How do i ride a bike, i am:
-age: 17
-gender: boy
-weight: 94kg
-height: 1.9m
- not buying training wheels.
- not buying anything apart from what i have now: a bike lamp, bike lock, and of course the bike. Remember, the bike must be moving forward. No matter how much you ride, a bike standing still is highly unstable.
To get more comfortable riding your bike:
Remove the pedals (you may need a special wrench to do this and the pedal on the left side of the bike has a reverse thread) and lower the seat so that your feet can easily reach the ground. Push off with your feet and then pick them up. Do this until you are comfortable coasting. Then put the pedals back on. Use them a little bit to give yourself some speed after you get started pushing off Find an open field, big empty parking lot or lightly-travelled residential street. Slight downhill preferred. Lower your seat so that it's low enough to sit with one foot on the ground (this will not necessarily be the set once you learn to ride).
Make sure you're familiar with the braking system: which handle controls the front or rear brakes, or if you have a coaster (pedal backwards).
Sittiing on the bike, grip the handle bar in a relaxed fashion (firm, but don't death-grip it and don't lock your elbows). Look down your path of travel, not directly in front of you.
Push off with your ground foot, keep looking ahead and push down on the pedal with the other foot.
Gently (no jerking motions) bring your ground foot up to the other pedal. When each pedal is at the top of the stroke, push downward on it with even pressure.
Balancing comes naturally on a bike and is guided by the momentum, which means you balance better the faster you go.
Experiment with turning, being careful to not jerk the handlebar. To turn right, push lightly on the right handlebar rather than turning the wheel to the right. First, I would suggest that you consider buying a woman's bike instead of a man's, because of the top bar. Some really screwed up logic went into sexing bikes when you think about it. A man's bike has a bar right where your crotch is when you stand on the pedals. Neither a man nor a woman wants to fall on that bar, but who stands to suffer more damage from falling on that bar? A woman's bike has a much lower top bar, and is therefore safer for a male. Any other differences between men's and women's bikes are superficial, such as paint color, stickers, etc. My uncle, a virile heterosexual male, rides a woman's bike because they are safer for males.
Here's a good one:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.d...
Find smooth pavement, like a large empty parking lot. Maybe a church parking lot on a day when there are no services, or maybe the empty fairground. You will need lots of room so try to find a *large* parking lot.
If it is a single speed bike, that will be much easier to learn on, but it sucks for commuting. If you get a bike with multiple gears, remember, don't change gears when you are putting alot of stress on the chain by pedaling, such as when you are going uphill. Definitely don't change gears going uphill, as this can break a derailleur. On level ground and downhill is okay.
When you are learning how to ride, you should wear thick clothing that covers you from neck to feet. This will help protect against road rash when falling. Wear additional protective gear such as a helmet (definitely), and perhaps elbow and knee pads.
Start off in one of the easier gears, but not the easiest one. (To put the bike in an easy gear, use the shifter control for the rear sprocket. Move it until the chain is on one of the larger chain rings on the rear sprocket. Voila, easy gear!)
Make dead sure that the brakes work, and that you are familiar with them and how they work.
Stand with the bike on level pavement, or at the top of a hill. You don't want to start off going uphill, because you will surely fall.
Stand on the left side of the bike, holding the handlebars. Move the right pedal so that it is at the top. Put your right foot on the right pedal. Push off with your left foot, and stand on the pedals. Have a seat and start pedaling.
The rest you will surely have to play by ear. If your bike is traveling at too slow a speed, it will fall. But you aren't ready to go at racing speed until you have a good knowledge of how to safely ride.
STOPPING: When you decide to bring the bike to a stop, slow down with the brake, and put your left foot down just as the bike has stops.
Expect to fall a few times. You cannot be afraid to fall, at least not so much that it makes you freeze when you need to turn the handlebars. Accept it: you are going to fall a few times. When you accept it, it makes the fall so much easier to take.
Whether riding a bike is easy to learn or not is irrelevant. You can absolutely do it, that much is certain. Just dress properly, and take your bike to an appropriate spot. No matter how hard or scary it might seem while you are learning the first hour, if you stay at it that long, you will be a pro at the end of the hour.
One hour. Hell, it won't even take that long. And it will feel great. :-)
Welcome to the world of cycling. |
