How did you learn to ride a bike?

[C50]

One of life's milestones, at least for me.

We had an old bank barn that had a dirt track leading up to the main door, it was just a bit of a hill. I used my sister's bike and would kind of stradel walk it out of the barn and try to coast down the path. Thinking of it now makes me realize how hard it must have been trying to balance going that slow, but I eventually learned. I'm guessing I was around 6, now I'm 62 and still actively cycling.

How about you?

 

[Lee]

I know I had a bike as a kid, never rode it, could never learn to balance. I tried again as an adult. Falling and hitting my chin on the handlebars, No bike for me.

 

[Lady]

I rode a 3 wheel Trike when I was about 5 then didnt ride again till i was in my Twenties ,I had a small wheeled fold up bike , It gave me my freedom cause i never had a Car.
I never fell off once , it came naturally .

 

[hollydolly]

You know, I don't actually remember. I never had a bike of my own. I remember yearning as a small child for a trike with a back box like the other kids had...

.. My brother got a bike, but I can't remember if I learned to ride on his 2 wheeler, or if I learned on my friends' bike, but I do know that by the time I was 9 or 10.. very young that I was able to ride miles across the city on my friends' spare bike along with her.. how we never got killed in amongst all the traffic I'll never know..

I've had bikes as an adult, and when my daughter was a pre-schooler I had a baby seat on the back of my bike..

 

[jet]

when i was 10,the old fella,fitted blocks to his bike peddles,sat me on the cross bar,pushed me off,and i was away lol,but i still had to learn to turn corners,lol,lots of cuts and bruises

 

[Supernatural]

Papa got me an upgrade at the shop by selling my two tricycles. Got me a two wheeler with balance wheels. Then after 3 months he got tired of waiting and took them off. Put me in bike on pavement and gave me a push. I went off and never looked back, I was 7 years old.

 

[Lavinia]

The boy next door let me learn to ride his bike....then I got one for my 10th birthday. I've had a bike ever since.

 

[sch404]

I could never ride a bike because I am an above knee amputee since age 10. My dad bought me a bike so I could look forward to riding it when my leg got better from the bad bone surgery I had at age 6. Only it never got better. They amputated my leg and my dad sold the bike. End of story. Next question, asshole. Just kidding. You're not an asshole. Just clueless and insensitive.

 

[Bella]

I was six years old when, one afternoon, my friend Robert taught me to ride a bike. His parents had a long, gently sloping driveway. He ran alongside me while keeping one hand on the back of the bike seat and the other on the handlebars. At first, I just coasted with my legs dangling and touching the ground as he spotted me, but as soon as I was able to maintain my balance, I coasted by myself for a while and then started pedaling. I went up and down the driveway. By dinner time, I was able to ride the bike all by myself.

 

[Lady]

You know, I don't actually remember. I never had a bike of my own. I remember yearning as a small child for a trike with a back box like the other kids had...

.. My brother got a bike, but I can't remember if I learned to ride on his 2 wheeler, or if I learned on my friends' bike, but I do know that by the time I was 9 or 10.. very young that I was able to ride miles across the city on my friends' spare bike along with her.. how we never got killed in amongst all the traffic I'll never know..

I've had bikes as an adult, and when my daughter was a pre-schooler I had a baby seat on the back of my bike..

Thats what I had @hollydolly , it had belonged to my Cousin who was 5 years older than me , I had to ride it back from their house my legs ached like belly o, ,I loved the back box ,

 

[hearlady]

I don't remember own learned but I taught my kids to put the left foot on the left peddle. Keep your right foot on the left side and ride it like scooter, pushing off with the right foot and steering with both hands.
As you get your balance and confidence you will bring your right foot over the bar and ride!

 

[Sassycakes]

I never learned how to ride a bike. Growing up the boys always rode the girls on their bikes. Oh, the good old days.

 

[Pecos]

I was in the fifth grade. I remember falling down a few times, but LOL it was a lot easier on my body than dumping a motorcycle later in life.

 

[Chet]

My first bicycle was green and made by Colson whose name I resurrected from memory somehow. I did a Google search and there was such a company which actually surprised me. I don't remember having too much difficulty learning to ride.

Then my father bought me a bike from Roadmaster. It was red and cream in color and looked cool. It had a horn, headlight and tail light.

Starting in my 30s I guess, I bought a Trek Antelope and put bookoo miles on it on a 14 mile round trip to a creek in the country, plus other adventures. I still have it.

Of course I later had to graduate to motorcycles and put about 65K on a 650 Yamaha but that's another story.

 

[RadishRose]

I think I was about 5 or 6. Had a small blue Columbia bike. My father tried to teach me to ride, but I fell off it several times and cried until he got disgusted and went back in the house. After that, I was humiliated and finally stayed upright and rode as if I was born on a bicycle.

Later, I got another regular sized blue Columbia bike. My 3 friends and I would take off on a summer morning right after eating and would spend at least half a day riding all over the city. No body knew where we were the whole time!

 

[CallMeKate]

Good question... but I don't remember! I had a really great bike and I rode it for miles and miles at a time, but I don't remember anyone teaching me. I *think* I just got on and taught myself to balance and ride and that was that.

 

[Alligatorob]

My father took me to a parking lot had me sit on the bike whilst he held onto the seat to keep me upright. I rode that way a couple of times and one day he let go, it was good and I was riding.

Had to have been when I was 5, by the time I started first grade I was pretty good, could ride to school easily.

Good memories!

 

[Lilac]

I was 5 & had an aqua AMC bike with training wheels. I bugged Dad until he took them off. If my older brothers didn't have them, why should I? Mom was mad because she said I would fall. As soon he removed them, I took off like a bat out of h*ll & proved her wrong. About a year later, I got my first Schwinn. When I was older, we kids road all over the neighborhood. I got good riding without hands making turns & everything. I still have a Schwinn & want to get back out to ride when the weather warms.

 

[hollydolly]

I don't remember own learned but I taught my kids to put the left foot on the left peddle. Keep your right foot on the left side and ride it like scooter, pushing off with the right foot and steering with both hands.
As you get your balance and confidence you will bring your right foot over the bar and ride!

I do remember teaching my daughter how to ride. She was about 5 or 6, and she ended up with 2 bikes.. I was always trying to compensate through her for what I never had

 

[jujube]

I think I was about six. My dad would run alongside me, first hanging onto the bike and then just there to catch me. I couldn't get the hang of stopping the bike without falling over.

Even with the seat at the lowest setting, I could just barely reach the pedals so he put wooden blocks on them.

I didn't have much confidence, so he had to run alongside for several days before I finally got proficient enough.

It was a blue Schwinn that I got for Christmas that year. I wanted a pink bike, but......

 

[Lewkat]

I always had a trike and then bikes since I was a toddler. The 4 of us did as my dad wanted his kids to have fun. Began small and graduated to very large with each.

I was fortunate enough to have parents who could afford them.

Also had many pairs of roller skates, but never went beyond to skate boarding.

 

[Right Now]

I was about 5, and my Dad took me outside, I got on, he said he'd hold on the seat to balance me, and off I went. Two times up the driveway and back and I was winging it! The kids in my neighborhood always had bikes, we rode them everywhere, well into my teens, even to the next town.
At 15, I got my driver's license, and the bike took a back seat. I still ride when I am asked, but no longer own a bike.

 

[jujube]

I could never ride a bike because I am an above knee amputee since age 10. My dad bought me a bike so I could look forward to riding it when my leg got better from the bad bone surgery I had at age 6. Only it never got better. They amputated my leg and my dad sold the bike. End of story. Next question, asshole. Just kidding. You're not an asshole. Just clueless and insensitive.

Just curious. Why would someone be an "asshole", "clueless" and "insensitive" for asking how people learned to ride their bikes?

We reminisce a lot on here. We're a bunch of old farts (well, some of are, some are old-farts-in-training...) and old farts reminisce. We ask people what they remember about their first dates, their first kisses, their childhood dogs, their teachers, their first cars, their.......

 

[Bella]

I could never ride a bike because I am an above knee amputee since age 10. My dad bought me a bike so I could look forward to riding it when my leg got better from the bad bone surgery I had at age 6. Only it never got better. They amputated my leg and my dad sold the bike. End of story. Next question, asshole. Just kidding. You're not an asshole. Just clueless and insensitive.

Oh, dear, that was uncalled for. This was a question about how you learned to ride a bike. How was C50 supposed to know you had your leg amputated at age 10? I'm sorry to hear that, and if you wanted to say you never learned to ride a bike because your leg was amputated, that's fine. But it certainly doesn't make C50 an asshole, clueless, or insensitive for asking the question.

 

[sch404]

Just curious. Why would someone be an "asshole", "clueless" and "insensitive" for asking how people learned to ride their bikes?

We reminisce a lot on here. We're a bunch of old farts (well, some of are, some are old-farts-in-training...) and old farts reminisce. We ask people what they remember about their first dates, their first kisses, their childhood dogs, their teachers, their first cars, their.......

The question "How did you learn to ride a bike?" is EXCLUSIVE. It implies that EVERYONE growing up would have or should have learned to ride a bike. The question should have been phrased in a more INCLUSIVE way so as to acknowledge that some children never could learn to ride a bike or never had the opportunity to do so. Here is how it should have been worded, "If you learned to ride a bike, how did you do so?"