Teaching an adult to ride a push bike?

A bit of a sad one this. I have a good friend who was abused as a child. The thing is, on top of the emotional side, some things are a constant reminder of their miserable childhood. Such as never being taught to ride a bike. Has anyone here ever managed to teach an adult to ride a bike? My friend is keen to learn and I have a few ideas. The biggest hurdle I can see is their embarassment. Anyone got any tips or suggestions?

I think patience is most important. Give 'em a few hints and they'll probably start working it out for themselves. Everyone learns differently.

Alex

I was never taught to ride a pushbike when I was younger and as a result my mate decided to have a shot at teaching me a couple of summers back. I was really wobbly at the start but picked it up after about ten minutes, so after riding up and down the drive several times we decided to take the bikes somewhere a bit more adventurous....the common lol. Everything was fine and I was riding for about two hours and really getting the hang of it. Then we too the road home, on the pavement About 5 mins from her house I managed to collide with a breeze block and must have used the wrong brake and went flying over the handlebars....

At this point I shall add we weren't wearing helmets and as a result I can't remember much of how it happened and ended up spending the night in hospital, I was very lucky.

Moral of the story, make sure whoever is learning wears a HELMET! The problem with learning later on in life is that you forget that you're not made of rubber anymore as you were when a kid, falling off becomes a bit more serious if you're daft like me

But patience is a virtue as they say, a good teacher is always a help

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

I was never taught to ride a pushbike when I was younger and as a result my mate decided to have a shot at teaching me a couple of summers back. I was really wobbly at the start but picked it up after about ten minutes, so after riding up and down the drive several times we decided to take the bikes somewhere a bit more adventurous....the common lol. Everything was fine and I was riding for about two hours and really getting the hang of it. Then we too the road home, on the pavement About 5 mins from her house I managed to collide with a breeze block and must have used the wrong brake and went flying over the handlebars....

At this point I shall add we weren't wearing helmets and as a result I can't remember much of how it happened and ended up spending the night in hospital, I was very lucky.

Moral of the story, make sure whoever is learning wears a HELMET! The problem with learning later on in life is that you forget that you're not made of rubber anymore as you were when a kid, falling off becomes a bit more serious if you're daft like me

But patience is a virtue as they say, a good teacher is always a help

That's just too funny!


Sorry! hehe

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

That's just too funny!


Sorry! hehe

I can see the funny side now but my family and friends don't, it wasn't a nice time for them. Things could have turned out a lot worse than they did, as I said I was lucky.

get them to fall off very quickly. the longer it goes on the bigger the fear becomes. get that over with then i'm sure they'll pick it up, sorry no pun intended but it is quite funny. good luck.

Originally Posted by svpilot

A bit of a sad one this. I have a good friend who was abused as a child. The thing is, on top of the emotional side, some things are a constant reminder of their miserable childhood. Such as never being taught to ride a bike. Has anyone here ever managed to teach an adult to ride a bike? My friend is keen to learn and I have a few ideas. The biggest hurdle I can see is their embarassment. Anyone got any tips or suggestions?

hiya loads of patience really and good sense of humour for u both, some where quiet i would guess? good luck any ways

a massive bags of cans and a big open space! at least if you dot teach them to ride, you'll still have a great laugh!

on a more serious note, try and take them somewhere, where its only you 2 and just get them to practise. i think adults pick these sort of things up wuicker than kids

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

That's just too funny!


Sorry! hehe

Wasn't at the time...

Stabilisers? Please take photos!!