> My girlfriend has never riden before. > She can't even pedal alond teh driveway!
> Are the stabilisers for adult bikes?
> I have taken the pedals off and am getting her to use the bike like a > skooter to get used to the > steering.
> Are ther any other techniques people can recommend?
Get her to scoot along with her feet off the ground for as long as possible with those pedals off, and when she can do it along a flat, try her out on a hill (as long as the bike has hand brakes - make sure she knows how to use them!).
Once she can coast for a few seconds, she should be able to try pedalling a little - just in little spurts taking off from standing on the front pedal.
I am trying to teach my 4YO daughter to ride at the moment, and she is deathly afraid of falling off so it is difficult to say the least ;-)
> > I have taken the pedals off and am getting her to use the bike like a > > skooter to get used to the > > steering.
> > Are ther any other techniques people can recommend?
> Get her to scoot along with her feet off the ground for as long as possible > with those pedals off, and when she can do it along a flat, try her out on a > hill (as long as the bike has hand brakes - make sure she knows how to use > them!).
> Once she can coast for a few seconds, she should be able to try pedalling a > little - just in little spurts taking off from standing on the front pedal.
> I am trying to teach my 4YO daughter to ride at the moment, and she is > deathly afraid of falling off so it is difficult to say the least ;-)
> Tim
Fear gives you shakes, makes you wobble, makes you fall off. Find a nice grassy oval and fall off at low speed. See how it doesn't hurt. It's harder to ride on grass but it doesn't hurt.
>> > I have taken the pedals off and am getting her to use the bike like a >> > skooter to get used to the >> > steering.
>> > Are ther any other techniques people can recommend?
>> Get her to scoot along with her feet off the ground for as long as >> possible >> with those pedals off, and when she can do it along a flat, try her out >> on a >> hill (as long as the bike has hand brakes - make sure she knows how to >> use >> them!).
>> Once she can coast for a few seconds, she should be able to try pedalling >> a >> little - just in little spurts taking off from standing on the front >> pedal.
>> I am trying to teach my 4YO daughter to ride at the moment, and she is >> deathly afraid of falling off so it is difficult to say the least ;-)
>> Tim
> Fear gives you shakes, makes you wobble, makes you fall off. Find a nice > grassy oval and fall off at low speed. See how it doesn't hurt. It's > harder to ride on grass but it doesn't hurt.
Yeah - that's what I ended up doing with my son, but I did that after he had got the basics (of me holding onto his collar running along side on the footpath).
I should take my daughter down - we have an oval 50 metres away so I should have thought of that already!
My wife was riding in half a day using the no pedal method (thanks to a previous poster). It helped to have a slight incline on the road so that the momentum carried the bike, and her, forward. It still takes her a couple of tries to get going... but once she is there's no stopping her.
> My wife was riding in half a day using the no pedal method (thanks to a > previous poster). It helped to have a slight incline on the road so > that the momentum carried the bike, and her, forward. It still takes > her a couple of tries to get going... but once she is there's no > stopping her.
> Now she's hooked! he he!
> -- > Dominic Sansom
>Now she's hooked! he he!
Your lucky, My wife won't even go near a bike, I've been trying for ages to get her to come for a ride, and as far as I know she can ride a bike as she used to ride a bike where she came from (Japan) but she only sees a bicycle as a mode of transport to go from a-b and back and not something to be used for recreational purposes. Even when i mention the word bike, it's like "forget it"!!
Maybe I should get a copy of a book called 'how to hypnotise chooks' put her in a trance..............nah, she wouldn't listen to me anyway..........sigh!! :-( DJ
> Your lucky, My wife won't even go near a bike, I've been trying for > ages to get her to come for a ride, and as far as I know she can ride > a bike as she used to ride a bike where she came from (Japan) but she > only sees a bicycle as a mode of transport to go from a-b and back and > not something to be used for recreational purposes. Even when i > mention the word bike, it's like "forget it"!!
> Maybe I should get a copy of a book called 'how to hypnotise chooks' > put her in a trance..............nah, she wouldn't listen to me > anyway..........sigh!! :-( > DJ
Too easy. "Break" the car, go out for "coffee" on bikes, and just take the long way.
> > Your lucky, My wife won't even go near a bike, I've been trying for > > ages to get her to come for a ride, and as far as I know she can > ride > > a bike as she used to ride a bike where she came from (Japan) but > she > > only sees a bicycle as a mode of transport to go from a-b and back > and > > not something to be used for recreational purposes. Even when i > > mention the word bike, it's like "forget it"!!
> > Maybe I should get a copy of a book called 'how to hypnotise chooks' > > put her in a trance..............nah, she wouldn't listen to me > > anyway..........sigh!! :-( > > DJ
> Too easy. "Break" the car, go out for "coffee" on bikes, and just take > the long way.
> Get a tandem > My wife hadn't ridden since she was a kid when I met her and for the > first couple of years she basically sat on the back without working to > hard. We based rides around cafes and sightseeing/shopping and just > enjoyed ourselves. Now we do all our holidays on the tandem. We commute > on it and I have to tell her to ease off as she pushes so hard (having a > heart rate monitor helped)
> You can pick up some second hand that aren't to bad to start off on and > are a reasonable price.
> My girlfriend has never riden before. > She can't even pedal alond teh driveway!
change your approach. Put the pedals back on. Adjust seat to right height. go to local oval/big grassed area. Put bicycle in lowest gear. stand behind and hold seat. Have her pedal and you walk/run along holding it up then once she is okay with pedalling, have her start steering. the trick is to steer towards the side she is going to fall towards. repeat, etc. keep emphasising that bicycles are unstable at walking speeds, go faster.
then explain that you also steer a bicycle by leaning slightly towards the side you want to tern, but you have to keep pedalling.
-- Terry Collins {:-)}}} email: terryc at woa.com.au www: http://www.woa.com.au Wombat Outdoor Adventures <Bicycles, Computers, GIS, Printing, Publishing>
"People without trees are like fish without clean water"
I know your pain. My partner is also very bike-averse. I managed to teach him how to ride, but he won't go near a bike unless we're somewhere like Centenial park, where there are no (or minimal) cars and as few kids around as possible. Unfortunately, as we don't own a car, it's difficult to get to such places, unless of course we ride there...
I think my half dozen bikes, and riding everywhere at high speed tends to put him off a little, too :(
Regards,
Suzy (sitting in Schipol airport, waiting for her economy class torture chamber to arrive)
> On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:46:28 +1000, Terry Collins said (and I quote): > > Put the pedals back on. > > Adjust seat to right height. > > go to local oval/big grassed area. > > Put bicycle in lowest gear. > > stand behind and hold seat.
> In my experience it works better to hold the rider's shoulders than to > hold the seat. When you hold the seat the rider has no way of knowing > how much/little they are keeping the bike upright. When you hold the > shoulders they get the right sort of tactile feedback, and they seem to > be quicker at learning to balance.
> Running behind the biks while holding on is difficult work, but it is > fun when your learner first gets the hang of riding and you get to see > the big grin on their face. > -- > What was I thinking
Try getting yourself a "persuader" (read stick) of suitable length and strength....give her a 5 metre head start and then start running after her and swinging said persuader wildly. After the first few times that you catch up to her and provide some gentle encouragement with the stick, she will get the hang of riding like the clappers. It is amazing the results you can get with "fear based" training.
Ride On,
Gags
*disclaimer* Do not try the above....apparantly this type of training is unacceptable in today's modern society....no wonder kids are soft these days.......
> "Baka Dasai" <idontreadt...@operamail.com> wrote in message > news:2tn3doF211v1hU1@uni-berlin.de... > > On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:46:28 +1000, Terry Collins said (and I quote): > > > Put the pedals back on. > > > Adjust seat to right height. > > > go to local oval/big grassed area. > > > Put bicycle in lowest gear. > > > stand behind and hold seat.
> > In my experience it works better to hold the rider's shoulders than > to > > hold the seat. When you hold the seat the rider has no way of knowing > > how much/little they are keeping the bike upright. When you hold the > > shoulders they get the right sort of tactile feedback, and they seem > to > > be quicker at learning to balance.
> > Running behind the biks while holding on is difficult work, but it is > > fun when your learner first gets the hang of riding and you get to > see > > the big grin on their face. > > -- > > What was I thinking
> Try getting yourself a "persuader" (read stick) of suitable length and > strength....give her a 5 metre head start and then start running after > her > and swinging said persuader wildly. After the first few times that you > catch up to her and provide some gentle encouragement with the stick, > she > will get the hang of riding like the clappers. It is amazing the > results > you can get with "fear based" training.
> Ride On,
> Gags
> *disclaimer* Do not try the above....apparantly this type of training > is > unacceptable in today's modern society....no wonder kids are soft these > days.......
Ah, the "rule of thumb". The original meaning came from old English law. A husband was allowed to discipline his wife with a stick as long as it was no thicker than his thumb. No equivalent rule for wives as far as I know. Disclaimer: definitely, certainly, absolutely not current law.
> On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 04:56:38 -0700, Suzy Jackson wrote:
> > Suzy (sitting in Schipol airport, waiting for her economy class > > torture chamber to arrive)
> You should'ave nicked off, hired a bike and rode the > 20km bikepath out to Haarlem.
> It's a nice beautiful little city.
> -kt
I did nick off on the weekend, and rode south along the Amstel. I did around 80-100km (though it's difficult to say, as the bike I hired, a clunky old Dutch roadster with buckled steel rims, backpedal brakes, and a weight of better than 20kg had no speedo). Gorgeous area. Much more fun to ride around than Amsterdam. I was also based in Dwingeloo (~100km south of Gronigen) for the second week, and managed a few nice rides around there, again on a rentad clunker.
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 12:59:53 +1000, suzyj wrote: > I did nick off on the weekend, and rode south along the Amstel. I did > around 80-100km (though it's difficult to say, as the bike I hired, a > clunky old Dutch roadster with buckled steel rims, backpedal brakes, > and a weight of better than 20kg had no speedo). Gorgeous area. Much > more fun to ride around than Amsterdam. I was also based in Dwingeloo > (~100km south of Gronigen) for the second week, and managed a few nice > rides around there, again on a rentad clunker.
Did you do any bike shopping?
It's interesting to see the distinction between a bike shop and a *sport* bike shop. The former is filled with Dutch city-bikes - priest bars, dynamo lights, hub gears, racks, full chain & mud guards. The more upmarket models made with alu. frames and quite nice IMHO.
Anyway, your normal bike shop is full of this sort of stuff. No chance of nicks or jerseys etc. It kind of reminded me of a bicycle car-yard.
If you want the stuff you'd find in a typical AU LBS, then you'll be needing the sport-bike store... no emphasis on helmets though, But you can get some good rain-gear.
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 06:21:37 +1000, kingsley wrote: > On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 12:59:53 +1000, suzyj wrote:
>> I did nick off on the weekend, and rode south along the Amstel. I did >> around 80-100km (though it's difficult to say, as the bike I hired, a >> clunky old Dutch roadster with buckled steel rims, backpedal brakes, >> and a weight of better than 20kg had no speedo). Gorgeous area. Much >> more fun to ride around than Amsterdam. I was also based in Dwingeloo >> (~100km south of Gronigen) for the second week, and managed a few nice >> rides around there, again on a rentad clunker.
> Did you do any bike shopping?
> It's interesting to see the distinction between a bike shop > and a *sport* bike shop. The former is filled with Dutch > city-bikes - priest bars, dynamo lights, hub gears, racks, > full chain & mud guards. The more upmarket models made with alu. > frames and quite nice IMHO.
> Anyway, your normal bike shop is full of this sort of stuff. > No chance of nicks or jerseys etc. It kind of reminded me of > a bicycle car-yard.
> If you want the stuff you'd find in a typical AU LBS, then you'll > be needing the sport-bike store... no emphasis on helmets though, > But you can get some good rain-gear.
> -kt
> PS> Did you see anyone wearing a helmet?
Regarding your PS, on a recent visit to Slovakia I had much pleasure in joining the locals for very popular bicycling. About 3% of Slovak bicyclists wore helmets, and I learned to avoid them, as they tended to be the gung-ho risk-taking types who put themselves and others near them under greater danger.
Peter
-- If you are careful enough in life, nothing bad -- or good -- will ever happen to you.
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