Two Wheel Blogs

Ever watch an infant learn to walk? It is amazing really. I am not sure that you can really teach a kid to walk…they learn on their own. We all take for granted far too often how amazing it is to walk on two feet. Imagine trying to learn this task as an adult….

Cycling is not all that different. Teaching a kid to ride a bike is both amazing and challenging at the same time. For one, kids communicate differently, and their developmental stages often play a role in making the task more difficult.

I have recently taught a kid to ride a bike, so now here I am telling you how to do it…as if I know all there is to know after teaching one whole kid to do it.

Honestly, I think I did a pretty good job helping my kid to learn to do this amazing thing. I can not take credit really…I did not do a damn thing. Much like walking, the kid really has to learn to do this him/herself.

Preliminary thinking/Psychology

Most kids learn to ride bikes about the same time they start school. At this stage in their life things start to change from being perfect, to being judged. At home we tell our kids that they are awesome and we compare them to no one….when they start school they enter into an environment where one way or another the potential exists to feel compared to others. With this feeling of comparison, a child may for the first time have feelings of imperfection (which is necessary in this world), but often kids struggle with the fear of failure and often want to retract from challenges or “play it safe”. This transition can make it really tough to get the kid to learn new things.

Enough of the Psychology 101 (actually there will be more...because it is critical in learning), I just want to set the stage and show the importance of communicating in a way that will be well received. Some kids may love the challenge; mine really did not want to fail. Go figure, he sees me ride all the time and probably wants to grow up to be like me (poor kid).

The communication and approach is up to you, but if you do not know your kid well, you may have a real sticking point here. The last thing you want to do is turn the little guy off from the start. So with that horse sufficiently kicked to death, I move on to the nuts and bolts.

OOPS! lets cover this one basic thing:
Before you start anything, make sure they understand basic safety, wear a properly fitting helmet, and know how the bike works. Do I really need to say this? I guess I do...hanging out at the bike shop, I see parents buying their kids their first bike, and it never occurs to them to buy a helmet until it is suggested at checkout....Do you suppose these people use the same logic applied to car seats, computers, or cell phones (well, we never had them when I was a kid....)? Sorry to rant, think about another way, going to the E.R....the deductible you pay could easily buy 3 helmets...you choose.

A revolutionary approach that I did not invent...

Few people seem to discuss the approach I used. I have heard a lot of talk about another approach...you know, a steep hill and thrusting the kid from the top (sort of like chucking your kid into deep water is a good way to learn to swim). I do not believe that this method would work well with my kids. Here is what your kid sees if you try this method...remember the world is big, your kid is probably small...

Let's not terrify them from the start.

First of all, start with a bike with hand breaks. I used a bike that had no hand brakes, and I think it would have been a big improvement to have them. If you do not have hand brakes, select an area that is flatter to learn to prevent higher speeds.

Alternatively, I have seen these gliders, and they are really cool. If you have the cash to have one of these, your kid will probably learn to ride without you noticing. Basically it is a tiny bike with no cranks, chain or pedals. They sit on it and use it like a scooter…speaking of scooters, a scooter works really well too. It gets the kid up on two wheels with a very low center of gravity. This builds confidence and balance. I should point out that the one in the link is lacking brakes and for this reason, I feel that is not ideal. My child rolled around on a razor scooter for a while and learned a fair amount of balance prior to trying to ride a regular bike.

So assuming that your kid is going to learn on his/her bike and not a scooter or glider, you simply remove the pedals and training wheels after you get their buy-in that this is going to be fun and interesting. How you get that acceptance is up to you, but make sure it is something that he/she really wants.

Take them to a secluded area where no one will laugh (or even watch). Remember we want to minimize distractions here, because this may be the hardest thing you child has ever consciously learned how to do…think about that for a second…this can be some scary stuff for a kid. My child was learning nicely when mom, grandma, and grandpa came out to watch the action…things went to hell pretty quick. The additional audience created distraction, and I could tell immediately that he was trying too hard to impress everyone. That was when we called it a night. He had great progress, but knowing when to rest is important.

Ideally, you have found a vacant patch of concrete with no traffic and a slight (very slight) incline. This will sort of force the kid to pick up momentum and prevent him/her from having to use their feet to keep going. The seat should be low enough that they can sit comfortably and reach the ground on BOTH sides of the bike (at the same time) to stay upright.

The slower they go the better! They will at first use the brakes excessively to go at a snail pace. That is great…try it and you will see. Going slower is much harder to keep balance but after they become comfortable, they will go a bit faster and almost instantly realize that momentum is their best friend in this task!

After a surprisingly short time, you will likely notice you child gliding along with both feet up and having very little problems staying upright and stopping safely.

Notice that no where in here did I mention coaxing, forcing or tricking your kid into doing anything. If it was not their idea…it must have been yours, and that probably is not very fun for your kid. If you make the mistake in assuming that once your kid learns this task he/she will love it as much as you do (and coerce them into it) the whole thing could backfire. It is about them and not you! I found myself trying to talk my son into taking off the trainers last year, but luckily I listened to him and did not push the matter.

Now that they are gliding along nicely, you are dumping compliments all over the place at how great they are doing, and how quickly they are learning. These will be honest compliments…you will be amazed at how fast they learn this amazing task.

If you don’t agree that these are honest compliments…lets get your frame of mind in check….think about how long it takes you to learn to clean an obstacle on the trail…that little task is probably pretty easy by comparison (especially since you can ride a bike and take it for granted every time you hop on your bike). You are keeping that in mind aren’t you?

So you are gloating all over your kid…this will build their confidence further and make your next suggestion more easy to agree with. Uhhh. You are not forgetting about your spouse and other kids that need gloating too are you? Be sure not to leave anyone out…it is an easy mistake to make, considering that you are probably quite taken with excitement you have for this child beginning to share your love for cycling.

Now, put the pedals back on.

Your kid will probably jump all over this suggestion. They already have learned the fundamentals of balancing, stopping, and of course--safety, so getting to actually pedal and “ride” is what they hopefully are after.

Again start on a slight incline and make sure that the child can reach the ground and “kick off” with their feet. Once in motion, they can glide freely and then simply put their feet on the pedals and go.

Here are some important notes. No where in here do I mention running along side the kid and holding him/her upright…it really is not necessary. You may do like I did (see videos below), and walk along side as they kick off and offer encouragement…but you will hopefully find quickly that you can not keep up for long and they will simply ride away from you.

Additionally, keep close watch on your little cyclist and be mindful of their level of energy. The excitement can quickly lead to him/her overdoing it. Once tired, the efforts become far less productive…this is the only time that I condone BSing your kid. Make up some good reason to do something else when this happens…it is useless to let a tired kid become frustrated when they can not think straight because they are tired….think how your skills leave you when you become exhausted on the trail!

I have no idea how long this process will take, but I can tell you that my kid learned to ride in about 10 minutes doing this. Sure he was only able to go a hundred feet or so and only in a straight line, but after a few days (never more than 30 minutes per day due to heat and exertion) he is riding up and down the street and requesting that I ride with him. If he had decided to do this when the weather was nicer, he probably could have mastered the feat in a day (try for 30 minutes in the A.M. and then again after lunch).

I should also point out that my son rode a scooter and his bike with training wheels on it around for several months before he ever thought about really “riding”. I hate training wheels because they make it impossible to glide (they hit the kid in the ankles if he/she tries), but they do allow him/her to gain confidence on the bicycle. Additionally, trainers make it really hard for the kid to push the bike up the hill to put it away when they are done with it (when he tries to push the bike or glide, the trainers tend to run over his heels…that is not well received).

If you think about it, that is pretty amazing. I want to learn to ride a unicycle. I bet I can not learn it nearly as fast as my son figured out the bike.

Here is an 8 second video of the first attempt. Notice how I let him "crash" at the end? I think sometimes you have to let them learn how to crash...seemed like a good thing to learn before we got going faster.

Now for the second attempt. I think the progress is amazing. Notice how he has already learned to stop without "crashing". He picked that up pretty quickly. I could not resist being there in case he did crash, but luckily he had learned to "glide" with his feet free to catch him. I think this really demonstrates the effectiveness of learning these skills in this order.

Sure, it is not all perfection. Serious crashes will happen. That is part of riding and being a kid. You have to let them experience life and all the good and most of the bad that they will need to deal with....but we do not have to cast them into a worst case scenario totally unprepared and unprotected!