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If you, or a friend, never rode a bicycle before, take heart.

It can be easier to learn to ride from scratch than to unlearn habits from childhood.

On August 28, 2017, I had the pleasure of watching John Ciccarelli, owner and Head Coach of Bicycle Solutions (LCI #453) take an adult beginner from nothing to starting, stopping, balancing, steering and turning in a couple of hours. An earlier post promised this follow-up to show how he accomplished this.

photo of adult student learning how to "power pedal" her bicycle as instructor looks on

Pre-pandemic, John Ciccarelli assists a student preparing for a power-pedal start.

John explains his Learn To Ride method:

Our Learn To Ride method is to start with a bike that basically fits, remove pedals, and lower the saddle so the learner can sit with both feet flat on the ground and knees slightly bent. We’ve made a balance bike. Handlebars no higher than the diaphragm.

We use a slightly inclined schoolyard or parking lot. Sloped enough that a soccer ball when started will keep rolling but not pick up speed.

When the client can glide for 10 seconds repeatedly and confidently, if it’s an adult we re-install one pedal, raise the seat 1.5″-2″, maybe the handlebars too, then teach how to glide with a weighted leg on a pedal. That usually doesn’t take very long, and it’s well worth doing. If it’s a kid we skip this and go to 2 pedals.

Re-install the second pedal. Shift the bike to a gear that will give moderate resistance when the student pedals at the speed at which they’ve been comfortably gliding. Do the same “scooter start” as when there was just one pedal, start the glide as before with the second foot hanging in space, then “find your pedal” (which is held in the high position by the steady leg on the other side) on the fly. Begin pedaling. We call this a “gliding start” or “gravity start.”

Sometimes, due to a combination of bike and rider geometry, the “gravity start”/ “find your pedal” step proves difficult. If so, we skip it and do the power-pedal start.

Power-pedal start: both brakes applied, bike leaned toward “ground foot”, which is flat on the ground (not tip-toe), raise pedal to 2 o’clock (right side) or 10 o’clock (left side). Practice the brake release by counting down from 3: “3, 2, 1, release” [“put your fingers away”], then push hard to start the bike. Immediately “sit up straight” and “ride tall.”

Watch it happen!

Practice is necessarily very repetitive, and our 5-minute video succeeds in showing the student’s progress step by step. The same steps work for self-teaching.

This video is from before the Covid-19 pandemic. John and his instructor partners at Bicycle Solutions continue to teach people to learn to ride now at several locations around the San Francisco Bay Area. In an earlier post, John describes his measures to avoid pandemic risks.

After I wrote the Savvy Cyclist post about teaching children, I began on this post. I realized there’s only one difference in teaching adults.

The difference is age. Although that is an obvious difference, there is more to it than just the number of years.

What isn’t different about teaching adults?

First, the steps I use for teaching adults are the same I use with kids. We lower the saddle and remove the pedals so that balancing and steering are easier to accomplish. I created a chart listing skills from being able to sit on a bicycle saddle to riding independently. We check off each skill as it is mastered, celebrate the progress, and then prepare for what’s next.

Even a student who first begins to advance the bike forward using the feet on the ground is working on several skills at once: Balance, steering, and processing touch/pressure from sitting on the saddle. We don’t stick to the order of skill mastery, as some students advance past a skill or two without directly working on them.

Adult student on bicycle with pedals removed

The saddle is lowered and the pedals are removed when teaching balancing.

Second, adults — just like kids — are nervous learning a new activity that challenges their body and perseverance. It is important for me to present myself as a calm and patient teacher, without judgment. Students of all ages learn to ride easier and faster when they are relaxed and don’t feel pressure to perform at a particular level within a specific time.

Finally, adults experience the same excitement when they master riding a bike. From a teacher’s perspective, it’s a beautiful experience to witness a student’s feelings of success when this hard work comes to fruition.

The only difference

Age. That’s obvious, I know. However, I’m not referring to the number of years.

It’s what comes with age that can be problematic: Feelings of shame and embarrassment that build as one grows older not knowing how to ride a bicycle. A 48-year-old student shared that her new partner organized a bicycling excursion. Instead of divulging that she didn’t know how to ride, she frantically searched for someone to teach her.

Circumstances prohibit many people from learning during their childhood. A 28-year-old student mentioned that his parents forbade him from learning because his cousin was hit and killed while riding.

And a 45-year-old student spoke about growing up in a rough neighborhood. Staying safe inside her home was more of a priority than learning how to ride.

Thankfully, negative emotions disappear as bicycling is mastered. Feelings of joy and achievement replace feelings of shame and embarrassment. Circumstances that kept a student from learning become a distant memory.

Never too old to learn

So when a friend admits to not knowing how to ride a bicycle, don’t show shock or surprise. Be quick to remember the true age difference: Not the number of birthdays, but the feelings and history that come with age.

It may have taken your friend a lot of courage to tell you this. Casually mention that there are instructors who teach adults (see list at bottom of page). Inspire your friend to give it a try.

Teaching during the pandemic

Is it safe to teach anyone how to ride right now, in a pandemic? Yes!

In an email from June 6, 2020, John Ciccarelli, principal of Bicycle Solutions in San Francisco, described the additional precautions he’s using while teaching:

Adult student learning how to "power pedal" her bicycle as instructor looks on

Pre-pandemic, John Ciccarelli assists a student raising the pedal for a power-pedal start.

“I and one of my five Bicycle Solutions instructor partners (League Cycling instructors) re-started lessons recently. His county (Santa Clara) already allows outdoor classes; San Francisco will allow them on June 15.

“I do bring my own bike for demos and coaching-while-riding, plus any teaching bikes I need for the client(s).

“I bring a cloth, soaked (sopping wet) in 70 percent isopropyl alcohol, in a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and use it for wiping bike contact surfaces, tools etc. In the few adult learn-to-ride lessons I’ve done in the past two weeks (one client, two lessons), I haven’t had to remove and re-install pedals, but if I did I’d just wipe those.

“We practice distancing. The client is never within six feet of me and if s/he needs me to adjust the bike s/he parks it and walks away from it. I do what’s needed, then I walk away.

“I wear a synthetic, loose ‘bandanna’-style face covering (Buff) and require my client to also wear one when near me, but not while riding. I talk only through the Buff. We ride along at a good separation distance and I coach on the fly, talking or shouting as needed. I only shout when they’re a considerable distance away.

“(I also have 3M N95 masks, but they’re too restrictive to talk through effectively during lessons. I wear one under the Buff when inside stores.)”

Update: We have another post about teaching techniques and a student’s progression.

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Learn to Ride the Easy Way as an Adult Beginner