FABB Blog

 

WABA's Learn to Ride class

We spent Saturday morning helping Glen Harrison of WABA teach the Learn to Ride class downtown. It was a great experience working with adults who wanted to ride a bike for the first time in their lives. There were nearly 20 people in the class and almost everyone was riding by the end of the 3 hour session.

The class is a great deal. For $10 students receive a rental bike from Bike and Roll, a helmet, three hours of instruction, and 1 year introductory WABA membership. We met at the Old Post Office Pavilion location where people signed in and received a helmet and bike. We then walked the bikes to the Ellipse where there is a large parking area.

The parking lot has a slight slope which helps the budding cyclists learn the first step in the process, coasting. Pedals were removed from the bikes, seats were lowered, and students walked the bikes to build up a little speed and tried coasting. Once they could coast for 50 feet and were confident on the bike, pedals were put back on. They learned about putting the pedals in the power position and began to learn how to pedal the bike and stay upright, ie they learned how to ride.

There is nothing quite like the smile on a person's face when they first learn to ride a bike. It takes a lot of courage to learn as an adult, but it's a skill they can use for the rest of their lives. If you know an adult who wants to learn to ride, tell them about WABA's Learn to Ride class.

Labels: L2R, learn to ride, waba

posted by Bruce Wright at 2:04 PM permalink