

Graeme

Dominic Sansom said:

Does any one have any advice about teaching a 30+ year old to ride. I
have a friend that has never even sat on a bike but REALLY wants to
learn to cycle. There are no classes or training classes anywhere where
I am.

I have a good (spare) bike and some training wheels (for an adult size
bike).

Any help grately appreciated.

I had to teach the other half how to ride a bike when she was 25. I got
her a BMX because they are easy to ride and she didn't have to worry
about gears.
Be prepared to do *a lot* of running (not riding) alongside until they
feel confident.

And make sure the dog is locked up. For some reason the when the dog
hears his beloved misstress scream, and then me rush over to catch her,
it is a signal for him to attck my legs.

- Mark Munk3y

Dominic Sansom said:

Does any one have any advice about teaching a 30+ year old to ride. I have a friend that has never even sat on a bike but REALLY wants to learn to cycle. There are no classes or training classes anywhere where I am.

I have a good (spare) bike and some training wheels (for an adult size bike).

Any help grately appreciated.

Hi Dominic, there plenty of "how to" and associated bike courses on the 'net, but this link from Sheldon Brown is the best I've seen that directly pertains to your friends situation.
cheers

<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html>
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears.html>

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Dominic Sansom said:

Does any one have any advice about teaching a 30+ year old to ride. I
have a friend that has never even sat on a bike but REALLY wants to
learn to cycle. There are no classes or training classes anywhere where
I am.

I have a good (spare) bike and some training wheels (for an adult size
bike).

Any help grately appreciated.

I had to teach the other half how to ride a bike when she was 25. I got
her a BMX because they are easy to ride and she didn't have to worry
about gears.
Be prepared to do *a lot* of running (not riding) alongside until they
feel confident.

And make sure the dog is locked up. For some reason the when the dog
hears his beloved misstress scream, and then me rush over to catch her,
it is a signal for him to attck my legs.

- Mark Munk3y

Learn to Ride. The best way is to use the method from RICHARDS' ULTIMATE
BICYCLE BOOK p114 and 115 (hit the <F11> key to maximise your view)-
these pages should print well onto A4 as they are about that size. My
son learned easily and quickly at 4yrs & 1week old when other methods had
totally failed and many friends' kids (plus adults via newsgroups) have
succeeded using this way.

Here are the links
http://control-access.com/~leearc/lee/mark/Learn2ride1.jpg
http://control-access.com/~leearc/lee/mark/Learn2ride2.jpg
--
Mark Lee

Dominic Sansom said:

Does any one have any advice about teaching a 30+ year old to ride. I
have a friend that has never even sat on a bike but REALLY wants to
learn to cycle. There are no classes or training classes anywhere where
I am.

I have a good (spare) bike and some training wheels (for an adult size
bike).

This is how I did it when someone telephone me one day and asked,
because if hubbie kept on giving lessons, they would end up divorced.

(bin the training fscking wheels)

Take person and bicycle to local oval and select softest grass area
(they feel safer if they fall).

Put bicycle in lowest gear (don't lower the seat, set seat at right
height.

Have them mount the bicyle, which you hold upright (back of seat or seat
post).

Tell them to start pedalling (high cadence is better than low cadence,
which is why lowest gear) and TURN towards the side they think they are
going to fall towards.

You run along side and just hold them upright.

At some stage, have them practise falling; one pedal down and stand on
it, move other foot out to side and well clear of pedal, stop bicycle
and lean bicycle towards the side they have chosen to fall towards (aka
foot is out to that side). Point out that they are not going to fall,
but simply step onto that foot out onto that foot. Make sure you make it
clear that they should choose the side they want to lean to.

Have them practise the stop a few times until they feel confident.

Continue practise riding.

Eventually, they will not need you to hold seat post and will be happy
to ride by themselves.

Rest is just practise, practise, practise.

Mark Lee <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:MPG.1b6cc68894d0f59f9896bd@news-server:

Quoted message said:

http://control-access.com/~leearc/lee/mark/Learn2ride1.jpg

I'm surprised that kid can cycle at all, he appears to have black marbles
instead of eyes. :-O

Graeme

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know how it goes.