Question:
Having spent the last few days re-learning how to ride, I find I keep remembering things I learned as a kid. I'm curious about something.
Have any of you guys ever met an adult who wants to learn to ride, and who has never ridden a bicycle in their life?
How would an adult learn to balance him / herself from scratch? The same way a kid would? Do they have a hard time with it, after all there would be no early imprinting to fall back on? Any one with experience to share???
Answer:
My parents have never learned to ride bikes. We're from a small fishing village on the Canadian East coast. There were no roads there; only great expanses of rolling granite and bush. The town is/was so small you could walk it end to end in less than 1/2 hour. While my father has never expressed an interest, last year I got my mom into a Sun EZTad recumbent trike. She never seemed to get the knack of a 2-wheeler and adult training wheels were hard to come by. At her age I really didn't want her taking a tumble anyway. She has some rare ailment with her legs that causes muscle weakness, loss of tone and the resulting stiffness and pain after exercise. She was worried the trike would make this worse but has found that the opposite seems to be true. Walking and standing makes it much worse than riding. We've spent a little time exploring those places one would normally not go unless one can ride, as well as those little shortcuts and easements through neighbourhoods you would never see in a car. So far she's having a ball with it.
